Teenage Jesus & The Jerks – Orphans

The anti-everything of No Wave was a collective caterwaul that defied categorization, defiled the audience, despised convention, shit in the face of history, and then split — Lydia Lunch

Lydia Lunch is fucking badass. It’s hard not to be inspired by someone with such a fuck you, anti-commercial, DIY attitude. An angry — and intelligent woman, she is predictably hated by many but in my opinion Lunch was, and is one of the realest people in music, straight up legit.

I came across Lydia Lunch by chance, I first heard the name after seeing her in the film clip to Porn.Darsteller’s Brigitte, in which a scene of a nude Lydia writing lustfully on the floor from Richard Kern’s film Submit To Me Now loops hypnotically on a TV screen. Sometime after I saw an LP of her first solo album Queen of Siam at a record fair and though I hadn’t heard her music took a chance and bought it. I’ll post something from Queen of Siam later but as you can guess ever since then I have been a huge fan of her work.

Orphans is the opening track of the pink EP from Lydia’s first musical venture Teenage Jesus & The Jerks. One of the most important names in New York’s short lived but influential no wave scene, Teenage Jesus’ sound is an abrasive, all-out assault on the senses. Though they are probably not too familiar a name outside underground circles, and despite leaving only 18 short recorded tracks they were a huge influence on later post-punk bands including The Birthday Party and Sonic Youth as well as the burgeoning noise scene.

I think the film clip posted at the top was made by a fan but unfortunately I don’t have any more details.

Teenage Jesus & The Jerks – Orphans

Jackie Ransom – Final Exposure

Miami might be best known for cocaine, vice, Miami Bass and sunshine, but what you might NOT be aware of is that there is some seriously dark and experimental wave music coming out of Miami. Probably the best known, is Staccato Du Mal — he had several tracks on each of the Wierd LPs, as well as a handful of great independently released 7″s and CDRs under various aliases and collaborations (including a beautiful 7″ with vocals by Liz Wendelbo of Xeno & Oaklander) on his own label SDM.

Another member of this lesser known Miami underground is Miss Jackie Ransom. Like Staccato Du Mal, Jackie shares a certain punk aesthetic to her music — using exclusively analogue instruments, including cheap synthesizers, lofi drummachines and guitar, all played live: one-take recordings of every track, often improvising with vocals and synth riffs as the track is coming along, making for a raw and unique sound.

Final Exposure is from Jackie’s upcoming album Cell Death. Featuring 8* (the vocalist from Flesh Græy Display) credited for vocals, guitar and mistake — yes you read that correctly. A duet of haunting vocals between Jackie and 8*, with dark and poetic lyrics with maybe just a slight nod to Joy Division.

The video clip was also made by Ms. Ransom herself, a disturbing collage of old archive video footage of hypnotism, psychology and sight, edited into a horrifying film noir nightmare. Once again that punk DIY aesthetic and imagination shines through, saying fuck to the million dollar video clips we are assaulted with any time we switch on a TV.

I have a split 7″ on the way with Miss Ransom, featuring her track Killer Inside (which will also appear on Cell Death and the upcoming Doom & Glamour album on Zerohour) and my track Eternal, with vocals from Beta Evers. Two great songs if I may say so myself, and it also features some beautiful artwork by the ever-amazing Caitlin Shearer. It will be released shortly on Zerohour so stay tuned baby!

Ms. Ransom also plays in electronic improv rock project Mascara Scare with 8* and Jackie Soir — check them out.

Jackie Ransom – Final Exposure