Five obscure artists Lydia Lunch thinks you should know
As one of the most preeminent figures of the New York no wave scene that began in the late 1970s, Lydia Lunch will always be regarded as something of an underground hero who helped pioneer a singular style of music that still manages to sound just as fresh today as it did back then.
As a co-founder of the band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks alongside future Contortions frontman and saxophonist James Chance, Lunch would eventually go on to establish herself not just as an exemplary musician in the field, but also a prolific poet, actor and spoken word performer.
Having moved to New York City at the age of 16, she quickly found herself in social circles where she was hanging out with artists like Alan Vega and Martin Rev of Suicide, and would then befriend Chance before forming a multitude of short-lived projects. Her work was featured on the iconic No New York compilation that showcased a quartet of the city’s burgeoning underground acts from the no wave scene, with DNA, Mars, Contortions and her own Teenage Jesus project.
Later on, she would find herself collaborating with the likes of Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins and Nels Cline, firmly remaining anti-industry in her ethos throughout her career. It’s no surprise that given this, her own musical tastes follow this same pattern of being obscure, impenetrable, and as far away from the mainstream as possible, and the list of five artists she recommended during an interview with famed music blog Perfect Sound Forever are all fine examples of this.
In fact, by her own admission, Lunch has never had much room for the music of others in her life, and would prefer to listen to the sounds of the everyday. “Most people use [music] as a backdrop to their life,” she explained to the publication. “I love silence. I live on a giant park. I like hearing NOTHING. I like hearing the trees rustle. I’m already too exuberant.”
Despite many of her exemplary picks all being from disparate scenes, there’s one common thread that runs through them all, which she’s willing to acknowledge as being a parallel to her own personality. “All of these are instrumental because I find that with instrumental music allows my brain the space to breathe,” Lunch declared. “I have too many words going through my head and flowing from my mouth. The last thing I need is more words spinning around my head.”
Five obscure artists that Lydia Lunch recommends:
Muslimgauze
Salford-born experimental musician Bryn Jones, best known under his Muslimgauze moniker, was an artist best-known for his pioneering works in the field of tribal ambient and noise, creating music that was inspired by global conflicts, radical left-wing politics and layered textural abrasion. A prolific recording artist, Jones would sadly pass away from pneumonia in 1999, at the age of just 37.
Despite his premature death, music archivists are still sifting through his unreleased material and continuing to issue new and unheard material of a wide variety, and given how much of it takes the same challenging approach that Lunch was known for adopting in her own work, it’s hardly surprising that she lists him as one of her favourite contemporary acts of the 1990s.
Donald Byrd
Another prolific musician, although this time in the world of jazz, Donald Byrd is one of Blue Note Records’ most celebrated artists, having released 25 solo albums for the label between the ‘50s and ‘70s. A trumpeter of the highest standard, his work alongside Art Blakey, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, to name but a few of his collaborators, is frequently met with high praise, and has influenced plenty of artists beyond the world of jazz, contributing to the first two Jazzmatazz records by the late hip-hop producer, Guru.
Given that his work stretched far beyond the realm of jazz and into funk, fusion and soul, it’s understandable that his fluid and diverse approach impressed Lunch, whose own output took plenty of influence from jazz and funk rhythms. Though the likes of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie are perhaps more frequently cited, there’s no denying that Byrd was a singular talent, and one of the most original trumpeters of all time.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
One of jazz music’s greatest eccentrics, Rahsaan Roland Kirk was noted for not just his technical mastery of the woodwind family, but for his mastery of playing as many instruments as possible simultaneously. Famed for appearing on stage armed with three saxophones around his neck and an arsenal of whistles and flutes, his approach to making music was nothing if not chaotic.
However, that doesn’t mean that his ventures were too out-there to be listenable, and throughout his career, there are plenty of landmark releases that show off just how proficient he was when it comes to writing ambitious, spiritually-informed jazz records of exceptional magnitude that rivalled the likes of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler when it comes to pushing boundaries as far as they can be taken.
Raeo
The most short-lived project of all of Lunch’s recommendations, Barcelona-based electronic trio Raeo only released two full-length records in the 1990s, but were noted for continuing the abrasive no wave stylings decades on from the scene’s genesis, and adding touches of post-punk, dub, jazz and techno to their output.
While their legacy isn’t talked about anywhere near enough in today’s world, it’s perfectly clear to see why they struck such a chord with Lunch back in the ‘90s, with the group keeping a tradition that she had contributed to the existence of going, and breathing new life into it as many of the progenitors would have hoped they would.
Yusef Lateef
Much like Byrd and Kirk, Yusef Lateef remains one of the most underappreciated figures in jazz music, and while he was perhaps even more prolific than the other two, a large majority of his works remain under the radar. A fearsome saxophonist and flautist, Lateef was perhaps most recognisable for his incorporation of instruments from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and was adept when it came to blending these lesser-heard timbres with contemporary Western jazz sounds.
As another pioneer and sonically adventurous figure who refused to be pigeonholed, Lunch’s love of Lateef clearly comes from how his blurring of boundaries seemed so natural rather than forced into existence, and his records like 1964’s cult classic Eastern Sounds remain wildly ahead of their time for how they injected influence from around the world and allowed these elements to coexist harmoniously with Western tradition.
