Interference – “Interference” – [The Social Registry]

Thurston Hunger   1/30/2015   12-inch, A Library

Originally not released in 1982, not picked up by KFJC in 2010 when it
was released, but finally added to KFJC in 2015, and about time. No Wave
New York rightly has a lot of DNA (literally and metaphorically) spliced
and scattered through our 30+ years since its eruption. On initial
listen to the first record of this double-12″, flashes of Branca
orchestras “Number Four”, Band of Susans “Excerpt #1” and other
downtown killer drillers found gold in my musical memory banks.
That being said, the herky-jerky scratch’n’snuff numbers, “Contempt”
and especially “She Said Destroy” felt exciting and new even now.
The former with brittle guitar sounding like an army of tiny
Arnold Dreyblatts, some piano pounding, an accordion wheezing
and team vocals, disaffected and confused/confusing. Excellent!
“She Said Destroy” has a similar propulsion, with a more stripped
down sound, and thus more emphasis on the lyrics, delivered like
a bunch of people walking on the street or riding on bus started
yelling at each other. And the “baby” chorus, with Anne DeMaranis
pouting like a mascara vampire. Two brooding interludes with Eliot
Sharp sounding like a digeri-dude! Cannot go wrong, but can go
in many different directions with the angles cut by the first disk.
Then for good measure, there’s a second disk of remixes of “Excerpt
#1” which are pretty damn tasty as well, and spacey in the thought
provoking way, not blissing out. Kinda Spooky. The bump of the No Wave
bass (kudos to Michael Brown) works its way nicely to the funk
floor, but in fitting with some of the offbeat precedent set originally,
the remixes get some nice kitchen sync drop ins. Also as with the
original Interference folks, not really big names at the remix
console, but working with purpose and passion. David Last was one
name I recognized, and his take was a personal fave, with a jungle
via tabla urgency peppered in. Criterion’s “Interferix” with the
bass scraping, while digital bubbles burst over head also nice.
Feeling like a pretty essential add….finally! All hail our
Sonic Elders!

-Thurston Hunger