Noh Mercy – “Noh Mercy” – [Superior Viaduct]

Noh Mercy is the brainchild of self reportedly heavily drugged Esmeralda on vocal mayhem, and Berklee school of music graduate Tony Hotel on drums. These pissed off ladies got together in San Francisco 1977 as a reaction to the male dominated music scene. Lets go ahead and call this minimalist punk. Its heavily dominated by totally audible vocals and the driving beat of a drumset, with the occasional musings of the moog keyboard or guitar abrasion. Esmeralda produces lovely vocal sounds when she cares to, other times she belts out the music of an angry cat being rubbed in the wrong direction. Her lyrics are merciless and clever, taking stabs at fashion or politics, or just stabbing for fun. Tony Hotel holds down a relentless beat on the drumset, which she has upgraded using an oldsmobile hubcap mounted on a cymbal stand and a piece of round metal found at the junk yard which she plays using a ball-peen hammer. These ladies are sticking it to all that is phallic and materialistic. Their moto is “No boys on guitars”. There is no pretty pink fluff here. – Surfer Rosa