Arto / Neto

Whilst the power/ideas of some of the initial no-wave groups (ie. Lydia Lunch & James Chance’s outfits) has since been eroded –due in part to their aesthetic becoming a style in itself (ie. Lydia Lunch ended up pioneering an anti-style that became as standard as sped up Chuck Berry riffs…) among the undergrowth of the no-wave “discography” there still remains bizarre and unusual music. Possibly one of the more perplexing items (along with 'U.S. Millie', the final Mars EP, and the Boris Policeband 7") is the one-off collaboration between S. Neto (real name; Seth Tillet, artist/designer/early Contortions guitarist) and Arto Lindsay (DNA, Lounge Lizards etc.), Arto/Neto 'Pini, Pini', an oblique two track (four track?) single (EP?) recorded mid 1978. 

The music itself, while strange, is not a radical departure for the two artists, "Pini, Pini" is seemingly...straight ahead (rhythmically speaking) foreshadowing Arto Lindsays later work as Ambitious Lovers; post-disco/pre-techno hi-hats loop (the lack of kick drum or any other rhythmic element undermining any potential as a dance floor "mutant disco" tune) over a fake-Jamaican spoken word -trademark Lindsay guitar outbursts intrude, but very sparingly and unpredictably. "Malu" is similar to what Lindsay was doing with DNA during that time, very out. Coming off like some lost track from New York In The 1960’s box, "European Son" style guitar scrapes away alongside/against a constant fiddle drone, not unlike a one-note hoedown ala Henry Flynt. Bass and drums (drum?) punch in like Angus Maclise sitting in on bongos (is that Ikue Mori and Tim Wright helping out?), but only barely (as if someone accidentally opened a door, then quickly closed it). [SOURCE: JZ]