Music Arcades: Various: New York Noise

This is another birthday present I got last month (along with Simon Finn). I enjoyed the In the Beginning There Was Rhythm compilation, ooh, about five years ago now, and this album is US sibling of that UK late seventies/early eighties punk/funk compilation. Both are the work of Soul Jazz Records, and very good work too in terms of the whole package: track selection, great booklet and notes.

It being a compilation, there's a lot to take in, and I haven't got it all yet. You find ways in. There was one track — the one that sticks out a bit because it's not very funky at all — that sounded like a precursor to Sonic Youth, and sure enough when I looked at the tracklisting it was by Glenn Branca, with whom the Sonic Youth guitarists played around this period. Then there's a track by Defunkt, and last month I saw Defunkt member Joe Bowie playing at the Barbican as one of the Punk-Funk All Stars. I particularly like the track by Material, which, in its use of vocal samples, shows that My Life in the Bush of Ghosts didn't come completely out of nowhere (nothing ever does). Naturally enough Bill Laswell, leader of Material, was sharing notes with his sometime collaborator Eno.

One other thing: I think this album and The Very Best of Chic would make a good pair.