E225: Adele Bertei on New York's No Wave scene

About this episode

Adele Bertei returns to discuss her book on New York's No Wave scene and her experiences in the late '70s music scene.

In this episode we welcome back the marvellous Adele Bertei — five years after she first guested on our show — to talk about her amazing new book No New York. Beginning with a definition of the postpunk sub-genre "No Wave", the former Contortion recalls her experience of living in Manhattan's perilous East Village in the late '70s and playing organ behind the unhinged James Chance. She also pays tribute to the many fearless women who "shaped the scene", first and foremost the formidable Lydia Lunch. Our guest recalls working as a go-fer for Brian Eno and then being a crucial part of the No New York album the former Roxy Musician oversaw in 1978. We hear not just about Chance's Contortions and Lunch's Teenage Jesus & the Jerks but about Mars, DNA, the Bush Tetras and finally Adele's own funky feminist troupe the Bloods. After collective reflections on No Wave's slow dissolution — and Adele's subsequent '80s adventures with the likes of Thomas Dolby — Barney and Jasper rave about the week's featured artist Robyn and the week's featured audio, in which the late Chip Taylor reminisces about such classic hit songs as 'Wild Thing' and 'Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)'. Finally, Mark…

People in this episode

Hosts: Barney Hoskyns, Mark Pringle, Jasper Murison-Bowie

Guest: Adele Bertei

Topics covered

• No Wave music
• Adele Bertei
• postpunk sub-genre
• East Village
• female musicians
• music history
• album production

Keywords

• No Wave
• Adele Bertei
• James Chance
• Lydia Lunch
• Brian Eno
• music history
• East Village
• female musicians
• postpunk

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Talking Heads, Faber

Books & works: No New York, No New York: A Memoir of No Wave and the Women Who Shaped the Scene, Marshall Mathers LP, Wild Thing, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)

Places: Manhattan, East Village

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