NRR217: Dennis Duck "Dennis Duck Goes Disco" C56

Dennis Duck Goes Disco is a milestone in American experimental music. Released on tape in 1977 by the legendary LAFMS, it was reissued around 30 years later by Poo-Bah on CD and LP.

One of the earliest documented non-academic uses of the record scratch in an experimental context. Made entirely from manipulating a consumer playback device. No institutions, no budgets. Truly underground. Its closest analogue is maybe NON’s Physical Evidence, but more virtuosic and five years sooner.

Recording is still a young art, and this lands right around the midpoint of its history. Tons of artistic progress comes from pushing tools past what they’re meant to do. Early remote recordings capturing music that would fall apart in transit, entire genres born out of amplifier distortion, shitty tapes, glitch, this is part of that lineage.

This turns 50 in 2027. It’s special to get to hear the moments when sound becomes inevitable. A romantically hypnotized and unstoppable forward march. Times when artists seem haunted by and spoken through. This is one of those times. Maybe my favorite.

This is the first official cassette edition since its original run of 22 copies. We didn’t have the heart to put a No Rent logo over the LAFMS stamp so we just presented the album in its original artwork, reversible to allow you to choose your colorway with zero NRR branding.

My goal here is simple. Stewardship. I found out about this album late, around 2011, through the Poo-Bah reissue, but honestly just from drunk listening on YouTube. I want to pass that along, to hopefully do for somebody else what that reissue did for me. We claim no ownership and take no credit. It was made a year before I was born. My job is just to push it forward, hopefully toward a fancier, more formidable 50 year anniversary edition by someone richer than me.

The L word gets thrown around awful easy these days but this recording is just that. Legendary. The creator himself never framed this as noise and still doesn't. To me, the B side is some of the best noise I've ever heard. Ecstatic sound worlds. Inspirational. - NRR

Reissued with permission. Edition of 100. Source audio restoration for the Poo-Bah reissue by Joseph Hammer. Original art restoration by Niccolò Nozza.