Glenn Branca
The Ascension
Acute Records ACT 2 CD
=========================================
When looking at all the press that followed 99 records' release of Glenn Branca's The Ascension in 1981, one cannot avoid the debate, is The Ascension a rock band performing classical pieces, or an exper imental ensemble performing rock music? Glenn's prior work in the seminal no wave bands The Static and the Theoretical Girls represented some of the most aggressively avant -rock sounds of the New Wave era, while his work in the two decades since has taken on a decidedly "classical" approach. However, for a brief moment, Branca and his band were able to transcend such classifications as High Art vs. Pop Culture, Classical Music vs. Rock and Roll, and release a record that, amongst all the debate, at least ha d all the critics agreeing on one thing: The Ascension is truly awesome.
In 1982, the critic's reference points were the repetitous minimalism of Philip Glass and Steve Reich on one hand, and the "hard rock" of the Ramones on the other. These days it's hard to listen to Glenn Branca without thinking of Sonic Youth, whose two guitarists (Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo) both served tours of duties in Branca's guitar armies. That famous guitar sound, dissonant, jarring, clanging, ringing, chiming, heavenly, beautiful, which first appeared in The Static and the Theoretical Girls, would be used by Sonic Youth in more accessible manners to influence a new generation of alternative rockers. The Ascension features 5 compositions, none a moment too long or too shor t , none too leftfield to be inaccessible, none too mainstream to be boring. Just 40 minutes of sheer guitar bliss.
Acute's release of The Ascension marks its domestic debut on CD, and to celebrate, we've added lots of extras. Our version is completely re mixed by Chicago neo-no wave legend Weasel Walter of The Flying Luttenbachers. We have added a short but intense video clip of Glenn performing live in Soho from 1978. Lee Ranaldo has also supplied us with liner notes that give a fascinating insight not only on his work with Branca, but on the overall social and artistic atmosphere of downtown New York City in the early 80s. Additional artwork by Robert Longo (who designed the original cover) is also included.
www.glennbranca.com
=========================================
CLOSE
The Ascension
Acute Records ACT 2 CD
=========================================
When looking at all the press that followed 99 records' release of Glenn Branca's The Ascension in 1981, one cannot avoid the debate, is The Ascension a rock band performing classical pieces, or an exper imental ensemble performing rock music? Glenn's prior work in the seminal no wave bands The Static and the Theoretical Girls represented some of the most aggressively avant -rock sounds of the New Wave era, while his work in the two decades since has taken on a decidedly "classical" approach. However, for a brief moment, Branca and his band were able to transcend such classifications as High Art vs. Pop Culture, Classical Music vs. Rock and Roll, and release a record that, amongst all the debate, at least ha d all the critics agreeing on one thing: The Ascension is truly awesome.
In 1982, the critic's reference points were the repetitous minimalism of Philip Glass and Steve Reich on one hand, and the "hard rock" of the Ramones on the other. These days it's hard to listen to Glenn Branca without thinking of Sonic Youth, whose two guitarists (Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo) both served tours of duties in Branca's guitar armies. That famous guitar sound, dissonant, jarring, clanging, ringing, chiming, heavenly, beautiful, which first appeared in The Static and the Theoretical Girls, would be used by Sonic Youth in more accessible manners to influence a new generation of alternative rockers. The Ascension features 5 compositions, none a moment too long or too shor t , none too leftfield to be inaccessible, none too mainstream to be boring. Just 40 minutes of sheer guitar bliss.
Acute's release of The Ascension marks its domestic debut on CD, and to celebrate, we've added lots of extras. Our version is completely re mixed by Chicago neo-no wave legend Weasel Walter of The Flying Luttenbachers. We have added a short but intense video clip of Glenn performing live in Soho from 1978. Lee Ranaldo has also supplied us with liner notes that give a fascinating insight not only on his work with Branca, but on the overall social and artistic atmosphere of downtown New York City in the early 80s. Additional artwork by Robert Longo (who designed the original cover) is also included.
www.glennbranca.com
=========================================
CLOSE