Transmission
Transmission
2006

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-804
Compact disc

Here is an extraordinary excavation from the buried history of the Downtown NYC scene: the unreleased, self-titled Transmission EP, recorded in 1981-82. Comprised of Jonathan Kane and Daniel Galliduani, the duo is one-half of the original version of the behemoth band Swans. Transmission both preceded and ran concurrent with the formation of Swans (Michael Gira was enough of a fan that he mixed Transmission's few live shows), and much of their material evolved into the crucial rhythmic structure of Swans tracks, including the standout "Weakling". 

Even without the historical connection, this is a great record. Unclassifiable within any conventional genre, it recalls the improvisation and complex, trance-inducing beats of North African music while adding a crust of No Wave bluster and enough percussive artillery to sink a small island. Galliduani, whose saxophone is so heavily treated and processed that it sounds like a wall of guitars, lays down drones then adds fierce, Eastern-tinged polyphonics; meanwhile Kane is a frenzied dervish, generating complex cross-tempos and rhythmic subdivisions. Imagine the Master Musicians of Jajouka (the Brian Jones recordings, of course), powered with the crushing intensity of Swans, the twisted esoterica of Public Image's Flowers of Romance and some unbelievably relentless drumming, and you'll get an idea of what we missed by not hearing this 25 years ago. 

Transmission is not only an absolute must-have for fans of either Swans or Jonathan Kane's critically acclaimed present-day releases (not to mention his fine work with Rhys Chatham and La Monte Young), but an essential missing link from that Lower East Side scene of yesteryear.

 

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