They are awfully different, and I don't know how interested I am personally in the NY Dance disc, but both look pretty cool. I think it's really cool that the Post Punk volume includes new bands with a similar 'sensibility.'
[V.A.] "Post Punk Vol. 01" (Rough Trade/Mute) CD $19.99
[V.A.] "New York Noise" (Soul Jazz) CD $16.99
RealAudio:
These two essential compilations cover a similar time period, but each is
successfully different in its intent. A two-CD set, Rough Trade Shops'
"Post Punk 01" places the era's more acknowledged artists like Gang of
Four, Au Pairs, PiL, Young Marble Giants, Wire, The Slits, Swell Maps,
Magazine and The Fall, next to harder to find and possibly forgotten gems
from The Prats, World Domination Enterprises, Delta 5, UK Decay, Mo-
Dettes, New Age Steppers, and Maximum Joy. The unifying theme of this
44-track compilation is a similar spirit that stemmed from these performers'
shared sense of adventurism. But rather than acting purely as a timepiece,
the Rough Trade collection also fast forwards to the present and features a
new, new wave of artists who have welcomed the influences from more than 20
years ago into their own music. (These now-bands include Rapture, Rogers
Sisters, Erase Errata, Life Without Buildings, Chicks On Speed and Les
Georges Leningrad.)
Subtitled "Dance Music from the New York Underground 1978-1982", "New
York Noise" celebrates the more percussive, sometimes spastic, and often
funky sounds which once emanated from NYC's Lower East Side. The artists
here mimic the city's melting-pot-history, inventing their own rules and infusing a
more radical array of influences (the convergence of free jazz, Latin, Disco,
punk, hip hop, experimental composers, etc.) while welcoming the
participation of Downtown painters, graffiti artists, actors, photographers, film
makers and writers. This 16-track album is a fantastic primer for an amazingly
creative era in NYC. A detailed CD booklet offers short biographies on all the
featured artists which include Material, Mars, Dinosaur L and Arthur Russell,
Glenn Branca and Theoretical Girls, Rahmelzee Vs K. Rob (produced by
Jean-Michel Basquiat), Konk, Defunkt, The Dance, and The Bloods. The liner
notes also gives a brief history lesson on local labels 99 Records and Ze, and
insights on the emergence of no wave, punk-funk, hip hop, and electro. Both the
Soul Jazz and Rough Trade collections necessarily include a few of the same
bands (Liquid Liquid, ESG, Bush Tetras and DNA) but feature different tracks.
(James Chance's "Contort Yourself," is the only repeat song to appear on
both comps, but each contains a different version.) There's no way to recommend
one collection over the other; they're both fantastic.
"Post Punk 01"
http://www.othermusic.com/perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=72435906472&refer_url=email "New York Noise"
http://www.othermusic.com/perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=502632810077&refer_url=email
