Clocking in at barely 9 minutes across six songs, DNA's 1981 EP/mini LP, A Taste of DNA, fascinated me as one of the shortest albums in my collection. I had thought the Ramones were concise, but DNA took the idea of abbreviated to a whole other level. Across the 12" surface of the EP, you could literally count the grooves on the record as they were so far apart.
DNA was fronted by guitarist/vocalist Arto Lindsay (who also appeared on the first Golden Palominos LP), and they were at the forefront of the more avant-garde end of the spectrum of the New York "No Wave" scene. The biggest influence here was discovering that having a guitar in tune was entirely optional and the necessity of articulating actual words was also up for debate. Against the loping, stumbling bursts of Ikue Mori's drums and Tim Wright's bass, Lindsay snarled out guitar string stretching knots while blathering vocals like a psychotic in the middle of a breakdown. It was pure expressionism as music, splattered across the recording tape like a Pollock painting.
DNA was fronted by guitarist/vocalist Arto Lindsay (who also appeared on the first Golden Palominos LP), and they were at the forefront of the more avant-garde end of the spectrum of the New York "No Wave" scene. The biggest influence here was discovering that having a guitar in tune was entirely optional and the necessity of articulating actual words was also up for debate. Against the loping, stumbling bursts of Ikue Mori's drums and Tim Wright's bass, Lindsay snarled out guitar string stretching knots while blathering vocals like a psychotic in the middle of a breakdown. It was pure expressionism as music, splattered across the recording tape like a Pollock painting.
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