Portable Madness

Here’s one of the great peripheral no wave LPs, Jill Kroesen’s Stop Vicious Cycles from 1982 on Lovely Music. Kroesen has worked solo and as part of Robert Ashley’s ensemble. One of these tracks was picked up recently for Soul Jazz’s New York Noise series of CD reissues, which prompted me to pull out this LP and re-realize how good it was.

Featuring a plethora of NYC skronkers (Peter Gordon, Blue Gene Tyranny, George Lewis, Tony Machine, David van Tieghem, and two thirds of the first Massacre lineup in Fred Maher and Bill Laswell, plus none other than Arthur Russell on one track), this LP runs from rhythmic excursions ala Material to solo piano/voice excursions that showcase Kroesen in full-throated blooz, almost in a Tom Waitsian mode.

Recommended most highly…

Jill Kroesen – Stop Vicious Cycles