Lesson No.1

After playing in the seminal and influential New York City no wave rock outfits the THEORETICAL GIRLS and THE STATIC, Glenn Branca made his first strides towards the more ambitious guitar symphonies he'd become famous for with his first solo release, 'Lesson No. 1' in 1980. 'Lesson No. 1 For Electric Guitar' is perhaps his most accessible piece of the period. It is a concise yet extended statement of forward motion, guitar motives repeating in a manner recalling the minimalist of Philip Glass, but unlike Glass, with a maximilist approach to sonic density and bombast. Upon its initial release as the first record on the influential 99 Records (Liquid Liquid, ESG, et. al.), 'Lesson No. 1' was paired with 'Dissonance,' a more daring experiment that explodes sonic dissonance with rock and roll energy. For this reissue, Acute Records has added the previously unavailable 'Music for Bad Smells' (featuring Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore), composed as a dance piece for choreographer Twyla Tharp in 1982. And if that wasn't enough, Acute has also included an 18-minute QuickTime video of 'Symphony #5,' recorded in 1984 at what was to become the legendary New York City venue, The Kitchen.