The year is 1977 and British punk rock is at its divine height. The Sex Pistols are trying to incite Anarchy in the U.K. and the Clash are So Bored With the U.S.A. But maybe they shouldn’t be. Across the Atlantic Ocean Arto Lindsay and his band D.N.A. are shaping an equally important musical revolution.
Nurtured in a thriving pre-1980s East Village art scene, the genre is deemed no-wave, and it’s a few steps ahead of punk rock in dissonance, confrontation and style. By 1978 Lindsay and D.N.A. are at the helm of this new sound. And they prove that an out-of-tune 12-string guitar and a cymbal-less drum set could redefine conceptions of rock music with a wildly inventive discordance that couldn’t be ignored. Lindsay is so ahead of his time, many listeners outside of the downtown music scene won’t recognize the brilliance of D.N.A. for another 15 years.
During the next two decades the landscape of American music changed drastically. Fortunately, Lindsay’s D.N.A. days were documented in the highly regarded No New York. But Lindsay certainly didn’t hang up his hat after D.N.A.’s demise. In fact, the pendulum of Lindsay’s sonic palette has swung back and forth between noisy no-wave to wavy no-noise. It may come as a surprise to some, considering that his signature guitar clamor became a hallmark in American art music. Lindsay’s strength as an artist obviously lies in his dynamism, and his latest effort, Prize (Righteous Babe Records), is the evidence.
Prize lands on the smoother, more sonorous side of Lindsay’s musical fence. A placid mix of dulcet harmonies, Latin rhythms and sonic textures topped off with Lindsay’s hushed whisper make for an eclectic yet modest collection of sounds. The cool beat of Ondina wouldn’t sound out of place on A Tribe Called Quest’s Love Movement. The emphatic bounce of The Prize wouldn’t sound out of place on Tortoise’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die. This quiet versatility keeps Lindsay’s music dynamic and intriguing to the point where one can’t help but wonder who is influencing who.
In the end, influence is inconsequential. Lindsay has shown that he’s no longer interested in playing the me-first game of musical innovation. Instead, Prize‘s world-music rhythms set Lindsay’s androgynous love songs in motion. This gentle push toward universality captures Lindsay’s crafting of a new global easy listening with a persistent pulse.
