If I was a fraction as cool as I sometimes like to pretend I am, I could blithely rattle off a litany of pithy factoids about Crash Course in Science, a sort of primitive electronic trio from Philadelphia. But, I’m just not that cool, alas, and must cop to the fact that I only learned about them today.
Posted by one Weasel Walter, erstwhile member of the Flying Luttenbachers and current guitarist for Lydia Lunch’s Retrovirus, on a Facebook group about No Wave, “Cardboard Lamb” by Crash Course in Science — below — dates back to the grainy wilds of 1981. The band were allegedly fixtures on the NYC club scene, and released an EP around the same era, along with making appearances on New Jersey's own "Uncle Floyd Show." I'm not sure what transpired between then and now, but they’ve gone onto release two full albums since 2010.
Not sure if the “ahead of their time” flourish is entirely applicable, but CCiS dd seem to prefigure a lot of more minimalist electronic pop of more recent years — Cold Cave kinda springs to mind, what little of them I know.
In any case, I was more struck by the footage in the video below. While I know as recently as yesterday I made a declaration that I feel slightly uncomfortable lapsing into anything overtly nostalgic during the turbulence of the COVID-19 era, but this clip does hearken back to decidedly simpler age. Study the visuals, and you’ll notice the big Con Ed plant at the eastern end of 14th Street and what looks like the Williamsburg Bridge as two of the primary locations.
What is it all about? Hell if I know.
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