More than Theoretical Girls: Adele Bertei on the Women of No Wave

Adele Bertei, keyboardist for The Contortions and collaborator with Brian Eno, discusses her memoir ‘No New York’ focusing on women’s crucial yet overlooked roles in the 1970s No Wave movement. Published in The Quietus (March 2026), the interview explores how Bertei witnessed the scene’s apocalyptic energy, anxiety-driven aesthetic, and anti-commercial ethos emerging from late-1970s New York’s economic collapse and post-Watergate malaise. Rather than centering male figures like James Chance or Brian Eno featured on the seminal 1978 ‘No New York’ compilation, Bertei’s account privileges women artists including Anya Phillips, Lydia Lunch, and Lizzy Mercier Descloux. The piece examines No Wave’s oppositional stance, its deliberate resistance to commodification, and its paradoxical self-destruction, while addressing the scene’s sexism and celebrating female artistic contributions often marginalized in downtown New York cultural histories.

Original article published on The Quietus — AI-generated summary.