Second Skin (1975-1983) [2CD]

Jon Waine - Second Skin (1975-1983) [2CD]

Corbett vs. Dempsey presents the first comprehensive compilation of the music of Jon Waine, culled and curated from original 1970s/'80s master tapes, home recordings, and rehearsal documentation, featuring provocative and legendary artist Pope.L in a little-known musical guise. In 1975, two college kids, Brian McCormack and William Pope, started making music in their dorm room at Montclair State University, christening their endeavor Jon Waine. Over the following eight years, McCormack and Pope (who soon began working as Pope.L, going on to an illustrious career as a conceptual visual artist) transformed this experimental project into a well-honed group that played every legendary venue in the New York/New Jersey area.

Second Skin presents two CDs of music by Jon Waine. One disc covers the formative years of Pope.L and McCormack as a duo, with sound collages, synthesizer drones, drum machines, and Pope.L's inimitable baritone vocals, drawn in part from cassettes delivered to Corbett vs. Dempsey the day after McCormack's untimely death. A second disc is devoted to the full band, highly political, sarcastic, funny, and post-punky, with nods at Devo and contemporaneous no wave bands like DNA and the Contortions. The package includes detailed liner notes by John Corbett along with never-seen photos and ephemera.