★★★★

LYDIA Lunch is one of the more influential rock musicians never to have truly crossed over to the mainstream.

A singer, poet and activist, the New Yorker was an important and dynamic part of the so-called “No Wave” movement in the early 1980s. Placing emphasis on discordant instrumentation and eschewing production values, musicians involved in this sub-genre sought to subvert expectations of what rock music could be.

Artists like Lunch and her one time collaborators Sonic Youth, whose original drummer Bob Bert was behind the kit at Komedia, were reacting to both punk and New Wave in peddling a visceral, often punishing form of rock and roll. This approach was in stark evidence in Brighton, with Lunch’s gravelly voice pinned down by feedback-driven guitar and grinding, repetitive basslines.

Long-running post-punks The Cravats opened proceedings. The band, who formed in 1978, made effective use of saxophone in a set that combined the frenzied groove of ska with the raucous energy of punk.

Many fans present at Komedia had emulated Lunch’s trademark jet black hair and dark make-up, and soon their hero was prowling around the stage in a manner that was at once confrontational and effortlessly cool.

Her songs were propelled by Tim Dahl’s machine-like bass-playing. In fact perhaps the main criticism of the night was that the set became a little too reliant on Dahl. To quote a modern pop song, it was all about that bass. The final song of Lunch’s main set saw Dahl achieve a tone that was close to heavy metal.

Lunch gave a nod to fellow New York altrockers Suicide in her encore, a ferocious rendition of the duo’s haunting track Frankie Teardrop. All in all Lunch was in challenging, formidable form; we could do with a few more artists like her in the current rock scene.