The Crainium - No, No, No (Yoko Ono cover)

The Crainium "No, No, No" from S/T 7" EP on Slowdime, 1997. Yoko Ono cover version.

The Crainium were part of a VERY overlooked Washington, D.C. Avant-Punk scene in the mid-90s. Starting with bands like Meltdown, The Meta-Matics, and then continuing with Crom-Tech, Ayler's Angels, The Monorchid and Quix-O-Tic; they eschewed the muscular "Math-Rock" trends of the era and instead explored elements of the Free Jazz, Prog-Rock, No Wave and Post-Punk movements of the past, as well as taking inspiration from American peers like The Scissor Girls (Chicago) and Six Finger Satellite (Providence, RI). Recorded with the help and support of Guy Picciotto (Fugazi) and Juan Carrera (The Warmers, Slowdime Records) and released via their own labels Dialect and Ixor Stix, these bands released a concentrated blast of creativity that managed to be relevant while also being acutely ahead of its time. The Crainium were perhaps the most impressive of the lot, combining overtly gender political and vegan lyrical themes with an intense Jazz-Wave assault... channeling Yoko Ono and Beefheart, Morrissey and Ludus, but updated with a savage No Wave/Post-Hardcore brutalism and played with uncanny precision. They managed to release three 7" EPs (one being a split with The Make-Up) and a full-length, hour long concept CD. By 1998, all of these bands had combusted, moved, changed names/members, etc. which left another fossil in the D.C. Punk tarpit. By the time the early 2000s "Dance Punk" revival rolled around, the uncredited influence of these bands loomed large in the background. Members went on to Gang Gang Dance, Blood Test, Centuries, Bloodlines and Legends.

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Music

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• Crainium
• Yoko
• Ono
• No
• Slowdime
• Gang
• Dance