Another diamond in the rough.... from my vinyl vault: James White & the Blacks,"Off White".

James White & the Blacks, "Off White".

James Chance (in this case under the pseudonym of James White) altered his name/bands name a few times: he usually goes by James Chance & the Contortions (usually the name of his backing band)- but on this particular album its James White & the Blacks; same guy. James Chance was part of the, "No Wave"  music movement in New York in the late 1970's/early 1980's. For those unaware, it was a short-lived music scene and somewhat of an offshoot of punk if you will, but far noisier and much more musically nihilistic. No Wave is somewhat loosely defined, as it is difficult to categorize- is often characterized by often (though not always) repetitive and hard driving rhythms often, dissonant sounds, blending punk, jazz, blues, and dance music with noise. Though I'm not a firm believe in trying to sum up an entire musical movement in a few sentences, let alone one as little known and complex as No Wave- this paints a clear enough picture to give you an idea.

 In the case of James Chance in particular, a common stylistic foundation of his music is for the rhythm section of the bass and drums and horn section to provide a solid and surprisingly somewhat conventional form of funk music, quite similar and perhaps a reinterpretation, very derivative if you will, of James Brown; layered over top with the noisier section of the group featuring the spastic vocal work of the madman that is James Chance, with scratchy guitar, his trademark skronk saxophone, and sometimes piercing and wild keyboard/organ hits.

Back of the sleeve...

That being said, as most of you most likely are not familiar with this, be warned: this music is most definitely not for everyone. In fact, it most likely isn't going to be your cup of tea. Realistically, that's putting it very lightly. However, I've always found the No Wave movement highly interesting. This is a seriously challenging brew of music. It's got elements strangely familiar, elements of funk and disco- but with his incredibly defiant vocal attack and armed with his blaring saxophone over top, shattering the part you know, making it fun and almost scary too; all at the same time. James Chance is definitely a strange guy, but he's weird in a good way, it's very entertaining.

I was lucky enough to pick this little gem up while digging through the used bins in Birdland Records in Virgina Beach for $3. Which feels like a real steal since it goes for a pretty penny of Amazon and Ebay- I checked out of curiosity- other than two reasonably priced Amazon sales- one for $7 and one for $10- the average Ebay seller wants anywhere between $20-40 for it. This is definitely a specialty record for a very specific and specialty buyer. "Contort Yourself" is easily the best number and this is one of multiple recorded versions of this tune. "White Devil" is also a standout; the whole album is good and both represents and follows the sound  that Chance has created his unique style in throughout. James Chance is still going strong today and his discography has some really interesting and wild music for those daring to adventure to a music that even when punk rock was happening at the time, was often too noisy/crazy for a lot of punk rockers (that in itself- is kind've a very weird accomplishment!). If you do like this though, your in for a treat- and similar acts such as Lydia Lunch, the New York Noise compilations (on Soul Jazz Records), the No New York compilation, the Lounge Lizards, and many others will be up your alley too. Also, its definitely worth youtubing some interesting information from Thurston Moore's chats and interviews he did on No Wave after the book he released on it (really neat sometimes hour long talks- he did about several of them I've found on youbtube- just really interesting stories of his). He was a fan of and witnessed quite a bit of these groups in person; and the noisier half of Sonic Youth is obviously musically equivalent in some ways to the No Wave material. If your ears survive this and you find yourself craving more, start with the No New York comp. as it starts off with James Chance himself.