Label: No More
Original Release: 2004

I find it oddly fitting that nearly every member of New York's first-wave-No Wave scene were transplants to the city. They came from places as disparate as Milwaukee, Florida, Cleveland and Japan hoping to get a taste of the Lower East Side punk underground that was quickly in decay. What these artists found -- James Chance, Lydia Lunch, Arto Lindsay, etc. -- was an open-ended community with a void to fill. In a few short years they would fill it; with post-beat poetry, with kabuki theatrics, with anti/guitar wails and proto-thrash beats. Somehow, beneath this soundtrack, noise was born.

Twenty-five years later, we are left with little documentation of this pregnancy and birth: No New York, Mars LP, the early Teenage Jesus releases, Theoretical Record, and the best singular disc of the bunch, DNA on DNA. Formed in 1975, DNA were at once the most focused and difficult group of the bunch. And despite what many have said about them, DNA's noise was never unlistenable.

DNA on DNA collects everything the band recorded, from their first 7" (produced by the recently departed Robert Quine) to their final live shows in the Summer of '82. In between you get the four Eno-produced tracks from No New York, the six tracks from DNA's last official release, A Taste of DNA, and a number of various live (in-studio and performance) tracks that have never previously been released domestically.

DNA's songs were compact, minimal, and loud-as-fuck. The first lineup consisted of Lindsay on Guitar and Vocals, Ikue Mori on Drums (these two would be the foundation of the group) and Robin Crutchfield on Keyboard. "You and You"/"Little Ants", the first 7", is free-jazz disguised as two-minute kraut-thrash snips. Arto was Ornette with a guitar -- constantly on the brink of chaos but structured enough to know better. Mori's beats are steady but never conventional, and when in-synch with Crutchfield's keys, form the track to Lindsay's speeding train.

Eno's vision of DNA was different than that of Quine's. His production emphasizes reverb and feedback, with the keys out in front along with the collective noise. This minor misstep doesn't stop DNA's point from being made. Their songs on No New York are all dramatically different, the highlight being "Not Moving", a fast-slow wall of metal anthem (When you went this way / I went that way / Where are we going? / We're not moving).

With the subtraction of keys (Crutchfield left to start Dark Day) and the addition of Tim Wright on bass, DNA's sound moved from nervous system to heartbeat. One listen to "Blonde Red Head" and you'll hear the foundations of Sonic Youth, Arab on Radar and, you guessed it, Blonde Redhead. A Taste of DNA would be the band's defining achievement, a three-headed, speak-in-tongues novella on genetics; DNA on dna.

The remaining non-studio tracks are mostly instrumental half-sketches that, unfortunately, never reach the focus of DNA's official releases. Still, these portraits prove DNA's genius -- even their practice demos are groundbreaking. The live recording from a 1978 CBGB's show is vital if only for "Nearing", a song inexplicably cut from their final EP.

Since their split in 1982 DNA has been a cool band to name check as an influence and little more. Due to the relative obscurity of their releases, most music lovers have heard little to zero of this great band, but have always known of them. DNA on DNA finally puts an end to this posturing, taking the band out of the mouths and pages of the elite and into action.