RHYS CHATHAM

altered the DNA of rock. The New York-born composer began as a classically-trained prodigy, but by 1975, Chatham

was fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of John Cale and Tony Conrad with the relentless, elemental fury of the Ramones. It was an
inspired amalgamation — the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock —
and with it Chatham created a new type of urban music. Raucous and ecstatic, this sound energized the downtown New York scene throughout
the late 1970s and early 1980s, prefigured the No Wave movement and cast a huge influence over the subsequent work of Chatham’s many
protégés, including Glenn Branca and future members of Sonic Youth.

This release contains all of Chatham’s best work of the period, from the notorious “Guitar Trio” (1977) and the tumultuous, brass-based
“Massacre on MacDougal Street” (1982), to the soaring, euphoric masterpiece, “Die Donnergötter” (1986). The gatefold jacket (lp version) and
the 32-page book (accompanying the cd version) feature rare photos plus essays by Chatham, Tony Conrad and Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, as
well as artwork by famed visual artist Robert Longo. Now widely available for the first time, these tracks vividly document those glorious years
in the life of a city and a milieu in which the raw, the sophisticated and the danceable merged, and a new era of rock was born.

“For years Rhys Chatham’s music has been more heard about than heard. While his work languished out of print, disciples such as Sonic Youth

have gone to the bank with his sound. Chatham’s sonic vocabulary is an inspired marriage of minimalist structures, rock cadences and
glittering overtones obtained from massed electric guitars played in unusual tunings at crushing volume. [His] knack for garbling indelible
melodies in gorgeous sonorities makes them as attractive as ever today.”

—CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“Blue Oyster Cult and Kiss might’ve made noises about guitar armies, but it took composer Rhys Chatham to actually deploy one. And there’s no

other way to say this: It rocks.”

—MAGNET

“A huge reckoning with one of the downtown greats looming larger than the Federal Reserve building. Chatham is huge... a crowning

achievement.”

—PITCHFORK

“Surging phosphorescence....Uplifting.”

—ROLLING STONE

“Black-and-Decker classical.”

—GUITAR PLAYER

NEW RELEASE

ON

FORMAT: 2xLP
RELEASE DATE: 6 June 2006
FILE UNDER: Rock
CATALOG NO: TOE-LP-801
UPC: 806501180117

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FORMAT: CD
RELEASE DATE: 6 June 2006
FILE UNDER: Rock
CATALOG NO: TOE-CD-801
UPC: 806501180124

1. DIE DONNERGÖTTER (1985/86)

21:48

2. WATERLOO, NO. 2 (1986)

7:57

3. DRASTIC CLASSICISM (1982)

7:49

4. GUITAR TRIO (1977)

8:11

5. MASSACRE ON MACDOUGAL STREET (1982) 18:42

SIDE A 1. DIE DONNERGÖTTER (1985/86)

21:48

SIDE B 1. WATERLOO, NO. 2 (1986)

7:57

2. DRASTIC CLASSICISM (1982)

7:49

SIDE C 1. GUITAR TRIO (1977)

8:11

2. GUITAR TRIO, TAKE TWO (1977)

8:11

SIDE D 1. MASSACRE ON MACDOUGAL STREET (1982) 18:42

R

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DIE DONNERGÖTTER

RHYS CHATHAM