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Branca, Glenn / Lesson No. 1
Album:Lesson No. 1 Collection:General
Artist:Branca, Glenn Added:Apr 2004
Label:Acute Records 

A-File Activity
Add Date:2004-06-28 Pull Date:2004-08-30 
Week Ending:Aug 22Aug 15Aug 8Aug 1Jul 25Jul 18Jul 11Jul 4
Airplays:41313348

 Recent Airplay
1.May 15, 2018:deep storage
Dissonance, Lesson no 1 for Electric Gui
4.Jul 11, 2017:Waste FM
Lesson no 1 for Electric Gui
2.Feb 25, 2018:On The Warpath
Lesson no 1 for Electric Gui
5.May 07, 2015:The Sunset Life
Lesson no 1 for Electric Gui
3.Feb 14, 2018:Brownian Motion
Bad Smells
6.Jan 29, 2015:The Sunset Life
Lesson no 1 for Electric Gui

Album Review
mike
Reviewed 2004-06-29 
Originally released in 1980 on the famous 99 Records record label this was Branca’s first solo record after playing guitar for two No Wave bands, the Theoretical Girls and The Static. This was also the first record I ever heard that combined the repetitive minimalist ideas of Steve Reich with odd guitar tunings, dissonance and what I would later learn was indie rock. Branca has a lot in common with Rhys Chatham who were/are contemporaries in the NYC scene. Both were some of the first to write longer “rock” pieces for guitar orchestra. There are some some noisy, clanking type tracks but for the most part you get oddly tuned guitars playing repetitive chords creating some beautiful sounds. The bonus track is from 1982 and also has Thurston Moore, Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth and a couple other guitarists for a total of 5 guitars, bass and drums.
**1. Beautiful repetitive dual guitars with some nice organ playing by Anthony Coleman (E Costello, Anita Baker, Blackalicious, ESharp, etc). The Buildup takes it’s time, guitars ring and the melody is wonderful.
2. Sounds improvised to begin but I doubt it is. Percussion is done partially on something other than a normal kit. Guitar is extremely discordant at the beginning with a single wonderful chord played over and over. Just when it builds up and you think they are going to let lose they come to a halt and start over. They build again and stop and start over again. They slow down slowly with about 4 minutes remaining then kick into some noisy percussion and guitar for the last 2 minutes and even have another short tense buildup.
***3. A longer piece which was done for a dance group and includes 5 guitarists! Surprisingly, this has a more obvious rock sound and prominent bass. Builds in intensity for the first 7 or so minutes then jumps into dreamy quiet guitars for a minute then continues on with the intertwined 5 guitars building. About 8 minutes in there is a angular, very no wave section that gets very discordant sounding. The track spends most of the last 5 minutes getting further away from rock. Lots of quiet parts and stop-start guitar.
Excellent stuff -mph

Track Listing
1.Lesson no 1 for Electric Gui 2.Dissonance
 3.Bad Smells