You've listened to Swans on repeat, crushed hard on Lydia Lunch, collected the Jim Jarmusch DVD boxset – now you can try to relive the heady days of no wave in 80s New York with No Wave, a loving point-and-click game recreating the city's ultimate anti-movement.
Game designers Dorian SRed and Trevor Reveur made the walkthrough game in 48 hours. The duo describe it as a "tribute game to New York in the 80s and its noisy bands: Sonic Youth, Swans, Birthday Party, Foetus, Lydia Lunch, etc." Basically, it's the game for anyone who's ever wished that they lived in 80s New York with an instrument to batter.
Set in a dingy Manhattan nightclub, you play a character called Jim (James Chance, is that you?) as he navigates a no wave clubnight after scoring red or green "candy" off a bouncer. Depending on your choices in the game, you can either really hit it off with girls in the bar or completely fuck it up and your head smashed in by the lead guitarist. Ever been to a nightclub on your own? This is exactly what it's like – lonely and desperate, interspersed with moments of optimism.
No wave was a decidely nihilistic genre of music. Spawned from a disaffection with new wave, its distorted guitars, bleak lyrics and resolutely anti-commercial ethos proved a bigger influence on art than its key figureheads ever realised. So, just like no wave, this game is short–lived, frustrating and loud. Enjoy.
Play the game here and listen to Teenage Jesus and the Jerks below:
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