In the 1970s and 1980s, amidst the New Wave frenzy, a visionary scene of experimental electronic music emerged around five art colleges in Massachusetts. Lisbon-based label and record store owner José Moura has now released a fantastic double-feature on some of the scene’s protagonists, consisting of his book »The NoHo Scene 1978-1982« and the »NoHo EP«. The four tracks on the EP, three of which are previously unreleased, showcase their experimental spirit.
The opening track Human Error, with its long saxophone lines over a nervous rhythm, reveals a love of dub and free jazz, coupled with an underlying Suicide-esque paranoia. »Auto Music In The Disco Dub Style« by The Higher Primates is self-explanatory and equally prescient. The vocoder sounds on »Teresa Variations« sound today more like a strange lung examination than a good musical idea. Most striking, however, are the clattering, wheezing drum sounds in »Among Bodge Watt« by The Scientific Americans, which combine with the bass groove and dripping guitar to form a funky, organic whole. The bands on »NoHo EP« were born out of a whole infrastructure of colleges, bars, live venues, studios, record stores, radio stations and magazines. The playful openness and foresight of the tracks is well worth listening to. The record is also a small monument that reminds us of the importance of supporting such structures.
