Lydia Lunch

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Lydia Lunch
Background information
Birth name Lydia Anne Koch[1]
Born June 2, 1959 (1959-06-02) (age 52)[1]
Origin Rochester, New York
Genres No wave, Post-punk, Avant-garde, Spoken word
Occupations Singer, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1976–present
Labels ZE Records
Associated acts Teenage Jesus and the Jerks
8-Eyed Spy
Big Sexy Noise
Harry Crews
Sonic Youth

Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch on June 2, 1959 in Rochester, New York[1]) is an American singer, poet, writer, and actress whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave scene.[2] The Boston Phoenix named Lunch "one of the 10 most influential performers of the 1990s."[3]

Her work typically features provocative and confrontational delivery and has maintained an anti-commercial ethic[citation needed], operating independently of major labels and distributors.[4]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Lydia Lunch moved to New York City from Rochester at the age of 13 in 1973 with what she described having nothing but "a small red suitcase, a winter coat, and a big fucking attitude."[5] Lunch moved into a communal household of artists and musicians in NYC, including Kitty Bruce, daughter of Lenny Bruce[citation needed]. She soon earned the surname "Lunch" by stealing lunches for her often starving artist friends.[6] After befriending Alan Vega and Martin Rev at Max's Kansas City, she founded the short-lived but influential No Wave band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, with James Chance. Both Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and The Contortions, Chance's subsequent band, played on the No Wave compilation No New York, produced by Brian Eno. Lunch later appeared on two songs on James White and the Blacks album, Off-White.

She appeared in two films by directors Scott B and Beth B. In the Black Box (1978) she played a dominatrix, and in Vortex (1983) she played a private detective named Angel Powers. During this time, she also appeared in a number of films by Vivienne Dick, including She Had Her Gun All Ready (1978) and Beauty Becomes The Beast (1979), co-starring with Pat Place.

In the mid-1980s she formed her own recording and publishing company called "Widowspeak" on which she continues to release her own material, from music to spoken word.[7]

Lunch's solo career featured collaborations with musicians such as J. G. Thirlwell, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Nick Cave, Marc Almond, Billy Ver Plank, Steven Severin, Robert Quine, Sadie Mae, Rowland S. Howard, Michael Gira, The Birthday Party, Einstürzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth, Oxbow, Die Haut, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Black Sun Productions, and French band Sibyl Vane, who put one of her poems to music. She also wrote, directed and acted in underground films, sometimes collaborating with underground filmmaker and photographer Richard Kern and more recently has recorded and performed as a spoken word artist, again collaborating with such artists as Exene Cervenka, Henry Rollins, Juan Azulay, Don Bajema, Hubert Selby Jr., and Emilio Cubeiro, as well as hosting spoken-word performance night The Unhappy Hour at the Parlour Club.[8] Additionally, she has authored both traditional books and comix (with award-winning graphic novel artist Ted McKeever).

Lunch released her studio album Smoke in the Shadows in November 2004 through Atavistic Records and Breakin Beats after a six-year break from music.[9][10] Nels Cline, the lead guitarist of alternative rock band Wilco, was featured on the album.[11] Smoke in the Shadows was met with positive reviews by Allmusic,[12] PopMatters,[9] and Tiny Mix Tapes.[13]

Lunch formed the band Big Sexy Noise in 2009 with James Johnston and Terry Edwards (both members of the band Gallon Drunk).[14] A six-track eponymous EP was released on June 1, 2009 through Sartorial Records.[15] The EP included a cover of Lou Reed's song "Kill Your Sons" and "The Gospel Singer", a song co-written with Kim Gordon.[11] In 2010 she released, with Big Sexy Noise, their first album. In 2011, they released Trust The Witch, her second album with Big Sexy Noise. For both albums, Lydia Lunch and her band have made concert tours around the world.

[edit] Literature

In 1997, Lunch released Paradoxia, a loose autobiography, in which she documented her early life, sexual history, substance abuse and mental health problems.[16] Time Out New York gave it a favorable review,[17] while Bookslut ambiguously concluded "It’s to the reader to determine whether Lunch’s study goes deeper than that, or if instead, it’s a kind of literary and philosophical repetition compulsion, a reprisal of greatest hits from male nihilists, sexual adventurers and chroniclers of deviance."[17] PopMatters called it a "brutal but boring and predictable circus, about which Lunch shows no emotions. Only fatigue seems to have given her pause."[18] Other reviewers praised Lunch's candor while expressing reservations about her prose.[19][20]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Music

[edit] Spoken word

  • Better An Old Demon Than A New God, Giorno Poetry Systems comp. f/ William S. Burroughs, Psychic TV, Richard Hell and others (1984)
  • The Uncensored, solo (1984)
  • Hard Rock, solo (split cassette w. Michael Gira / Ecstatic Peace, 1984)
  • Oral Fixation, solo (12", 1988)
  • Our Fathers who Aren't in Heaven, w. Henry Rollins, Hubert Selby Jr. and Don Bajema (1990)
  • Conspiracy of Women, solo (1990)
  • South of Your Border, w. Emilio Cubeiro (1991)
  • POW, solo (1992)
  • Crimes Against Nature, solo spoken-word anthology (Tripple X/Atavistic, 1994)
  • Rude Hieroglyphics, w. Exene Cervenka (Rykodisc, 1995)
  • Universal Infiltrators, (Atavistic, 1996)
  • The Devil's Racetrack (2000)
  • Flood Stains, w. Juan Azulay (2010)

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Actress

  • She Had Her Gun All Ready, directed by Vivienne Dick (1978)
  • Guerillere Talks, directed by Vivienne Dick (1978)
  • Rome '78, directed by James Nares (1978)
  • Black Box, directed by Scott and Beth B (1979)
  • Beauty Becomes the Beast, directed by Vivienne Dick (1979)
  • The Offenders (1979–1980)
  • Liberty's Booty (1980)
  • Subway Riders, directed by Amos Poe (1981)
  • The Wild World of Lydia Lunch, directed by Nick Zedd (1983)
  • Like Dawn to Dust, directed by Vivienne Dick (1983)
  • Vortex, directed by Scott and Beth B (1983)
  • Submit to Me, directed by Richard Kern (1985)
  • The Right Side of My Brain, directed by Richard Kern (1985)
  • Fingered, directed by Richard Kern (1986)
  • Submit to Me Now, directed by Richard Kern (1987)
  • Mondo New York (1987)
  • Penn & Teller's Invisible Thread (1987)
  • Penn & Teller's BBQ Death Squad (198?)
  • Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends (1990)
  • Kiss Napoleon Goodbye, directed by Babeth vanLoo (1990)
  • The Road to God Knows Where (1990)
  • Thanatopsis, directed by Beth B (1991)
  • Visiting Desire (1996)
  • Power of the Word (1996)
  • The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)
  • Kill Your Idols (2004)
  • Psychomentsrum (unreleased)
  • Godkiller: Walk Among Us (2010) (Voice Role)

[edit] Writer

  • The Right Side of My Brain (1985)
  • Fingered (1986)

[edit] Composer

  • The Offenders (1980)
  • Vortex (1983) (W/John Lurie, Adele Bertei, Pat Place, Beth B and Scott B)
  • The Right Side of My Brain (1985)
  • Goodbye 42nd Street (1986)
  • Fingered (1986)
  • I Pass for Human (2004)
  • Flood stains (2010)

[edit] Subject

  • The Wild World of Lydia Lunch (1983)
  • Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends (1987)
  • Put More Blood into the Music (1987)
  • The Gun is Loaded (1988–1989)
  • The Road to God Knows Where (1990)
  • Malicious Intent (1990)
  • The Thunder (1992)
  • Totem of the Depraved (1996)
  • Paradoxia (1998)
  • Lady Lazarus: Confronting Lydia Lunch (2000)
  • Kiss My Grits: The Herstory of Women in Punk and Hard Rock (2001)
  • DIY or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist (2002)
  • Kill Your Idols (2004)

[edit] Narrator

[edit] Plays

(both written, acted, directed and produced with Emilio Cubeiro)

  • South of Your Border (1988)
  • Smell of Guilt (1990)

[edit] Books

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Martin Charles Strong. The Great Indie Discography. 2003, page 85
  2. ^ New York Times
  3. ^ "Lydia-lunch.org - The Official Lydia Lunch Website - Biography". Lydia-lunch.org. http://www.lydia-lunch.org/biography.html. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  4. ^ New York Times
  5. ^ "Lydia Lunch Interview << Money Jungle Safari". WordPress. 16 October 2008. http://sheltonhull.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/lydia-lunch-interview/. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  6. ^ Sankey, Elizabeth (23 June 2009). "NME Album Reviews - Album Review: Lydia Lunch - "Big Sexy Noise' - NME.COM". NME. http://www.nme.com/reviews/lydia-lunch/10600. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  7. ^ Atavistic.com
  8. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jul/02/news/lv-unhappy2
  9. ^ a b Horning, Rob (27 January 2005). "Lydia Lunch: Smoke in the Shadows < PopMatters". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/lunchlydia-smoke. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  10. ^ "Lydia Lunch - Interview - MagnaPhone Magazine - Pure Music". http://www.magnaphonemagazine.com/issue3/features/interview-lydia-lunch.html. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  11. ^ a b Hectic, Gerry (27 June 2009). "LYDIA LUNCH - BIG SEXY NOISE". Fly. http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/europe_reviews/lydia_lunch_big_sexy_noise.html. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  12. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Smoke in the Shadows". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/album/smoke-in-the-shadows-r716306. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  13. ^ "Lydia lunch - Smoke in the Shadows". Tiny Mix Tapes. 2004. http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/lydia-lunch-smoke-shadows. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  14. ^ "MELTDOWN: Lydia Lunch's Big Sexy Noise + Cindytalk". Time Out. http://www.timeout.com/london/music/event/220916/meltdown-lydia-lunchs-big-sexy-noise-cindytalk. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  15. ^ "iTunes - Music - Big Sexy Noise - EP by Lydia Lunch & Big Sexy Noise". iTunes. http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/big-sexy-noise-ep/id314196851. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
  16. ^ Nothing's Shocking: An Interview With Lydia Lunch, Drew Fortune, 18 July 2008]
  17. ^ a b New York Time Out
  18. ^ PopMatters
  19. ^ Feminist Review
  20. ^ Lydia Lunch's Autobiographies

[edit] External links


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