Word: punk
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This is the pure ethic of destruction. This is the punk aesthetic taken to one of its logical extremes. This is pure Americana and its every wrecking crew and garbage detail in American suddenly turned loose on a total mission of annihilation. Add this all up, and the Cramps are still way ahead of the game...
Reggae has already been absorbed into the English punk scene. The Clash perform their own blistering versions of reggae tunes. But a group called the Specials, as well as their allied band, Madness, have dusted off ska and made it shine like new. Both bands have had hit singles and albums on their home turf. Now the records have been receiving an encouraging amount of FM air play here, while Specials and Madness concerts around America have been enthusiastically attended by disenfranchised new wavers and punks without portfolio. Ska may or may not be the latest crest...
...Most of the Intensified! tunes have a loping energy, even when the recording quality is dense and almost smothering, as if the musicians were trying to play their way out of a bowl of tapioca. Both the Madness and Specials albums (the latter produced by the sullen genie of punk, Elvis Costello) are careful to preserve a spontaneous sound that just skirts being primitive. The groups rock a little harder than their forebears too. "We were the first band which wanted to combine punk and reggae," says Jerry ("General Dankey") Dammers of the Specials, "because we liked them both." Bass...
...four bands that Eno introduced to the world, only Mars continues to play in the same vein. Unfortunately, their latest single reveals a band without a sense of direction. The other bands, though, have completely restructured themselves. As a result, "no wave" has become as meaningless a term as punk or new wave. James Chance of the Contortions has fired all the musicians from the original Contortions and has broadened his scope so he can become the George Clinton of rock and roll. Robin Crutchfield, organist from DNA, is on his own, developing moody synthesizer compositions, a la Eno. Arto...
From the start, something is wrong. Two songs go by without Lydia's signature guitar playing and manic singing. The music is stripped down farther than Teenage Jesus dared go without losing their punk audience. The bass carries most of the melody. Piano and saxophone add counterpoint. Slow, crashing drums deemphasize the Teenage approach even more...