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.

[8] No wave groups drew on and explored such disparate stylistic forms as minimalism, conceptual art, funk, jazz, blues, punk rock, and avant garde noise music.

[4] According to Village Voice writer Steve Anderson, the scene pursued an abrasive reductionism which "undermined the power and mystique of a rock vanguard by depriving it of a tradition to react against".

[12] In the early 1980s, Downtown Manhattan's no wave scene transitioned from its abrasive origins into a more dance-oriented sound, with compilations such as ZE Records's Mutant Disco (1981) highlighting a playful sensibility borne out of the city's clash of hip hop, disco and punk styles, as well as dub reggae and world music influences.

As described by Pitchfork's Marc Masters: "Mixing the noisy rock leanings of Lou Reed, the minimalist drones of John Cale (via his work with avant-garde pioneer LaMonte Young), and the art world influence of Andy Warhol's Factory, this seminal band provided a comprehensive model for No Wave.

[26] Cromagnon were a 1960s New York City band whose sole album Orgasm was cited by AllMusic's Alex Henderson as foreshadowing no-wave.

[28] No wave musicians such as the Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Mars, DNA, Theoretical Girls and Rhys Chatham began experimenting with noise, dissonance and atonality in addition to non-rock styles.

[34] Impressed by what he saw and heard, and advised by Diego Cortez to do so, Eno was convinced that this movement should be documented and proposed the idea of a compilation album, No New York, with himself as a producer.

[36] Other no-wave groups such as Swans, Suicide, Glenn Branca, the Lounge Lizards, Bush Tetras and Sonic Youth instead continued exploring the forays into noise music abrasive territory.

Among an art installation created by David Wojnarowicz and Joseph Nechvatal, Speed Trials included performances by the Fall, Sonic Youth,[39] Lydia Lunch, Mofungo, Ilona Granet, pre-rap Beastie Boys, 3 Teens Kill 4, Elliott Sharp as Carbon, Swans, the Ordinaires, and Arto Lindsay[40] as Toy Killers.

No Wave filmmakers included Amos Poe, Eric Mitchell, Scott B and Beth B, Jim Jarmusch, Jamie Nares, Coleen Fitzgibbon, Diego Cortez, Charlie Ahearn, Tom DiCillo, Lizzie Borden, Susan Seidelman, Vincent Gallo, Charlie Ahearn, Adele Bertei, David Wojnarowicz, Vivienne Dick, Kiki Smith, Michael McClard, Andrea Callard and Seth Tillett.

[43] For many years the scene was centered around the Mudd Club and Colab's New Cinema Screening Room on St. Marks Place in the East Village.

No Wave Cinema actors included Patti Astor, Steve Buscemi, Cookie Mueller, Debbie Harry, John Lurie, Eric Mitchell, Rockets Redglare, Vincent Gallo, Duncan Hannah, Anya Phillips, Rene Ricard, Arto Lindsay, Tom Wright, Richard Hell, and Lydia Lunch.

[41] In a foreword to the book No Wave, Weasel Walter wrote of the movement's ongoing influence: I began to express myself musically in a way that felt true to myself, constantly pushing the limits of idiom or genre and always screaming "Fuck You!"

In 2007–2008, three books on the scene were published: Stuart Baker's (editor) Soul Jazz Records New York Noise (with photographs by Paula Court),[49] Marc Masters' Black Dog Publishing No Wave (with a foreword by Weasel Walter),[50] and Thurston Moore and Byron Coley's Harry N. Abrams No Wave: Post-Punk.

Shot in black and white and edited on video, the film captured the gritty look and sound of the music scene during that era.