A New York singer who sprang from the early-'80s avant-garde Lower East Side noise rock (aka no wave) scene,
Judy Nylon led a brief but interesting career. Abandoning New York for London in 1981, she joined forces with singer Patti Palladin, forming the indelicately named duo
Snatch.
Snatch was a truly hit-and-miss artsy-fartsy duo, attracting the attention of
Brian Eno who, despite working with them, didn't improve their wan, bloodless sound. More successful, however, was brilliant British reggae/dub/psycho-funk producer
Adrian Sherwood, who produced
Nylon's only solo recording,
Pal Judy, in 1982. Superficially reminiscent of
Patti Smith,
Nylon's Beat-inspired lyrical extrapolations are well-suited to Sherwood's expansive sonic collage. It's a tremendously seductive record that certainly gave rise to the opinion that
Nylon was embarking on an interesting solo career. Instead,
Pal Judy is all we have to show for
Nylon the solo artist. Ex-cohort
Palladin recorded a great record of covers (Copy Cats) with
Johnny Thunders, but has also been absent from music ever since.
–
John Dougan, Rovi