Cell

by Erik Hage
The New York band Cell consists of singer-guitarists Ian James and Jerry DiRienzo, drummer Keith Nealy (who was once a guitar tech for Sonic Youth) and bassist David Motamed (ex-Das Damen). The group produces densely textured guitar layers of post-punk, a la Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., debuting with the album Slo-Blo in 1992. Living Room followed in 1994 on DGC. That sophomore effort, helmed by producer John Agnello (Buffalo Tom, Jay Farrar, Steve Wynn), displayed more nuances than its predecessor did; the dense blare of the preceding album was sculpted into more supple arrangements this time around, with the guitars landing somewhere in Crazy Horse territory. After the dissolution of Cell in the mid-'90s, DiRienzo formed the group Ugly Beauty, which released the album Sweetness in 1997.