Steve Piccolo :: “Domestic Exile”
New York legend, musician, composer, photographer, exhibitionist, and sonic savant Steve Piccolo arrived on the scene with the highly influential and devastatingly original No Wave act, The Lounge Lizards, with the great Arto Lindsay and the Lurie brothers before stepping into the liberating light with his incredible 1982 solo debut “Domestic Exile.” Set in the sensational yet dangerous streets of Lower Manhattan, Piccolo summons with wonderful sophistication the cosmic characters of a cherished city during the radical heyday of early to mid-1980s punk, industrial, and experimental exercises in music. With groups such as Sonic Youth, Swans, Bush Tetras, Beastie Boys, and several others poetically pulling at the pulverized politics and “Voodoo Economics” of the decade, a fundamental force began to smolder under the ancient asphalt of the city and its respected boroughs. Having just wrapped up The Lounge Lizards’ self-titled 1981 classic, Piccolo, now based in Milan, Italy, remained in the recording realm and began working on something entirely of his own. It is an electrifying effort that consists of a dozen songs enriched in the domesticated dynamics of something entirely out of this world. “Domestic Exile” reveals the reminiscent essence of a time in creative culture that lurked in the sonic shadows like a mad killer on the loose, awaiting his chance for justified salvation on the
Its gritty structure punctures the eager ears of its listeners, who cross over from the reckless reality of the No Wave scene as Piccolo effortlessly establishes a stupendous sound in science fiction and futuristic fables. Reflective of the iconic Barrett-era of Pink Floyd’s structureless, psychedelic period, Piccolo’s guitar technique, bass, percussion, and ritualistic rhymes shatter the earthly exterior in one fair flick of the waving wrist. With tracks such as “Fast Life,” “Talk To Me,” “Young And Ambitious,” and the coastal exchange of “Businessman's Lament,” the album's inferior interior truly exchanges energy from one end of the galaxy to the other in the most fierce and freedom-based way possible. While continuing to carry the “fake jazz” torch across atmospheric avenues and streets of séance induced nightmares, Piccolo captures the early elements of the celebrated “New Wave” movement that would soon take over the remainder of the decade by finding its way into popular film, commercials, and other various forms of mass media. With his trepidatious touch on the genre's ever-expanding chemistry, rhythm, and timing, “Domestic Exile” hails as a cult classic in the radical realm of progressive pop, literary legitimacy, and abundant atmosphere.
