Chandra, Teenanger, Slurry @ The Baby G, Thursday

Chandra Oppenheim, the pre-teen star New York's 80s post-punk dance scene was about 30 years ahead of her time. 

Born in the NYC underground art scene, Chandra Oppenheim recorded the songs from 1980’s Transportation EP at age 12. This uniquely intoxicating release saw the post-punk pre-teen fronting a band featuring members of cult mutant disco group The Dance. Following an expanded 2008 reissue of the long-lost classic from Aaron Levin's Cantor Records, then a second edition in 2014 from Chandra's own Rain Boots Records, she reunited with a new Toronto-based band featuring members of Bile Sister, Tough Age, New Chance, and Blonde Elvis. In 2016, Chandra’s song “Subways” (listen below) was sampled by internationally beloved Australian crate-diggers The Avalanches on their album Wildflower, who she joined onstage for live performances with her pre-teen daughter Issa. Chandra continues to celebrate and reinterpret the music written in her childhood while gaining new fans around the world. Doors open at 8 pm. Tickets are $12 advance, $15 door.

Check out the unsettling video for Chandra's "Concentration" directed by Steve Alexander & Eugenie Diserio (of The Dance) in 1980 followed by the clip of "Subways" from her Transportation EP which is being reissued in an expanded 2LP version by Telephone Explosion on December 7th.

Chandra – Transportation EPs 

Chandra Oppenheim was a child star like no other. As the daughter of famed conceptual artist Dennis Oppenheim. By age nine, Chandra was staying up late at her parents’ art-world parties, collaborating in her father’s projects, and performing her own plays at downtown hotspots such as The Kitchen and Franklin Furnace.

This set the stage for Chandra’s course-altering collaboration with members of The Dance, who were looking to form yet another project and found their muse/fuse in 10-year-old Chandra. Transportation EP, originally released in 1980 by The Dance’s own label, ON/GoGo. Balancing on razor-wire guitars, liquid bass lines, and dub-style melodica, the Chandra band unveiled their first four songs: “Opposite”, “Concentration”, “Subways” and “Kate.”

At age 12, the post-punk pre-teen took the stage with her band for the first time at New York’s legendary Mudd Club. A whirlwind of press coverage ensued from glossy magazines like Vogue and Paris Match to the influential underground zine Non LP B Side and a Soho News cover story.

The infectious, propulsive “Get It Out Of Your System” opens Chandra’s second EP with one of her most commanding performances. “Stranger” slows the pace with stop-start rhythms, woozy synths, and the harmonized return of the melodica, while its lyrics find her being followed by a mysterious character revealed to be a woman. “Tish Le Dire” sounds like The B-52s in an eerie alternate universe with instructions on speaking up to your parents or authorities to the point of threatening suicide.

Chandra stepped away from the band at age 14 to focus on her education. Sadly, the second EP was shelved and would not see the light of day for decades.

Chandra’s trip continues with this new deluxe reissue from Telephone Explosion Records. Returning her debut EP to its original four- song, single-record release at a dancefloor-ready remastered 45 RPM, the expanded edition also adds to the second EP with a pair of never released songs from her 1983 four-track cassette demos. “Day Without Success” and “They’re All Alike” find Chandra’s dreamlike vocals driven by minimal wave synth zaps and pulsating drum machines.

Chandra's Transportation EPs will be released on gatefold 2xLP / digital on December 7th, 2018. You can pre-order a copy from Telephone Explosion right here.