Anyone who has listened to recent episode of The Ledge has heard me wax (somewhat) poetically about Steven H. Gardner’s four-part series of Another Tuneless Racket – Punk and New Wave In The Seventies books. They are quite possibly the greatest documents of late 70’s punk and new wave music. Gardner is a master at combining strong (at times atypical) opinions with deep, deep research.

Volume one of this series is subtitled “Origins”, and deals with artists that had their first records out by 1976. Tonight’s show includes one or two tracks by the 18 artists he profiles, along with snippets of his commentary on the bands and/or the individual tracks. Admittedly, most of these acts are no stranger to this show, but there are a handful of groups who I had to research to put this broadcast together. (Later volumes include a plethora of performers I had no knowledge of prior to reading about them, which for me is the greatest treat with books of this sort.)

For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com