For those still thinking Electric Six are hardcore, direct yourself immediately to this reissue of the two studio albums of NYC punk/funk saxophonist/singer James Chance, one of the most confrontational figures in the No Wave movement. Buy is the more ‘purist’ record: askew Beefheartian rhythms meet Ornette harmolodics topped with Chance’s frustrated crooning.
Off White was the more ‘commercial’ album. “Contort Yourself” from the first album is reworked and discofied by August Darnell (aka Kid Creole) to stunning effect. Hear in particular how, on the telephone sex duet with Lydia Lunch, “Stained Sheets”, Chance’s unstable masculinity surrenders blissfully to Lunch’s feminisation of his noise.
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