Arto Lindsay: The Sensual Art of No Wave - Noisey 8/22/17, 8(57 AM

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Arto Lindsay: The Sensual Art of No Wave

Peter Holslin
PH May 26 2014, 1:30pm

Some of Lindsays best music comes straight from the gutand the
groin.

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Arto Lindsay might be the closest experimental noise has to a soul man. Sure, he doesnt
play actual soul jams. And his trademark guitar style is, on the face of it, kinda unsexy:
rhythmic, atonal, full of discordant bursts and unseemly, metallic feels. But in a career that
goes back nearly 40 years, the no-wave pioneer has put a high premium on feeling,

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expressing universal feelings of love and intimacy even while hes bucking convention.

Lindsay, whos 61 years-old this week and exudes vitality through his big, buggy eyes, is
best known as the former singer and guitarist for DNA, a legendary New York trio that
appeared on the classic No New York compilation in 1978. DNA specialized in a distinct
style of primitive skronk, setting the stage for future noise-rockers like Sonic Youth. But
after the band broke up in 1982, Lindsay branched out with subtler, more sensuous
sounds, conjuring melodious vocal lines, heady synths, and Brazilian rhythms in the duo
Ambitious Lovers and as a solo artist.

His two modes are represented on Encyclopedia of Arto, a new, two-disc compilation out on
Northern Spy Records. The comps first disc is utterly lovely, devoted to Brazilian-tinged
experimental pop from solo records released between 1996 and 2004. The second disc is
more in tune with Lindsays no-wave roots, featuring recent live performances of distinct,
tactile guitar excursions. But while the two discs are radically different, theres some
overlap: The song Illuminated appears on the collection twicefirst as a subdued electro
ballad, then as a mutation of detuned guitar strums and raspy yelps. And thats Lindsay for
you. One moment, hes calm and reflective. The next, hes a beast, ravishing his guitar like
a mate in the jungle.

Sexual power has long played a role in Lindsays music, but he doesnt see himself as
some kind of avant-rock god, deserving of worship. In his solo material, his songs bloom
with heady arrangements and deep samba and bossa-nova rhythms, native to Brazil, where
he grew up. Onstage, Lindsay will let loose with dissonant guitar catharsis, but then hell
deflate the vibe, handing control back to the audience.

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The thing about the sexual power is that you have it and you dont have it. Lets put it this
way: You have it, but you only have it because people give it to you, he says, speaking on
Skype from his home in Rio de Janeiro. I can completely take over and create this strong,
musky mood, and then I can step back and laugh at it, or do something really goofy. I can
go in and out of various kinds of states. Thats something I used to think about a lot when I
first started, because I kind of hated that you had to act like a rock star to be a rock star.

If theres any musical movement that effectively laid waste to the rock star persona, its no-
wave. Emerging in the mid-to-late 70s in New York City, DNA compatriots like Mars and
Teenage Jesus and The Jerks not only rejected the virtuosic techniques of guys like Jimmy
Page and Peter Frampton, but also the stripped-down, three-chord structures of The
Ramones and The Sex Pistols. But Lindsay says he wasnt really reacting to rock n roll; he
was more interested in soulful singers like James Brown and Al Green, who Lindsay reveres
for his versatile, open style.

I feel hes very honest emotionally, without being sentimental. Hes a very deep singer. He
really opens up and sings, he says. Al Green is up there with the greats in any area. Hes
up there with whoever it was that invented the polio vaccine.

DNA may have been exceptionally bizarre, but they also oozed with carnal energy, and
Lindsay has built on that over the years with his distinct guitar style. On the second disc of
Encyclopedia of Arto, he gets particularly steamy in a cover of Al Greens Simply Beautiful,

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rubbing against his amplified strings and letting out an ecstatic yelpYoure simply
beautiful!like hes tangling with a lover between the sheets. It doesnt matter that
Lindsay strays from Greens languorous melody, or does away with the originals
arrangement altogether; its still damn sexy.

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Of course, Lindsays music doesnt compare to Greens own euphoric sound. But it does
put a brighter light on no-wave. Though the movement has long been seen as
fundamentally oppositionalrawer than rock, punker than punk, more fucked up than
almost anythingLindsay emphasizes that this was never the case with he and his
bandmates.

We thought we would go further, and we thought people would like it, he says. We didnt
realize that we would be perceived as so negative and so against stuff.

Lindsay hasnt released a solo album in years, but since moving back to Brazil from New
York in 2004, hes taken his experiments to new heights. In cities across the globe, hes
put on avant-garde carnival parades featuring live percussionists, peculiar audio-visual
effects and amplified philosophical discussions. And in solo shows, hes played with 5.1
surround sound, placing speakers around the room to hit the audience from different
directions.

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I think surround is so interesting. Its just been reduced to, like, bullets and rockets and
Hollywood movies, he says. Nobody ever uses it. And I think theyre afraid. They dont
want you to lose focus on that story, on that screen. Theyre trying to get you to feel that
emotion.

Needless to say, Lindsays work has never been so straightforward as that. And it shows
through in his guitar style: Listening to him play live can be pretty jarring, even
uncomfortable. Still, theres a strong physicality to the way he plucks, smacks and detunes
his strings. A lot of experimental music is all about ideas, sometimes to its own detriment.
But some of Lindsays best music comes straight from the gutand the groin.

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Peter Holslin cant play guitar for shit. Hes on Twitter -@peterholslin

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BRAZIL FEATURES NO WAVE ARTO LINDSAY

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