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The New York no wave scene may have been short lived, but the legacy of James Chance/White and the Contortions, Teenage Jesus and The Jerks, DNA, 8 Eyed Spy, Raybeats, Von LMO, Lounge Lizards et al survives. And if James Chance was the male focal point, there’s no denying that Lydia Lunch was the female counter part; who could forget ‘The Closet’?

Well nothing lasts forever and Lunch has moved on since 1979 as we saw a couple of years ago with Smoke In The Shadows that featured Wilco guitarist Nels Cline that oddly came out on Japans Mule Music (a label more known for techno/house but currently I’m into the Padded Cell remix of Sly Mongoose’s ‘Bad Pulse’).

Anyway back to Big Sexy Noise and as a noise queen, lets start on the ‘Noisy Side’ that gets started with a dirge of ‘Baby Faced Killer’ al la that’s a bit Iggy and is ‘saved’ by the Terry Edward’s organ solo (so to speak). And similarly, the Lou Reed cover, ‘Kill Your Sons’ features the sax of Edwards (he of the For Peel compilation and Terry Edwards & The Scapegoats). The noisy side ends on the recessionary punk-soul, ‘Your Love Don’t Pay My Rent’ with a short ‘shocking’ spoken rap and a strangled guitar solo by Johnston.

There’s something of the downtempo X-Ray Spex/Mekons/Gang Of Four meets Sonic Youth about this one but can she turn on the charm for the ‘Sexy’ side. Charm and sexy aren’t really Lunch’s thing, dirt and raw would be better descriptions for ‘Another Man Comin’; “I’ve another man comin’ while the bed is still warm”. You get the idea and it’s a bit more acid jazz-avant punk than the other side.

And if you want to take a walk on the leftbank at night, ‘Bad For Bobby’ is a bit Tom Waits slurred rock’n’roll voodoo with a free-style sax solo; but that’s just the entre for ‘The Gospel Singer’ (co-written with ‘one cool rock chick’ Kim Gordon).

On this evidence, Lydia is better sexy than noise. Fans will know what to expect but if your new to her work, this is a very good introduction; more sexy Lydia please!

Reviewed: Lydia Lunch, James Johnston, Terry Edwards, Ian White - Big Sexy Noise (Sartorial Records) Cat. No. FIT 039LP Release date: June 2009
Tracklisting:
Sexy Side
1 Another Man Comin’ (4:42)
2 Bad For Bobby (3:19)
3 The Gospel Singer (2:56)
Noisy Side
1 Baby Faced Killer (4:19)
2 Kill Your Sons (4:15)
3 Your Love Don’t Pay My Rent (3:37)

Links:
www.lydia-lunch.org
www.terryedwards.co.uk
www.myspace.com/mrterryedwards
www.nelscline.com
www.mulemusiq.com Mule Musiq 5-6-3 Nakameguro Meguroku Tokyo Japan
BIG-SEXY-NOISE-featuring-Lydia-Lunch-Gallon-Drunk
www.myspace.com/satorialrecords