Chance Operation Chance Operation 12″ reissue
No New York might have signaled the beginning of the end of New York no wave in its labelling, defining, and constraining a scene that purposely took root as a negation of such things, but meanwhile, there was an entire parallel network of Japanese bands forming in the late ’70s and early ’80s who were directly inspired by the anarchic, brink-of-collapse art-spark that had made New York’s downtown sound so thrilling. CHANCE OPERATION was one of the very best to do it, not unlike a James Chance-less CONTORTIONS if you wanted to get simplistic—ultra-trebly (and frequently slide-manipulated) chicken-scratch guitar, loping mutant funk bass lines, minimalist, jazz-schooled drumming. This five-song 12” (one of three CHANCE OPERATION records recently reissued as part of Spittle’s Made in Japan side venture) was originally released in 1981, sounding for all intents and purposes like it came straight from the floor of the Mudd Club, from “Winecolor Sick” slinking and skronking beneath sparse, perfectly disinterested vocals from bassist Higo Hiroshi and guitarist Yoshiko Komiyama, to the fractured disco-not-disco danceability of “Image Dance,” to the cyclical bass rumble tussling with pinpoint guitar in “Din.” Do I even have to say that it rules? Seek out 1982’s Spare Beauty EP and 1985’s Place Kick LP while you’re at it, it’s easier to do so now than ever before!