Suicide

Suicide

First Rehearsal Tapes

Superior Viaduct

“On Suicide’s First Rehearsal Tapes, recorded in 1975, Alan Vega and Martin Rev create minimalist aural structures, traces of which would surface on their eponymous debut album, released on the Red Star label in late 1977. “These songs are not a sketchpad of semi-formed ideas. The First Rehearsal Tapes comprise an audio diary of two men out in the ether, measuring themselves as evolving individual artists and as a unit who would rely on inseparability to realize their unique and often confrontational mass in the decades to come. What the tapes also reveal is that Vega and Rev were compositionally ambitious, capable of melody and form, while resisting definition as they headed further into uncharted territory.   “The First Rehearsal Tapes afford the listener a glimpse into the creative process of two groundbreaking, true art warriors with their swords and shields leaning against the practice room wall. To understand the absolute brilliance of Suicide’s first album as well as their sonic adventures that followed, you have to start here with their earliest recordings.”   —Henry Rollins (excerpt from the liner notes)

Suicide

S/t

Superior Viaduct

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Received a 9.1 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork.  Suicide's landmark self-titled LP was originally released in 1977, seven years after the group's initial conception as part of the performance art scene on the Lower East Side. It is hard to overstate the importance of the seven tracks on Suicide, which paved the way for punk, industrial, hip hop, noise and beyond.  "Ghost Rider" accelerates with brutal anguish and desire for everything rock 'n' roll. Martin Rev's utterly singular "instrument" pounds out a synthetic soundscape, while Alan Vega's oversaturated vocals obsess over motorcycle getaways. "Rocket U.S.A." distills the duo's dynamic power down to a ghostly pulse, while the psycho-drama of "Frankie Teardrop" (Bruce Springsteen's all-time favorite song) delves even further into cinematic storytelling and, at the same time, clears the room at the end of the night.  Superior Viaduct is honored to present Suicide – restored from the original mixes, fully sanctioned by the band and with liner notes by Thurston Moore. If there can be a quintessential New York band, it is without a doubt Suicide.