DNA
DNA on DNA

The concept of the old and the new in the world of arts has been analyzed from every point of view. I am certainly not capable of doing it. I am neither a critic nor a scholar, yet I realize that the world of music is so vast in time and space that I never manage to feel updated, to have such knowledge as to master all the references necessary to judge a work.

The curiosity that drives me to obtain such references is never fully satisfied; when one piece is discovered, another is found that reveals new clues in terms of evolution. Evolution that is nourished by temporal influences of innovations made and spatial influences that arise from encounters between different cultures.

All this also to introduce a question I sometimes ask myself: why am I so obsessed with the search for these pieces? Why do I feel like I never arrive? And above all, why am I not at all attracted to recent music releases?

This last question makes me feel a slight sense of guilt towards those new artists who might deserve my attention, yet this fever for the new, the just-released, (even in the field of cinematography) leaves me completely indifferent.

And so, the piece I would like to discover today is that of the DNA, difficult to encounter in the same measure as it is important to know them. Fortunately, No More Records released "DNA of DNA" in 2004, a CD where all the band's material is collected.

DNA formed in 1978, their genre is defined as "No Wave." They capture the punk spirit by stealing its anger and anarchic musical approach, the very negation of the didactic musician. We are not in England but in the Big Apple, at a crucial moment for the music of the new millennium. Their first recording appears on a collection curated by Brian Eno, titled "No New York." Their only record release will be an EP published by Rough Trade, "A Taste of DNA," which remains the best moment of the collection in question. "DNA of DNA" also collects pieces composed for the theater; "Fruit Of The Original Sin," live and unreleased songs.

DNA is a trio, composed of Arto Lindsay, Ikue Mori, and Tim Wright, (a bassist departing from Pere Ubu just before they recorded their first record), who replaced the keyboardist Robin Crutchfield.

With Tim Wright on bass, the music gains more consistency and body but the structures of the pieces do not soften; they remain crazy and sharp, the musical deconstruction and "antipop" spirit do not weaken at all. It is especially Arto Lindsay with his personal way of playing the guitar and singing, that defines this new musical approach; he squeaks, makes noise, scratches, creaks. Astonishes. He sets trends without having studied.

The life of the band is short, only four years, but it leaves a mark, a mark of madness and courage of a half-Brazilian and a Japanese, a crossroad of two different worlds in the Big Apple where anything is possible. The end of DNA will be the beginning of two fantastic musical careers, which will lead the two towards separate but related paths, in originality and coherence.

Let's now try to place the DNA piece back in its place in history.

Who is capable of seeing which influences they left around them?

Who will manage to listen from which musical cells echoes the heritage of their genetic code?