Flashing through the New York underground in the late 1970s, No Wave was the ultimate anti-movement. Its bands consisted of artists and poets untrained in music, looking to explode rock and disappear before the smoke cleared. The primary perpetrators – Lydia Lunch’s howling Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, James Chance’s skeletal Contortions, the dark-noise groups Mars and DNA – all drew on primitivism, performance art, and the avant-garde.

No Wave traces this history, from early pioneers like Suicide and Richard Hell, to forgotten treasures like Red Transistor and Bush Tetras, to descendents like ESG and Sonic Youth. The book also delves into No Wave cinema, where pioneers like Amos Poe, Eric Mitchell, and Beth and Scott B. translated the aggression and innovation of No Wave music to the screen.

Illustrated with rare concert photos, record covers, and other ephemera of the times, and featuring exclusive interviews with key protagonists from the scene, No Wave is the definitive guide to a genre whose sounds and ideas still vibrate through alternative culture today.

Praise for NO WAVE:

"The most in-depth treasure trove yet of one of the most brief yet influential scenes in New York City's rich musical history." - Other Music

"Brings this secret history to vivid life." - Village Voice

"Pretty damn Herculean" - Dusted Magazine

"I can't stop looking at it." - Ian Svenonius

Marc Masters is currently a contributing writer for The Wire, Pitchfork, The Baltimore City Paper, The New York Sun, Paper Thin Walls and Jazz Times. He has also contributed to The Village Voice, The Bob, Sound Collector, and Opprobrium, as well as writing liner notes for several rock and jazz albums.

Weasel Walter is a writer, producer, composer, and musician who has played with countless groups for the past two decades, most notably his own band the Flying Luttenbachers. He has also presented a lecture on No Wave, featuring rare live videos from his hard-earned collection, in venues throughout the United States, and currently maintains a web archive of No Wave photos and information.