The No Wave Movement... Reviewed

FRED HALE SR. · 06-09-2011, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Pat

3 Teens Kill 4 (1980 - 1983/84)

General Information

While I have yet to see a creditable source label this band as "no wave," they were a New York post-punk/art punk band that was active roughly around the same period of time that the movement was. Not much is really known about this band, though, except for the fact they featured a semi-famous artist, David Wojnarowicz, and the fact that "3/5 of the band was gay"... Not entirely sure WHY that keeps showing up every time I look for information on them, but it's something I guess.

Band Members

►Doug Bressler
►Brian Butterick
►William Gerstel
►Julie Hair
►Jessie Hultberg
►David Wajnarowicz

Album Review

No Motive (1983)

Track Listing

1. Hold Up.................................. 3:57
2. Tell Me Something Good......... 4:29
3. 5/4 ........................................ 5:52
4. Crime Drama .......................... 2:50
5. Hunt/Bean Song..................... 7:48
6. Hunger ................................... 1:58

Total Length: 26:44

No Motive, 3 Teens Kill 4's only album, isn't really what I would consider to be a "gem" of the No Wave movement, but... it's certainly a decent post-punk album. Its repertoire of sound includes that of: sampling and tape looping, synthesizers, guitar, bass, and various toys and electronics. The percussion in most of the tracks tends to be a bit uniform and typical of that of most post-punk albums, but their unique and whimsical use of toys makes up for this. The songs themselves, for the most part, tend to be catchy and sometimes safely-structured. However, tracks like "Hunger" and "Tell Me Something Good" lean away from this mentality. "Hunger" tends to be very fast-paced and electronically noisy, while "Tell Me Something Good" sort of adopts an industrial-type approach to its sound/beat. Topics range anywhere from robbery ("Hold Up") to physical appearance ("Bean Song").

I personally got some enjoyment out of listening to the album, but I really don't see myself playing it a lot in the future. Let me also point out that I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to anyone wanting to get into No Wave music; however, I would recommend it to someone who loves artsy post-punk.

My Rating: 6.5/10

For those of you who managed to read through this damn thing... here is your prize: a picture of David Wojnarowicz.

(Enjoy.)

Love to see a review on Circle X a very underrated and amazing act.

TockTockTock · 06-09-2011, 06:06 PM

Side Note # 1

Influences of the No Wave Movement

► Suicide
► The Velvet Underground
► Several avant-garde jazz/free jazz musicians, such as Sun Ra
► Krautrock bands, such as Can and Faust
► Captain Beefheart
► Protopunk bands, such as The Stooges

Allow me to also inform you that it is believed that the No Wave movement took place around 1977-1980, but some say it took place around 1978-1982. It doesn't look like a considerable difference, but... trust me when I say that there is. Many of the bands didn't last very long, and many of them didn't record much. By omitting one or two years, I would possibly be dropping anywhere from ten to fifteen (maybe more, maybe fewer) bands and artists. Hell, they deny there even was a movement, so you can kind of see how vague this whole situation is... Anyways, to sort of clear up this mess, I'll begin to highlight band/artist names in red to indicate whether they were "officially" apart of the movement or not. To be specific, I'll be highlighting the acts that released/recorded material in the Lower East Side of New York City between 1978 to 1980. The other bands and artists are possibly either Pre-No Wave (which is basically just Suicide), Post-No Wave (like Swans), or bands from other areas of the world, but shared similarities/same outlook on music (like Friction and Tunnel Canary). If I am unsure, then I will just highlight it in green.

06-09-2011, 06:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
TockTockTock They/Them Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 1,914	Side Note # 1 Influences of the No Wave Movement ► Suicide ► The Velvet Underground ► Several avant-garde jazz/free jazz musicians, such as Sun Ra ► Krautrock bands, such as Can and Faust ► Captain Beefheart ► Protopunk bands, such as The Stooges Allow me to also inform you that it is believed that the No Wave movement took place around 1977-1980, but some say it took place around 1978-1982. It doesn't look like a considerable difference, but... trust me when I say that there is. Many of the bands didn't last very long, and many of them didn't record much. By omitting one or two years, I would possibly be dropping anywhere from ten to fifteen (maybe more, maybe fewer) bands and artists. Hell, they deny there even was a movement, so you can kind of see how vague this whole situation is... Anyways, to sort of clear up this mess, I'll begin to highlight band/artist names in red to indicate whether they were "officially" apart of the movement or not. To be specific, I'll be highlighting the acts that released/recorded material in the Lower East Side of New York City between 1978 to 1980. The other bands and artists are possibly either Pre-No Wave (which is basically just Suicide), Post-No Wave (like Swans), or bands from other areas of the world, but shared similarities/same outlook on music (like Friction and Tunnel Canary). If I am unsure, then I will just highlight it in green.