James Chance

The Mudd Club opened in seventy-eight as a reaction against the commodified new wave aesthetic, but it became a crucible for experimental musicians who shared equipment and ideas with emerging DJs.

Artists like James Chance pushed the boundaries of dissonance on the sax while squatters turned lofts into listening rooms where Grandmaster Flash would jam on vinyl decks in the basement.

Meanwhile, the graffiti crew known as the Hairspray Kings sprayed walls in Lower Manhattan, creating a visual narrative that matched the sonic noise coming from the club's stage.

Those nights blurred lines because an MC's shout could be heard over a punk set while a graffiti tag emerged on a freshly cleaned wall.

There was Mars, DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Suicide.

But Suicide's not on that record, but there's iterations of James White.

Yeah, and the Contortions.

And they're all playing in the same... world of seeing what can happen with music at the time super aggressive super interesting and so eno just came in with some kind of recording truck set up microphones and recorded all this stuff which is fantastic because it managed to get out to people.

Oh, no way.

Yeah, and I mean, it's interesting, but it's quite hard work because it's musically, you know, you've got James Chance, you've got Lydia

Lunch.

South Bank on Mars.