The Other Guys of NYC Noise Rock---Live Skull--Cloud One

You know what? You've probably heard a similar argument to the one I'm about to make. It's the QWERTY argument. I learned from reading an essay by Stephen Jay Gould about the evolution of the typing keyboard. Essentially, he gives a basic lesson through demonstration how evolution sometimes work. He throws a cold bucket on the notion that evolution is a progressive process, that life forms are always improving toward better design forms. Well, in a social context, there were other versions of the typewriter keyboard layout, and many of them were more sensible than QWERTY, but that keyboard became the standard setup for keyboards. Just like Windows being the chief operating system of computers, despite other companies putting out better products and failing.

In the context of music, the argument has been made that U2 had many competitors, who were their equal or better. Ultimately, they became at least for a time the biggest band on earth, going toe to toe with the Rolling Stones, Springsteens, Elton Johns, and McCartneys, the rock giants. For many, the bands that were their at least critical rivals, such as Teardrop Explodes, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Sound, and others certainly had some amount of success, but they never became megastars like Bono and friends. A lot of arguments can be made as to business acumen vs art, but maybe at least some of it had to do with dumb luck.

In the US in the early 80's there was a noise band movement that evolved out of Glenn Branca's guitar experiments and the No Wave movement which included bands like DNA, Mars, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, and The Contortions. That was one of the many scenes of the day, where a variety of musical genres bled and mingled with each other in a variety of new and interesting forms. Critic Robert Christgau had a pejorative term for the music in the early , which in retrospect did noone any good, and made him appear to be a bit cranky for somebody I consider to be a very open-minded musical polyglot. C'mon, these days we all can agree that menacing dissonant loud music is a good thing. Ultimately he gained an appreciation for the movement, as did the general public, as the estranged noisemeisters Sonic Youth cast indelible stamp on modern music, both as popularizers and innovators. Additionally their music was hugely influential to other groups, and their legacy continues today.

But what about the others guys? There were a number of bands doing similar work to these groups who are probably invisible these days to most musical fans. Bands like Unsane, UT, Rat at Rat R. The Swans are probably a lot better known because they have continued to release material, recently putting out a new record. And of course the mighty Live Skull. I really loved these guys, and I started listening to them early, buying their first ep from Midnight Records on 23rd st. I never saw them live though, unfortunately. I thought that they were just as good as SY, and I find it baffling that their early stuff has never been reissued other than the fact that their is a lot of great music on the Homestead label that is still in mothballs. I also find it strange that the music that they made prior to Thalia Zadek joining the band seems to be disparaged a bit in some circles. Because I think that they had a great sound before and the Zadek fronted version of Live Skull was also great!

I couple years ago there was some stirrings at Acute records about Live Skull reissues, but to date, no dice. They put out a nice Ike Yard Cd at some point. It's possible the recession had a hand in things not happening, but I don't really know. They are a band that definitely deserves more love than they have gotten. I'm talking about Bringing Home the Bait, Cloud One, Snuffer, and the live album Don't Get Any on You. Essential listening for noise fans. Hopefully something will be done about it someday, but until then, here's a couple of tracks that illustrate perfectly how monstrously great these guys were, even before Ms. Zedek (who incidentally has a new one out herself, entitled Via).
Listen to some of this and I think you will agree that they were one of the great innovative American bands of this era.

From Bringing Home the Bait!





Cloud One:






Cloud One again:




From the 1st ep:



05/22/2013: Update----Live Skull reissues are coming!!! Already available in Mp3 format!!!

I just found out that Desire Records is reissuing the eponymous first ep in expanded form, and Bringing Home the Bait.

Very good news for noise fans. The label is accepting pre-orders and according to their site, they should start shipping product sometime in June.


New Update: Live Skull reissues will be released on September 17. Desire Records also plans on releasing the entire Live Skull catalog... so give them some support, please...