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GLENN BRANCA
Lesson No.1 (Acute)
Reviewed by Sherman Wick
Despite Glenn Branca's influence on modern guitar music, his recorded work is often difficult to obtain. Lesson No. 1 is a particularly rare, until now, recording of his early work. The New York City composer began his career as a rock guitarist, most notably with the Theoretical Girls; he then went on to compose numerous symphonies for the guitar, frequently with eight or more of the instrument at the center of the composition.
The music for Lesson No. 1 is not as ambitious in orchestration, but it is effectively realized as a piece of music. The title track was originally released on 99 Records in 1980. The instrumentation is a rather typical rock line up of two guitars, bass, drums and organ, but with several compositional twists. During the course of the eight-minute instrumental Branca explores a wide swath of musical territory. The composer added multiple guitar overdubs in the recording process. The simple guitar pattern is layered; it closely resembles the minimalist keyboard compositions of Terry Riley. After a few minutes Stephen Wischerth's drums commence, and they alter the song by propelling the music. Gradually the instruments build in volume and intensity before a dramatic crescendo concludes the track.
"Dissonance" is a musical study based on its title. Relatively tame by today's standards, it is a more structured version of late 70s New York No Wave music ala DNA. Branca is accompanied by keyboard, bass, drums-and sledgehammer! The sledgehammer provides fills like an extra percussion instrument. The guitars are again paramount in presenting the music. During the almost twelve-minute track plenty of stunts are performed, from high speed trilling to cacophonous muted clangor.
"Bad Smells" is not as well realized as the other tracks. Clocking in at over 16-minutes, it points in the direction of his later guitar symphony work; five guitarists create a loud and menacing multi-layered track. There are numerous cool parts, but as a composition is not as well integrated. Instead, it is a collection of guitar freakouts cobbled together. It does, however, show where several of the tricks in the Sonic Youth guitar arsenal came from. Sonic Youth guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo perform on this track, and it's a far cry from Moore's work with the Television inspired power pop of his other pre-Sonic Youth group, the Coachmen. This is a must have recording for aficionados of the No Wave or those who are curious about the roots of Sonic Youth and experimental indie rock guitar.
© 2005 - Sherman Wick