Search - Rhys Chatham :: Chatham: Die Donnergötter (The Thundergods)

This NY-born composer began as a classically trained prodigy, but by 1975, Chatham was fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of John Cale and Tony Conrad with the relentless, elemental fury of The Ramones. It was an inspired amalgamation; the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock, and with it Rhys created a new type of urban music. Raucous and ecstatic, this sound energized the downtown NY scene throughout the late '70s and early '80s, prefiguring the No Wave movement, and casting a huge influence over the subsequent work of Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth. This release contains all of Chatham's best work of the period, vividly documenting those glorious years in the life of a city and a milieu in which the raw, the sophisticated, and the danceable merged, and a new era of rock was born. Includes 32-page book (accompanying the CD version), rare photos, plus essays by Chatham, Tony Conrad, and Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, as well as artwork by famed visual artist Robert Longo. "Blue Oyster Cult and Kiss might've made noises about guitar armies, but it took composer Rhys Chatham to actually deploy one. And there's no other way to say this: it rocks" - Magnet.