DNA

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A New York based band: DNA were formed in 1978 by guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield. Rather than playing their instruments in a traditional manner, they instead focused on making unique and unusual sounds. Their music was described as sparse, noisy, and angular and was compared to some of Captain Beefheart.

DNA originally consisted of Lindsay, Crutchfield, Gordon Stevenson, and Mirielle Cervenka, and took their name from a song by another band, Mars. Stevenson went on to play bass for Teenage Jesus and the Jerks; Cervenka was the younger sister of Exene Cervenka of X. This incarnation of the band was very brief, not playing even one concert. After the rapid departure of Stevenson and Cervenka, Lindsay and Crutchfield hastily recruited Ikue Mori — a Japanese woman with little command of English and no drum set — to be DNA’s drummer.

This lineup of DNA played occasionally at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City and recorded one 7” single. Within their first year, they had cemented their reputation as a paradigmatic No Wave band when Brian Eno selected them as one of the four groups documented on the No New York LP, the first recording to expose No Wave groups to an audience outside of lower Manhattan. The other three bands appearing on this album were The Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and Mars. No Wave was, of course, a movement against .

Shortly after the recording of No New York, Crutchfield left DNA to form a new band, Dark Day. He was replaced by Tim Wright, previously of the Cleveland band Pere Ubu. As Wright played bass guitar and not keyboards, and was the only member of the band to have any conventional instrumental technique, the change in DNA’s sound was dramatic.
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Top Albums

  • DNA - Think Different Remixes EP
    DNA
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  • DNA on DNA
    DNA Play
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  • A Taste of DNA
    DNA Play
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  • DNA - Infinity
    DNA Play
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Top Tracks

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  • satanicazrael

    "an evil grin spreads across my face" ^_^

    Monday morning
  • satanicazrael

    Arto's solo stuff... not so much [2] maybe. i remember being thrown when i first heard lindsay's solo output because it wasn't very avant-garden and also it was a fucking bossanova record, but thats a problem of expectation isnt it. i need to revisit the solo shit but i haven't yet... anyways dna still kicks!

    Monday morning
  • DefaultXR

    bizarro ramones

    last week
  • DefaultXR

    whenever i feel down i just put on DNA. an evil grin spreads across my face and i can barely restrain myself from bursting out into laughter. i love this band so much. i wish they'd made more music but at the same time it makes perfect sense that they didn't. self destructive as it is, punk music will never die :') thank you for existing, DNA.

    March 2012
  • bodevanlot

    The best of no wave, utterly unstoppable.

    March 2012
  • Cachibubu

    No wave is .. certainly different.

    March 2012
  • starbearer-

    I love DNA. Arto's solo stuff... not so much. I think he gets way too much credit for DNA's influence on no wave. The rest of the band and seeing what they moved onto gives me the vibe that they were the main driving force behind the sound.

    February 2012
  • MINIMALSEX

    NO_WAVE, DADAISM !

    February 2012
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