2 posts tagged “naux”
I'll interrupt my Mars Volta jag to announce that I have found Naúx! On my first post about him, I wondered whatever happened to him after his excellent 1983 album Light, Traps and Exploding Wires. Thanks to Frank Eaton I've learned that he is now John "Crawlin' Snake" Mac, "The Next Dead Blues Guy." And he's still got the same skewed funky style that made Light, Traps... so great. Here's the video for "God Is Dead" from his newest album, Satan In Heaven:
Now that I've resumed digitizing my vinyl rarities after taking a break in 2002, I am rediscovering some lost treasures. (Lost to the music world, that is, not to me.) Yesterday I digitized Light, Traps and Exploding Wires, the only solo album by "Naúx" (Juan Maciel). Naúx is pronounced "nah-ooj," apparently based on a reversed spelling of his first name. Naúx was a guitarist for Richard Hell during the Destiny Street sessions, and was a member of the core duo (with bassist Steve Cohen) of China Shop. China Shop has enjoyed a retrospective digital download release from Anthology Recordings, but Naúx's solo album remains a vinyl-only rarity. Light, Traps... was the second release on the Noise New York label (NNY 002, no year listed but probably 1983), recorded at Noise New York studio by Eddie Ciletti [Eddie tells me it wasn't him, that was before his time. 2/27/08] "when it was located on 34th Street above La Polpetta (the Meatball) and owned by Frank and Dwight Eaton (pre-Kramer)" (per Ciletti). It has all the hallmarks of the No Wave catchall: jagged guitar lines, funky basslines, lyrics of alienation, and an all-around artiness; you know, the style introduced by Talking Heads on Fear of Music and Remain in Light. Here is the second track on side one, "Forget Just Once":
I may have played tracks from this album more than any other on my college radio show (1982-86), because there are so many good ones on it! Unfortunately my copy of the album is missing the insert with all the information on it, but the listing for the single copy available on GEMM includes "W./ FRED MAHER [that would be drums], ROBERT QUINE [guitar], SUSSAN DEIHIM [vocals], RICHARD HOROWITZ [keyboards/synths], FRANK EATON [producer? he also shares a few songwriting credits]" (my notes in brackets). Richard Horowitz and Sussan Deihim would go on to release exquisite albums of synth-heavy Western/Middle Eastern fusion; Fred Maher was the original drummer in Material; and Robert Quine is well-known as Richard Hell's main guitarist, and for his guitar work on Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend". Come to think of it, Maher was a guitarist as well as a drummer, and he and Quine released an album together called Guitar Men. I might still have that somewhere. Steve Cohen may play bass on at least one track, as he shares a songwriting credit too. So whatever happened to Naúx? I can't find any evidence that he continued in music after the mid-80s. He was still alive as of last year, when he supplied some China Shop history to Anthology Recordings. I would have liked to hear more music from him. In closing, I will direct you to WMA files of four more Naúx songs on this page of Eddie Ciletti's website.
