New York band
the Dance existed for a brief window in the late '70s and early '80s but underwent significant development in the few short years they were active. After releasing the scrappy
Dance for Your Dinner 12" and collaborating with post-punk child prodigy
Chandra on her
Transportation EP in 1980,
the Dance released their first full-length album,
In Lust, in 1981, combining the liquid art funk of downtown Manhattan peers like
Bush Tetras or
DNA with unexpected musical touches from lead vocalist
Eugenie Diserio's haunted organ (and occasional violin) and dissonant riffing from
Steve Alexander's 12-string guitar. The tempos are speedy and the energy is charged on tracks like "Surrogate for Hate" and the hypnotically grooving title track. "Networking the World" has a crowded rhythm that staggers along in a druggy stupor, and there are goth undercurrents on slower tracks like "Survive Another Day" and the tense "Relax and Be Romantic." This era of
the Dance fits in perfectly among better-known bands that rose out of the N.Y.C. downtown scene of their day, like
the Contortions,
ESG, or
the Lounge Lizards, adding to that vibrantly creative time with their own unique vision of the world's most paranoid dance party. Anyone already a fan of
Chandra's
Transportation will want to seek out
In Lust, as the instrumentation and general approach is similarly styled and executed, only with
Diserio's provocative and sometimes sexually themed lyrics substituting a more adult worldview for
Chandra's pre-teen, post-punk musings. ~ Fred Thomas
