Pere Ubu
The Modern Dance

THE REVIEW

The new wave is often hermetic music, almost "unpleasant," but rich in precious and brilliant insights, capable of fusing rock and avant-garde; certainly, Pere Ubu provides a valid example of what has been said: teetering between Velvet Underground and Captain Beefheart, the band from Cleveland has managed to express a sound capable of mastering noise without fear, with frequent references also to psychedelia, free-jazz, and electronics.

With "The Modern Dance" (1978), Ubu expresses the condition of alienation and anguish of man in industrial society (like the city of Cleveland) which, with its ruthless economic and social mechanisms, leads to the inevitable spiritual death of the individual; the music of Pere Ubu takes on paradoxical characteristics: it is both an expression of human resignation and its anxieties but at the same time, it is also anarchic music (an expression of rebellion) totally free from tonal schemes, configured as opposition to the presence of rock within industrial mechanisms, as a protest against rock as fashion and merchandise. "Non Alignment Pact" is a crossover of unruly vocalizations, electronic distortions, hypnotizing guitar work, and essential and primal rhythms; "Modern Dance" best expresses the concepts of alienation and delirium through obsessive and pounding rhythms and thanks to an anti-aesthetic use of electronics that emphasizes the tragic and estranging atmosphere of the piece. The apocalyptic "Street Waves" is also seminal, revisiting the themes of "Modern Dance"; the hermetic ballads "Real World" and "Over My Head" are also commendable, while "Laughing" testifies to the variety of Ubu's sound, incorporating jazz sounds and psychedelic dissonances. "Sentimental Journey" is a valid example of Dadaist music, understood as noise and clamor, but never for its own sake, as it once again excellently expresses the anxieties and contradictions of industrial civilization.

The modern dance of Pere Ubu takes on obscene and dark connotations, its sole purpose is to delve into the human soul to bring to the surface its fears, its delusions, and its perversions: Thomas' graceless singing is the voice of despair and madness that rises almost derisively and cynically against the backdrop of an apocalyptic civilization.