12th September 2010

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No Wave

It’d be hard to find a cooler coffee-table book. No Wave, put together by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley, isn’t a fantastic read, really, with its wandering and often confusing narrative structure, but the occasional cool story or interesting discussion of a particular development of the no wave scene are worth the read, and the thing is loaded with beautiful photographs and fliers. Most of the time I spent with this book was just staring at images of James Chance writhing on the ground, or Lydia Lunch being cranky.

Unfortunately, the coolness factor lies mainly in the visual aesthetics, and the text confuses more than enlightens. But, I guess that’s the best for which one could hope from a book on this often nihilistic artistic movement.

Tagged: no wavebyron coleythurston moorednalydia lunchteenage jesus and the jerksmarsjames chancecontortionsarto lindsay