Of a Mesh

New York City's most famous dark-rock band in the '80s, Of a Mesh featured the dramatic crooning of Alan Dollgener duetting with Samara Lubelski's haunting violin atop a claustrophobic cobweb of sound. Of a Mesh formed in the fall of 1983 in New York City, led by Dollgener and Lubelski. They took their name from Maya Deren's 1943 avant-garde silent film Meshes of the Afternoon. Of a Mesh honed their spectral proto-gothic craft on two legendary demo sessions during 1984-85 (highlighted by fan favorites "C.I.T" and "Twist"), and numerous gigs at venues like Danceteria, CBGB, Subway, and Pyramid, opening for the likes of Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers. After two original members (guitarist Jimmy Lavendos and drummer Tony Portilla) left in 1985 to form Lucky Stiff, the Of a Mesh lineup solidified around guitarist Ellen Watkins, bassist Gregory Kostroff, and drummer Osamu, and in June 1986, the quintet released the classic 12-inch EP Of a Mesh (recorded by Martin Bisi) on their own Black Afternoon Records. Entering the studio with Bisi again in winter '86-'87, they recorded the followup four-song EP Broken (partially without Osamu; a drum machine filled in on "Guillotine" before his replacement Michael Goglia was added), released on 109 Records. In fact, they were the only band in Gotham's '80s post-punk scene (comprising their friends Fahrenheit 451, Scarecrow, The Naked and the Dead, Brain Eaters, The Children's Zoo, Chop Shop, and The Ochrana) to release more than one piece of vinyl. One more track saw the light of day (the mysterious "Thorn," released on the 1987 Sorority Sampler compilation) before Of a Mesh called it quits at the close of 1988. (a 2 song demo from 1988 was never released) Of a Mesh can be found on MySpace, and the entire Of a Mesh oeuvre can be downloaded at their SoundClick page. In 1995, Dollgener released a solo album Fish Dreams (MMG) under the name Reverb Sleep, but he died that October 22, battling AIDS. Original drummer Osamu reportedly moved back to his native Japan. Soon after the dissolution of Of a Mesh, Ellen Watkins joined avant-garde composer and no-wave legend Glenn Branca's famous guitar ensemble, and has since played guitar with Branca both in live performance and on albums such as Symphony No. 6 (Devil Choirs at the Gates of Heaven) (1988) and Symphonies No. 8/10 (The Mysteries) (1994). She is the webmaster of the official Glenn Branca site. Watkins also played with Wharton Tiers Ensemble on their Twilight of the Computer Age (1999), and on discs by Blastula and fellow Branca veterans Phil Kline and Virgil Moorefield. Samara Lubelski later played with the ethereal act The New Creatures, followed by a succession of indie/ post-rock bands in the '90s (Pacer, The Salmon Skin, The Sonora Pine, Hall of Fame, Tower Recordings, Metabolismus, etc.). Lubelski continues to perform, and has released three highly-regarded solo albums (ranging from experimental music to psychedelic folk) in recent years: 1997's In the Valley, 2004's The Fleeting Skies, and 2005's Spectacular of Passages. She has also engineered records for the likes of Ted Leo and Oneida, and played guest violin on 2004's acclaimed indie-rock album Blueberry Boat by The Fiery Furnaces. DISCOGRAPHY Of a Mesh 12-inch EP (1986, Black Afternoon Records) Broken 12-inch EP (1987, 109 Records) "Thorn" on Sorority Sampler LP (1987, Sorority Records) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.