At the end of the 70s there was an ethereal point where underground punk and club friendly disco grooves intermingled with an emerging avant garde and experimental art scene. Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban sensed the No Wave movement before it had a name. They decided to start Ze Records as a medium for it. The label didn’t last long, but thirty years later we can condense this brief moment in music history onto a single disc and call it a compilation. The sad thing about that term is that compilations tend to have a stigma much like that of the greatest hits album – a transparent attempt at retaining past glory. In this case it’s a lesson in music history. For the uninitiated it’s a glimpse into one of the more obscure and less explored corners of the New York music scene. For those who grew up in it, it’s an encapsulated memory of a time, a place and a feeling. From the uptempo percussion and funky bass line of ‘Tell Me That I’m Dreaming’ to Suicide’s weird and wonderful ‘Dream Baby Dream,’ the disc serves as a testament to the motley cast of characters that once graced the label’s roster. The interviews, unpublished photos and history of the label contained in the album’s liner notes only serve to complete the story.

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