Glenn Branca - 1980 - Lesson No 1

Glenn Branca ‎– Lesson No. 1
Label:
Acute Records ‎– ACT005 cd(adv)
Format:
CD, Remastered, Enhanced, Promo
Country:
US
Released:
2004
Genre:
Electronic
Style:
Modern Classical, Noise


Tracklist
1 Lesson No. 1
Bass – F.L. Schröder
Guitar – Michael Gross (2)
Organ – Anthony Coleman
8:13
2 Dissonance
Bass – F.L. Schröder
Keyboards – Anthony Coleman
Performer [Sledgehammer] – Harry Spitz
11:37
3 Bad Smells
Bass – Jeffrey Glenn
Guitar – David Rosenbloom, Lee Ranaldo, Ned Sublette, Thurston Moore


Upon Lesson No. 1‍ '​s original release, John Rockwell wrote for The New York Times that "the effects and textures Mr. Branca achieves are really remarkable, and the sound…is unlike anything in music."

Lesson No. 1 applies repetitive techniques that Branca learned from Chatham and Jeff Lohn.[3] It combines these minimal music compositions with the aesthetics of punk rock.[13] Branca uses dense overtones and shifting melodies created from repeated electric guitar parts.[3] The guitars build during extended crescendoes.[13]

"Lesson No. 1 for Electric Guitar" was inspired by Joy Division's 1980 single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and the work of composer Steve Reich.[14][11] It opens with two-note guitar figures similar to Reich's experiments with phasing.[11] It introduces one-note parts on the organ and bass that gives the sense of harmonic progression,[15] and drums enter the arrangement three minutes into the track.[16] The piece is a structured improvisation where Branca specified the musical and tonal structures, but the strumming technique was improvised.[17]