The Contortions
James Chance and the Contortions (initially known simply as Contortions, a spin-off group is called James White and the Blacks) was a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York City's downtown no wave music scene in the late 1970s, and were featured on the influential compilation ''No New York'' (1978). Recording history Their first recording, credited solely as ''Contortions'', was on the 1978 compilation, ''No New York'', produced by Brian Eno. The following year, two albums were issued almost simultaneously on ZE Records; '' Buy'' and '' Off White'' under the moniker James White and the Blacks. The same musicians recorded both records, though none are credited on the album covers. The Contortions appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film ''Das Todesmagazin'' in 1979. In 2016, Chance released his first single with his original Contortions band in nearly 30 years, entitled "Melt Yourself Down". A music video for t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White (born James Siegfried, April 20, 1953 – June 18, 2024), was an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer. A key figure in no wave, Chance played a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and punk in the New York music scene from the late 1970s on, in such bands as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, James Chance and the Contortions, James White and the Blacks (as he appeared in the film '' Downtown 81''), The Flaming Demonics, James Chance & the Sardonic Symphonics, James Chance and Terminal City, and James Chance and Les Contortions. Background James Siegfried was born in Milwaukee in 1953, growing up there and in the suburb of Brookfield, Wisconsin. Siegfried attended Michigan State University, then the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. There, he joined a band named Death, which performed covers of the Stooges and the Velvet Underground before moving toward original songs. Career At the end of 1975, Siegf ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bush Tetras
Bush Tetras are an American post-punk No Wave band from New York City, formed in 1979. They are best known for the 1980 song "Too Many Creeps", which exemplified the band's sound of "jagged rhythms, slicing guitars, and sniping vocals"."Bush Tetras: Biography by Mark Deming." ''AllMusic.com''. Retrieved July 17, 2018. Although they did not achieve mainstream success, the Bush Tetras were influential and popular in the club scene and college radio in the early 1980s. New York's post-punk revival of the 2000s was accompanied by a resurgence of interest in the genre, with the Tetras' influence heard in many of that scene's bands.
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Le Bains Douches
Les Bains Douches (roughly translated as "The Bathhouses" or "The Public Baths") (aka Bains Douches) was a Parisian nightclub located at 7 rue du Bourg-l'Abbé in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris which was active from 1978 to 2010. Bains Douches was a mecca of decadent excess for Parisian nightclubbers during the 1980s, and a meeting place for creatives and artists from throughout society. The nightclub closed its doors in 2010. History The building originally houses the Guerbois thermal baths, created in 1885 by François Auguste Guerbois (1824–1891) and his son Albert Guerbois (1857–1926) who also operate the Guerbois café, a popular meeting place for artists and intellectuals at the time. It was immortalized by Édouard Manet. The plaque at the entrance of Les Bains Douches indicates: Bains Guerbois, swimming pool, Turkish and Russian baths, sulfurous steam showers. At the end of the 19th century, the place attracted many influential homosexual personalities, including Marce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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No Wave
No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and roll clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance, and atonality, as well as non- rock genres like free jazz, funk, and disco. The scene often reflected an abrasive, confrontational, and nihilistic worldview. The movement was short-lived but highly influential in the music world. The 1978 compilation '' No New York'' is often considered the quintessential testament to the scene's musical aesthetic. Aside from the music genre, the no wave movement also had a significant influence in independent film ( no wave cinema), fashion, and visual art. Overview/characteristics No wave is not a clearly definable musical genre with consistent features, but it generally was characterized by a rejection of the recycling o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of Richard Rogers, Su Rogers and Renzo Piano, along with Gianfranco Franchini. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Centre Pompidou is located in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris. It houses the (BPI; Public Information Library), a vast public library; the , the largest museum for modern art in Europe; and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. The Place Georges Pompidou is an open plaza in front of the museum. The Centre Pompidou will be closed for renovation from 2 March 2025 until 2030. The BPI will be temporarily relocated to its Lumière building. H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Le Poisson Rouge
(Le) Poisson Rouge (often referred to as LPR) is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of the Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street. The performance space was designed and engineered by John Storyk/WSDG. It has become known for its focus on artistry, bringing contemporary classical music into the club setting, and offering a variety of set ups so that a seated classical performance can be followed by a standing set by a rock band or a DJ. Responding to a performance of Olivier Messiaen's '' Quartet for the End of Time'' featuring pianist Bruce Brubaker at LPR, ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported: "The crowd – many of whom wouldn't even have known who Messiaen was – sat in rapt silence, and roared their approval at the end." Kantor and Handler, both graduates of Manhattan School of Music, founded LPR with the stated desire of creating a venue that would foster the fusion of "popular and a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Aaron
Robert Aaron (born Robert Arron Vineberg; November 13, 1955) is a Canadian jazz musician. According to John Leland of the New York Times "Mr. Aaron played flute, saxophone, clarinet and piano, then taught himself guitar, trumpet, bassoon, French horn and other instruments." He performed for rapper Wyclef Jean's band from 1998 to 2008. Robin Caulden of Press-Republican said "He's played with everybody — Afrika Bambataa, B52s, Blondie, Chic, David Bowie, Heavy D, James Chance and The Contortions, RZA, Stetsasonic, William Vivanco and Wu-Tang Clan." In 1981, he first started work with James Chance for the group James White and the Blacks; and has toured with him since in Europe and Japan. He played sax on David Bowie's 1983 hit " Let's Dance". In 2010, Aaron released his album ''Trouble Man'', which Michael Daly of the Daily Beast called "artistically adventurous but commercially unsuccessful". Folk singer Eric Andersen, who used Aaron on several albums as a producer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Defunkt
Defunkt is an American musical group founded by the trombonist and singer Joseph Bowie in 1978 in New York City. Their music touches on elements of punk rock, funk, and jazz. Career Joseph Bowie is the brother of big band musician Byron Bowie and Art Ensemble of Chicago co-founder Lester Bowie. Joseph, who had previously worked as a sideman for various 1970s jazz musicians, founded Defunkt in 1978 with members of a band that had backed James Chance. The new group's original focus was on danceable jazz music. Joseph Bowie remains the only consistent member of the group over its history; he has been noted for displaying the influence of far-ranging musicians like Ornette Coleman, James Brown, and Joe Strummer. The first incarnation of the group was active in New York City's "No Wave" radical underground music scene, which also included fusion-oriented groups like Material and Sonic Youth. Joseph's saxophonist brother Bryon, bassist Melvin Gibbs and future Living Colour guitarist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joseph Bowie
Joseph Bowie (born October 17, 1953) is an American jazz trombonist and vocalist. The brother of trumpeter Lester Bowie, Joseph is known for leading the jazz-punk group Defunkt and for membership in the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Career Bowie was greatly influenced by his older brothers, saxophonist Byron Bowie and trumpeter Lester Bowie. His first international tour was with Oliver Lake of the Black Artists Group in 1971. During this time in Paris, he worked with Alan Silva, Frank Wright, and Bobby Few. He also worked with Dr. John in Montreux in 1973. He moved to New York City, and with the help of Off Broadway Theater impresario Ellen Stewart he established La Mama children's theater. He performed with Cecil Taylor, Human Arts Ensemble, Nona Hendryx, Leroy Jenkins, Vernon Reid, Stanley Cowell, Sam Rivers, Philippe Gaillot, Dominique Gaumont and Ornette Coleman. In 1976 he moved to Chicago, where he led bands for Tyrone Davis and other R&B artists. Returning t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Wallets
The Wallets were a band from the Twin Cities, who recorded on the local Twin/Tone Records label in the 1980s. History The Wallets were founded as an experimental group by accordionist Steve Kramer and managed by Bob Hest.Baenen, Jeff (1997)Ex-band mates finf success in ad world, ''Reading Eagle'', December 26, 1997, retrieved 2010-08-25 The Allen Toussaint-produced debut album '' Take It'' was released in 1986, described by ''Spin'' as urban soul and funk with "a Cajun smell to their work". The album saw the band described as "art rockers who not only want to groove but know how to groove"."The Wallets Put Art Rock in the Pocket", ''San Jose Mercury News'', November 16, 1986 Kramer decided to retire the band in spring 1988, but waited until their final album, ''Body Talk'', was released late in the fall before announcing the split."It's official: Wallets will fold as newest album is released", ''Star-Tribune'', November 4, 1988 The Wallets performed their final show at the Guthr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Cale
John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, drone, classical, avant-garde and electronic music. John Cale studied music at Goldsmiths College, University of London (UoL), before relocating in 1963 to New York City's downtown music scene, where he performed as part of the Theatre of Eternal Music and formed the Velvet Underground. Since leaving the band in 1968, Cale has released seventeen solo studio albums, including the widely acclaimed '' Paris 1919'' (1973) and '' Music for a New Society'' (1982). Cale has also acquired a reputation as an adventurous record producer, working on the debut studio albums of several influential artists, including the Stooges and Patti Smith. Early life and career John Davies Cale was born on 9 March 1942 in the mining village of Garnant in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pat Irwin
Pat Irwin (born May 17, 1955) is an American composer and musician who was a founding member of two bands that grew out of New York City's No Wave scene in the late 1970s, the Raybeats and 8-Eyed Spy. He joined The B-52s from 1989 through 2008. He currently performs and records witSUSSwho have released several records on the indie label Northern Spy. He composed the score for the Showtime series, '' Dexter: New Blood.'' Other television scores include HBO's ''Bored to Death,'' Showtime's '' Nurse Jackie,'' and '' The Good Cop'' on Netflix. He has composed scores for many cartoons including ''Rocko's Modern Life'', ''Pepper Ann'', '' A Little Curious'', and '' Class of 3000''. Independent film credits include '' My New Gun'', '' But I'm A Cheerleader'', and '' Bam Bam and Celeste.'' Biography Pat Irwin graduated from Grinnell College in 1977. He received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for international study and moved to Paris after graduation. In Paris he attended composition ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |