Lydia Lunch Albums (20)
'Teenage Jesus and the Jerks: Beirut Slum'
Release Date 9/2/2008
Tracks 29
Label Atavistic
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'Smoke in the Shadows'
Release Date 11/1/2004
Tracks 13
Label Breakin' Beats
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What The Critics Say
While the press materials tout Smoke in the Shadows as Lydia Lunch's "return" to her classic Queen of Siam persona, that assertion is basically erroneous. The truth is, Lydia Lunch has upped the musical ante once more. Much of the material here comes right out of the nocturnal brand of West Coast cinema jazz that accompanied the soundtracks to Farewell My Lovely, The Big Sleep, They Live By Night, and In a Lonely Place as well as countless noir B movies. Lunch employs a stellar band this time out that includes guitarists Nels Cline and Tommy Grenas, drummer Alex Cline, saxophonists Vinny Golia and Niels Van Hoorn (from the Legendary Pink Dots), keyboardist Len del Rio, Terry Edwards, and backing vocalists Adele Bertei (Contortions) and Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers). That said, the jazz here is far more deliberate and intimate; the big-band cuts like "Hangover Hotel," "Johnny Behind the Deuce," and "I Love You Now" feature Lunch offering a spoken/sung narrative that moves into the music accompanying her and never rises above it. The focus is on the entire proceeding, not on her with instrumental backing. Elsewhere, on "Blame," a shimmering minimal hip-hop rhythm track is ornamented with reverbed saxophones and what sounds like a Wurlitzer. Lunch offers a paean to broken love that is alternately tender, empathetic, stylish, and taut emotional drama, like a length of cord beginning to fray. The swirling piano line and out sax fills that kick off "Touch My Evil" become a rap track with layered loops and drum lines. It's gritty, funky, and in the pocket. When a brief vibes solo breaks into the horn-drenched chorus and an Afro-Cuban rhumba, the lid comes off. It's the most adventurous cut on the set and its groove is faultless for all of its chameleon shape-shifting. It is followed by a revamped funky hip-hop joint called "Lost World," which keeps its fangs bared throughout. Smoke in the Shadows is compelling from start to finish. The musical and textural landscapes bleed into and feed off of one another, and Lunch -- as poet, narrator, and singer -- is at the top of her darkly lyrical game. If any comparison can be made to Queen of Siam at all, it is simply that this outing is her finest musical moment since that time. Highly recommended. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Memory and Madness'
Release Date 1/1/2003
Tracks 10
Label Widowspeak
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'Crimes Against Nature'
Release Date 10/19/1999
Tracks 10
Label Atavistic
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What The Critics Say
Originally released by Triple X in 1993 and reissued by Atavistic in 1993, the three-disc set Crimes Against Nature is a strictly spoken-word affair, with pieces ranging from the 90-second "Terminal Distraction" to the nearly 50-minute ramble "Conspiracy of Women." The style of the pieces should be familiar to anyone who's followed Lunch's spoken-word career: unfocused, rambling harangues that regularly score some cogent political and sociological points but are so one-note in their air of complacent self-righteousness and not-as-shocking-as-thought transgressiveness, and so lacking in the antic humor of a Jello Biafra or Henry Rollins that Lunch ends up preaching solely to the choir. Only the most diehard fans of Lunch's spoken-word releases will make it all the way through in a couple of sittings. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
'Universal Infiltrators'
Release Date 1/1/1996
Tracks 1
Label Atavistic
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'Stinkfist & the Crumb'
Release Date 1/1/1996
Tracks 4
Label Atavistic
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What The Critics Say
Stinkfist contains a number of EP-exclusive tracks that Lydia Lunch recorded between 1986 and 1987. The Crumb is her surprisingly successful collaboration with Thurston Moore; even if it is a little light on actual songs, Moore's sounds are continually provocative and challenging. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Drowning in Limbo'
Release Date 10/10/1995
Tracks 12
Label Atavistic
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What The Critics Say
The 12 songs on Drowning in Limbo were originally released on two six-song EPs, 1984's In Limbo and 1985's The Drowning of Lucy Hamilton, before first being combined under this title for the U.K. label Widowspeak in 1989 and reissued in 1995 by Atavistic as part of their in-depth Lydia Lunch reissue program. The Drowning of Lucy Hamilton, the first six tracks, is the soundtrack to one of R. Kern's art-porn fetish films co-starring the titular subject, who also plays piano and Captain Beefheart-style bass clarinet throughout. Lunch's first strictly instrumental work, these six tracks still bear much of her trademark abrasiveness even without her aggressive, caterwauling vocal style, and they're some of her finest work. Those in-your-face vocals return for the six tracks of In Limbo, something of a return to the nearly atonal cacophony of Lunch's earliest work, but with greater delicacy and subtlety thanks largely to collaborator Thurston Moore's skill at varied and intriguing sonic moods. Parts of "Friday Afternoon" are almost pretty, something that could never be said of Lunch's previous work. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
