Bios
IN ORDER OF PERFORMANCE:
ARTIST TALK WITH THE RITA
This artist talk in conjuction with The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies will discuss the relationship between Wall Noise and the powerful dynamics of cinema with an emphasis on the genre cinema that has historically proven an influence on many noise artists, specifically those of the 90s Americanoise scene.
WEASEL WALTER NO WAVE TUTORIAL
A video lecture by Weasel Walter on the halcyon New York No Wave era 1977-1981 featuring rare footage of The Contortions, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, DNA, 8-Eyed Spy, Friction, Lounge Lizards and more.
J.X WILLIAMS CABINET OF CURIOSITIES WITH NOEL LAWRENCE
Trash meets avant-garde in the work of this notoriously reclusive renegade 60s experimental director featuring material from the Swiss J.X Williams Archive.
KLANGBAD : AVANT-GARDE IN THE MEADOWS
The award-winning filmmakers of Monks: Transatlantic Feedback portray Kalngbad, the festival curated by Fausts Hans-Joachim Irmlein.
THE RESPONSIVE EYE + OTHER OP-ART ODDITIES
Before Brian De Palma became a narrative filmmaker, he made documentaries. Among them is The Responsive Eye, which chronicles the Museum of Modern Arts legendary 1965 exhibition of op-art.
MALCOLM GOLDSTEIN: ESPACE
Malcolm Goldstein, as composer and violonist, has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 60s in New York City, as co-founder of the Tone Roads Ensemble and as participant in the Judson Dance Theater, the New York Festival of the Avant-Garde and the Experimental Intermedia Foundation.
BERNARD HERMANN’S VERTIGO BY THE LOST ORCHESTRAS
With Vertigo (1958), Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane, Psycho, Taxi Driver) were at the height of their collaborative and creative powers. Herrmann’s masterpiece filmscore, with its obsessive ostinatos, Wagnerian motifs of idealized love, frightening tritones, misleading resolutions and nauseating dissonance takes us deep into the psyche of passion and delusion in a way that only he could. Performing Vertigo will be The Lost Orchestras, a 21-piece Montreal all-star mini-orchestra (featuring members of GYBE!, Arcade Fire, Land of Kush, Bell Orchestre, The Besnard Lakes…) made of strings, woodwinds, brass, wurlitzer, guitar and drumset.The Lost Orchestras is led by William Hesselink who transcribed and orchestrated the score.
Violin: Josh Zubot, John Corban, Jessica Moss, Alexander ChowViola: Gen Heistek, Monica GuenterCello: Beckie Foon, Kristina KoropeckiContrabass: Jonah Fortune, Thierry AmarFlute: Dave GossageClarinet: Elizabeth Lima, Andre Mercier, Dan PencerTrumpet: Ryan FrizzellHorn: Mona Varichon, Pietro AmatoBass sax: Jason SharpGuitar: Richard WhiteWurlitzer: Mat CharbonneauPercussion: Bill Hesselink——————————————————————————————————–
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STIMMUNG BY STOCKHAUSEN under the direction of Will EizliniKarlheinz Stockhausen’s Stimmung for 6 voices (no. 24 1/2)
first performed by the Collegium Vocale Köln in 1969.Stimmung (pronounced /Shtee’ moong/) in German means “mood” or “tuning”; also “atmosphere” or “vibe”. It is a vocal piece for 6 voices in using an overtone singing technique based on vowels, and most of this piece is explores variations of a B-flat 7 chord in “just intonation”.
Stimmung is like a 1960s modern exploration of incantation, drones, vocal intonation and timbre, It’s almost as though Stockhausen at the time (1968) was feeling the pulse of the ritualistic neo-pagan late 60s and pulling that into the classical world. He incorporates names of gods from polytheistic pantheons of the world and poems that he wrote to his wife in the summer of love (1967).
Stimmung is a reflection on humans tuning into nature, globalization of culture, and the sexual revolution. It is at times, serious, rarified, but also playful and un-apologetically erotic, filled with the composer’s cleverness and wit in exploring these themes.
Stockhausen says about the compositional process:
“What was important for the creation of Stimmung was the fact that I’d just come back from Mexico where I’d spent a month walking through the ruins, visiting Oaxaca, Merida, and Chichenitza, and becoming a Maya, a Toltec, a Zatopec, an Aztec, or a Spaniard- I became the people. The magic names of the Aztec gods are spoken in Stimmung…And then the space. I sat for hours on the same stone, watching the proportions of certain Mayan temples with their three wings, watching how they were slightly out of phase. I relived ceremonies, which were sometimes very cruel. The religious cruelty isn’t in Stimmung, only the sounds, the whole general feeling of the Mexican plains with their edifices going into the sky- the quietness, on the one side and the sudden changes on the other”WINTER NIGHT : NIGHT-BASED PROJECTIONS FROM WINNIPEG, MB
Slide projection and hand-built animation projector performance by Doreen Girard with live music by Slattern / 16mm films & projection performance by Irene Bindi accompanied by Aston Coles.
Join four Winnipeg artists for a program of live music and moving images inspired by Manitoba’s cold winters, grim histories, and supernatural stories. At the geographic centre of the continent, Winnipeg is a thoroughfare and point of convergence of many kinds: railway paths, bird migratory routes, and as the supernatural center of the land for many Aboriginal peoples and spiritualists. Hailing from this, the coldest English-speaking city in the world, Doreen Girard and Irene Bindi developed Winter Night. Their similar processes develop through collections of found technology, materials, and stories. Both rely heavily on the Manitoba winter for assistance in their creations.
JEN REIMER & MAX STEIN
Jen Reimer and Max Stein write and perform site-specific works for horn and live electronics. Since 2008, they have been working on a series of performances and recordings in public spaces around Montreal.The first performance of the series took place in 2009 at the New City Gas building in Griffintown, and in 2010 they performed in the echoic rotunda at Square Victoria Station. At midnight on June 08th, 2011, the third performance of the series will take place under the Van Horne viaduct in the Saint Urbain/Clark underpass. Each performance is recorded and will be released as a compilation of three site-specific works.
Combined with field recordings made on site and a series of microphones set up around the location to capture the inherent sound of the space, the horn will be processed and amplified through an array of loudspeakers. The tonality and texture of the horn will be influenced and transformed by the acoustics of the space and the sonic activity taking place within. In this dynamic performance, all sounds respond and interact with each other, and as the activity in the space changes over time, the work adapts and evolves to reflect the changes.
If you’re in the area, come walk through and experience this sound experiment. Your activity in the space will bring life to this unique and inspired project.
KAIE KELLOUGH
Born in the way out west, Kaie Kellough has been based in Montreal since ‘98. He is a bilingual author, editor, educator, and general word-sound systemizer. Kaie’s latest book is Maple Leaf Rag (Arbeiter Ring Publishing, April 2010). He is the author of Lettricity (Cumulus Press, 2004) and co-editor of The Talking Book Anthology (Cumulus press, 2006). He was writer in residence for the 2005 Toronto Int’l Dub Poetry festival. Kaie and his work have been featured on CBC Radio, Zed TV, and Bravo TV. In 2008, he was the subject of a short National Film Board documentary titled Ebon Flow.Vox:Versus is a suite of conversations between language and music, voice and individual instrument, text and sound, book and album. Some of the conversations reference dub, while others reference blues, jazz, sound-poetry, sound-collage, lyric, and language poetry. Each piece involves improvisation, always with a theme in mind. The themes were determined by the written works, which were selected from Kaie’s latest book, Maple Leaf Rag.
Vox:Versus was recorded at the peak of winter 2010 at Hotel2Tango with Jahsun (drums), Jason “Blackbird” Selman (trumpet), Stefan Christoff (piano), DJ Andy Williams (sound collage), Kim Zombik (vox), Martin Heslop (contrebasse).
Vox: Versus will be launched on June 12 at Casa Del Popolo, as part of the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival, and will feature collaborations with a variety of skilled instrumentalists: Jason Sharp (bass saxophone), Devin Waldman (alto saxophone), Martin Heslop (contrebasse), Kim Zombik (vox), and Stefan Christoff (piano). Some of the pieces from the album will be re-visited, and the nuances of new creations will be explored.
LAST SEEN HEADED
Last Seen Headed (Léandre, Strid, Houle) brings together three major figures in the world of improvised music. The trio was founded at the invitation of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in 2004, although the individual members of the trio had already known and performed with each other in various configurations since 1992.The ensemble has never toured Canada, except for a few performances in Western Canada, most notably at the Western Front in Vancouver, the Vancouver Jazz Festival, and Open Space Gallery in Victoria, where they recorded their first critically acclaimed CD 9 Moments on the Montreal)based Red Toucan label. Since then, the ensemble has toured in France and most recently in Germany, and has released a second CD for Ayler Records of a concert for the 2009 Sons d’Hiver Festival in Paris, France. This concert was recorded by Radio France for their popular show “à l’improviste”, produced by Anne Montaron. The trio has plans for a third CD of a concert recorded live at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in the summer of 2009.
This trio is unique as it brings together long time collaborators in an intimate chamber music setting. The ensemble’s musical language stems from, but is not bound by the usual restraints of free European improvised music, but rather taps into all kinds of shared experiences and potentialities, ranging from folk traditions to the classical avant)garde, thus imbuing their sets with unexpected stylistic turns. The confluence of ideas is a paradigm for virtuosity within the free improvisation genre. They evoke a multitude of moods, colors, and influences – one hears more with each listen.
Each member of the trio is highly recognized as leading proponents of their instruments:
Joëlle Léandre is at the height of a career that has seen her travel the globe for four decades, and is considered by many to be one of the great bass virtuoso of our time. A Chevalière des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest honor bestowed upon artists in France, She has worked and collaborated with a who’s who of world contemporary artists, such as John Cage, Giascinto Scelsi, Fred Frith, Anthony Braxton, and George Lewis, among many others.
Swedish percussionist Raymond Strid is well known for his fleeting drumming as a member of Gush Trio (Mats Gustaffson), making him a sought after original voice on the scene. Performance and ensemble credits also include a wide number of groupings and projects such as Guy/Gustafsson/Strid, Crispell/Jormin/ Strid and the free jazz trio LSB (Fredrik Ljungkvist and Johan Berthling). The Electrics (Axel Dörner, Sture Ericson and Ingebrigt Flaten) was formed in 2000 and that same year he became a member of the Barry Guy New Orchestra. Strid has been touring and participating at major improvisation festivals in Europe and North America. He also considers that, since around 2005, his playing moves stylistically between free improvisation and free jazz, sometimes mixing the two. Raymond Strid also teaches improvisation, methods and aesthetics.
Canadian clarinetist François Houle’s unconventional artistic path has pushed him into the upper echelons of the contemporary new music scene. By mastering each of the diverse musical genres he approaches, François demystifies music for his audiences, and has become known as one of today’s most engaging and stimulating musicians. But it is his unique instrumental virtuosity and fearless improvisations that have made him a sought after collaborator, having worked and recorded with international artists such as Evan Parker, Dave Douglas, Benoît Delbecq, Myra Melford, Anthony Braxton, to name a few. He founded the Vancouver Creative Music Institute, which he was artistic director for four years.
ROGER DEAN
Roger Dean is a bassist, composer-improviser, and pianist/computer performer. He was based in London, UK until 1989 before moving to Australia, and has worked extensively on the European scene, as well as in Asia, Australasia, and the US. He has composed extensively, particularly for jazz and improvising ensembles, and has also developed techniques of animation, including VRML animation and the use of Jitter, which establish extensive algorithmic interaction between sound and image generative components of real-time performance works. Roger has worked with many musicians, ranging stylistically from Kathy Stobart to Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, and Kagel, Penderecki and Stockhausen.DANIEL HIGGS
Daniel Higgs is a musician and artist from Baltimore, Maryland on whose behalf superlatives are destined to fail. It’s not that his artistic output – spanning three decades, numerous albums, books of poetry and collections of drawings – simply eludes classification, it defies it. Often we hear that a true work of art is meant to speak for itself, and with the work of Daniel Higgs the maxim rings truer than ever. His art is of the cosmos, we on Earth merely lucky that it happens to be confined to our atmosphere, in our lifetime.Higgs is known primarily for his work as the sole lyricist and frontman of the band Lungfish, a four-piece dedicated to charting, in this listener’s estimation, nothing short of the evolution of all species, known and unknown. That the band has undertaken this pursuit in the guise of a humble rock outfit, in the absence of any public relations fanfare, metanarrative, or manifesto has been enough to endear them to tens of thousands. They are enshrined as one of America’s last true folk bands, and Higgs anointed as a patron saint to artistic purity.
In recent years, Higgs has released a number of solo outings that can only be described as the ultimate in isolation, worlds away from the hypnotic, communal rock of his band. On Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot, Higgs weaves meditative, casually ruptured drones using acoustic and electric guitar, upright pianos, banjo and jew’s harp, recorded entirely at home on cassette recorder. He pairs the music with a series of paintings that call to mind religious iconography passed through the disfiguring surrealism of Miro.
Higgs has wedded his music and his visual art into a singular being, meant to be encountered as a conjuring force similar to that of the tarot experience. The yggdrasil is the great tree of Norse myth that connects all worlds of cosmology. Passing into Christian folklore, the tree is said to connect heaven and earth. In his relentless pursuit of the indivisible, Higgs travels up and down this spine and hatches a new transubstantiation of sound and image into life-form.
www.myspace.com/danielaiuhiggs
HELIODROME
Heliodrome: the meeting of Khyro and the Rosemo(u)nt Anti-Quartet. C.G.Jung in his study of the human psyche came across the pre-christian religions and particularly the mithraic religion. In the rites of initiation, one must become the Heliodromoi, a runner of the sun… Modern society evacuated this notion of initiation and becoming a man isn’t something one must achieve… it happens. The fact is that becoming a man is a struggle, it’s something one must fight for in order to become a real human being, and not just a conditoned machine. This is what the Heliodrome is, a vehicle to achieve manhood by doing what feels right to do and not pursuing some futile dreams of glory, fame and fortune… It’s also the meeting of passions; folk, hip-hop, free-jazz, contemporary composers : Luigi Nono, LaMonte Young, Albert Ayler, John Fahey, Stockhausen and also the meeting of ideas; experimental art, psychoanalysis: Freud, Lacan, Jung, Deleuze, Gurdjieff, Jodorowsky…WHILST
Whilst, born in Montreal during the last winter before the turn of the century, are a duo of quasi-quietists dwelling in the realms of free drone & cosmic dust; with static pulses, stagnant rhythms, and silent visuals.
JERUSALEM IN MY HEART
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh is a Lebanese musician, record producer and experimental film maker living in Montreal, Canada. Focusing on morphing and re-interpriting classical Arabic music, he presents his performances under the moniker Jerusalem In My Heart. JIMH is a live performance project focusing on experiencing the ephemeral in a live one-time only setting, undocumented and never re-performed. Over the past 8 years of the project, he has presented his performances in various Montreal festivals (Suoni Per Il Popolo, Pop Montreal, M.A.I. Eclectik), as well a tour of the United States and France, and has performed at the Jem Cohen curated “Fusebox” festival in Gent, Belguim. Radwan also co-owns the Montreal analog recording studio Hotel2Tango, where he works as a record producer.THE GOODS : DJ REINHARD WIMMER
German Reinhard Wimmer is an internationally renowned DJ, record label founder, producer and club owner. His Spinning Wheel Records is a rare-groove and nu-jazz-label, and it all began from the love of digging for rare and collectable European, Afro and Latin Jazz and other grooves from the exotica, movie soundtrack and library music vaults. These tastes are reflected by the selection in their record store, which acts as a meeting point for local and visiting DJ’s picking up new releases and exploring the roots.JUNIOR BOYS
A Hamilton, Ontario-based electronic pop group, Junior Boys began as a duo with its duties split between Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark. Influenced by a number of music sectors — including arty synth pop, minimal techno, U.K garage, and contemporary hip-hop — they made a demo with no positive results. Dark opted to leave the group, but former Warp employee Nick Kilroy eventually heard the songs and became interested enough to begin his KIN label with Junior Boys as its first artist. Engineer Matt Didemus joined Greenspan, and together they recorded enough material for a full-length. Prior to the 2004 release of the resulting album, titled “Last Exit”, a pair of 12” singles were released — one included a remix from Fennesz, while the other featured a remix from Manitoba.Three months after “Last Exit”’s initial U.K release, Domino picked up the album for distribution in the U.S. The Domino version added a bonus disc with B-sides and remixes from the 12” releases. The relatively slick “So This Is Goodbye” followed in 2006. The single “In the Morning” was featured in an iTunes commercial in 2007.
On July 10, 2007, Junior Boys second album was revealed as being on the shortlist for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize. They did not ultimately win the prize. In September 2008, Morgan Geist’s album “Double Night Time” was released with five songs performed by Jeremy Greenspan. On April 7, 2009, the duo released their third full length album, “Begone Dull Care” on Domino records.
On June 14, 2011, they will release their new album, “It’s All True”.
MIRACLE FORTRESS
Miracle Fortress is the cognomen for Montreal-based musician and producer Graham Van Pelt. Also a member of Think About Life, as Miracle Fortress Graham records and performs a wide array of musical soundscapes, hooks and beats. His 2007 debut, Five Roses, received widespread critical praise, including a Polaris Prize nomination. His second album, Was I the Wave?, was released in April 2011 on Secret City Records and bends more towards the electronic.+ HUREN.
15 visual presentations by 15 visual presentations by 15 visual artists… paired up with 15 original improvisational ensembles made up of 15 talented montreal musicians… who will make lots and lots of little soundtracks… for video, puppets, experimental super 8, live drawn scores, story telling, animation, claymation and your pure pleasure.The 15 visual presenters are : Corpusse, Charlyne Yi, Billy Mavreas, Nadia Moss, Hrair Haratchian, Clarion Heatsdale, Jordan Mackenzie/Emi Honda, Anita Schoepp, Leyla Majeri, Clea Minaker, Jessica Rainville/NOMNRYN, Nadia Lombardo, Jessica Menche/Emily Pelstring, Nick Kuepfer and Luc Paradis.
Some of the musicians who will make up the ensembles will be Gambletron, Jen Reimer, Alex St Onge, Rebbeca Foon, Elfin Saddle, Nick Keupfer, Mike Moya, Nadia Moss, Hrair Haratchian, Dora Bleu, J.Y, Marie Davidson, y.p.l, Gmackrr, Andrea-Jane Cornell, Nicolas Moussette, Aiden Jeffery, Clarion Heatsdale, Yomul Yuk, Steve Godin, Fluffy, Julie D and surprises.
ALELA DIANE
Alela Diane is a homebody by nature. The Portland-based, Nevada City-bred musician, though traveled the world over, is most at peace within audible range of a crackling fire and her cat’s paws padding across the wood floors of her creaky Victorian residence. And although her methods thus far have echoed this aspect of her being—from fashioning hand-sewn CD jackets for The Pirate’s Gospel, to nearly spit-shining 2009’s To Be Still in her Dad’s studio—the reach of her success has spanned quite a bit further. In a time of pitiful sales charts, The Pirates Gospel went Gold in France, establishing Miss Diane a hearty European following. And while the US was just beginning to catch on, Alela had already broken ground on a new album.However, let it be known; this is not your typical Alela Diane record. There is no banjo plucked and drenched in ghostly reverb, no violin wielded like fine china at your chest cavity, no chiffon blowing curiously in the wind and most importantly, nothing vaguely freaky going on that goes beyond the inevitable waxing and waning of the moon. Rather, there comes a time when artistic pursuits warrant a new approach—one that reflects personal growth and its continued path—and therein lies the root base of the expanded sounds of Alela Diane and Wild Divine, released worldwide on Rough Trade Records.
THE PARSON RED HEADS
Centered around the father figure of Evan Way, his sister Erin, wife Brette Marie and longtime friends Charlie Hester and Sam Fowles. The group has recently been rounded out with the addition of Raymond Richards (pedal steel) and Aaron Ballard (guitar/melodica). Heeding the call of sunshine and success, the group left Oregon in 2005 and has since been building more acclaim and attention in the burgeoning Silver Lake music scene with month long residencies at the Silver Lake Lounge and the Echo as well as sharing the stage with the Cold War Kids, Cursive, Maria Taylor and more.
A typical Parsons show is a celebration of their familial bond where the band can extend from the core six to as many as twelve. The rattling of multiple tambourines, masterfully used feedback and four part harmonies find the smuggest of indie hipsters removing their hands from their pockets and clapping them along with the white-clad clan as disinterested smirks turn into uncontrollable smiles.
PIERCED ARROWS
After the demise of underground legends Dead Moon in 2006, nobody was surprised to hear that founders Fred and Toody Cole had lost little time in starting a new band. They recruited drummer Kelly Halliburton in April 2007, and soon Pierced Arrows were up and running, playing live shows in the Northwest U.S.A. and recording songs for upcoming releases. Pierced Arrows picks up, musically, where Dead Moon left off – a lo-fi assault on the senses played with the sincerity and feeling that made Dead Moon such a special band for all of their fans around the world.COMPLICATIONS
Complications are a boss Montreal punk band. Rising from the ashes of Born Dead Icons, Complications take a darker turn, exchanging D-beats for melancholy guitars and choruses.RED MASS
The brainchild of Roy Vucino, aka Choyce (CPC Gangbangs, The Daylight Lovers, Les Sexareenos), Red Mass took shape in 2008. Choyce and his collaborators are intent to pursue the ideals of free thinking, the use of chaos, sex-magik and liberation throught art.MECCA NORMAL
Mecca Normal started in 1984 with the express purpose of changing the world. Writer Jean Smith turned her zine Smarten UP! – A How to Change the World Publication — into a record label to release their first LP in 1986. The band is known as a fore-runner and inspiration to the riot grrrl movement in the 90s. As part of the regional D.I.Y scene at that time, Mecca Normal co-founded the Black Wedge – anti-authoritarian poets and minimalist musicians “setting wild hearts free, spreading the damn difficult word of how to combine poetry with activist resistance culture”. At the Black Wedge show in Olympia (1986) Jean Smith and Calvin Johnson met and traded LP‘s – Mecca Normal‘s first album (later to be re-issued on K) for the first Beat Happening record.In April 2009, Mecca Normal celebrated its 25th anniversary with 25 shows in 25 days, including university and high school presentations of “How Art & Music Can Change the World” – a lecture intending to inspire audiences to consider adding political content to their creative self-expression. In 2010, Smith and Lester launched The Black Dot Museum of Political Art with a four-person exhibit in Olympia.
‘THE LISTENER‘ BY DAVID LESTER
‘The Listener’ reveals one of the world’s most tragic acts of spin doctoring while weaving a compelling tale of complacency, art, power, and murder. It is a startling little-known story that changed the course of history.1933. In a small German state, the last democratic election is about to take place before a failed artist named Hitler seizes power. The election is Hitler’s chance to manipulate events that will lead to the death of millions.
2010: After a man dies during a political act inspired by a work of art, the artist flees to Europe to escape her guilt. Through a chance meeting she discovers the truth of the 1933 election. The past becomes pivotal as she decides her future.David Lester is a painter, graphic designer, cartoonist, and the guitarist in the rock duo Mecca Normal. His book, ‘The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism’ went into a revised second printing and has been required reading in a university English course called Studies in Contemporary Literature. He has created the poster series ‘Inspired Agitators’, archived at The Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles, and designed the popular t-shirt “Actually, I like crap.” Lester also does a weekly illustration, with text by Mecca Normal bandmate Jean Smith, for Magnet Magazine. His comics were published in DrippyTown #4 and Warburger (Slovenia). As well, his cartoons appeared regularly for a year in the San Diego Reader. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
BORBETOMAGUS
Borbetomagus formed in 1979 when saxophone players Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich joined with electric guitarist Donald Miller. Bass guitarist Adam Nodelman was briefly a member, and they have occasionally collaborated with others.Their aggressive music has been described as “a huge, overpowering, take-no-prisoners mass of sound”. One extended technique they use is called “bells together” where Sauter and Dietrich place the bells (openings) of their saxophones against one other while playing. While the core trio listed above has been responsible for most of Borbetomagus‘s music, they have collaborated with Swiss circuit bending duo Voice Crack, Dutch cellist Tristan Honsinger, German double-bassist Peter Kowald, and others. In 2006, they recorded a collaborative album with Hijokaidan live at the Festival de Musiques Actuelles in Victoriaville, Canada, and in 2007 their long out-of-print cassette Live In Allentown was released on CD with nearly twice as much material as the original. Sauter and Dietrich have also recorded a duo CD, and a collaborative CD with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore.
DAVID LAFRANCE
David Lafrance was born in 1976 in Quebec. He is a member of Monday Morning Erection, Leboeuf and Laviolette and the Quatuor de Tournedisque directed by Martin Tétreault. Inspired by folk art and transcendental music, he mainly uses turntables and a collection of field recordings and exclusive sound samples. These projects have been presented among others in various events and festivals such as Mutek, Tilt and Epoxy curated by Eric Matson, Festival Musique Maison in Quebec City and and Cool Fest 2008-2009 organized by Blake and Fluorescent Heargreaves friends. David Lafrance lives and works in Montreal.MARTIN TETREAULT
Martin Tétreault, an internationally-renowned Montréal DJ and improviser, originally came from the milieu of the visual arts. His path has been marked out by various productions on compact disc and live performances with a range of collaborators: Diane Labrosse, René Lussier, Jean Derome, Michel F Côté, I8U, Otomo Yoshihide, Kevin Drumm, Xavier Charles, Ikue Mori, and many more.He has abandoned the musical citation that he had been using in his work since he began in 1985 and now explores the intrinsic qualities of the turntable: the sound of the motor, of interference… He also uses needles, prepared surfaces (with thanks to John Cage), and small electronic instruments. The bruitiste approach of remaining analogical has allowed him to leave behind the question “But what about copyright?” and to get himself invited to electronic music events! When he feels the need for a break from music, he goes back to the visual arts, where he sands, scrapes, cuts up books and magazines, and so on.
KEIJI HAINO
Keiji Haino (born 1952 in Japan) currently performs as a vocalist, guitarist, and percussionist, on hurdy-gurdy, tone generators, and a myriad of ethnic and ancient instruments. Previous bands and projects include Lost Aaraaff, God’s Orchestra White One Man Theatre, Fushitsusha, Nijiumu, Vajra, Aihiyo, Knead (with Ruins), Head Rush, Kikuri and Sanhedrin.He currently performs in a vast array of contexts and forms: solo, with Fushitsusha (currently duo with bassist Yasushi Ozawa) and Aihiyo, and in collaboration with musicians both Japanese and foreign (previous collaborators are too many to mention, but have included Motoharu Yoshizawa, Kazutoki Umezu, Yoshisaburo Toyozumi, Shuichi Chino, Ayuo Takahashi, Michiyo Yagi, Yukuhiro Isso, John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Peter Brotzmann, Thurston Moore, Barre Phillips, Faust, Tony Conrad, Mayo Thompson, AMM, Z’EV, Derek Bailey, Christian Marclay, Fred Frith, Lauren Mazzacane Coners…). He has released well in excess of 100 records and CDs.
PRETERITE
Geneviève Beaulieu is one half of Montreal-based Menace Ruine (Alien8 Recordings/Aurora Borealis) as well as having been involved in a variety of earlier ventures, always at the core of the creative process, principally as a guitarist, vocalist and lyricist.James Hamilton has been active in experimental music circles since the end of the 80’s, running the Dystonia EK label (1989-2009), and making ascetic electroacoustic/acousmatic music as Column, Annihilist and since 1999 as Nebris. Preterite is their collaboration.
Utilising primarily acoustic – though occasionally electric – instrumentation and centered on Genevieve’s distinctive voice, Preterite represents a shift away from the denser sounds of the duo’s respective projects and towards austere but richly textured songs. Their first album, ‘Pillar of Winds’ is released by Beta-Lactam Ring Records in Spring 2011.
ESPRITS FRAPPEURS
Esprits Frappeurs is a collaboration exploring digital voice processing and occult psychedelia between vocalist Philippe Lambert (Monstre, Goa), musician Alexandre St-Onge (Shalabi Effect) and filmmaker Karl Lemieux (Double Negative).
SILENT LAND TIME MACHINE
Silent Land Time Machine is an organic, cerebral, aural accumulator; tedious neurotic audible stop-motion; recordings leaning in on each other after being faultily put together; made of mostly borrowed instruments being exercised in the blissful ignorance of any musical knowledge whatsoever; ideas tested and doubted and tested again but leaving record on; worry/joy/despair transfered into measured intervals of rhythm and frequency that line up most of the time and, when they do, attempt to communicate a particular experience as accurately as possible.These recordings are the sound of layers and layers of this and that on top of each other until it sounds like something; something that transfers so-called emotions and thoughts into a medium for others to listen to/think about/discard and/or remember…
“Silent Land Time Machine is a rather mysterious one-man band solo outing from Texas, who builds up layer upon layer of violin, viola, acoustic guitar, slippery electric slide, percussion, electronics, accordion, buried vocals, and found sounds into haunted, rollicking, thick sonic blankets of sound.” – Time-Lag Records
www.myspace.com/silentlandtimemachine
KHôRA
Khôra is the work of Toronto resident Matthew Ramolo. He created ’Silent Your Body Is Endless’ in complete isolation and self-released it in a tiny private-press CD edition in 2009, then re-sequenced, re-mixed and re-mastered the record in collaboration with Constellation for its inclusion in the Musique Fragile series. Ramolo’s Khôra project is based chiefly on acoustic/electric guitar and field recordings, with extensive signal processing and digital interventions pulling from these sources to create an immersive soundworld of drones, chimes, rings and other pointillistic sonics. His longform compositions generally contain lovely stretches of relatively unprocessed and fully recognisable guitar which evolve or devolve into more electronic/DSP soundscapes (and sometimes back again). The results are highly organic and meditative while retaining plenty of icy shards, bubbling distortions and passages of controlled monumentalism, making this anything but an ambient listen.NICK KUEPFER
Nick Kuepfer is a guitar player exploring ideas of weaving nylon string and electric guitar pieces with live sampled tape loops and drones from various sources ranging from static repetition and subtlety to frantic and abrasive with a tendency for experimentation of sound and dissonance. Born and raised in Stratford, Ontario and now living in Montreal since 2003, he performed solo for only a short time and occasionally with invited guests Eric Craven (Hanged Up), Kristina Koropecki (Mark Berube), John Corban (SMCQ) and Nick Scribner (Clues) pre-ceded by playing in Lungbutter, AIDS wolf, L’embuscade, One Candle Power and presently in Hrsta and No Nature.In November of 2010, he released a full-length solo record in the first edition of Montreal record label Constellation Musique Fragile series along side Toronto’s Khôra and Montreal’s Les Momies de Palerme. In addition he has performed as one of 200 guitar players in New York city composer Rhys Chatham’s live performance of ‘A Crimson Grail‘ at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City available from Nonesuch Records. He also has a track recently used in Matthew Lessner’s film ‘The Woods‘ featuring Dirty Projectors, Sun Araw, Indian Jewelry, Ananda Shankar; which recently premiered at 2011’s Sundance Film Festival. Nick Kuepfer is presently writing and recording a second full-length solo record.
TONSTARTSSBANDHT
While many bands present themselves as “a band from [insert well known metropolitan area with all kinds of unspoken connotations, associations, and implications]”, Tonstartssbandht want none of that. Eschewing any kind of geographical loyalty, they describe themselves simply as “a brother band” and would hope you would be so kind as to leave it at that. Though both musicians from a young age, Andy and Edwin White were in different bands as teenagers in Central Florida. They watched one another play, and occasionally teamed up in what they describe as “formless noise bands.” It was not until they were separated by distance that they realized that the only people they should be playing with were each other. “It was a match made in heaven” says Edwin of their partnership, and it has led the brothers to settle, for now at least, in Montreal.Their music is youthful, with both classic harmonies and modern, spaced out soundscapes that seem as though they could go for days. A combination of the brother’s influences—classic pop harmonies and an encyclopedic knowledge of psych rock, jazz, and noise music—it is both innovative and connected to modern musical tradition. It is music that “takes you there” as the brothers themselves say. It takes them there in their energetic live shows and it takes the listener there through their headphones.
www.myspace.com/tonstartssbandht
GRIMES
Grimes is weird pop influenced by styles such as R&B, industrial, goth, hip-hop and Western medieval organum. She is noted for simple but strong percussion, vocal virtuosity, and addictive melodies.Despite having little acquaintance with music before the age of 18, Grimes (born 1988) has overcome this barrier and used it to her advantage, exploding onto the music scene with a sound that is that is far different from that of her peers, and extremely broad in it’s references (Mariah Carey, Salem, Cocteau Twins, Gang Gang Dance, The Smiths, Prince). And yet, while all Grimes songs are different and genre-bending, there is a strong sound that is fully her own, characterized primarily by her chameleon-like voice. She cannot read music and has no understanding of theory or notation, so her attempts to imitate often fail. Rather, the result is particularly unique, strangely beautiful, sometimes scary, frequently melancholic and catchy as hell.
MAKEOUT VIDEOTAPE
Makeout Videotape is the brainchild of Edmonton native Mac DeMarco. Recently relocated to Montreal, the band spew forth a river of fuzzy pop rock along the lines of a chance meeting between The Breeders and The Wipers.THE RITA
The Rita is a Canadian harsh noise project that started in 1996. Sam McKinlay’s sound art project has built a reputation as one of the leaders of the harsh noise genre with visceral, dynamic live performances and an equally abrasive growing discography. He has toured throughout North America and Japan utilizing custom-built analog electronic equipment. His performances connect the immediacy and corporeal power of extreme frequencies, textures and volumes with a performative sensibility that reveals a towering monument to the vehement power of abstracted sound.The Rita’s influences include Italian Giallo films, Great White and Bull sharks, the gillman, lake/sea monsters, and the female posterior; always striving for crunched out rumbling walls of noise.
WEASEL WALTER & JOHN BLUM
Weasel Walter is a composer and instrumentalist who founded the band The Flying Luttenbachers in Chicago in 1991 with late jazz cult figure Hal Russell and is a current member of Cellular Chaos, Zs and Behold… The Arctopus. Over the years, The Flying Luttenbachers included noted Chicago musicians such as Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Dylan Posa, while creating an uncompromising and mercurial body of abstract music drawing equally from no wave, death metal, free jazz, gamelan, noise music, hardcore punk and modern classical. Walter moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003, where he formed the latest of many Luttenbachers lineups, remaining on percussion with the addition of bassist Mike Green (Burmese), and virtuoso guitarist Ed Rodriguez (ex-Colossamite, Gorge Trio). Singular guitar phenomenon Mick Barr (Octis, Orthrelm) joined the group in 2005. The Flying Luttenbachers ceased to operate in late 2007. In addition to leading various free jazz ensembles under his own name, currently he is a member of Burmese. On November 25, 2009, Weasel Walter announced that he was moving to New York City to join the band Behold… The Arctopus on drums and will be writing “new, more extreme material from scratch.” Since moving back to New York, he has also formed Cellular Chaos with Marc Edwards (drummer) and Ceci Moss.Walter has collaborated with artists like Evan Parker, John Butcher, Marshall Allen, Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson, Henry Kaiser, Damon Smith, Vinny Golia, Joe Morris, Frank Gratkowski, William Winant, Marlon Magas, Jim O’Rourke, Tom Smith in To Live and Shave in L.A, and Ken Vandermark as well as many influential underground rock bands including Lair of the Minotaur, Bobby Conn, U.S. Maple, Cock E.S.P., Curse of the Birthmark, the Scissor Girls, Erase Errata, The Chicago Sound, Harry Pussy, Quintron, Sharon Cheslow, and Cheer-Accident, in addition to producing albums by The Coachwhips, Burmese, Total Shutdown, Arab on Radar, AIDS Wolf, and Glenn Branca.
http://nowave.pair.com/weasel_walter
Pianist John Blum was born in New York in 1968 and has been a mainstay of that city’s free jazz scene for well over a decade, but he remains woefully under-recorded, despite an exceptional pedigree: studies with Bill Dixon, Milford Graves, Borah Bergman & Cecil Taylor. Blum’s keyboard technique is something of a free jazz hybrid of Taylor and McCoy Tyner, decidedly percussive but with relentlessly fast right-hand linear structure. Blum plays with such forcefulness and rapidity that these short-ish outbursts sound like Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano rolls, interpreted via human hands, freed up into a liquid state. His 2009 release ‘In The Shade Of Sun’ appeared on guitarist Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label, no doubt doing much to push Blum’s music towards an alternative rock audience.
AMES SANGLANTES
Ames Sanglantes is the moniker adopted by Pierre-Marc Tremblay, a leading light of Canada’s industrial music scene. He’s also known through his other solo acts: Guerre Solitaire, Cockeyed and the Teashop Madman.Tremblay debuted in 1996, releasing two cassettes on his own Psychoelectronic Sounds Recordings label. His music was an interesting noise collage with numerous elements of power electronics. His subsequent releases had a similar sound, based on cacophonous structures made with the use of a large variety of analogue sources. Through the application of an extremely intensified sonic expression, he managed to saturate his works with the atmosphere of psychophysical violence, sexual deviations and one’s helplessness in the face of socio-technical methods of manipulation and total control exercised by social and religious state institutions.
GLENN JONES
A 30+ year devotee of the so-called American Primitive school of acoustic steel string guitarists, Glenn Jones has been playing guitar since the age of 14. He formed Boston psych-rock band, Cul de Sac, in 1989 and led it on its 20 year journey to nowhere, leaving nine albums in its wake, including collaborations with guitarist John Fahey and Can’s Damo Suzuki. In 2004 Jones released his first album of acoustic six- and 12-string guitar instrumentals, “This Is the Wind That Blows It Out”, and set out on a month-long tour of Europe and the UK with guitarist extraordinaire, Jack Rose.“Against Which the Sea Continually Beats” followed in 2007. Recorded on Martha’s Vineyard, the album runs the gamut from the Delta to Appalachia, from bastard classical to cinematic soundscapes. Graceful, subtle, resonating with confidence and power, the album is seen as a significant addition to the “guitar soli” canon. A third solo release, Barbecue Bob in Fishtown, which found Jones focused on the 12-string guitar and introduced the banjo to his arsenal, was selected by Wire magazine as one of the best 50 albums of 2009. Jones has performed with and written extensively about the leading lights of the American Primitive guitar style, John Fahey and Robbie Basho. Longstanding friendship with both artists and first-hand knowledge of their work inform his writing, which includes incisive liner notes for five Fahey albums. Jones produced Fahey’s posthumously issued 1968 live album, The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick (Water) as well as a 1980 live recording by Robbie Basho, Bonn Ist Supreme (Bo’ Weavil). Further projects by both artists are in the works. Glenn Jones and Jack Rose toured the U.S., Canada, Europe and the UK, and Jones guests on several of Jack’s album, including the just-released Luck in the Valley. The Things That We Used to Do, a DVD featuring hour-long solo sets from each artist, and a pair of duets, is scheduled for release in April 2010 by Strange Attractors.
Jones has also performed with Peter Lang, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Cian Nugent, James Blackshaw, Paul Metzger, Peter Walker, Meg Baird, Harris Newman, Sean Smith, MV + EE, Dredd Foole, Tom Carter, and many others.
www.myspace.com/glennjonesguitar
SHARRON KRAUS
Sharron Kraus is a singer-songwriter who creates music rooted in the folk traditions of England and Appalachia. Her work is characterized by soil-rich vocals, haunting banjo, fine acoustic guitar and visionary wordcraft. Her songs are populated by a carnival array of fatally charismatic characters, telling tales of enslavement, perversion, incest, obsession, love and death. Sharron’s live performances are stark, compelling, and delicate. As with her music, her performance continues the tradition of the balladeer. She is like the roving storyteller, bringing tales of terror, sadness and joy to a stranger’s hearth on a dark and stormy night.Collaborations have always been a part of Sharron’s musical life. 2003 saw her join forces with US psych folk band, The Iditarod, for the recording of “Yuletide” (Elsie & Jack Records). Californian songsmith Christian Keifer was her co-collaborator on “The Black Dove” (Tomkins Square) and she formed a trio with Meg Baird & Helena Espvall (of Espers) for the recording of “Leaves From Off The Tree” (Bo’ Weavil Recordings).
Her latest collaboration comes to you from Oxford, where Sharron over the course of a year, wrote a collection of seasonal songs and recorded them with a band of friends well known in the local folk scene. Ian Giles, Claire Lloyd and Graham Metcalfe, who sang together as Folly Bridge (one of the most outstanding harmony trios). Ian Woods, who now sings with Ian and Graham as GMW. John Spiers and Jon Boden, who started playing together at a local session, and have been working together ever since, to ever-growing critical success. Fay Hield, of The Witches of Elswick, a frequent visitor to Oxford, was a perfect addition to the brew. This cast of musicians, who have eaten their fair share of folk porridge, come together to create a wonderful recording of these seasonal songs “Right Wantonly A-Mumming”.
HARRIS NEWMAN
Of the players involved in the recent resurgence of fingerstyle guitar, Harris Newman has established himself as a primary envoy on the modern day steel-stringer shortlist. As with the case of his brothers-in-arms Jack Rose, Glenn Jones and Steffen Basho-Junghans, each of whom borrow from the past traditions of mavericks Fahey, Basho et al but have re-invented the sound and style with fresh perspectives, Newman distinguishes his music even further with a very idiosyncratic sound. Extracting elements of folk and blues and exposing it bare, Harris Newman dresses up his music in cinematic, “post-rock” attire. Newman plays accessible solo guitar music for the experimentally minded, a meditative electro-acoustic melding of Leo Kottke and Jim O’Rourke, illustrating why Newman’s own take on the tradition sets him apart from the pack.MAKING FRIENDZ
Making Friendz is a sweet, sweaty mixture of lo-fi punk and glossy pop, R&B and disco. This is the latest of Tami Hart’s many projects- she was previously signed to Mr. Lady Records, released two full-length solo albums by the age of 21, and has performed with Le Tigre, Indigo Girls, The Gossip, Sleater-Kinney, Mika Miko and Men, as well as received critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and The New York Times. Making Friendz‘s debut EP is sure to up all the punks who love to dance.INA UNT INA
Ina unt Ina (Celina Carroll and Christina Zeidler) are an electronic duo who share a visual arts background and have dedicated many years to pursuing their musical and audio interests. In their present manifestation as Ina unt Ina, they explore the boundaries of pre-recorded electronic audioscapes and the acoustic resonance of guitar and vocalization. Ina unt Ina are a spectacle based electronic diva duo. In the studio, Christina and Celina experiment with computer based songwriting. On stage they take on the binary, twin personas of Ina unt Ina, animating the music for audiences through film, dance and live vocals. Part tongue-in-cheek, part aesthetic exploration, and all part of the scenery on the road to musical world domination.CLARA FUREY
Actress, dancer and singer-songwriter Clara Furey is the daughter of Carole Laure and Lewis Furey. A graduate of the Ateliers de danse moderne de Montréal, she studied classical piano at the advanced level at the Conservatoire municipal de Paris. In 2004, she had her first role in a movie in Tout près du sol (CQ2), directed by her mother. She also appeared in a steady string of shows in dance and theatre, while refining her musical repertoire. In fall 2010, Montreal’s Théâtre de Quat’Sous gave her “carte blanche” for three nights, during which she performed her own songs, staging them to reflect her artistic passions. In 2011, at the Francofolies de Montréal, Clara Furey took part in Initiales S.G., the Serge Gainsbourg tribute show.CHAD VANGAALEN
A notorious homebody, Chad VanGaalen is well known for rarely leaving his rickety house in Calgary, endlessly drawing, recording and making art. With Diaper Island, VanGaalen distills his approach, producing his most sonically cohesive album to date, and the closest thing he has done to a rock album.Also a celebrated visual artist, VanGaalen is widely renowned for his illustration and animation work. As with his previous albums – Infiniheart, Skelliconnection and the Polaris short-listed Soft Airplane – VanGaalen illustrated all of the art for Diaper Island and is in the midst of animating a music video as well. He has animated music videos for folks like J. Mascis, Guster, and Holy Fuck, and his videos have been collectively viewed well over a million times on YouTube.
VanGaalen has been quietly building a catalogue of songs that invite listeners to gently explore his distinctive creativity. Diaper Island extends the adventure into deeper territory, tapping into VanGaalen’s lifeblood and mining the richness of his mind with sharper tools.
NAT BALDWIN
Double bassist/singer-songwriter Nat Baldwin’s forthcoming album People Changes is much like the stark Maine setting which it was created. Of course, his fourth full-length shows welcome markings of his experimental bent from years as the Dirty Projectors bassist and former disciple of free jazz legend Anthony Braxton, but the serene isolation of 17 million acres of New England forestland make this cabin-born set intimate and sincere. The album follows a split-EP with Extra Life (Shatter Your Leaves) on which earlier versions of “Weights” and “Lifted” appear, Most Valuable Player (2008), Enter The Winter (2006), Lights Out EP (2005), and his experimental free jazz debut Solo Contrabass (2003). In addition to Dirty Projectors, Nat Baldwin has performed on Vampire Weekend’s Contra and Department of Eagles’ In Ear Park.ADAM & THE AMETHYSTS
Adam & The Amethysts is an ongoing Montreal-based popular musical project headed by Adam Waito, former member of Miracle Fortress and Telefauna. In June 2008, the first Adam & The Amethysts full-length album, Amethyst Amulet, was released on Pome Records, pet project of Jessie from The Luyas. Now it is under the care of You’ve Changed Records and distributed by Outside Music. The album was a lo-fi homage to Adam’s hometown of Thunder Bay, and was called “a beautiful piece of contemporary Canadiana” [NOW Magazine] that “resembles the precarious balance between innocence and sophistication that Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks have been known to strike” [Toronto Star].Since then, Adam and his ever-revolving cast of talented players (including members of other Canadian bands like Miracle Fortress, The Luyas, Sunset Rubdown, The Acorn, Attack in Black, and Code Pie) have shared stages with bands like Eric’s Trip, Calvin Johnson, Loney Dear, Attack in Black, Mu, Julie Doiron, and Miracle Fortress. The current line-up includes multi-instrumentalists Rebecca Lessard and Scott Johnson Gailey.
At the end of 2010, Adam & The Amethysts finished recording their second album, Flickering Flashlight.
ATOMIC
Atomic’s debut CD Feet Music received standing ovations from critics and music lovers worldwide: John Fordham in The Guardian described music and musicians as “One of the most exhilarating new groups on the European circuit!”.
Not surprising at all, their second release, Boom Boom, was looked forward to with thrilling impatience – and was met with great applause! Critic Terje Mosnes (Norw. paper Dagbladet) gave Boom Boom 6 out of 6 possible marks, and wrote: “A classic from Atomic! A strong candidate for the Jazz album of the year! Not since the Garbarek-Stenson Quartet’s high-times in the 70’s, a Swedish-Norwegian jazz cooperation has reached such successful heights as what is about to happen with Atomic right now. Their latest release Boom Boom definitely contributes to confirm this fact! Atomic is not only a classical jazz quintet; these musicians also demonstrate an original approach where jazz history from the 20’s towards today sparkles and boils through a highly vital contemporary expression. It is classical Coltrane, blue note-grooves, Miles Davis’ 64-68-quartet. It is modern expressive jazz from the “top shelf”, a Europe/American jazz classic of noblest mark! And Ken Vandermark’s liner notes give a brilliant observation from the inside on the meaning of it all.”
The Atomic musicians all belong to the upper class, the top level of the younger generation of contemporary Scandinavian/European jazz. As Atomic started playing together in 1999, Ingebrigt, Håvard and Paal already had worked together for six years, completing the rhythm section of the Coltrane-influenced group Element. Their elegant and strongly communicative interplay, along with an astonishing ability to take the music into new directions, also resulted in collaborations with international notables such as Chris Potter (US), Iain Bellamy (UK), Jukka Perko (FIN) and Per “Texas” Johansson (SE).
Fredrik and Magnus have their backgrounds from a list of leading Swedish jazz groups, such as Per “Texas” Johansson Group, Stockholm Jazz Orch. and LSB (Ljungkvist/Strid/Berthling) Trio. Through years of cooperation, they have developed an exceptional musical interaction. In 2002, Fredrik received the annual Swedish jazz prize “Jazzkannan”, alongside the title “Musician of the year”.
Atomic have performed and toured in Europe, USA and Canada, they have played at festivals in Vancouver, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Perpignan, Reims, Nancy, Umeå (S), Kongsberg (N) and Molde (N), and clubs like the Pizza Express in London, Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco and Blå in Oslo.
PRINCE RAMA
Spawned from the vernal heat of the Florida swamps amidst swirling patterns of pine orchards and pre-Columbian artifacts, Prince Rama was whispered into the ears of Taraka Larson, Nimai Larson, and Michael Collins in the summer of 2007 by the clanging of prayer bells and goat-skin drums. They left the Hare Krishna farm where they were staying to go to art school and form a creative nucleus in Boston. There, their engaging and often unpredictable ritualistic live shows attracted a rapid cult following, replete with collective chants, werewolf summonings, Sanskrit invocations, and the distribution of various handmade percussion to members of the audience to create the ultimate communal ritual experience.In a short time, the group was picked up by British-based label Cosmos Recordings who released their first collection of lo-fi bedroom recordings as Threshold Dances and flew them out to the UK to tour and record the cinematically orchestrated Zetland. At this time, Taraka also began working for the controversial visionary artist Paul Laffoley and began composing Architecture of Utopia inspired by his paintings, an album that explores mapping utopic space via the mandalic architecture of the vinyl record.
In spring 2009, the group departed from Boston and went on a series of extensive tours across the US and Europe, culminating in a tragic car robbery in which all their equipment got stolen. Thanks to an overwhelming outpouring from friends, family, and fans, the group was catapulted to rebuild and reinvent themselves from the ground up to make a unique new sound surcharged with a renewed sense of awe, gratitude, and urgency. The trio moved to Brooklyn, and with their new instruments wrote and recorded Shadow Temple, produced with the help of Rusty Santos and Dave (Avey Tare) and Josh (Deakin) of Animal Collective for release on Paw Tracks in September 2010. Currently, Nimai and Taraka are in the process of recording a new album and working on their artist residency for Issue Project Room in Brooklyn.
www.myspace.com/princeramaofayodhya
LEOPARD ET MOI
6545 the sanctuary / isolation compulsion / the dam cracks! / inconsistency is my constance / borges the sausage moebius miron / biosphere ’11 the ignified ignifies / love, quad leopard.PETER BROTZMANN’S FULL BLAST TRIO
Full Blast sees Brötzmann in a trio with electric bassist Marino Pliakas and whirling dervish/drummer Michael Wertmüller. Pliakas and Wertmüller both indeed have metal backgrounds, and if you can imagine a grindcore band going full tilt with Brötzmann wailing mercilessly on top, you’ve got the right idea. Full Blast builds tension relentlessly, and while the music ebbs and flows, the overall feeling is of being swamped underneath an exhilirating wall of sound.If Brötzmann and Wertmüller are obvious focal points, the crashing waves in this sea of noise – Brötzmann because he’s Brötzmann and Wertmüller because he is absolutely one of the most amazingly dextrous drummers I’ve had the pleasure of watching – Pliakas is the undertow: dangerous, unpredictable, rising with unexpected ferocity at various points in the music. Seeing the trio together in action is a revelatory experience, and this is pretty much mandatory if you’re a fan of free jazz, noise-rock or extreme music. And if you found Brötzmann solo a bit too much to handle, Full Blast is more accessible, even if simultaneously more extreme. – Brandon Wu
THE THING
The Thing was established in 2000 when the three musicians met to play several concerts and to record their first album on Crazy Wisdom, a sub-label of Swedish Universal. In 2001, they also recorded another album on the same label as a quartet with Joe McPhee. Both are out of print.The trio was a long wanted constellation where several musical styles meet in a very high energetic outlet. All members are influenced by different traditions of free music derived from Germany, England and America, and these influences are to be felt and not necessary heard.
When the trio started out, the book contained mainly of tunes by Don Cherry, hence the group’s name. Since Joe McPhee`s participation, the group’s reportuar has included other free jazz standards by David Murray, Frank Lowe and Norman Howard. Also, the groups enthusiasm towards rock music, is heard when they play “To Bring You My Love” by PJ Harvey on the second CD. Today the book has expanded to include tunes by The White Stripes, The Sonics and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This is just an example that explains how close musical styles are today, how similar the energy is and can be, and how much today`s audience is melted together, devoted to creative music.Mats Gustafsson is today Sweden’s and one of Europe’s biggest names on the free music scene. Through groups like Gush, AALY trio and Peter Brötzmann`s Chicago Tentet, he has established himself as a very powerful saxophonist, and has somewhat reinvented the way of playing the saxophone.
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love has become known as Norway`s heaviest rhythm-section. Since they`re long time collaboration started in 1992, they have been working in several groups, amongst them are School Days with Ken Vandermark, Scorch trio with Raoul Björkenheim, and the Swedish/Norwegian jazz-group Atomic.
“The Thing convert nouveau punk and vintage garage-rock into a roaring scream-up, but the sheer energy and love of the music keep gimmickery at bay” – Uncut
THE STRANGE BOYS
Austin, Texas The Strange Boys evoke a wild-eyed, porcelain-skinned innocence that is capable of summoning the wayward spirit of Brian Jones. The mystery of the South couples with the mastery of rhythm to create a sound completely timeless and familiar, yet absolutely raw and avant-garde. Greg Enlow’s syncopated, organ-driven grooves hark back to The Seeds’ “Pushing Too Hard” while guitarist Ryan Sambol’s voice wavers beyond comparison. Older brother Philip Sambol keeps the pulse with the aptly named Matt Hammer, who unmercifully pounds an old Ludwig set.The Strange Boys began as a duo (Hammer and the younger Sambol) in 2003. The other two joined in 2005 and the band has been on tour non-stop ever since. Since 2003 the Boys have recorded a wealth of material which was passed around at shows and to friends, but never officially released. In 2007, Dusty Medical Records put out the Nothing EP, and in 2008, In The Red released the ìWoe Is You and Meî single. Now, finally, the band’s proper debut album is seeing the light of day. It’s easy to imagine The Strange Boys’ And Girls Club, a sixteen-track beast, blasting out of any stereo system between The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and Wire’s Pink Flag.
The Strange Boys were the backing band for Mighty Hannibal (the 50′s R&B artist); were main support for Roky Erickson and The Explosives at the Chaos In Tejas festival; have played SXSW the last four years, the Fuck Yeah Fest the last three years, Austin City Limits, Festival in Music Fest Northwest, and Bamalama (all in 2008); shared bills with Daniel Johnston, The Black Lips, Reigning Sound, King Khan and BBQ, Jay Reatard, Mika Miko, No Age, and BRMC; have toured with The Black Angels, Fucked Up, The Carrots, and Crystal Antlers; and will tour with Darker My Love and Mika Miko.
www.myspace.com/thestrangeboys
SIC ALPS
Sic Alps are a noisy band from San Francisco consisting of Ty Segall, Mike Donovan, and Noel Von Harmonson. Their sound can be peggeded as a combination of bluesy lo-fi, psychedelic horseshit, and warbled pop.WHITE FENCE
Tim Presley’s White Fence project is not an extension of his band Darker My Love. You’ll hear the same ’60s love that’s in Presley’s day-job band. But replace the boogie bass with The Velvet Underground & Nico guitars, ramp up the weirdness—you’ll start to feel all the brown acid in your brain melting into your pineal gland just in time for the bad trip lyrics to kick in.www.myspace.com/whitefenceband
PURLING HISS
Purling Hiss’ Mike Polizze has put in much time in the fried Philly blooze overdrive of the group Birds of Maya, but in his own vehicle he’s expanded his grotty guitar wailing into the further cosmos, still shredding speakers aplenty. With new releases out on Richie and Woodsist Records, and a previous LP on Permanent, Purling Hiss became a full-fledged touring unit in 2010. Revealing themselves as not only purveyors of Rallizes Denudes/Vermonster-style guitar jams, they also embrace a serious 90’s grunge/pop ethic not too far removed from bits of Bleach-era Nirvana. Lots of ooh-oohs to coincide with the growls, severe hooks to get lodged in your cranium.OUTER SPACE
John Elliott of Emeralds has a new side project, and it sounds, well, pretty much like Emeralds. Busting out the same twirling arpeggios and space-age arsenal championed by the Cleveland trio, Outer Space is Elliott’s “laboratory for electronic investigation”. Spend some quality time zoning out to the “Memory Bomb” clip and grab “Scanlon (excerpt)”, which is also featured on his debut LP.RADIO PEOPLE
Radio People is the latest project from Ohio-stalwart, Sam Goldberg. After a handful of solo releases under his own name on Weird Forest, 905 Tapes and the Emeralds-run Wagon & Gneiss Things labels, he debuted Radio People on an ultra-limited self-titled cassette on his own Pizza Night imprint. At that point, there was no way back and the only move was to push forward with this new cosmic beast. Two more short-run tapes followed and it was clear that this new chemically imbalanced synthesizer project wasn’t just a quick hit one-off. Radio People is here to stay.On his debut vinyl effort, Goldberg has compiled the best elements of those three, long-gone cassettes. This Dubplates & Mastering cut slab of wax is the strongest statement Goldberg has made, proving his talent lies far beyond ambient soundscapes and well into the world of pop-infused synthesizer chaos and kraut-inspired composition. Major hooks sit alongside dense planetary drones. Goldberg pairs rivers of polysynth tracery with deep shards of droning organs, minimal live percussion and a whole host of drum machine backbone. This really is the best of both worlds. Melodies suck you in, beats get your head bobbing and then you’re sucked down a complex tonal wormhole of introspective loops and ambient synthscapes.
Pop song frameworks nestle themselves neatly beside somber soundscapes, sometimes jumping back and forth in the same track. Barely-there vocals foil the stasis, leaving the listener guessing and wondering if there’s a ghost in the mix. Radio People‘s embracing of simple kraut rhythms to underscore the catchy, kosmische wanderings give this music an accessibility not present in much of Goldberg’s previous work. It crosses boundaries and comes back and shows still untapped wells of talent and ideas in Goldberg’s bag of tricks.
www.samuelgoldberg.blogspot.com
THAMES
Thames is the duo of Blake Hargreaves (Dreamcatcher/Clinton Machine) and Alex Moskos (Drainolith/AIDS Wolf). Their music has been described as “Cubist” in its approach. Using a battery of electronic instruments and open forms, Thames has built a reputation for its dynamic live shows and cryptic releases. The group has had releases on AA Records, Gods of Tundra, Pasylamany Tapes, Brise-Cul and Fluorescent Friends. A forthcoming 7” will be released on American Tapes in May.FARMERS BY NATURE
Conceived by drummer Gerald Cleaver, this communion of notable improvisers was founded to create a distinctive brand of music based on spontaneously sowing seeds of sound and bringing them to full blossom. Each concert is a unique, fully improvised experience as the musicians adapt the group’s continually evolving sound to the demands of the moment at hand. The musical relationship between Cleaver and Taborn stretches back to their college days, working together in the early 1990’s as part of Detroit’s storied jazz scene. Cleaver, Parker and Taborn first recorded together in a group led by the great Roscoe Mitchell and Cleaver appears on several of Parker’s releases. AllAboutJazz.com’s Troy Collins recently noted these three frequent collaborators “demonstrate their affable interplay with fluid invention.”Biographies
Gerald Cleaver is one of the New York jazz scene’s leading drummer/composers, who covers a wide range of stylistic ground. Having played with jazz masters Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris and Ray Bryant as well as the leading lights of the AACM, Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith and Henry Threadgill, he is a product of many traditions within creative music. Cleaver is best known for his associations with Roscoe Mitchell, Charles Gayle, Miroslav Vitous, Mario Pavone, William Parker, Michael Formanek, Joe Morris, Jeremy Pelt and Yaron Herman.
William Parker is a master musician, improviser, and composer. He plays the bass, shakuhachi, double reeds, tuba, donso ngoni and gembri. He was born in 1952 in the Bronx, New York. He studied bass with Richard Davis, Art Davis, Milt Hinton, Wilber Ware, and Jimmy Garrison. He entered the music scene in 1971 playing at Studio We, Studio Rivbea, Hilly’s on The Bowery and The Baby Grand, playing with many musicians on the avant-garde school Bill Dixon, Sunny Murray, Charles Tyler, Billy Higgins, Charles Brackeen, Alan Silva, Frank Wright, Frank Lowe, Rashid Ali, Donald Ayler, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, Milford Graves and with traditionalists like Walter Bishop, Sr. and Maxine Sullivan. Parker played in the Cecil Taylor unit from 1980 through 1991. He also developed a strong relationship with the European Improvised Music scene playing with musicians such as Peter Kowald, Peter Brotzmann, Han Bennink, Tony Oxley, Derek Bailey, Louis Sclavis, and Louis Moholo. He began recording in 1994 and leading his own bands on a regular basis founding two ensembles, In Order To Survive, and The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. He has taught at Bennington College, NYU, The New England Conservatory of Music, Cal Arts, New School University and Rotterdam Conservatory of Music. He has also taught music workshops throughout the world including Paris, Berlin and Tokyo and the Lower East Side. Parker is also a theorist and author of several books including the Sound Journal, Document Humanum, Music and the Shadow People and The Mayor of Punkville.
Craig Taborn is a pianist, composer and electronic musician. In addition to his own recording projects on the Thirsty Ear Blue Series and on DIW/Disk Union he has recorded or performed with Tim Berne, Dave Douglas, Steve Coleman, Susie Ibarra, Chris Potter, Roscoe Mitchell, James Carter, Bill Laswell, David Torn, Marty Ehrlich, David Murray, Wadada Leo Smith, Mat Maneri, Adam Rogers, Drew Gress, Scott Colley, David Binney, Carl Craig, Meat Beat Manifesto, Rob Brown, Hugh Ragin, Amiri Baraka, Graham Haynes, Craig Harris and many other luminaries in the jazz, electronic and ccntemporary music scenes. Taborn was born in Minneapolis and now resides in Brooklyn, NY.
“Fully improvised, the trio’s poetic abstractions have a pastoral side that comes from digging the soil and growing something valuable. No wonder they call their new disc Farmers By Nature. It’s a testament to rumination, and whether they’re storming or floating, the kinetics are the compelling kind.” – The Village Voice
Out Of This World’s Distortions, Farmers By Nature’s second recording for AUM Fidelity, will be released early June 2011.
RAGLANI
Joseph Raglani is an electronic musician, producer and videographer based in Saint Louis, Missouri. He has released several records, compact discs and tapes under various labels including Kranky, Arbor, KVIST, Nihilist, IDES, Gameboy, Close/Far and his own Pegasus Farms Records. He is also a member of the bands Bryter Layter with Arbor Records’ Mike Pollard and Cables with Nihilist Records’ Andy Ortmann.In 2009 he toured with Emeralds’ Steve Hauschildt and performed at New Yorks annual No Fun festival. He has collaborated on record with Burning Star Core’s C. Spencer Yeh and TV POW’s Brent Gutzeit. In the performance arena, Raglani has shared bills with noisy notables Astro, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Burning Star Core, Kevin Drumm, Emeralds, Carlos Giffoni, Darin Gray, Tomutonttu, The Skaters and many more.
www.pegasusfarmsrecords.com/raglani
ARP
Alexis Georgopoulos is a composer and artist based in New York City. As ARP, he makes minimal music, most often with analog synthesizers and, increasingly, classical stringed instruments. Since 2002, he has performed internationally and has been presented in such spaces as PS1, Deitch Projects, MOMA (SF), White Columns, 303 Gallery, Luggage Store Gallery, Jack Hanley Gallery, New Langton Arts, Yerba Buena Center and Frieze Art Fair. He has released work on DFA, RVNG, Smalltown Supersound, True Panther Sound, Lo, Type, Rong, Eskimo, Root Strata and Troubleman Unlimited, has remixed Lawrence Wiener, Lindstrom, Delorean, Harald Grosskopf and Shocking Pinks and has been remixed by Hot Chip, Studio, Munk, Optimo, Etienne Jaumet and Soft Pink Truth. He is also a member of the groups Q&A (DFA), The ALPS (Type/Mexican Summer). Georgopoulos co–founded the group Tussle (Troubleman Unlimited/Rong), which he departed in 2007.Twice recently, he has performed an original live score for Doug Aitken’s film Migration, at Princeton University Art Museum and at 303 Gallery (NY). His score for Replica – a Modern Dance piece featuring Jonah Bokaer & Judith Ruiz Sanchez (of Merce Cunningham & Trisha Brown Dance Companies, respectively) – premiered at the New Museum in New York City (December 2009). It toured internationally throughout 2010. A number of his pieces were used in the soundtrack to the film Objectified (Gary Hurstwit, 2009). His collaboration with British composer Anthony Moore, FRKWYS III, was released on the RVNG imprint in April 2010. The most recent Alps album, Le Voyage, was released in May 2010 on the Type label. His most recent ARP album, The Soft Wave, has just been released (Smalltown Supersound, September 2010). Forthcoming is the Pastoral Symphony 12–inch single, accompanied by remixes of his work by the group Studio (Information), Etienne Jaumet (Domino) and the American artist Keegan Mchargue (Metro Pictures).
LE RÉVÉLATEUR
Le Révélateur is the solo moniker for Montreal-based electronic musician Roger Tellier-Craig. Started in 2008 in order to explore an ongoing fascination with electronic music, it’s a resonant beast blasting its way through labyrinths of eroded nostalgia filled with psychedelic synthesizer waves and repetitive sun-drenched pulses. Motion Flares, the debut cassette by Le Révélateur, was released by Root Strata in 2010. In a live setting Roger Tellier-Craig joins forces with video-artist Sabrina Ratté, Le Révélateur then becomes an electronic audio-visual experience. This past september, Le Révélateur was invited to perform at On Land, a festival curated by Root Strata in San Francisco. He has also performed live with Montreal experimental filmmaker Karl Lemieux at the No Fun Night in Montreal, organized by the Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival.DIRTY BEACHES
Dirty Beaches is the sound of waves against a picturesque and putrid shore, the silent rumble of a Chevy as it speeds by in slow motion. Sparse but condensed, relentlessly edging forward: this is music for locomotive travel, for racing your weary motorcycle through neon archways and into dusky tunnels. The man behind Dirty Beaches is Alex Zhang Hungtai; solo performer, sound-smith, and trans-Pacific nomad.Born in Taiwan, Hungtai has made Toronto, Honolulu, Montreal, and Vancouver his homes. Like Bo Didley or minimalist synth provocateurs Suicide, Dirty Beaches’ compositions are not so much stripped down as refined to their essence. Drum loops entrance, Hungtai’s croon enchants, and the yearning melodies draped overtop belie as much a sense of haunting mystery as they do romanticism and wry humor.
DREAMCATCHER
Formed in Montreal in 2004, Dreamcatcher, composed of Katherine Kline and Blake Hargreaves, is one of the grandest and loudest outfits in Montreal’s explosive underground music scene. Dreamcatcher‘s hot-wiring, saturated and hypnotic sound layers, as well as strings and splatters of sonic mess and power-electronics/old-school/new school aesthetics, have earned them a devoted following in Montreal and beyond throughout the years.After a handful of limited releases, like Holysmokes (a live performance on CKUT) on Alien8 Recordings, the group finally gave birth to their first proper album, Nimbus, in 2005 to great acclaim. The present collaboration between Dreamcatcher and .Angle.Rec., a project that was envisioned some time ago, breathes a second life into a pair of past productions initially released by two of today’s most influential art-house labels, releases that until now, only a handful of enthusiasts had the opportunity to hear. These two outstanding Dreamcatcher sessions include material from their first recorded jam ever, and rank among the favourites of the duo. They represent the furthest expanse and total richness of the band’s world-changing vision. And furthermore this is without a doubt one of the sickest, most twisted and noisiest releases from the .Angle.Rec. camp so far, and with it, the sonic territories covered by the label strech again.
www.myspace.com/thisisdreamcatcher
+ D’EON + HOBO EXPANDING CULT BAND + FERAL CHILDREN + SHORTPANTS ROMANCE + LANTERN + HEADACHES + ULTRATHIN + DUZHEKNEW.
ERIC CHENAUX
Eric Chenaux experiments with ballads, songs, tunes, improvisations, guitars, very small speakers, The Reveries, The Draperies, Drumheller, Nightjars, The Guayaveras, The Allison Cameron Band, Eloïse Decazes, John Oswald, Michelle McAdorey, Aimée Dawn Robinson, Marla Hlady and the curation of the Toronto based recording label, Rat-Drifting, co-founded with Martin Arnold in 2002.About Chenaux’s guitar playing, Carl Wilson writes: “Ornette Coleman might call it harmolodic. Chenaux might call it an amazing background. His strings chime with all those thoughts at once. I adore the way he teases out a melody, never beginning a phrase so much as joining one already in progress. The sound quivers and multiples such that I picture his strings fraying and sprouting into more strings, weeds, nests, marshes, frogs’ tongues, cancelled coins, nickel pipes, drainage systems, catacombs, coral reefs… I could pick Chenaux’s guitar out of a lineup within a few woozy notes, because it’s no longer confined to the orthodox pluck, squawk and scrape of [Derek] Bailey-influenced guitar improv; instead it has absorbed Bailey’s open field of possibility into a love of song. And the songs are strong enough to take it”.
DEAD RAT ORCHESTRA
Since forming in 2002, Dead Rat Orchestra have played regularly throughout the UK and internationally, always attempting to react or interact with their surroundings and the people and ideas that they come across – often crafting each performance for the particular space in which they find themselves (from former abattoirs to churches, concert halls to coppice woods).
“Acutely haunting and occasionally brutal”, their music is always focused on the freedom to play. It would not be fair to say that the music is totally improvised, yet neither would it be correct to class it composed. A framework of ideas or sounds is created, but the exact form of a piece is never derived from these.A focus on performances rather than recording and the constant desire to experiment, expand and play has driven the music on – musical magpies to the last, any means of ringing some resonance out of sounds found either in trembling strings, stretched skins, cracked metal, scratched vinyl, blood, sweat and snow is allowable. Through this no limits approach a music of sometimes quiet beauty, dark brutality and even ecstatic joy has been carved. Often precarious, dancing on the edges of falling apart, their music has shuffled into existence.
Dead Rat Orchestra are Daniel Merrill, Robin Alderton and Nathaniel Mann. They have played in all duo permutations where required by circumstance, although the missing member’s presence is always felt, be it in recordings or ideas sent across the sea or in the quiet corners of the music they play. However, they feel strongest as a trio – three friends who have shared adventures and look forward to more.Ô PAON
Geneviève Castrée was born in Québec in 1981. She says: “I started Ô Paon at home in 2007. I felt the need to start something new, to work harder. The songs of Ô Paon are often born out of frustration, events happen in front of me and I make my comments. I make stuff up, I create scenes. I fuck around a little bit because it’s important to forget to take yourself seriously sometimes. Ô Paon has sung a little bit everywhere: in Canada, in the United States, in Europe, in Japan, in Australia and in New Zealand. It was great. There will be more occasions for me to show myself in the near future.I choose to write and sing my songs in French, my mother tongue. People often tell me I have a weird accent. I don’t know what to say about that. I sing the way it comes out. I am a well-traveled French-speaker.
I like recording by myself in my house. Clumsiness can become magic. For Courses, my first full length, I surrounded myself with people who really know music and how to play it. I went into a real studio. It was worth it.”SATOKO FUJII MA-DO
Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She’s “a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a band-leader who gets the best collaborators to deliver,” says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on over 35 albums as a leader or co-leader, the Tokyo resident synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone.Since she burst onto the scene 11 years ago after earning her graduate diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music. Her trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black has released five albums, all of which earned places in critics’ year-end Top 10 lists. In 2001, she debuted an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring Takeharu Hayakawa, Tatsuya Yoshida, and Natsuki Tamura, and their high-energy CDs were hailed by listeners worldwide. Fujii has also established herself as one of the world’s leading composers for large jazz ensembles. Since 1996, she has released a steady stream of acclaimed releases for large ensemble, culminating in 2006 when she simultaneously released four big band albums: one from her New York ensemble, and one each by three different Japanese bands. In addition to playing accordion in her husband trumpeter Natsuki Tamura’s Gato Libre quartet, she also performs in a duo with Tamura, as an unaccompanied soloist, and in ad hoc groupings with musicians working in different genres. Her special projects have included collaborations with ROVA saxophone quartet, violinist Carla Kihlstedt, pianist Myra Melford, and Junk Box, a collaborative trio with Tamura and percussionist John Hollenbeck. Since 2008, she has been a regular member of saxophonist-composer Larry Ochs’ Sax and Drumming Core. “Whether performing with her orchestra, combo, or playing solo piano, Satoko Fujii points the listener towards the future of music itself rather than simply providing entertainment,” writes Junichi Konuma in Asahi Graph. She tours regularly appearing at festivals and clubs in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe. Her ultimate goal: “I would love to make music that no one has heard before.”
This band’s name, like it’s music, has many layers. Ma-do means “window” in Japanese. But “ma” also means “the silence between notes.” Fujii chose the name to show how the music opens to the outside (just like window) and that silence can have more meaning than notes. In an acoustic setting, the group’s absorbing improvisations explore subtle textures and tone colors, using silence and group interaction to build brilliant collages of sound, melody, and rhythm.
“For a small group, ma-do sounds utterly huge, and that’s a testament not only to Fujii’s writing and technical skill, but also to her cohorts – swirling and unruly at one moment, deft and wiry the next punchy and rollicking another, their empathy astounding.” – Clifford Allen
They have released two albums, Heat Wave (2008) et Desert Ship (2010).
LICHENS
Robert Lowe plays bass and sings in 90 Day Men. They have released three albums and several EPs, rapidly developing from an angular, harsh post-punk band into their current expansive, near-progressive swirl of guitars, keyboards and vocals. He has also collaborated on tour with Castanets.Lichens is Lowe’s personal vehicle, created for performance and recording solo and with collaborators. Lichens has performed in Chicago, beginning at the Arthur magazine sponsored Million Tongues Festival in summer 2004 and New York solo and in duos. Lichens live is a transfixing experience, looping wordless vocals into curtains of drone. Lowe adds acoustic and electric guitars, percussion and other effects to create alternately thick and delicate works. Lowe has recorded and released a CD-R on his own, each hand assembled and released in a limited edition. Lichens contributed a track to the One Bright Sunny Day compilation CD, the debut release from the Chicago-based IC Recordings label. In addition to the release of The Psychic Nature of Being, Chocolate Industries is releasing a limited edition 7 inch single packaged inside a book of art Lowe curated with contributions by Jon Beasley, Justin Schaeffer, Devendra Banhart and others. Recorded as a one-time improvisation without overdubbing, the three tracks on The Psychic Nature of Being, reveal and extend mesmeric Lichens live performances. Lowe mutates and extends his singing as he adds acoustic and electric guitars and percussion in layers that accent the vocal drones.
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe has worked with White/Light, Cloudland Canyon, Michael Zerang, Joshua Micah Abrams, Alan Licht, Hisham Bharoocha, Rose Lazar, Bird Show (Ben Vida), Doug Aitken, Butchy Fuego and Om.
www.kranky.net/artists/lichens.html
SOFT CIRCLE
Soft Circle has recently become a duo with Hisham Akira Bharoocha and Ben Vida. This music project came about after Hisham left his former band, Black Dice, in search of a new way to create music by himself. Through modern music technology he has been able to create a way to perform on his own, where he records and loops sounds live and then adds drums and singing. Bharoocha started out making tribal/electronic/ambient anthems that forged paths between the spirit world and the human tribes of past and present. His new sound is still based on his fascination with repetition, cyclical rhythms and trance inducing sounds, but has gone further into the direction of heavy beats and more solidified song structures, even using lyrics as a new means to communicate.Soft Circle‘s first album, Full Bloom, was released in 2007 on Eastern Developments; the most current release is a split 12 inch with High Places on the label PPM that is out now. Currently Hisham is working on his next full length album with Ben Vida which is scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2010. Bharoocha has toured with such bands as Boredoms, No Age, and High Places. Bharoocha was the musical director for the now legendary 77 BOADRUM performance, a musical composition composed by Boredoms, which involved 77 drummers playing 77 drum kits in a spiral formation at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park on July 7th, 2007. In addition, he was also the musical director for this year’s 88 Boadrum performance which happened on August 8th, 2008 with 88 drummers playing with Boredoms in Los Angeles, as well as 88 drummers playing with Gang Gang Dance in New York City on the same day.
SOUFFLE
We embed ourselves in the unimaginable recesses of our consciences, possessed by the unspeakable, characterized by the impossible. Expected moments slip through our fingers.
Nature surpasses all.Souffle is formed by Riccardo Lucchesi and Jean-Sébastien Truchy. It is said, their sounds are an affirmation of life and nature.
LOCRIAN
Locrian is an experimental project founded in 2005 by Chicago-based academics André Foisy (electric, 12-string, and acoustic guitars, bass, tape loops, plus a lot of effects pedals) and Terence Hannum (synthesizers, vocals, tape loops), who began collaborating in extremely piecemeal fashion – almost song by song, at times – so that their early discography grew to contain over a dozen official and unofficial bite-sized works, issued in limited numbers and multiple formats. Along the way, the pair was abruptly tasked with conjuring up a name after accepting an offer to perform their first live gig, so the self-confessed music theory nerd Foisy suggested Locrian, inspired by an exotic musical scale once banned by the Catholic church for being “evil” (as well as an even more obscure tribe of ancient Greeks).And, in due time, Locrian‘s rather scattered creative methods coalesced into more manageable album-sized portions – namely 2009′s Drenched Lands, 2010′s Territories, and 2011′s The Crystal World – without relinquishing the right to mix and match musical styles (black metal, noise rock, industrial music, drone, etc.) as they pleased. As of the latter release, Locrian‘s lineup (always filled with guest musicians recruited from the Chicago area) was expanded with the confirmation of full-time percussionist Steven Hess.
MAMIFFER
Mamiffer exists with little in the way of context. The musical project, spearheaded by pianist Faith Coloccia, speaks in a new language whose roots are harder to trace. Consequently, the music is intriguingly foreign. A patient listener shouldn’t have any difficulties rendering the deep, vibrant human pulse in the compositions, though a Rosetta stone in the form of the project’s history and operational tactics will undoubtedly help untangle Mamiffer’s cryptic dialect.Faith Coloccia’s early work as co-founder of the avant-guerilla sound experimentalists Everlovely Lightningheart was an exercise in re-examining traditional concepts of performance. Shows took place in sewers, art galleries, desert landscapes, and, on rare occasions, scattered about the corners and floor space of rock clubs. The shows were hypnotic, transcendent, and occasionally violent. Recycled scraps were turned into instruments; instruments were turned into groaning organisms.
After the disbanding of Everlovely Lightningheart, Faith began composing new material on piano. Navigating the creative process as a solo artist, she moved away from her more improvisational past and took a structured approach to her new compositions.
The result was Hirror Enniffer, her debut under the moniker Mamiffer.Recruiting an assortment of musicians from the Seattle area, including drummer Chris Common, bassist Brian Cook, cellist/vocalist Annie Hozoji Matheson-Margullis, guitarists Aaron Turner and Ryan Frederiksen, Faith took her fractured neo-classical compositions and infused them with ambient electrical hums and a reductionist metal dirge. Two years later, after splitting her time between the perpetual gray of the Pacific Northwest and the sun-baked deserts of Southern California, Coloccia began the process of drafting up her second full-length, Mare Decendrii. With co-conspirator Aaron Turner and ongoing collaborator Travis Rommereim on board, Coloccia no longer works under the insular role of a solo artist. Consequently, the material on the follow-up was subjected to heavy scrutiny, with the songs going through a myriad of metamorphoses over the course of an extended drafting and recording process. For the album, Mamiffer enlisted esoteric mastermind Randall Dunn as engineer and recruited a bevy of musicians – including Brian Cook, Don McGreevy, Eyvind Kang, Timba Harris, Moriah Neils, Aaron Harris, Joe Preston, Sera Timms, Jussi Lehtisalo, Mika Ratto, Jessika Kenney, and Parvaneh Daneshvar – to lend their services. The undertaking was ambitious, and with so many participants, it threatened to overwhelm the core elements of the material. But the band is quick to note that “a revolving cast of participants allows it to be a freely evolving entity, something not bound to any one specific formation; the creative freedom inherent in this approach is crucial for Mamiffer to remain alive and relevant in the present moment.”
The compositions are malleable and organic, taking on a multiple forms. A song takes a fixed and permanent shape on record, and assumes a completely different incarnation in the live setting. Over the course of Mare Dencendrii’s five songs, Mammifer travels between moments of minimalist tone worship, choral meditations, syncopated funeral marches, elaborate odd-time classical passages, and deconstructed doom metal. At its core, it’s a melancholic and occasionally vengeful exploration of texture and melody. It’s a sonic journey, a dynamic, living, breathing experience, a labor of love, and a bold new language.
THISQUIETARMY
Eric Quach is a guitarist and sound engineer who performs under the name thisquietarmy. He is also the guitarist and founding member of the Montreal-based instrumental rock band Destroy All Dreamers. With two internationally acclaimed albums, À Cœur Léger Sommeil Sanglant in 2004 and Wish I Was All Flames in 2007 on Where Are My Records as well as a 12” vinyl EP Glare/Halo in 2006 on Claire’s Echo, Destroy All Dreamers has gained a notorious cult band status amongst their peers.As thisquietarmy, a one-man solo drone/ambient project, Quach composes visual guitar-based soundscapes and experimental music that goes beyond the typical song structure. By exploring his guitar as a tone generator, he furthers the boundaries of his instrument with the use of multiple effect processors & real-time loop-samplers, alternating the guitar signal’s shape and tone, blending textures over textures, merging a wide combination of sounds together and developing the melodies hidden in these walls of sound. Concrete musical ideas are often generated by the re-interpretation, the decomposition and the reconstruction of its own improvisations. thisquietarmy performs live regularly throughout Canada and the USA, and has played with Ulrich Schnauss, Olafur Arnalds, Tim Hecker, Troum, Nadja & Caspian just to name a few.
thisquietarmy has released two albums: Unconquered and Blackhaunter in 2008, respectively on Poland’s Foreshadow Productions and USA’s Elevation Recordings. He has also released several EPs including: Wintersleeper (2005) and Orange (2006), both on his own imprint This Quiet Army Records, Echotone (2007) on Canada’s Chat Blanc Records. A collaborative album with Aidan Baker, Nadja, was released in 2009 on USA’s Killer Pimp Records and thisquietarmy is currently working on a few short-film scores and soundtracks. Aftermath was released in april 2010 and Death with Yellow in november 2010 on basses frequencies label. With already such a large body of work in which is revealed a large range of guitar-based sonic styles, from minimal drone to electro-ambient to psychedelic shoegaze/post-rock, thisquietarmy is a forward contender as a pioneer of the experimental ambient Canadian music scene.
FUTURE ISLANDS
Too many bands in the era of buzz and the blog are taken before their time. The spotlight hits hard and finds a group who has not yet developed, not yet put in the work to find their sound and hone it and make themselves better, and just as quickly they’re gone. Future Islands are not one of those bands.J Gerrit Welmers, William Cashion and Samuel T Herring have been making music together since 2003, and as Future Islands since 2006, putting in the work. Formed as college friends in Greenville, NC, Future Islands relocated to Baltimore after becoming friends with Dan Deacon, an early and avid supporter of the band. They’ve released a handful of CD-R’s, tapes and limited vinyl releases, and their debut album “Wave Like Home” came out on UK label Upset the Rhythm in 2008. They’ve toured extensively in the US and Europe, including the Baltimore Round Robin tours and opening for and performing in Dan Deacon’s large ensemble.
For their effort, Future Islands have mastered their style, which Rolling Stone describes as, “adding punishing heft to simple pop melodies, making blippy electropop sound oddly confrontational.” Future Islands calls it “Post-Wave,” taking in part from the emotional fragility of New Wave and coupling it with the power and drive of Post-Punk. Their upcoming Thrill Jockey debut LP, “In Evening Air”, will be their first proper and timely US album release.
Future Islands’ music is spearheaded by Welmers, whose layers of synths and drums create the landscape for Cashion’s punching-strum bass guitar, that pulses and fights, creating noise and bliss. Herring, who has been called “one of the most magnetic frontmen in indie rock,” finds his space in between. Carving through the music, at times, with a whispering croon, and at others, with a deathly wail.
VALLEYS
Montreal’s Valleys seem like they make music at night. All three members of the band have an extremely shy stage presence, and one almost gets the feeling while watching them that they’re voyeurs at a starry jam session. Thus, Valleys are humbling to watch, playing so succinctly that they give off the type of aura that only a true collective can, working together through an unexpected juxtaposition of chaos and tranquility. Tranquility is an appropriate word, too – at one point all three members of the band played guitars, getting rid of percussion, their respective finger-picking transforming into a cohesive mass of slow sound that led the crowd out into the night.www.myspace.com/valleysvalleysvalleys
PLUCKY WALKER
Joel Herring has been doing work in freestyle ciphers since 1998. The Plucky Walker project marks his attempt to capture the playfulness and divergent rhythms of his improvisations on record. Raw Story blends a vast array of vocal styles with a keen narrative sense, bringing the Plucky Walker biography to life in stark and moving detail. From the New York-inflected chant of “Snowblind,” to the rapid fire West Coast flash of “Escaping into the Pages,” to the Deep South rhythms and melodies of “Syllable Spill,” Raw Story is a love letter to rap music in its purest form.Playing in numerous solo projects and live bands over the years, Joel has shared the stage with luminaries such as Blackalicious, Themselves, Mr. Lif, MF DOOM, Electronic Rap Machine, Future Islands, Mr. Invisible, Javelin, Al Lover, Sacred Hoop, and countless others. He’s toured from North Carolina to Northern California, and been up and down the east coast several times. As much as he hungers for the stage, Joel’s most at home brewing up a strong batch of Yerba Maté and retreating to the studio to wrestle with the blank page.
BILL ORCUTT
Best known as the guitarist of Miami noise-rockers Harry Pussy, Bill Orcutt was already a significant name in experimental noise circles when he released his solo debut. Long interested in cutting-edge art, Orcutt had a Master’s in English and had made several experimental short films, one of which sold to MTV in 1990. He also played in several local punk bands, most notably The Trash Monkeys, before forming Harry Pussy in 1992 with his wife, drummer Adris Hoyos. They worked together for the next five years, releasing a series of uncompromising and confrontational recordings on small labels and gaining acclaim from the likes of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow. Towards the tail end of Harry Pussy’s existence in 1996, Orcutt completed his first solo recording, titled simply Solo CD. It was issued by the New York-based Audible Hiss label, and featured guest vocals from Hoyos as well as instrumental contributions from drummer Danny Arad and saxman Joe Cohen, among others.
www.billorcutt.comLES BEYOND
While Les Beyond initially began in late 2007 as a solo outlet for her softer-side, the then-guitarist of Shearing Pinx, Erin Ward, soon found that what began as just bedroom antics over time solidified into hypnotic and transfixing soul-scape. Using seemingly simple tools, Ward subtly and deftly takes audiences to private places with trance-inducing guitar drones, covering full spectrums and invoking dark paradises.Montreal’s Les Beyond has been described by audiences as the “musical equivalent of a food coma.” That description might throw you off and make you think “is that a good thing?” And the answer is “YES!”
“Using an array of pedals and a guitar, Les Beyond adds layers of soft guitar murmurs, creating a drone soundscape so captivating that it transfixes you, and before you know it, her set is over, people around you begin to stir, and then you realize – the musical equivalent of a food coma has just enveloped you like a tryptophan-laced aural wave of hypnosis.”
CJLO.com, July 2010.CHARLES GAYLE
Charles Gayle blew down with hurricane force – the pun is too obvious – out of Buffalo. He drifted in and out of the first great free jazz scenes of the Sixties, playing with Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and other trailblazers. But he says now that his sound then was even more fiery and forceful than it is now, and he couldn’t get a recording date. He drifted. He became homeless. He lived as a squatter in an abandoned Lower East Side tenement. He found Jesus.He kept playing. His music retained its hard industrial edge. It sent listeners through the wall. It busted them out of the day-to-day grind into a divine ecstasy. It lifted and uplifted. He developed a tremendous facility with the upper-upper register of the tenor saxophone, so that he could take his spiritual flights to their farthest reaches. He played wherever he could; his steadiest gig was in the New York subways.
Eventually lightning struck. In the late Eighties, Silkheart Records recorded three discs him featuring Gayle’s ecstatic, holy holy tenor. One of them, the much-overlooked “Always Born”, paired him with the incomparable John Tchicai, a pairing that seemed problematic at the time but which worked much better than perhaps anyone was aware then.
After that work, and recordings, came a bit more steadily. For the enigmatic German FMP label he recorded the all-time classic ‘Touchin’ on Trane’ with musicians as talented and passionate as he: bassist William Parker and drummer Rashied Ali, a living connection with the Coltrane legacy that Gayle so dynamically extends here. But this disc became something of an anomaly in the Gayle discography: most of the others were much more furious. Gut-wrenching, metal-tearing, pedal-to-the-floor music.
Much of it was magnificent: “Testaments”, “Repent”, and “More Live at the Knitting Factory” are outrageous, outlandish sonic assaults. “Testaments” has a rough lyricism that is captivating; the other two make adroit use of doubled strings from bassist Vattel Cherry and William Parker on cello.
On some discs Gayle himself plays viola, bass clarinet, other oddments. His bass clarinet solos are deeply felt and generally more conventionally lyrical than his tenor blasts. He plays it to particular effect on FMP’s “Abiding Variations”. But his chief double is piano, which he has played with increasing frequency and facility in recent years. He’s even planning a piano disc loaded with standards, which could change popular perceptions of him – as could the majestic and hard-won lyricism of his tenor playing on the recent “Delivered” and “Ancient of Days”.
Popular perceptions may change, but a lot of people do not like and will not like Charles Gayle. They don’t like him because he speaks his mind, in concert, and his views are not fashionable. He speaks about his Christian faith and about respect for life. He dresses up like a clown and acts the fool for the many who say he speaks like a fool. His speech is as unpolished and sincere as his playing, and obviously springs from the same well. So what should be done? Should he be censored? Should his art be restricted? If it is – as it is by the fact that many clubs will not hire him now – some transcendent and original art music goes unheard. Art is the loser. We are all the loser.
There is no player on the scene today with the emotional wallop of Charles Gayle. His later discs – particularly “Ancient of Days” – manifest a mature improvisational talent that can stand with any saxophonist’s today. If you are interested in improvised music, you owe it to yourself to hear him.
SHALABI EFFECT
Shalabi Effect began in 1996 as a duo composed of Anthony Seck and Sam Shalabi. The duo played around town for a couple of years and released a cassette recording (still available as a CD-R). In 1998, Shalabi Effect added Alexandre St Onge on double bass and Will Eizlini on tablas. That year, ‘Aural Florida’ was recorded at Red Rocket Studios in Montreal, and was originally slated to be a side of a split-CD produced by Alien8 Recordings. Nearing Y2K, Shalabi Effect recorded for a second time at One Hand Studios in Ottawa, and by July 2000 had released ‘Shalabi Effect/ST’, which incorporated a remixed version of ‘Aural Florida’ embedded among the 131 minutes. ‘Shalabi Effect/ST’ continues in the tradition of live improvisation based on Middle Eastern modes but Shalabi Effect‘s approach has become more experimental with the inclusion of strange semi broken electronics and a variety of odd instruments. They have since released three other albums : ‘Trial of St Orange’ (2002), ‘Pink Abyss’ (2004) and ‘Unfortunately’ (2005).VOLCANO THE BEAR
Volcano The Bear was formed in May 1995, in Leicester, England, by Daniel Padden, Laurence Coleman, Nick Mott and Aaron Moore. These four musicians encountered frustrations with the limitations of traditional musical endeavors and sought an outlet that could defy convention. Volcano The Bear quickly became the platform for their total artistic freedom and personal expression, where they could explore collective ideas and interests in a new and inventive manner.The music that came forth from this collective ideology was a beautiful cross-section of the English underground of years past (Robert Wyatt, This Heat, Nurse With Wound) alongside the rhythms of Can, the trickery of Faust and a Residents-like surrealist bent. Volcano the Bear adapt these lofty inspirations into a sound that is distinctly their own creation, one that blurs the lines between songs, composition, noise and improvisation.
Volcano The Bear’s own Volucan imprint was home to their first recordings, released in limited cassette and CD-R formats. Glowing reviews in magazines like Wire and Audion quickly expanded the group’s fan base, and soon Volcano The Bear released the mini-LP ‘Yak Folks Y’Are’ on the Pickled Egg label. Devout fans included United Dairies/Nurse With Wound mastermind Steven Stapleton, who made Volcano The Bear the first non-NWW release on his label in nearly a decade. Their first US release was ‘The One Burned Ma’, on the Misra label.
SHADIA MANSOUR
As authentic as the heavily-embroidered thawb she wears whilst performing live… British Born Palestinian Shadia Mansour has independently become one of the leading female Arabian MC’s worldwide. Her natural and flawless ability to switch between rapping and singing is rapidly becoming a cultural phenomenon. Shadia delivers her taunting voice, both mournful and mesmerizing, over Arabic Phrases of loss, longing, struggle and life.Shadia Mansour started singing at the tender age of 5 years old by appearing on various Arabic, British and American TV and radio shows. She is currently working on her highly anticipated album (yet to be titled) featuring many of the top producers of the industry. Shadia has opened up for Busta Rhymes and Mobb Deep at the Palladium Club in New Rochelle, NY. Last summer, she toured US and received a tremendous welcome in Chicago, Milwaukee and San Francisco. Shadia also took part in the Annual Pre Black August Concert in NYC with DJ Johnny Juice (Public Enemy) alongside her giving her performance an authentic New York touch.
THE NARCICYST
Yassin Alsalman, better known by his stage name The Narcicyst , is an Iraqi journalist and hip- hop MC. Originally from Basra, he was born and raised in Dubai. Now settled in Montreal, he began his career as part of a hip-hop trio called Euphrates, along with Nawar and Nawaf Al-Rufaie. The two brothers had been Yassin’s childhood friends and worked together as a production team called Sandhill, providing the musical backrdrop for the group’s two LPs (‘A Bend in the River’ and ‘Stereotypes Incorporated’). The group also contributed to the soundtrack of ‘Voices of Iraq’, a documentary featured in The Georgia Straight and Time.Euphrates disbanded after Nawaf’s unexpected passing on November 26th, 2004. Yassin has since pursued a solo career, recording four mixtapes and a studio album. Rapping in English and occasionally in Iraqi Arabic, Yassin’s lyrics address some of the social, political and cultural issues of our time, including the 9/11 attacks, the US-led invasion of Iraq, Islamophobia and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. He has performed across Canada, Europe, the United States and the Middle East, often backed by a live band and vocalists. He has also opened for a number of high profile acts like Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Non Phixion, Madlib, A-Trak, Brother Ali, DJ Vadim, Dead Prez and Afu Ra to name a few. A graduate in political science and communication studies, Yassin completed a Masters’ degree in media studies, focusing on the identity politics in hip-hop poetics, specifically looking at the lived experiences of Arabs in North America.
SAMIAN
Algonquin hip-hop artist Samian raps about the realities of life on First Nations reserves in Quebec and has a growing following on reserves and in Quebec’s cities, also striking a chord in hip-hop communities everywhere. Samian raps on indigenous people in Quebec, whose chart-topping hit ‘La Paix des Braves’, a duet with Quebec hip-hop crew Loco Locass, appeals for solidarity between Québécois and indigenous people. More recently, his collaboration with Sans Pression on ‘Premières Nations’ has helped cement his role as a key voice in the Montreal contemporary hip-hop scene. Samian is a signatory of the Artists Against Israeli Apartheid declaration issued to the public in the winter of 2010 in support of the global movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli apartheid.DAVID S. WARE
David S. Ware was born in Plainfield, NJ in 1949. His early love of music was nurtured by some dedicated teachers at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. He began his saxophone career on alto, and then switched to baritone, before finally settling on the tenor as his musical voice. “I had played in all the school bands, the whole way through junior high and high school: marching band, concert band, dance band and orchestras.” As a teen David was an ardent admirer of Sonny Rollins and struck up a relationship with the elder tenor player after seeing him countless times in the mid-’60s at the Five Spot and the Village Vanguard. The two practiced together intermittently in the ’70s in Rollins’ Brooklyn apartment; it was Rollins who taught young Ware the art of circular breathing in 1966.By the late-’60s, David was attending music school in Boston and playing on the local scene with Stanton Davis, Cedric Lawson, Art Lande, and Michael Brecker, who later recalled: “I remember how completely wowed I was when I heard David play .. we were about 17 or 18 .. here was a tremendously gifted artistic and creative presence – an inspiration to all of us.”
While in Boston, David met drummer Marc Edwards and pianist Gene Ashton (Cooper-Moore), and together they formed a group called Apogee. By 1973, David had moved to New York and became part of a circle of musicians, including Sam Rivers, David Murray, Butch Morris, Arthur Blythe, Don Pullen, Rashied Ali, Frank Lowe, who were creating and cultivating their own loft-and-studio performing circuit. He became a member of the Cecil Taylor Unit in a group that included Marc Edwards, trumpeter Raphe Malik, and the great alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons. He performed with Taylor’s legendary Carnegie Hall large ensemble. “Ware’s distinct sound and Holly Roller fervor were already evident when he was 25, performing in Cecil Taylor’s unforgettable 1974 Carnegie Hall big band.” (Gary Giddins, Village Voice, August 1/7, 2001). Ware toured with the Cecil Taylor Unit throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada, and recorded Dark To Themselves (Enja) with this group. Beaver Harris replaced Edwards on drums, which led to David joining Harris’ 360 Degree Music Experience ensemble. It was also at this time that David joined master drummer Andrew Cyrille’s group Maono.
By 1981, David had toured Europe with Maono, the Cecil Taylor Unit, and with his own group, which included Beaver Harris, Gene Ashton and bassist Brian Smith. He had recorded three albums with Maono, including Metamusicians’ Stomp and Special People for the Italian label Black Saint. 1981 was also the year that Birth of a Being was released, David’s first album under his own name, a trio date with Marc Edwards and Gene Ashton, for Hat Hut. In the early ‘80s, he collaborated with drummer Milford Graves. His trio toured Europe in 1985 with bassist Peter Kowald and either drummer Louis Moholo or Thurman Barker. Later, David served in trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah’s Solomonic Quintet which recorded one self-titled album on Silkheart.
In 1988 David formed a trio with Marc Edwards and William Parker and recorded Passage To Music for Silkheart. In 1989, he put out the word that he was looking for a pianist. William Parker and Reggie Workman both recommended Matthew Shipp: “David got in touch with me and we started playing together. I was a big fan of Ware’s work. Playing with Ware is like being at home. My style of piano really fits his compositions. He gives me freedom to be me. He doesn’t put any restrictions on me.”
In 1989, the David S. Ware Quartet was born. From that time to 2007 the only personnel changes have been the drummers: Whit Dickey replaced Marc Edwards in 1992, followed by Susie Ibarra in 1996, and finally Guillermo E. Brown in 1999. “I’m seeing more and more the value of keeping a group together,” says Ware. “Rather than freelance with different bands, you make the group an institution. Looking at jazz over the decades, I feel this is how the music grows the most. Musicians get a chance to be thorough, to know the material and be involved instead of skimming over the surface.” Rather than compromise his musical vision, Ware chose to be patient. “I stayed out of the scene until I was ready to do my thing.” He also refused to do sideman gigs. “Working with other musicians doesn’t work for me. Philosophically, I find it difficult to be under someone else’s umbrella.”
The ’90s saw the full-on actualization of this group and the recognition of David S. Ware as a true saxophone collossus. A series of ground-breaking albums by the David S. Ware Quartet were released in rapid succession: Great Bliss Vol. 1 & 2 on Silkheart; Flight of i, Third Ear Recitation, Earthquation, and Godspelized on the Japanese label DIW; finally, Cryptology, DAO, and Wisdom of Uncertainty on the American labels Homestead and AUM Fidelity. One of the most highly acclaimed jazz groups of the decade.
In 1997, David was signed to the Columbia Jazz label by Branford Marsalis. “Branford caught my show (Vienne –France 1995) and he really dug what he heard. He was sincerely moved by the music, which he hadn’t heard before. He really flipped.” Two years later, when Branford was named the new creative consultant of Columbia Jazz, he made David S. Ware his first signing. David again, “Musicians worry that once they get a deal with a major label they’ll have to water down their music. But Branford said ‘don’t change a tbing, just keep playing like yourself.’”
The first album for Columbia, Go See The World, was released in 1998, and it was as unrelentingly powerful as any DSWQ record that had come before, meeting with great critical acclaim. The second album for Columbia, Surrendered, was recorded in October 1999 and released in May 2000. It featured interpolations of Charles Lloyd’s “Sweet Georgia Bright” and Beaver Harris’ “African Drums,” as well as four beautiful new compositions by David S. Ware.
After making the two albums for Columbia, and in the wake of the Columbia Jazz department’s dissolution, ways were parted in December 2000. Wasting no time, AUM Fidelity brought David and the Quartet into the studio in February of 2001. These sessions feature Matthew Shipp on synthesizer for the first time. The epic Corridors & Parallels album was the result, released in September 2001.
Shortly thereafter, the SF Jazz organization commissioned David to prepare a new arrangement of Sonny Rollins’ “Freedom Suite” to perform at their 2002 Spring Season. A studio recording of this was then made for AUM Fidelity in July and released in October 2002. “This is a perfect opportunity to show the link between me and Sonny,” explained Ware, “an opportune time to show how one generation is built upon another and how the relationships work in the whole stream of music that’s called jazz.” David carries forth the influences of the greatest that have shaped the art of jazz, with an original sound and concept that has added to the further development of this art form. His formidable artistic skills go beyond being an impeccable saxophonist and improviser.
Matthew Shipp had expressed a strong desire to produce a record for the label ThirstyEar/The Blue Series that would showcase David’s talent as a composer. This came to fruition with the recording of Threads in 2003. Daniel Bernard Roumain on violin and Mat Maneri on viola joined the quartet, with Matthew Shipp playing the synthesizer using a “strings” setting on most of the pieces. The resulting music, built on delicate, cinematic rhythms and melodic fragments, reveals a classical sensibility, and sounds like a new form of jazz chamber music. On some tracks, Ware’s sax is nowhere to be heard; his artistry is fully presented through his distinct compositional approach. David explains. “I’m interested in using different techniques to get to a place of transcendence. The thing that makes music great is that it’s an infinite thing, an endless thing. Personally, I’m interested in going down more than one path, as far as the form, the melody are concerned. I don’t want to restrict myself as to what area or style of music I can deal with.”
After more than 15 years of touring and playing with his quartet across Europe and in the USA, the David S. Ware Quartet had not yet released a live recording. As if making up for lost time, Live In The World, released in 2005, was a stunning three-disc offering taken from three different concerts, and representing difference phases and selections of material. His longtime sidemen, pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker, are constant throughout, with the drummer’s chair changing from disc to disc. One of the three concerts, recorded in Milano, Italy in 2003 with current drummer Guillermo E. Brown, features the Quartet’s renewed approach to “The Freedom Suite.”
“We did “Freedom Suite” a number of times throughout Europe,” Ware says. “On this particular concert, we decided that we’d been doing it a certain way, so let’s try to open it up even more and break up the form a little bit. That’s exactly what happened in that concert, we broke up the form and built various parts of it differently that we had. During the concert, I knew that we touched on the transcendental several times as we played it. Sometimes you don’t realize what you’re touching upon, but this is one of those rare occasions ..The music transcended, it went beyond itself, it went beyond playing music and it touched upon the spiritual plane. This is one of the ultimate things in musical experience, to touch upon that universal, that cosmic reality, that makes us all related. That makes us, all human beings on this planet, truly brothers and sisters.”
In September of 2005, on the occasion of Sonny Rollins’ induction into the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center, Mr. Rollins invited David and the Quartet to perform a section of “Freedom Suite” as part of the ceremony.
By the Spring of 2006, David had a new set of compositions prepared specifically for the Quartet, and it was decided to record these pieces live as well. The concert was the main headlining event at Vision Festival XI (NYC) in June. The resulting album, Renunciation, was released by AUM Fidelity in April 2007.
In July 2007, his new group concept, featuring guitarist Joe Morris, made its debut at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC. They made a European tour in November 2007, and continued working toward a recording which took place in May of 2008. The resulting album, Shakti, has been released on AUM Fidelity.
Onecept, recorded at Systems Two Studio in Brooklyn, NY in December 2009 propose Ware’s compositions with William Parker on bass and Warren Smith on drums.
JASON SHARP
Jason Sharp is a Montreal based baritone and bass saxophonist who’s sound is a combination of his interests in jazz, contemporary classical, electronic, rock, free form improvisation, and Arabic classical music. Threading these diverse influences together, Sharp has developed a uniquely vibrant sound in the groups he contributes to.
He can be heard as a regular member in Josh Zubot’s Mend Ham, Sam Shalabi’s Land Of Kush and Egyptian Light Orchestra, Nicolas Caloia’s Ratchet Orchestra, and Joe Grass’s Tiny Dictators. Sharp is also a frequent collaborator in Montreal’s vibrant improvising community and has shared the stage with Lori Freedman, Jean Derome, and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. In addition to his usual collaborators, he has recorded with Matana Roberts, Thee Silver Mt. Zion, and Sam Shalabi for the Constellation record label.
As a composer, Jason has been commissioned to compose music for contemporary dance, film, and sound installations. Since 2007, he has had pieces premier at the Yukon Arts Center, Vancouver International Dance Festival, and the FIDA International Dance Festival that have gone on to tour Brazil, Belgium, France, and the Unites States.
Jason holds a B.MUS in Jazz Performance from the University of Toronto where he studied with Mike Murley, Kirk MacDonald, Alex Dean, and Phil Nimmons. He continued his studies in composition at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and in 2006 received a Conseil des Arts et des Lettres Grant to study with Ellery Eskelin, Michael Blake, and Ben Allison in New York City.
OMAR SOULEYMAN
Talk about combining old and new! Omar Souleyman blends classical Arabic vocalization with Syrian folk and party music. He mixes in Kurdish, Turkish and Iraqi strains for good measure. Then he propels all of it into the 21st century by singing over synthesized keyboards and frenetic percussion. The music is greatly enriched by oud, reeds and a thin-necked lute-like instrument called a baglama saz. The result is an ancient/modern fusion as haunting as it is infectious. Since 1994, Souleyman has released over five hundred cassettes, becoming a sensation in Syria. While Souleyman handles the vocals, his collaborator, Mahmoud Harbi, writes the Ataba, a traditional form of poetry transformed into lyrics. After success in the Middle East, Souleyman is inviting the rest of the world to join in the timeless dance. With the label Sublime Frequencies, Omar Souleyman has almost a position of big star in world music as Konono N°1 or Getatchew Mekurya.AROARA
The power-duo known as AroarA met in a trailer one late summer in Montreal. It was a memorable night – he had just been given the gift of a faux-gembri, a north african lute with a goatskin resonator, by local luthier Daddy Mojo. Having no idea how to play, it did not discourage him from attempting to summon spirits down into the shabby surroundings. She was the only one who heard it. They decided to make music. Later, she was given her own 4 string mojo and they started collaborating with a 404 sampler.Andrew writes and tours with Toronto based Broken Social Scene & Apostle of Hustle. Ariel sings with Land of Kush.
AroarA recently played a show as In The Pines, a tribute to Alice Notleys poetry of the same name.
DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE
Dolphins Into the Future is the musical project of Belgium’s Lieven Martens. Spin-off projects are Duncan Cameron, L.R.J. Martens, In the Eye of Vision, etc Martens also runs the labels Taped Sounds (formerly known as Dreamtime Taped Sounds, or Dreamtime Tapes) and Cetacean Nation Cassettes, and works as an ambassador for the Cetacean Nation. Furthermore, he hosts the weekly Oceaan Der Geluid radioshow on Radio Centraal, which airs (almost) every tuesday from 10am till noon CET.While nearly any music can be said to create a mental state or put its listener in a specific headspace, such aims are sometimes stated more unequivocally. Gnawa music, various strains of indigenous trance traditions, and Buddhist chant are made purely for such aims, and in cases like these, the aesthetics of the music can be seen as secondary to a primary spiritual objective. This places the music outside of the realm of conventional aesthetic criticism to some degree, with a definition of “success” largely based on its effect on the performer or listener. It’s a nebulous realm, more reliant on an inner individual response than subjective aesthetic considerations. How then, to consider The Music of Belief, the second album from Dolphins Into The Future? Lieven Martens, the one man behind this one-man band, found his inspiration for the music in devotional texts, making music “to awaken the listener’s inner-seeing or God-vision.” That statement alone may trigger alarm bells for some, but it may be because we’re all just a bit too cynical these days.
Whether one is to take Martens at face value is up for argument; despite his apparently deep interest in the texts that make up his source material, there’s definite likelihood of irony. His reference of the Cetacean Nation (believers in the roles of dolphins and whales in bringing humans to a new level of consciousness) and the general adoption of hackneyed new-age signifiers might suggest a less-than-earnest endeavor into oceanic spirituality. But, motivations be damned: The Music of Belief and its ultra-marine psychedelia can be considered outside of its spiritual core, and it owes much to a new age aesthetic so rife with cultural baggage that the music inevitably conjures thoughts of bargain bin albums with titles like Rain Forest Interlude and Songs of the Humpback Whale.
http://cetaceannationcommunications.blogspot.com
RENE HELL
Rene Hell is the alter-ego synthesizer project for Jeff Witscher, who was born in California in 1983. He operates “Club Lucifer” (a weekly night club) and is currently residing in Vienna, Austria. Witscher has kept busy in the past few years, recording dozens of releases as Rene Hell and a gaggle of other pseudonyms (Impregnable, Secret Abuse, Marble Sky), as well as playing in bands like Roman Torment and the curiously titled Deep Jew. As is common to the US’s underground experimental scene, most of these recordings saw release only on cassette or CD-r, making 2010’s Porcelain Opera Witscher’s first CD and LP as Rene Hell. Released on Type Records and clocking in at just over 30 minutes, the album is fairly concise for a drone record, though the vinyl release comes with a full-length bonus disc called Rogue Camera. In terms of aesthetic, the album evokes other contemporary synth experimentalists like Emeralds or Oneohtrix Point Never, but with percussive loops and melodies that betray a stronger techno influence.http://typerecords.com/artists/rene-hell
SUNDRIPS
Sundrips is a Montreal-based duo craft hypnotic song structures that will heat you up even during the depths of our Quebec winters. Armed mainly with a synthesizer and guitar, sundrips are doing a fine job of carving out their own space amongst the cosmos. Through Obversion is filled with four concise rainbow shots toward oblivion. accented with droning vocals and various tape loops, these songs are like statues to the sun gods. dreamlike arpeggios and heavily-delayed guitar notes wind together tightening around your skull. in the end you’re floating somewhere outside the clouds, sucking down as much of the pure, prismatic air as you can.PARLOVR
Parlovr is a sloppy pop band from Montreal, Canada consisting of Alex Cooper, Louis David Jackson and Jeremy Maccuish. It formed sometime between 2006-2007 with Alex and Louis writing all sorts of weird punk soul rock epic songs together in a small loft called ‘The parlour’. They enlisted Jeremy and thereafter recorded and independently released a self-titled album in late 2008. It was subsequently released by Dine Alone in 2010. Known for their spastically energetic hair-flailing live show, they’ve toured around Canada, USA, Europe and China (really!) and have had fun opening up for Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Handsome Furs, We Are Wolves and Marnie Stern, among others. They have also played festivals like Pop Montreal, Osheaga, CMJ, SXSW, CMW, NXNE and FME. A 4-song EP called Hell/Heaven/Big/Love is their newest release (again, put out on Dine Alone Records) and the band is entering the studio again for a follow-up to their full-length.MAVO
From the creative kiln of furniture-mad minds, this band’s three journeymen hail from Osaka, Sydney and Vancouver. Not content to make music merely influenced by mid-century modern tables and chairs, Mavo is framed with the finest lumber in rock history – C86 pop, Scottish post-punk, underground psych and ’90s dream pop.MOZART‘S SISTER
Mozart’s Sister is Caila Thompson-Hannant (Shapes and Sizes, Miracle Fortress, Think About Life) striving to create without pretense or practical implication. She started making music on her own as a means of a more personal pursuit, drawing form from living in a world of isolated passion where submission to the things you cannot change liberated a space for inner logic and inner values. From years of creating and questioning come a few scattered songs. By revealing and feeling the full breadth of life for herself, Mozart’s Sister aspires to leave no listener stranded.SECRET CITIES
Started by MJ Parker and Charlie Gokey at the tender age of 15, Secret Cities grew out of a shared love of psychedelic pop and a pen-pal arrangement that saw the pair trading 4-track tapes through the mail. The band eventually expanded to a trio with the addition of fellow Midwesterner and kindred spirit Alex Abnos on drums. After a few small releases on Baltimore’s Fall Records, the band released its proper full length debut, the well-received Pink Graffiti in 2010 on Western Vinyl. Following a nationwide tour in support of that release, the band spent several intense months writing and recording new material, re-imagining their sound as a fractured take on classic AM radio pop. Strange Hearts, the resulting album, was released on March 2011 on Western Vinyl.www.myspace.com/secretcitiesmusic
PUJOL
Pujol was raised in Tullahoma, TN, where he lived in a haunted house which sat one block away from the wrong side of the tracks. He spent his formative years scribbling on walls, shredding behind closed doors, and riding around in cars with older kids. He took his first communion at 13 and secretly drank his first beer shortly thereafter in St. Cecilia’s bathroom, emerging an identity-inclusive Peter Panentheist.When asked at the tender age of 4 what he wanted to be when he grew up, he responded, “Naked.” While Pujol has yet to achieve this particular goal he has made good on several other promises, becoming an accomplished musician, author, and songwriter. He has even dabbled in theatre, playing The Robot in a high school production of The Canterbury Tales. He is also a prominent social critic, shreditorialist, unlicensed metaphysician, and polymathmagician. Some journalists have called Pujol the “Philosopher King of the Nashville Scene”, and while he shies away from such lofty titles and burning windmills, he totally digs the literary allusion, as does his mom.
Pujol’s Black Rabbit 7″ is out now on Third Man Records. Other Pujol releases out now include: Mayday/No Feeling on Turbo Time Records, How High/Sliderz on Evil Weevil Records, Angelbaby/Over The Counterculture Jam on Velocity of Sound Records and Bonedaddy/Getnhard on Jeffrey Drag Records.
THE CITY STREETS
Hailing from Edmonton, AB and now positioned in Montreal, The City Streets are a rare and unique breed, remaining unscathed from the all too often dogmatic music industry approach, managing to nurture a talent that is both raw and accessible. They have released two full length albums, These Things Happen and Concentrated Living as well as two EP’s entitled If You Don’t Like The Clash You’re a Bad Person and The Hipster Cull.US GIRLS
The second full-length release by US Girls is an even more fully realized excursion into a hazy alternate universe where pop vocals and muzzy scree fuse in harmony.Go Grey conjures up ambient aerosols while luminous kaleidoscopes of sound sizzle, peak, and explode. Megan Remy is a chanteuse from (perhaps) the future, guiding all who choose to sail an evocative trip through her unique aural hallucinogenic landscapes. It’s a journey of lush vistas, warm currents, and complex beauties. 23nd-Century-style, of course. So come aboard and see why U.S. Girls is being hailed the Eno of the ’50s–the 2250s! Can you imagine? Let’s hope so.
NOVELLER
Noveller is the solo project of Brooklyn-based sound artist and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate. She has performed in Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Army, and as a member of Glenn Branca’s 100 guitar ensemble. In March 2008, Lipstate joined Parts & Labor as their new guitarist and completed several U.S. and European tours before leaving the band in July 2009.Last year, Lipstate performed as part of the Underground at the Abrons performance series at the Abrons Arts Center on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In December, she played at the Un Son Par Là, Music of Today festival in Nîmes, France. She recently performed in the revival of Rhys Chatham and Karole Armitage’s “Drastic-Classicism” as part of the Think Punk! program at The Kitchen in NYC. Following that performance, she joined Rhys Chatham and his cast of guitar-allstars at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a performance of his minimalist punk classic Guitar Trio. Along with 199 other guitar players, Lipstate performed in Chatham’s “A Crimson Grail” for 200 guitars which debuted at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park in August 2009. In October, the Manhattan New Music Project and the X Initiative co-presented a performance on the rooftop of the X Initiative where Lipstate debuted a new hand-painted 16mm film loop during a live set.
In April, No Fun Productions released her debut LP, Paint On The Shadows. Following the release, Lipstate performed at No Fun Fest at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. In September, the label released her full-length CD follow-up titled Red Rainbows and Lipstate performed at No Fun Fest Sweden in Stockholm. Her latest release is a split LP with Aidan Baker (of Nadja) out now on Divorce Records.
Her short films screened at the SXSW film festival in both 2006 and 2007, and earned Lipstate the “Diamond In The Rough Cut” award for exceptional emerging filmmaker at Cinematexas 2006. Her short, Memory Scars, screened at the Reel Venus Film Festival at Anthology Film Archives in NYC in October 2008. She debuted her most recent short film, Interior Variations, at the New Museum in NYC as part of No Fun: Infinite Sound and Image in May. The film is also scheduled to screen at the 12th Kyoto International Student Film& Video Festival in Japan in November.
She has previously performed as a member of Cold Cave, Parts & Labor, One Umbrella and Sand.
Lipstate received a BS in Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in December 2006, and currently resides in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.
+ WASTED NYMPH + THE ETHER.
COLIN STETSON
Colin Stetson was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI and earned a degree in music from his hometown school, the University of Michigan, in 1997. Six years in San Francisco followed, then another four in Brooklyn, NY. Since 2007, Colin has made his home in Montréal, Canada.Throughout the past decade Stetson has developed his unique solo voice on saxophones and clarinets, culminating in the 2008 release of his debut solo record New History Warfare Vol. 1. As a soloist he has performed countless shows in a variety of contexts and in front of diverse audiences, from intimate rooms to jazz/new music festivals like Moers and London Jazz to rock stages opening for Arcade Fire, The National and others.
His second solo album, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges, was released in February 2011 on Constellation, co-produced by Shahzad Ismaily and mixed by Ben Frost.
Stetson chiefly plays assorted saxophones and clarinets, but is also adept at cornet, french horn and flute. Aside from his work as a soloist, Stetson has recorded extensively for other artists and joined a number of live bands as a full member or guest. These include Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Feist, Bon Iver, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, David Byrne, Jolie Holland, Sinead O’Connor, LCD Soundsystem, The National, Angelique Kidjo, and Anthony Braxton.
Colin is a regular member of the bands Sway Machinery and Bell Orchestre. Alongside solo concerts and tours to support his new album, Stetson will be a member of the touring band for Bon Iver throughout 2011.
HANGEDUP
Hangedup is the Montreal-based duo of Gen Heistek (viola) and Eric Craven (drums). The two met in 1995 while playing in Sackville and formed Hangedup in 1999. They released their eponymous debut in May 2001. Kicker in Tow followed in October 2002 and Clatter for Control in April 2005.Hangedup play battle hymns for shut-ins, tightrope walkers, and urban bicyclists. Hangedup channel dead Roma musicians from Slavic republics, playing east European folk tunes backwards, skipping every 3rd note. Hangedup write road songs for model train enthusiasts. Hangedup compose soundtracks for slow-motion automobile accidents and use leaded gasoline every chance they get.
Hangedup are unique operators of their chosen instruments, and have mastered a signature sound that is well ahead, and far behind, the times. Heistek’s vertigo-inducing viola runs through hallucinating loopers and warranty-voided amplifiers. Craven’s inimitable sound fuses auto shop discards with home-wiring experiments and fifteen-year-old drum skins. Sometimes soaring, occasionally distressing, Hangedup are the sound of tomorrow, only tomorrow was this morning, just before you left the house. And you left the stove on.
Hangedup has toured extensively in Europe and North America, including performances at All Tomorrow’s Parties in England, Printemps de Bourges in France, Domino festival in Belgium. At the Rhaaa Lovely and K-RAA-K festivals, also in Belgium, they headlined and were widely declared the highlight of these events. The K-RAA-K show led to friendship and collaboration with Tony Conrad, who also played that night. Conrad joined Hangedup for several North American shows and a series of recording sessions in 2004.
Since moving to Montreal in 1987, Gen Heistek has been a member of many bands, including Pest 5000, Sackville, Set Fire To Flames and The Mile-End Ladies’ String Auxiliary. She has played with Sam Shalabi, Elizabeth Anka Vajagic and many others. She wrote for CBC Radio’s Brave New Waves and now co-owns Local 23 and General 54, the former a fripperie and the latter a purveyor of locally made stuff.
Eric Craven moved to Montreal in 1993, having previously played in various punk bands in his native Victoria. He has been a member of Shortwave, Sackville and Blackout, and has thrown down his unparalleled rhythm thing, on record and in concert, with Mitchell Akiyama, Polmo Polpo, Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Silver Mt. Zion and Hrsta, among many others. He composes extensively for dance in Montreal, and is currently tending to an impressive bicycle graveyard in his back yard.
After a several year break, the band has performed at the Godspeed-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties in December 2010.
MANY WORLDS
A startlingly original improviser, rising pianist Greg Burk straddles a confluence of traditions, seamlessly balancing the spontaneity of free jazz with the discipline of mainstream conventions. A former Either/Orchestra member and student of Paul Bley, Yusef Lateef, George Russell and Archie Shepp, Burk possesses an uncanny gift for melody that surpasses many of his peers. On Many Worlds, Burk unveils an evocative array of pre-written tunes and collective compositions that exude a rich chiaroscuro, bolstering frenetic free improvisations with mellifluous themes.For this quartet date, Burk – a former Boston resident currently living in Rome – is joined by a trio of seasoned veterans. Fellow Bostonian and former Either/Orchestra multi-instrumentalist Henry Cook, Canadian bassist Ron Seguin (also of Rome) and French Canadian drummer Michel Lambert bring an empathetic ear to Burk’s expansive, tuneful compositions. Cook alternates woodwinds throughout the session; his saxophone technique is impressive, and his fluid phrasing and breathy timbre on flute find great accord with Burk’s tortuous lyricism. Seguin and Lambert ply fleet bop rhythms and atmospheric rubato accents with equal devotion; their affable interplay infuses the quartet’s excursions with vim and vigor.
Divided in two parts, the first half of the record consists of tunes written by Burk, Lambert and Seguin, with the second half bearing the collectively composed title suite. Seguin’s “Sonny Time” opens the date with a beatific invocation of bucolic vistas before Burk and Cook careen through the intervallic head melody of “BC” in unison, setting the stage for a quicksilver free-bop excursion. Skirting conventional tonality without abandoning form, the piece features a string of vivacious solos, introducing each member in turn. Easing into ruminative territory, the cinematically lush “Lost Time” shadows Lambert’s ghostly “Storm Cloud” before “Look to the Lion” ends the record’s first half with a lilting modal theme reminiscent of Pharoah Sanders’ Impulse!-era work—a joyously ebullient tune underscored by minor dissonances.
The titular six-part suite encompasses a similar wealth of moods and tonal colors, undulating between scintillating opulence and roiling fury on the introductory “Many Worlds” and the cacophonous fanfare of “The Strong Force.” Guided by Burk’s labyrinthine cadences, the quartet settles into the episodic “Waves / Scattering Matrix,” ebbing with oblique swing before modulating from pointillist introspection to pungent impressionism. Boasting a memorable melody and spare, sensitive rhythm section accompaniment, “In Pursuit of Matter” continues the thread, featuring some of Burk’s most poignant variations. Cook’s haunting, vocalized alto fuels the quiet, but severe “Particular,” building to the cathartic Coltrane-esque finale, “The Spirit Will Take You Out.” Interweaving with Burk’s cascading filigrees, Cook’s scorching soprano soars above the rhythm section’s tumultuous undercurrent, closing the date on a high note.
This variegated quartet session sets a new standard in Burk’s budding discography, which was previously dominated by solo and trio excursions. Drifting gracefully between the composed and improvised, Many Worlds unveils a rich ebb and flow between freedom and form.
MOLLY SWEENEY
One of the most compelling new voices to emerge from the Montreal music scene, singer-songwriter Molly Sweeney‘s debut album “Gold Rings and Fur Pelts” features nine songs that conjure an elemental world of longing, passion, and poetry in a classic concept-album format. From a journey foiled by fate to a poignant French chanson of faithless love, these folk-infused torch songs explore the dark side of rapture, showcasing her sultry, dramatic vocals and enigmatic lyrics. A regular on the Montreal circuit, Molly has shared the stage with a diverse slate of musicans including White Magic, Elfin Saddle, Josephine Foster, Scout Niblett, MV and EE, Simon Finn, Sally Seltmann, Matana Roberts and Matt Andersen, and performs with Sam Shalabi’s Land of Kush both onstage and on their critically acclaimed 2009 release “Against the Day” and 2010 release “Monogamy”.DOUG PAISLEY
Country singer/songwriter/guitarist Doug Paisley was born, and is based, in Toronto, Canada. He was particularly attracted to bluegrass and old-time country music, which he played for a decade with partner Chuck Erlichman. The two performed together as Russian Literature and as the tribute act’ Stanley Brothers: A Loving Tribute’, and, along with Matt Barber and Paul Matthew, as Live Country Music. In October 2006, Paisley joined visual artist Shary Boyle, who did artwork and projections, in a tour of California under the name Dark Hand & Lamplight. Paisley’s recordings include Jack of the Woods and Miscellaneous & Unreleased. His self-titled album was released by No Quarter on September 9, 2008, and was followed in 2010 by Constant Companion.
The Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival and the Vandermark 5 offer a rare opportunity for listeners and musicians to attend an open workshop presenting the performance and improvising methods of this long standing ensemble. Each member of this group (Tim Daisy [drums], Kent Kessler [bass], Fred Lonberg-Holm [cello/electronics], Dave Rempis [saxophones], Ken Vandermark [tenor sax/clarinet]) has participated in some of the most critically acclaimed, cutting edge music of the last decade. The workshop will showcase the band in a rehearsal-type environment, as they perform and discuss Vandermark’s compositions, pieces which will then be played in the evening as part of the 10th edition of the Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival. In addition, the individuals of the band will answer questions about their music from the audience. This will be a special event and a unique chance to have a firsthand encounter with new music and the musicians who create it.
This workshop will deal with the process of improvisation and the decisions, lifestyle and choices that go into preparing a musician for the adventure of trying to find something new on their instrument.Co-presented by Double Negative Collective.
In Melancholia, one is immediately transfixed by the lilting, repetitive piano melody of Basinski’s “The Saddest Melody Ever Heard”. Drawn slowly through the dark veil of a lonely tunnel of trees, eventually the world is revealed, shining deceptively. Immediately one begins a bumpy journey around a dull and hollow shell, before being drawn back, away through the encroaching black veil that cloaks and colors all perception. Shot in Super-8 at the World’s Fairgrounds in Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY, Elaine & Basinski’s Melancholia is a concise, darkly romantic psalm, an elegy, a love letter to a broken world NIVE NIELSEN AND THE DEER CHILDREN
Nive Nielsen is an inuit singer-songwriter from Nuuk, Greenland.
She just finished her debut album “nive sings!” and self-released it on her own label tuttu recordings, in Greenland only. Nive is now looking for a nice label to license the record to.
Nive sings about coffee and bugs and ghosts and being naughty, among others. Oh and there´s ukuleles also. Snow songs, Eskimo folk, inuit indie… check it out!About the record:
“nive sings!” was recorded over 2 years in Bristol (UK), Montreal (CAN), Tucson (AZ), San Francisco (CA), Ghent & Antwerp (BE) and in an attic in Nuuk, Greenland.
The record was produced by John Parish and Nive with additional production by Jan de Vroede and Alain Auger.
All songs are written by Nive Nielsen, and arranged by Nive & Jan de Vroede with additional horn arrangements by Jan & Ralph Carney.
The musicians who contribute on the record are: John Parish, Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), Ralph Carney, Patrick Carney (Black Keys), Eric Craven (Godspeed you! Black emperor), Lisa Gamble (Hrsta, Evangelista), Alden Penner (Clues, Unicorns), Matt Bauer (Alela Diane), Alain Auger and Arlen Thompson (Wolf Parade). Nive also collaborated with Giant Sand, Naim Amor, Eric Matthews and others. Yay!
NICK KUEPFER
Exploring unconventional folk and tradional musics paired with finger style guitar picking creating vigorously delicate guitar pieces.
XENO AND OAKLANDER
Xeno and Oaklander is a minimal wave/synth duo from New York, comprising of Sean McBride (Martial Canterel, Three to forgotten) and Miss Liz Wendelbo (Xeno and Staccato, Three to forgotten). They began writing music in 2004. Miss Liz Wendelbo is French / Norwegian and Sean McBride is from Maryland. They record their songs live in their studio and play analogue synthesizers and instruments exclusively.Discography:
- Vigils (2006) (Xanten)
- Saracen (2009) (Wierd Records)
- Sentinelle (2009) (Wierd Records)Other:
- Various – Music For Ruins (2004) (Xanten)
- Wierd Compilation (2006) (Wierd Records)
- Wierd Compilation Vol.II: Analogue Electronic Music (2008) (Wierd Records)http://xenoandoaklander.com/
http://www.myspace.com/xenoandoaklander
THE PINK NOISE
Mysterious Montreal (formerly Toronto) combo that’s been churning out an assortment of basement synth/sci-fi/punk weirdness over the last few years on such imprints as Kill Shaman, Almost Ready, and Sacred Bones. Cheap Korg and Moog synths, tape recorders, drum machines, and guitars, Suicide/Chrome love in the air.
-Brian TurnerAUTOMELODI
Active since 2006, Automelodi is the main musical project of songwriter/producer Arnaud Lazlaud. Blurring the sonic boundaries between primitive electronic sounds and live instruments is probably one of the main aesthetic ideas defining Automelodi’s music. This certainly reflects the band’s wide range of influences, which include Phil Spector’s bursts of madness (musically speaking, of course), Mancunian Pop, and the minimal electro-pop of early ‘80s French bands such as Mathématiques Modernes.MECHA FIXES CLOCK
Michel F. Côté, drums, microphones & electronics
Bernard Falaise, electric guitar
Philippe Lauzier, bass clarinet
Jean René, alto
Martin Tétreault, engines, needles, surfaces
Josh Zubot, violonMecha Fixes Clock exists since 2005.
Managed by Michel F Coté, MFC is a sextet which mixs what Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber and Pierre Schaeffer did not dare to make: mix each other.
The band imagines a chamber music without age and without style.
MFC get the second record on the label &records, À l’innatendu les dieux livrent passages.Michel F Coté
Michel F. Coté (drums/percussion/various instruments) is a veteran of Montreal’s thriving experimental scene. He is a co-founder of the&records label, plays in numerous local bands and lends his talents to many in the worlds of dance and theatre.
Jean René
Jean René is a classically trained viola player, he’s also studied composition and conducting. After having been a member of the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal for 10 years, he still freelances for other ensembles and has collaborated on numerous chamber and contemporary music projects.
DOM SERVINI
Dom started DJing in the early ‘90s in Brighton with the legendary Snowboy and, on moving back to London in 1993, started a Sunday afternoon session at the Jazz Cafe, a weekly residency at the Blue Note, and then started his own club venture, Mouseorgan. This residency ran for 8 years and saw Dom Djing with the likes of Jazzanova, Gilles Peterson, Alex Attias and Bonobo. Dom then went on to become part of London’s infamous Wah Wah DJ crew at The Jazz Café, and joined them in their Wah Wah 45s record label project in 2001.Since joining, Dom has spear-headed the label and steered it into a forward thinking direction with releases from the likes of Alison Crockett, Aaron Jerome, the Part-Time Heroes, Colman Brothers, Hardkandy, Ashley Thomas, Talc and Jamie Finlay, amongst many others.
Dom was recruited by Straight No Chaser magazine in 2003, He went from writing the occasional review to becoming Single Reviews Editor, and more recently writing major articles for the mag. Since the physical magazine’s demise in 2007 Dom has continued to write for them on-line, as well as contributing heavily to spin-off magazine Shook and writing reviews page for 3barfire.com.
Dom currently records monthly radio shows (and a podcast) for www.milkaudio.com and www.samurai.fm, and has just been hired by founder of Kiss FM Gordon Mac to host a live weekly radio show on new station Colourful FM (available on DAB radio, Sky and the internet). He’s also been interviewed, provided mixes for, and sat in on shows with Bob Jones (BBC London), Nick Luscombe (XFM) and GP(Radio1).
Over the past decade Dom’s workload as a dj has increased enormously. Since 1998, as well as his many gigs in the UK, Dom has played in Bari, Italy (with Nicola Conte,Rainer Trueby & Gilles Peterson), France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, Poland, Montenegro, Romania, Slovakia, Belarus, Bulgaria and Estonia. Most notably, in 2005, he toured both the USA and Canada, and also Japan, where he had the honour of playing with UFO, GP and the Jazzy Sport crew, and will return in early 2009. In 2007 Dom debuted in Ibiza, both on the radio and at super-club, Heaven.
Dom holds down two specialist jazz residencies in London (the ‘Favourite Things’ and Jazzin’ sessions) as well as his recent Cargo residency and regular club nights at The Jazz Cafe and various other London venues where he can be found spinning Fela to Dilla!!
www.wahwah45s.com
www.myspace.com/servini
www.myspace.com/wahwah45s
http://www.trustthedj.com/DomServini/bio.php?djid=2199TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are an indie/punk band, with roots in traditional rock. They formed while Leo was living in Washington, DC, but now have members based around the northeast United States. Leo came from Bloomfield, New Jersey.The band consists of singer-songwriter and guitarist Ted Leo, guitarist James Canty, bassist Marty ‘Violence’ Key, and drummer Chris Wilson. After his previous band, Chisel, broke up in the late 1990s, Ted recorded the Tej Leo(?) Rx Pharmacists album in 1999, followed by the Treble in Trouble EP in 2000.
His next album, 2001’s The Tyranny of Distance, quickly gained him a cult following and critical praise. Dave Lerner and Chris Wilson became permanent members of the band during the tour that year, as did keyboard player Dorien Garry. James Canty (ex-Nation of Ulysses, Make-Up, etc.) also played with the band during this time.
The album Hearts of Oak followed in 2003, which also saw the release of the concert film Dirty Old Town and the Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead EP. Garry left the band before the recording of 2004’s Shake the Sheets, which has led them into their current setup as a power trio. The new record featured fewer obscure references and more overt political content than his previous releases did, though his music has always been known for its engagement with politics.
In 2007, the band recorded their fourth long album Living with the Living. James Canty would re-join them for touring in support of Living with the Living.à
Their last album The Brutalist Bricks was released on Matador Records on March, 2010.
http://www.tedleo.com/
http://www.myspace.com/tedleo
SCREAMING FEMALES
Formed in 2006, New Jersey’s Screaming Females combine scorching guitars with a firmly D.I.Y. approach to create their own brand of indie rock. Mixing equal parts Dinosaur Jr. and Sleater-Kinney, the Brunswick trio of Marissa Paternoster (guitar/vocals), Mike Rickenbacker (bass), and Jarrett Dougherty (drums) strives to embody the spirit of indie rock in its purest form; Screaming Females book their own shows and release their own records to bring their guitar-driven rock to the people. In 2007 the band fired its opening shot, self-releasing its debut full-length, Baby Teeth, as well as the Arm Over Arm/Zoo of Death 7”. The band quickly followed up with its sophomore album, What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.?, which was self-released and later reissued by Don Giovanni Records. The band focused on collaborative releases in 2008, including a split 7” with Full of Fancy on Let’s Pretend Records and another split 7”, this one consisting of Neil Young covers, with Hunchback. The Females got some more exposure in 2009 after a series of jaw-dropping performances at New York’s CMJ and a tour with Dead Weather. That same year the band made the jump to a label, releasing Power Move through Don Giovanni.http://screamingfemales.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/screamingfe/malesWAVVES
Named for his fear of the ocean, Wavves, the skuzzy project of San Diego slacker Nathan Williams, is a blend of distorted no-fi and refined sunshiny melodies. Charmingly messy, most of his lyrics, while difficult to decipher, generally revolve around the subjects of weed, boredom, and the beach — when he isn’t poking jabs at the gloomy subculture of goth rock (a common theme, found in “Goth Girls”, “California Goths,” “Summer Goths,” “Surf Goths,” and “Beach Goths”). Wavves was conceived just after Williams, at age 21, quit his job as a clerk at Music Trader, while he was dividing his free time between skateboarding, writing for his hip-hop blog, /Ghost Ramp, and making music using an ’80s Tascam cassette recorder and Garage Band software. Due to his inexperience with the program, the result of one month’s worth of bedroom recording sessions was two full albums of songs: all completely mangled by overdriven inputs. Rather than scrapping the material, he embraced the in-the-red aesthetic and started promoting the songs online. Wavves was quickly embraced and touted as “the next big thing” by Internet music critics and fellow bloggers.Many praised the immediacy and D.I.Y. nature of his work, and Williams capitalized on those aspects, continuously uploading free digital versions of his music — including two 7″ singles, a cassette, and an EP — all with simple self-drawn artwork or scanned photos for cover art. Wavves’ first LP, simply titled Wavves became available around this time as well, and it was released in a limited run by Woodsist. The more confusingly titled Wavvves (note the third “V”) followed just after, and was planned for release by De Stijl, before Williams jumped ship to Fat Possum. After the track list was revamped, the release date was pushed back a month and Wavvves was officially made available on March 17, 2009.
~ Jason Lymangrover, All Music Guidehttp://www.myspace.com/wavves
http://www.fatpossum.com/artists/wavves
CLOUD NOTHINGS
No names, no photos, just a vague address. Almost from nowhere Cleveland based Cloud Nothings thundered into earshot with a tremendously weighty song titled Hey Cool Kid, a bitter(sweet) high school anti-anthem – whose groove owns quite a lot to The Roots’ The Seed – so lo-fi and snotty you might think there’s something wrong with your speakers. It’s a jam with a hell of an immediate hook, a pitch-perfect pop song hidden under layers of dirt that immediately makes you want to have a BBQ with close friends even though the first heavy storm of this autumn is already raging in front of your door. Needless to say that the usual suspects on the internet went bonkers. Now with an 8 track mini-album named Turning On ready for release in early December via California based Bridgetown Records, speculations ran high about everybody’s new favourite that managed to put you under their sonic spell with one single song only. Well, Cloud Nothings is the one-man show of 18-year-old Dylan Baldi who just recently got a band together in order to present his music live. The album itself is a very late entry into this year’s best, a juvenile whirlwind of heavily distorted 60s pop nuggets that pays homage to underground heroes like The Dirtbombs, Hüsker Dü, Deerhunter or even The Sonics. Luckily for us Dylan’s class just got cancelled and he was able to quickly answer our questions.MEOW MIX is a nearly-monthly queer performance party that has been gracing the Sala Rossa stage since 2002 with performances by over 100 artists including deAnne Smith, Nathalie Claude, Dayna McLeod, the Dukes of Drag, Lynnee Breedlove, as well as the occasional concert by Robo Sapien, King Cobra, and Montreal’s own Lesbians on Ecstasy, among others.
Meow Mix – Montreal’s night for bent girls & their buddies – presents a showcase of queer music from local and visiting artists. Expect a sit down show from 10:30-11:30, followed by a DJ break, and then a homo hip hop act at midnight followed by DJs.
BENNI E
Benni E is a native and Philadelphia based hip hop emcee, visual and spoken word artist. Her outside the box lyrical style uniquely incorporates touches of old and new school hip hop, electro, jazz, soul, funk, classical, and gospel. Equal parts party music and socio-political commentary, her music will make you jump out of your seat and dance, grab a protest sign, cry with your best friend, and so much more. She weaves tales about life, sex, politics, art, relationships, feminism, and young people’s struggles, ending it with how to party all of your blues away.“Her flow is just incredible. Her stage presence and her delivery, she just got up there like a class act as if rapping and rhyming was like breathing to herŠI think she has an appearance, an appeal. She’s fire.” Camilo Arenivar OutHipHop.com Owner
“Philly MC Benni E flows like nobody’s business, dropping powerful, politicized raps and rapid-fire party rhymes over block-rocking beats. Overtly queer and musically adventurousŠ” EyeWeekly
CLARA FUREY
Carole Laure and Lewis Furey’s daughter, Clara Furey is a graduate of the Ateliers de danse moderne de Montréal. She also pursued higher studies in classical piano at the Conservatoire Municipal de Paris, as well as studies in music theory, harmony and analysis. She was the star, singer-songwriter and ‘pianowoman’ of a show she gave at the Cabaret du Saint-Sulpice in Montreal. CLARA FUREY sang at a performance by Anthony Rozankovic that was part Montreal’s World Film Festival. In 2004, she caught the eye in her first leading film role in CQ2/Tout près du sol, directed by Carole Laure. She went on tour in 2005 with the David Pressault Danse company as a performer in They Won’t Lie Down. In 2006, she danced in Lost Pigeons at the Studio du Monument-National and was also in the show Poésies, sandwichs et autres soirs qui penchent which was conceived and staged by Loui Mauffette and performed as part of Montreal’s Festival international de la littérature. Clara Furey has played in Serveuses demandées, a film directed by Guylaine Dionne in which she plays the leading role.JACKIE GALLANT
JACKIE GALLANT
Best known as Jackie “The Jackhammer” from the Montreal electro band Lesbians on Ecstasy, Gallant is a drummer. She has played in many locals bands as Lesbians on Ecstasy, Slap Happy 5. She is involved in dance too; she has toured with La La La Human Steps all over the world and always working for projects in dance.FRATELLI D’ITALIA
super group
Fratelli D’italia. straight from the heart with the hits and pure gold. leaving it all behind, searching for more as they leave hordes of young ladies and their men in tears. Their voices can still be heard circling around the void left in every ones heart since they last been seen or heard. If blue skies are turning grey in your world, then you need this. 4 basses, 1 drum, 2 voices, some friends and a trumpet. Punch drunk your soul with love and the best there is…
Featuring members of Godspeed You Black Emperor! Le Fly Pan Am, Set Fire To Flames, One Speed Bike, Exhaust, Ex-Tricky Woo, Starving Hungry, The Unicorns, Clues and Do Makes Say Think / Lullaby Arkestra.
Come love us…GUH
This GUH is the one that came out of a house in Toronto in what might be known as 1991.
There was one then there were four people then there were six then there were nine and then there were four again. Now there are countless numbers that have heard GUH and never realized it (Feist’s rhythm section, Apostle of Hustle’s bass, Rock Plaza Central’s and Sandro Perri’s drums, Do Make Say Think’s horns…GUH).
The earliest tape called “Indurge Gwah”(1992) questioned just what it was that Europeans were doing and a subsequent tape, “Fanky Baby Madstar”(1993) featuring a quietly expanding GUH wondered at Japanese forms of expression. The summer of 1994 left a mess of memories on this band and it released 3 CDs at once plainly calling them “GUH”(1995).
Now people wondered about them….
Wherever there was busking and dancing and milling about in crowded public spaces there was GUH. In silent movie houses and airport arrival lounges and in the quiet of a Northern Ontario wilderness there was GUH too.
They hit up the provincial government and released “Flog”(1997) with the band swelling to 21 members on the title track to deliver an account of the washing of the waves and their great effect on all things considered great.
“We are Sunburning”(1999) recalled years of toiling in the out of doors and led GUH on a slow crawl through British Columbia’s Gulf Islands during June and July of 1999.
The command to “Live GUH”(2000) was the surprising result of that tour and that is just what they’ve done since remembering to.
Now there has been another intense outburst. “Unearthed” shuddered into plain view in the early summer of 2009 so please enjoy yourselves and listen closely to your friends and wonder if they are in GUH.The Worm by GUH
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Constellation Records celebrates its 13th Anniversary (and Suoni’s 10th) with an opening night concert featuring various Montreal-based groups from the label’s roster. Every ticket holder will also receive a limited-edition commemorative silkscreen poster.
Clues
Clues debut record yields one undeniable tune after another. It is one of those albums that coheres effortlessly in spite of the restless energy and distinct identity of each song – nothing ever really sounds or stays the same, but neither are there any forced spastics or facile schizophrenics. Forged from postpunk, no-wave and psych influences, Clues compose a rare breed of complex pop anthems that consistently inscribe their own perfect limits, without overreaching and without pandering. The overriding aesthetic avoids ornate decadence and stringent economy in equal measure. An authentic, unfussy and stirringly epic little sonic world unfolds: idiosyncratic and enigmatic, but exuberantly infectious and approachable.
HRSTA
Hrsta (pronounced her-shta) is the brainchild of singer and guitarist Mike Moya who, along with a revolving cast of musicians, has performed under the name since 2000. Moya was a founding member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and was a core member of other Montréal groups Molasses and Set Fire To Flames. He has frequently played as part of Elizabeth Anka Vajagic’s band, and in various other projects.Hrsta’s critically lauded debut, L’éclat du ciel était insoutenable, was released on Fancy records in 2001. Work with Molasses and Set Fire To Flames kept Moya busy through 2001-2004, and he regrouped Hrsta in 2004 to record the band’s second album, Stem Stem In Electro, released on Constellation in 2005. This recording featured a large cast of Montréal musicians, with Brooke Crouser (organ, guitar, effects) and the rhythm section of Harris Newman (bass) and Eric Craven (drums) emerging as consistent Hrsta members for studio and live playing.
Hrsta toured extensively in Europe in 2006, with Moya and Crouser forming the core of the touring group, and Crouser establishing herself as Moya’s primary writing partner, further shaping the Hrsta sound with her array of acoustic and electric organs and effects. The results of this collaboration can be heard on Hrsta’s third record, Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes, released on Constellation in the fall of 2007.
Hrsta harnesses traditional and otherworldly sound as Moya sings lyrics cribbed from lost faerie tales in a voice that recalls a more blissed-out Daniel Johnson or a less blissed-out Wayne Coyne. Moya’s electric guitar work is unique and recognizable to many from the early Godspeed records – a haunted, reverb-drenched, oscillating siren-sound, guided by a focused and soaring melodic sense.Eric Craven is half of the duo Hangedup, and has worked extensively with numerous other artists of note, including A Silver Mt. Zion, Tony Conrad, Sackville, Sixtoo, and Mitch Akiyama.
Harris Newman works primarily as a mastering engineer in Montreal. He has released two solo albums of fingerpicked guitar under his own name, and has appeared on recordings by Esmerine, Sackville, Hangedup, and many others.
Brooke Crouser is a member of Jackie-O Motherfucker and Set Fire to Flames. She has toured and recorded extensively with various groups, most notably the Swords Project.http://www.myspace.com/hrstamusic
http://www.hrsta.org/index.htmlELFIN SADDLE
Elfin Saddle is the evolved musical project of scavenger artists Emi Honda and Jordan McKenzie. Prompted by their need to downsize an accumulation of musical instruments and objects in their migration to Montreal from Victoria, BC, Elfin Saddle focuses on the creative use of a compact array of acoustic instruments, including prepared accordion, banjo, and guitars, musical saw, and ad-hoc percussion setups. Having collaborated for years on various visual art and sound projects, Elfin Saddle is a fresh culmination of the ideas and ideals shared by both artists.
Emi, originally from southern Japan, moved to Vancouver Island in the late 90’s and was immediately fascinated with the lush landscape and local flora. She began gardening and building visually complex, mechanical assemblage sculptures, which she began to exhibit in local galleries. Jordan, who was also living on the island and working a similar vein in art school, happened upon one of these sculptures. Recognizing the eerily similar themes in each other’s work and sharing an affinity for the natural landscape, the two quickly became friends, triggering an extended wave of collaborations.
Sound Stories, a musical project of Jordan’s at the time that incorporated homemade sound machines, prepared records, storytelling, and a revolving cast of friends, was eventually joined by Emi. The two also began playing frequently as a duo and made several recordings that were released on Westhome, Jordan’s own small imprint. They also began to collaborate on unique multi-sensory art installations, comprised of old motors, timers, organs, plants, and other found junk, carefully composed to create bizarre landscapes and dream-like atmospheres and to execute loops of movement and sound. Their series of exhibitions with fellow Victoria artist Scott Evans, received considerable attention.
Since arriving in Montreal in 2006, Elfin Saddle has been steadily gaining audience and acclaim for their original and emotive live performances. Having released Gigantic Mother/Wounded Child on Kill Devil Hills Records in early 2008, they are proud to be releasing their follow-up, Ringing For The Begin Again, on Constellation. A recent addition to their recordings and live performances is Nathan Gage (Shapes and Sizes, owner of Phonopolis record store in Montreal), rounding out their sound with thick drones and subtle bursts on double-bass and tuba. Emi and Jordan are currently working on an extensive stop-motion/time-lapse film, featuring the growth of plants and the animation of a large collection of scavenged objects.http://elfinsaddle.com/
http://cstrecords.com/releases/cst059
http://www.myspace.com/elfinsaddleELIZABETH ANKA VAJAGIC
Elizabeth Anka Vajagic is a singer and guitarist writing raw, uncompromising gothic folk/blues music with modern dissonances and timeless catharses. Vajagic was born in Montreal and has been unleashing her devastating voice in chillingly controlled doses in her hometown for some years now. With this debut recording she sets her vocals against a backdrop led by ragged guitars. She moves from harrowing, dry-as-a-bone intimacy on tracks such as With Hopes Lost and Iceland, to reverb-soaked torch-song balladry on Around Here and Sleep With Dried Up Tears, incurring the odd explosive noise freakout along the way. Vajagic’s voice and lyrics are uniquely powerful, with points of comparison ranging from early PJ Harvey, Diamanda Galas, and Siouxsie Sioux, to Hope Sandoval and Lisa Germano. Through much cross-pollination within the local noise/improv scene, Elizabeth has assembled a fine cast of players to add focused textures and arrangements to the seven tracks on this debut record, making for an intense cycle of songs peppered with skittering drums, contrebasse, cello, harmonium, piano, bowed cymbals, and oud. Guest players include Chris Burns and Simon Fazakerley (Crackpot, Steak 72) on 2nd guitars, Beckie Foon (Silver Mt. Zion, Esmerine) on cello, Michel Langevin (Voivod) on drums, Fluffy Erskine (Molasses, Hrsta) on percussion, Sam Shalabi on oud and Efrim (gy!be), Silver Mt. Zion) on piano and harmonium. The album was recorded at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal by Howard Bilerman.http://www.myspace.com/elizabethankavajagic
http://cstrecords.com/bands/elizabeth-anka-vajagicSAM SHALABI/ARIEL ENGLE/HRAIR HRATCHIAN/RADWAN MOUMNEH
“a short acoustic performance with ariel engle (voice & guitar), hrair
hratchian (duduk), radwan moumneh (buzuk) & sam shalabi (oud).tUnE-yArDs
tUnE-yArDs is the moniker of New England-based musician Merrill Garbus. To date, she has one full-length studio album and is currently signed to the British independent record label 4AD. She was formerly a member of Sister Suvi.Her debut album BiRd-BrAiNs was first released on limited edition vinyl and cassette in June 2009, via the Portland-based imprint Marriage Records. In July 2009, it was announced that tUnE-yArDs had signed to 4AD, and a limited edition pressing of BiRd-BrAiNs was released on August 17, 2009.
A full worldwide release followed on November 16, 2009 (and November 17th in North America). The autumn 2009 pressing was remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Christian Wright, and includes two new bonus tracks: “Want Me To” and “Real Live Flesh.”
BiRd-BrAiNs was entirely self-produced and recorded, with Garbus utilizing a hand-held digital voice recorder, ukulele, some noisy off-balance drums, and produced using shareware mixing software.
Garbus described her sound as “a patchwork of sound snippets, of history in a present tense. It is a composer’s commitment to the preservation of stories, however small and unassuming.”
http://www.myspace.com/tuneyards
http://tune-yards.com/
KATIE STELMANIS
Katie Stelmanis is a Toronto-based musician. Her debut album, Join Us, was released by Blocks Recording Club, a collective also home to artists including Owen Pallett. She is classically trained and began performing in the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus at age 10. Her debut UK single, Believe Me, was released by Loog Records and Vice Records on 22 June 2009.In 2008, Katie Stelmanis appeared on Fucked Up’s album The Chemistry of Common Life.
She also contributed tracks to the compilation albums Friends in Bellwoods and Friends in Bellwoods II.
QUATUOR BOZZINI
Since its founding in 1999 Quatuor Bozzini has presented new, contemporary, experimental and classical music and has explored with equal eagerness the possibilities of traditional concerts and the ones of avant-garde events. To date, it has commissioned over forty works, and premiered more than a hundred, with a repertoire of more than a hundred composers. The group has distinguished itself through its specific, carefully considered repertoire and its distinct style of playing that pays much attention to details. Its programming seeks to engender productive conversation between strong (if sometimes subtle) creative voices, regardless of their current notoriety or popularity. This utterly contemporary new music ensemble makes its home within an extremely vibrant new music scene, and it is literally carried away by the music it chooses to play. Its performances are brilliant, precise and always inspiring.
Quatuor Bozzini has won three Opus prizes from the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM): “International Outreach” (2007), “Contemporary Disc of the Year” (2004), and “Discovery of the Year” (2001). It is also the recipient of the Étoile-Galaxie Prize from Radio-Canada (2001), and the German Ernst Von Siemens Musikstiftung (2007). The quartet presents its own annual season of concerts in Montréal, the Série qb, that includes Le Salon des compositeurs (Composers’ Salon) and the Composer’s Kitchen, as well as touring Europe, the US, and Canada, at the invitation of festivals such as MärzMusik (Berlin, Germany), Ultima (Oslo, Norway), Huddersfield (UK), Klangspuren (Austria), Shift (Netherland) and Présences (France). It has also performed at: Deutschlandfunk Forum Neue Music, Klangraum Düsseldorf, Schreyahner Herbst, ADE*vantgarde, ARTlantische Tage, SWR Ars Nova (Germany); Moments Musicaux Aarau (Switzerland); Crash, Mostly Modern Series (Dublin, Ireland); Transart (Italy); Ostrava Music Days (Czech Republic); Nordic Music Days (Iceland); Rikskonserter, Ny Musik (Sweden); BBC Hear and Now (UK); Shift (Amsterdam and Toronto); The Kitchen, Merkin Hall (New York, NY); June in Buffalo, Beethoven Slee Cycle (Buffalo, NY); Calarts (Los Angeles, CA); Montréal/Nouvelles musiques, Domaine Forget (Saint-Irénée, Québec); Music on Main (Vancouver, BC); Music Toronto, and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival.In 2004 the quartet created its own recording label, collection qb, in collaboration with Dame / Actuelle CD. This label gives the quartet and other artists the freedom to record composers such as Steve Reich, Jo Kondo, Howard Skempton, James Tenney, and Malcolm Goldstein, as well as Canadian composers including Jean Lesage, Claude Vivier, Michael Oesterle and Michel Gonneville. The quartet has recorded as well with Wandelweiser (Jürg Frey, 2006), Wergo-Deutscher Musikrat (Thomas Stiegler, 2006) and ATMA Classique and can be heard regularly on both European and Canadian radio.
Lauded for its “intense musicality and immense sensitivity” (Musicworks, Canada), the “phenomenal” Bozzini quartet (Die Zeit, Allemagne) seeks to bring together artists from different horizons, collaboration being the sinews of every artistic creation. With a view toward the future of its field, the quartet also supports the next generation of composers with its annual musical “laboratory,” the Composer’s Kitchen, a week-long workshop and concert event that brings, since 2005, next-wave composers together with mentor composers and members of the quartet. With the participation to numerous residences (Concordia University, June in Buffalo, Théâtre La Chapelle), workshops and master classes the quartet has assured an intensive cooperation with many musicians to whom commissions are but the first step into creativity.http://www.quatuorbozzini.ca/accueil.e/
BENOIT DELBECQ
Born in 1966, Parisian pianist Benoît Delbecq figures today among the innovators of the international contemporary jazz scene. His reputation and influence have been growing steadily since the early 90’s, and the New York Times recently described him as « an original and unconventional pianist » who « expertly » invents a « serene » music.An inspired adventurer, a goldsmith of prepared piano and a visionary poet in the art of electronically recycling his own statements, he actively participates in the new aesthetic breakthroughs of today.
A former student of Mal Waldron, Alan Silva, Muhal Richard Abrams and Steve Coleman among others, Benoît’s international profile took off around 1992 from appearances at Paris’s cutting-edge club « Les Instants Chavirés », in parallel with the founding of Kartet, The Recyclers and the Hask Collective, all of which helped revitalize the Paris creative music scene. Since then Benoît has been touring around the globe.
He performs solo piano and solo electronics, leads or co-leads a number of bands from duos to quintets, and is involved in many multi-disciplinary productions of theater, dance, the visual arts, cinema etc. His music features mesmerizing grooves that shake out flashing, lunar melodies. An invitation to a « voyage into a magic land » (Le Monde).
« Prix de la Sacem » in 1995 (with the collective Kartet), Benoît was awarded the « Prix de la Villa Médicis Hors les Murs in 2001 », and has just received the prestigious fellowship of the Civitella Fundation New York (2009).
“Delbecq figures today among the most inventive musicians on the European scene…Enlightened experimenter of a music decidedly personal in the way it links apparently contradictory influences from the freest improvisation and the ultra-sophisticated constructions of contemporary composers such as Ligeti or Conlon Nancarrow, Delbecq has succeeded in transcending this apparent dispersion in a coherent universe, at once limpid and mysterious, that draws its liberty from a conceptional rigour which has few equals in contemporary music….A music of nocturnal poetry, apparently fluid and deceptively slack, all minute shimmerings and the play of braided textures, controls the flows and effects of superimpositions (of intensity, speeds, materials) — something on the order of inspiration. ”—Stéphane Ollivier, Les Inrockuptibles-2000.
http://www.delbecq.net/
http://www.myspace.com/benoitdelbecqThe Alexander Von Schlippenbach Trio with Rudi Mahall and Paul Lytton is a group which was especially assembled for the Suoni Per Il Popolo. All of the group’s members also perform in the Globe Unity Orchestra.
Alexander Von Schlippenbach
Born in 1938 Alexander Von Schlippenbach is one of Europe´ s premier free jazz band leaders. He mixes free and contemporary music elements whit his slashing solos often in the link between the two in his composition. He studied composition with Bern Alois Zimmermann at the music high school in Cologne and played with Gunther Hampel in his quintet in 1963 and well as he joined the first legendary Manfred Schoof quintet from 1964 – 1967.
In 1966 Joachim Ernst Berendt the artistic director of the Berlin Jazz Days asked him to write a composition for a 14 pieced free jazz Big Band. Mr. Von Schlippenbach wrote the piece “GLOBE UNITY”. The performing band included musicians like Peter Broetzmann, Manfred Schoof, Gerd Dudek or Manfred Neumeier, played a legendary concert at the Berlin Philharmony in Novemver 1966. From that time the orchestra performed at many important European music festivals like the Donaueschinger Musiktage and many others. The German cultural institution the Goethe Institute sponsored many overseas tours to the Far East as well as to Northern America throughout the 1970 ies and 1980 ies. During the decades musicians like Peter Kowald (co-leader in the 1970 ies), Willem Breuker, Albert Mangelsdorff, Kenny Wheeler, Bob Stewart or George Lewis were members of this unique ensemble .
In 1970 the Schlippenbach Trio has been founded featuring the reedist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens. This formation still vital and creative these days – also is one of the oldest working groups all over.
His project Monk´s Casino together with Axel Doerner on trumpet, Jan Roder on bass and Uli Jenessen on drums is presenting the whole work of Thelonius Monk and has been recorded on CD .
Besides Alexander Von Schlippenbach is performing in a piano duo with his wife Aki Takase, with his son the turntableplayer DJ Illvibe, or in a trio with Danile DÁgaro on clarinet and Tristan Honsinger on cello. His latest solo recordings “Twelve Tone Tales” Vol 1 + 2 (Intakt) have received remarkable critics. Mr. Von Schlippenbach has received several awards like the German Jazz Prize or the SWR-Jazz Prize.Paul Lytton
Paul Lytton born in 1947 is one of the pioneers of the British Improvised music scene. He soon created his own drumming style also integrating half-electronic soundsculptures in his play. In 1969 he began experimenting with Free Improvisational music, working in a duo with saxophonist Evan Parker. After adding bassist Barry Guy, the ensemble became the Evan Parker Trio which is still exsisting.
Paul Lytton is a founding member of the London Musicians´s Cooperative and aided Paul Lovens with whom he still is working in a duo, to build-up the Aachen Musicians´Cooperative in 1976. He is a member of the Barry Guy New Orchestra, Ken Vandermark ´s Territory Band and working with the Globe Unity Orchestra since 2001. He collaborated with Marilyn Crispell, Paul Rutherford, Erhard Hirt, Kent Kessler and many others.Rudi Mahall
Rudi Mahall born in 1966 studied classical clarinet and got involved into contemporary as well as in Improvised Music. Now is one of the outstanding bass clarinet players in Europe. In the 1990 ies he started a long collaboration ship with the Japanese Pianist Aki Takase playing tunes of Eric Dolphy. Rudi Mahall has been involved in numerous groups like the Rote Bereich, Die Enttäuschung (with Axel Doerner or Jan Roder). He also is a original member of Alexander Von Schlippenbach Monk ´s Casino project which involves all compositions of Thelonious Monk. Performing with the Globe Unity Orchestra since 2005 – he used to work with musicians like Conny Bauer, Lee Konitz, Barry Guy, Karl Berger, Ray Anderson, Kenny Wheeler to only name a few .
QUARTET EVAN PARKER with GERD DUDEK & AXEL DORNER & CHRISTOF THEWES
The Evan Quartet with Gerd Dudek, Axel Dorner and Christof Thewes is a group which was especially assembled for the Suoni Per Il Popolo. All of the group’s members also perform in the Globe Unity Orchestra.
EVAN PARKER
Born in 1944 Evan Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of european free jazz and free Improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded an array of extented techniques.
His original inspiration was Paul Desmond, and in recent years the influence of cool jazz saxophone players has again become apparent in his music.
His later work has been assimilated to the American avangarde – John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and others. His music of the 1960 s and 1970 s was harsh, raw and unsettling, involving fluttering, swirling lines that have shape rather than tangible melodic content. Parker is one of the few saxophone players for whom unaccompanied solo performance is a major part of his work, involving experiments with plastic reeds, circular breathing and rapid tonguing.
Parker, Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley founded the Incus record label in 1970 which was one of the most important labels to document improvised music.
Since 1970 he is performing with Alex Schlippenbach and Paul Lovens in a trio – one of the most long-termed collaborations in Jazz history. Another trio exsisting since more than 30 years features Evan Parker together with Barry Guy on bass and Paul Lytton on drums .
His interest in electronics made him invite collaborators such as Phil Wachsmann, Walter Prati or Lawrence Casserley.
He has worked with numerous musicians, to only name a few like Peter Broetzmann, Joe McPhee, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Keith Rowe, Kenny Wheeler, John Stevens or Irene Schweizer .GERD DUDEK
Gerd Dudek born in 1938 was one of the most important saxophone players referring to the development of German contemporary Jazz music. He studied clarinet and attended music high school in the 1950 s. During the early 1960 s he played in the Berliner Jazz Quintet and the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra until 1965. He then became interested in free music and joined the Manfred Schoof quintet. Dudek joined the first Globe Unity Orchestra formation performing at the Berlin Jazz Days in 1966. He also worked with many other European free musicians and composers, including Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Loek Dikker and the Waterland Ensemble and the European Jazz quintet. Dudek is best known for his work with Manfred Schoof, Wolfgang Dauner, Albert Mangeldorff, Don Cherry and George Russell.
AXEL DORNER
Axel Dorner is one of the most creative trumpeters on the European Scene of Improvised Music. He developped his unique style combining acoustic and electronic effects.
He was born in Cologne in 1964 and studied at the conservatory in Arnhem from 1988 to 1989 and subsequently at the music high school in Cologne. During the Cologne stay he worked extensively with trumpeter Bruno Leicht and musicians like Matthias Schubert, Claudio Puntin, John Betsch and Wayne Dockerty. He also formed his own quartet with Frank Gratkowsky, Hans Schneider and Martin Blume.
In 1994 he moved to Berlin extending his activities enormously. Since then he is member of The Enttäuschung with Rudi Mahall, Uli Jennessen and Jan Roder. This formation added the pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach to a quartet and performed all the compositions of Thelonius Monk.
Currently he is joining the Otomo Yoshihide Jazz Sextet and is member of the Globe Unity Orchestra since 2006.
He worked with numerous musicians like Peter Kowald, Tom Cora, George Lewis, Evan Parker, Fred Van Hove, Lol Coxhill, Chris Burn, Ken Vandermark, Sven-Ake Johansson – to only name a few.CHRISTOF THEWES
Christof Thewes is one of the most important trombonists on the German Scene. Besides of performing his own music which ranges between the fields of Improvised music, New music, Jazz and Rock music he also is working as a teacher at the Saarbruecken music high school. Christof is leading his own quintet and trio, performing in a duo with the bass clarinet player Rudi Mahall and joining several groups like the Thewes Brueder, Undertone Duo or Phase 4 and the Uli Gumpert Workshop Band. Since 2008 he is member of the Globe Unity Orchestra.
JEAN-LUC CAPPOZZO & PAUL LOVENS & JOHANNES BAUER & HENRIK WALSDORFF
JEAN-LUC CAPPOZZO
Jean-Luc Cappozzo born 1954 in Belfort studied at the music high school in Lyon. Meeting the legendary Dizzy Gillespie in 1984 was his major inspiration to become a professional trumpeter. Now he is well-known for his powerful and melodic play all over Europe. He has been member of the Louis Sclavis Quintet and Claude Tchamitchian s Grand Lousadzak. Jean-Luc has performed with numerous musicians like Paul Lovens, Johannes Bauer, Geraldine Keller, Joelle Leandre, Bernard Santacruz, Remi Charmasson, Michel Godard, Herb Robertson, Axel Doernerto only name a few. He is member of the Globe Unity Orchestra since 2005.
PAUL LOVENS
Paul Lovens born is Aachen in 1949 is one of the most prominent drummers in Europe on the improvised music scene since decades. He has created his unique style playing drums, percussion and various selected and unselected cymbals.
He is part of the Schlippenbach Trio with Evan Parker reeds and Alexander Von Schlippenbach piano – since 1970. This formation also is one of the oldest working groups in free Jazz all over. Of course he joins the Globe Unity Orchestra since a long time.
Also a long-termed collaboration refers to the duo with the British improvised music pioneer Paul Lytton, with whom he found the record label Po Torch in 1976.
Paul Lovens also joined the group of legendary pianist Cecil Taylor and worked with numerous musicians like Aki Takase, Guenther Christmann, Eugene Chadbourne, Thomas Lehn, Joelle Leandre, Phil Wachsman or Mats Gustafsson , to only name a few .JOHANNES BAUER
Johannes Bauer born in 1954 belongs to the most important trombone players on the improvised music scene since decades. He is well-known for his unique expressive play. He was a co founder the legendary quartet “DoppelMoppel” which features him with his brother Konrad Bauer and two guitarists Joe Sachse and Uwe Kropinski.
He is a member of Peter Broetzmann´s Chicago Tentet as well as of the Barry Guy New Orchestra, joins the quartet Four in One with Luc Houtcamp saxes, Dieter Manderscheid bass and Martin Blume drums, leads him own trio AUS with Clayton Thomas bass and Tony Buck drums, and last but not least he joins the unique Bauer 4 together with Louis Tastig piano – and his brothers Matthias on bass and Konrad on trombone.
Johannes Bauer performed with the Derek Bailey Company, the Uli Gumpert Workshop Band, the Tony Oxley Celebration Orchestra, the Fred Van Hove Nonet or Ken Vandermark´s Territory Band 4, to only name a few. And of course he is a member of the Globe Unity Orchestra since years.
RADIAN
When you listen to music, you’re recognizing harmony, feeling rhythm, relating to its mood. But sometimes you’re also doing something much more primitive — as when you hear a sharp yell or a squeal of tires or glass breaking. You’re thinking: What was that sound? And how close is it to me?
Radian, a trio from Vienna, creates music that plays with your sense of aural identification and aural distance. It goes in hard for little sounds we make when we’re not quite yet “making music”: the tiniest flop and swish of wire brushes on a drum-head, the quick pop of a plug entering a socket or a circuit being switched, the sound of a finger depressing a computer key. On “Chimeric,” its fifth album, those little noises pan across the speakers or create a compound rhythm, arranged by post-editing into elegant, complex syncopation, each portion of the rhythmic cycle expressed with different volume or compression or room tone.
Since the band’s beginnings, the timbre, shape and resonance of Martin Brandlmayr’s drums have been its trademark. (He’s a wonder: a drummer with a beautiful sound and feel who pushes back against his own virtuosity.) Those human touches, his perfectly timed, rhythm-conscious strokes and rustles, are surrounded by all kinds of other incidental noises, both handmade and digital.
There are also sounds on “Chimeric” that imply grandness and distance, and push you away. Where before it had only used drums, synthesizer and bass, now Radian suddenly has a guitar fetish. This instrument, as played by Stefan Németh, can produce dry, unamplified strums, as on the piece “Subcolors.” Or scrubby, slate-gray clouds of distortion, heaving across your field of sound, as in “Git Cut Noise,” and coming close to the twinkly ambient-doom of bands like Nadja or Jesu.
What is this group up to? Radian’s music can sometimes sound like free improvisation, but it’s composed at microscopic levels. It can have a sense of rock dynamics, building a big emotional crescendo toward the end of “Feedbackmikro/City Lights,” but on the whole it has little in common with rock. It uses some crowd sounds and attunes you a bit to its process, but it’s not really musique concrète. It’s alive with interlocking clicks and hums that can approximate dance beats, but it falls short of body-oriented funk. It’s always a stone’s throw from a recognizable style.
BEN RATLIFF/NEW YORK TIMEShttp://www.thrilljockey.com/artists/index.html?id=10037
http://www.myspace.com/radianviennaCHRISTOF KURZMANN & MICAHALA GRILL + DIDI BRUCKMAYR & HYENA HIVE + MARTIN BRANDLMAYR & CHRISTOF KURZMANN
CHRISTOF KURZMANN
Christof Kurzmann, born in vienna/austria, presently lives in buenos aires.
musician between electropop, improvisation and “new music”. sometimes soloist, he prefers to be part of an collective or an working group. played concerts in all continents with the exception of australia. organizer of various events in the music- and media-genre. labelowner of the small independent label “charhizma” (http://www.charhizma.com) – which at the moment only exists as a plattform to present musicians from around the world in various live settings.
conscient objector of military- and civil-service, he still is politicly active and/or interested. he likes to travel, go to the cinemas and concerts, likes to read, even emails and messages. (but he doesn’t reply all the time).bands he’s in:
b.fleischmann & c.kurzmann, my kingdom for a lullaby, schnee, the magic i.d., el infierno musical, 4rooms, qmince, hammerriver, …most recent musical partners:
toto alvarez, martin brandlmayr, john butcher, eden carrasco, sebi ciurcina, werner dafeldecker, fernanda farrah, bernhard fleischmann, michaela grill, kai fagaschinski, margareth kammerer, leonel kaplan, fernando perales, eva reiter, marina rosenfeld, burkhard stangl, michael thieke,clayton thomas, ursula rucker, ken vandermark, …MICHAELA GRILL
Born 1971; has studied in Vienna, Glasgow and London. Since 1999 various film/video works, installations and live visuals. Lives and works in Vienna.DIDI BRUCKMAYR
Dr. Didi Bruckmayr
born 5.4.1966
lives in Traun/UpperaustriaDoctor of economy. Dissertation on the nationalsocialist welfare-system in Austria 1938-1945. Work in national and international archives for several years.
Since 1985 singer, actor and performance-artist. Several shows and festival appearances in Europe, Australia, USA, Brasil and Japan (for instance What is music/Sydney, Meltdown/London, Soundfield/Chicago, Ars Electronica, File/Rio, Transmediale/Berlin, Taktlos/Bern, Impakt/Utrecht, Luff/Lausanne, Unsound/Krakow, Wien Modern/Vienna, Donaufestival Krems, Siggraph/San Diego, Moving Patterns/Nyc etc.) solo or with the notorious multimediaperformance group FUCKHEAD.
Actor at Burgtheater/Vienna, Theater im Rabenhof and Landestheater Linz. Extreme vocalist for contemporary composers like Peter Androsch and Maurizio Squillante/Rome and for orchestras like Klangforum Wien and RSO Wien in various pieces.
Digital arts since 1999. Specialises in realtime 3d environments. Currently working with VVVV! Main award for the clip “Ich bin traurig” at Diagonale festival 04. The multiple screenings of his work include festivals in Hamburg, Berlin Odense, Rotterdam, Barcelona, London, Weimar, Vancouver, Dundee, Helsinki, Austin, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seoul, Kairo and Viennale/Vienna. Videoclips are on several international DVD compilations including Sonar/Barcelona, ZKM/Karlsruhe.
In his solo vocal performance work bruckmayr is making trips into the subconscious. Hyperventilation, throat and overtone singing and various strange voices are the proper equipment for these expeditions.
www.fuckhead.at/bruckmayr
www.myspace.com/bruckmayrHYENA HIVE
It is a known fact that hyenas are always hungry. The insatiable hunger of HYENA HIVE from one live performance to another is also another fact that people are getting more and more aware of. Born from ashes, this Montreal two-headed beast definitely struck the right nerve at their latest live shows. Within a limited amount of time, they cast a noise spell that draws elements from pure evolutionary noise and power-electronics traditions; saturated acoustic sounds topped with harsh undulating grooves and fierce vocals make the trademark sound of the HYENA HIVE. A limited 7’’ inch on ANGLE.REC.NTSC (Dieb 13 + Billy Roisz)
NotTheSameColor is a live video-sound-duo by dieb13 and Billy Roisz.
The setup consists of various audio and video instruments,
connected in a way that allows multiple ways of feedback and physical interaction.
Audio and video signals leave their domain to get a new function and meaning.
Sound causes images and video signal can be heard. The speaker and the screen
finally define whether a signal will appear audible or visible.
Thus, signal routing becomes an integral element of the creative process.
The instruments are partly self built
(e.g. ultrasonic sound-/video- synthesizer and “embedded” mini-computer).
The linux-based sound-software is self-written.NTSC is a continuously developing project about interactions between sound and video
off the well beaten paths of computer analysis and synthesis in a live context.
dieb13: turntables, computer, devices
Billy Roisz: videomixers, audiomixer, videosynthAustrian artists Billy Roisz and dieb13 have freed themselves from the real and the title of their performance, “NotTheSameColor” evokes the relativity of the control they have over images as well as the sounds they generate by inter-connecting cameras, monitors, record players and other synthesizers. Their favorite material is none other than noise; noise in images, noise in sound, the noise we ordinarily flee from, the noise that is characteristic of the between; between two television sets or between two radios. And it is the same forces, the same energies that generate images and sounds by partially escaping the control of the two performers. Forces or energies of mysterious origin that Nam June Paik was already tracking in the 1960´s by mistreating television sets in subjecting them to electromagnetic fields. There is in fact something strange, something hypnotic in the incessant flux of vertical sweeps that succeed one another at thirty images a second according to the NTSC video standard; sweeps that are truly never “the same colour”.
– Dominique Moulon on newmediaart.euBILLY ROISZ
Lives and works in Vienna/Austria. Specializes in feedback video and video / sound interaction – using monitors, cameras, video mixing desks, a selfbuilt videosynth, computer and turntables for video and sound generating. Her video works are distributed by sixpackfilm. Member a.o. of NotTheSameColor (/w dieb13), AVVA (/w Toshimaru Nakamura), eh (/w dieb13/Burkhard Stangl), CILANTRO (/w Angélica Castelló) and SKYLLA (/w Silvia Fässler). She has also performed a.o. with Nicolas Collins, Sachiko M., Martin Brandlmayr, Alvin Lucier, Otomo Yoshihide, eRikm and Metamkine.
Int. Film/Music Festivals (selection of screenings and/or live performances):
IFF Rotterdam02/03/05/07/09/10/NL,SONAR Barcelona 02/03/04/05/ES, IMAGEFORUM Tokyo 03/08/JP, Tampere Filmfestival 04/FI, Ann Arbor Filmfestival 04/USA, Feedback: Order from Noise UK tour, 04/UK, garage Festival Stralsund 04/05/DE, UNYAZI Johannisburg 05/ZA, Beyond Innocence Festival, Osaka 05/JP, SONIC ACTS XI Amsterdam 06/NL, DONAUFESTIVAL Krems 06/09/10/AT, OSEN#1 06/RU, Kill Your Timid Notion Dundee 07/UK, The Long Weekend/Tate Modern London 07/UK, LMC Festival London 07/UK, Relay 07 Seoul/KR,, EXIS Seoul 05/07/09/KR ….Discography – selection:
Silvia Fässler & Billy Roisz – SKYLLA – CD, 2008, DeMEGO 001
AVVA (Toshimaru Nakamura & Billy Roisz) – gdansk queen – DVD, 2006, erstwhile 048
efzeg (Stangl/Hauf/Siewert/dieb13/Roisz) – krom – CD, 2006, hatOLOGY 623dieb13 –
dieter kovačič born in 1973
School and various studies in Vienna. Since the late 80ies he has worked continuously in rendering cassette players, vinyls, cd’s and hard disks into instruments.Solo appearances as dieb13, dieb13, dieb14, bot, echelon, dieter bohlen…
Permanent collaborations include: eh, NotTheSameColor, siewert/dieb13, erik.M/dieb13, dieb13 vs. takeshi fumimoto, Swedish jazz, phil minton/dieb13, john butcher group founder of the klingt.orgestra performances at various international festivals and locations including: phonotaktik wien, sonicacts amsterdam, beyond innocence osaka, lmc festival london, electrograph athens, maerzmusik berlin, kammermusiktage witten, musiktage donaueschingen, wien modern, musée d’art moderne de Strasbourg, worldinformation.org beograd, turningsounds warszawa, piksel bergen, donaufestival krems, batofar paris, university of colorado springs. distributed by 1.8sec, absurd, amoebic, antifrost, charhizma, doc, durian, en/of, erstwhile, filmarchive austria, for4ears, grob, hathut, mego, orf, pilot.fm, rhiz, sixpack, staalplaat,transacoustic research, unframed recordings.
Music for theater-, opera- and video productions and installations.
Runs the internet platform klingt.orgdieter kovačič is a conscientious copyright-objector and lives in Vienna fuenfhaus
DIDI BRUCKMAYR
Dr. Didi Bruckmayr
Born 5.4.1966
Lives in Traun/UpperaustriaDoctor of economy. Dissertation on the nationalsocialist welfare-system in Austria 1938-1945. Work in national and international archives for several years.
Since 1985 singer, actor and performance-artist. Several shows and festival appearances in Europe, Australia, USA, Brasil and Japan (for instance What is music/Sydney, Meltdown/London, Soundfield/Chicago, Ars Electronica, File/Rio, Transmediale/Berlin, Taktlos/Bern, Impakt/Utrecht, Luff/Lausanne, Unsound/Krakow, Wien Modern/Vienna, Donaufestival Krems, Siggraph/San Diego, Moving Patterns/Nyc etc.) solo or with the notorious multimediaperformance group FUCKHEAD.
Actor at Burgtheater/Vienna, Theater im Rabenhof and Landestheater Linz. Extreme vocalist for contemporary composers like Peter Androsch and Maurizio Squillante/Rome and for orchestras like Klangforum Wien and RSO Wien in various pieces.
Digital arts since 1999. Specialises in realtime 3d environments. Currently working with VVVV! Main award for the clip “Ich bin traurig” at Diagonale festival 04. The multiple screenings of his work include festivals in Hamburg, Berlin Odense, Rotterdam, Barcelona, London, Weimar, Vancouver, Dundee, Helsinki, Austin, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seoul, Kairo and Viennale/Vienna. Videoclips are on several international DVD compilations including Sonar/Barcelona, ZKM/Karlsruhe.
In his solo vocal performance work bruckmayr is making trips into the subconscious. Hyperventilation, throat and overtone singing and various strange voices are the proper equipment for these expeditions.
www.fuckhead.at/bruckmayr
www.myspace.com/bruckmayrMARTIN TETREAULT
Martin Tétreault, an internationally-renowned Montréal DJ and improviser, originally came from the milieu of the visual arts. His path has been marked out by various productions on compact disc and live performances with a range of collaborators: Diane Labrosse, René Lussier, Jean Derome, Michel F Côté, I8U, Otomo Yoshihide, Kevin Drumm, Xavier Charles, Ikue Mori, and many more. He has abandoned the musical citation that he had been using in his work since he began in 1985 and now explores the intrinsic qualities of the turntable: the sound of the motor, of interference, and so on. He also uses needles, prepared surfaces (with thanks to John Cage), and small electronic instruments. The bruitiste approach of remaining analogical has allowed him to leave behind the question “But what about copyright?” and to get himself invited to electronic music events! When he feels the need for a break from music, he goes back to the visual arts, where he sands, scrapes, cuts up books and magazines, and so on.FORMAT FUCKER
Today, everything must fit into a prefabricated mold. Waffle molds make waffles. The entertainment industry makes cultural products. People go see shows after reading about them in a newspaper. Some artists talk while others eat. Don’t expect anything tonight, except a firecracker in your hand, and the following artists: Jonathan Parant (K.A.N.T.N.A.G.A.N.O., Fly Pan Am), Bobo « Bonaparte » Boutin (Les Georges Leningrad), Dominique Pétrin (Les Georges Leningrad) and Georges Rebboh (Pac Pac), J.S. Truchy (Fly Pan Am), Dominique Sirois and Alain Lefèvre. Sound, paper, light, special effects, foul smells, eroticism and other nothings. Critics: come one, come all!
HEALTH
HEALTH are the new frontier of noise rock. Formed in 2005, HEALTH self-recorded their debut album over the course of 9 months at Los Angeles D.I.Y. venue The Smell, birthing an urgent and extraordinary album which seethed with ghostly, epic pop and spurts of chaotic noise. Their shows grew wilder, kids danced & moshed, blogs freaked out, critics raved, and everyone wondered how in God’s name HEALTH was going to follow it up. While the anticipation continued to build, HEALTH released a critically-acclaimed remix record HEALTH//DISCO, toured with the likes of Crystal Castles, Nine Inch Nails, and Of Montreal and played over 420 shows! In April, HEALTH emerged with their first new single since 2007: “DIE SLOW” received immediate accolades from Pitchfork & NME, with the effects rippling across their DIE SLOW THROUGH EUROPE tour, resulting in a near-riot in Eastern Europe. The song’s infectious fusion of noise and dance was the most fully-formed and undeniably rad piece of music from HEALTH yet. And it only served to rile up their fans more. The new full-length was desperately needed. On September 8th 2009, HEALTH answers the call and release their second album GET COLOR. Recorded in an especially gnarly part of Lincoln Heights, L.A, GET COLOR is an exuberant proclamation of noise, rock and electronic splendor. It’s a celebration of sound; pretty, harsh, soft and basked in a blanket of ethereal vocals. GET COLOR is the manifesto HEALTH have been promising since their inception. HEALTH are the band. GET COLOR is the record. NOW is the time.http://lpurecords.com/healthpress/
http://www.healthnoise.com/
QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT
“Mr. QUINTRON is a concert and nightclub organist from New Orleans, Louisianna. He plays a type of music the press has dubbed “Swamp Tech” on a custom Hammond / Rhodes combo organ which has been built up to look like a classic muscle car with actual working headlights. All this organ noise is backed by irresistibly raw drum machine beats (think 8 bit Booty-Bounce chanelled thru the hands of a Troglodyte) and his own patented invention THE DRUM BUDDY – a rotating, light-activated analog synthesizer which is played much in the same way that a DJ spins and scratches records. Celebrity Drum Buddy owners include LAURIE ANDERSON and NELS CLINE of Wilco.
Much of Quintron’s music is driving, hypnotic Sixties dance music a’la the Seeds or Standells. However, don’t mistake Quintron for being totally squaresville retro. He has benefited from 40 extra years of music history to develop his own richer style and borrowed from a number of other genres to become…well, Quintron. But he has faithfully retained that Sixties garage essence, a precarious balance between wholesomeness and worldliness that fell apart after the Summer of Love.
Quintron’s permanent collaborator is none other than master puppeteer, MISS PUSSYCAT who plays maracas and sings, as well as entertaining all age groups with her highly amusing technicolor puppet shows. Hers are complex puppet shows beautifully crafted for success in intimate venues of late night rock and roll drinking and dancing: tactile, idiosyncratic puppet characters, pithy dialogue, electronically pixilated soundtracks, and charming black light effects create a visual and engaging overture/finale to Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s music sets. Quintron aids in puppet manipulation and voicing. Miss Pussycat, in turn, sings lead and back-up with a steady maraca beat during Quintron’s performances.
The Quintron / Miss Pussycat experience is one of barely controlled electronic chaos, “Swamp-Tech” dance beats, small explosions, incredible clothes, and entertaining puppet stories. You can see them perform regularly at the Spellcaster Lodge in New Orleans, Louisiana or on one of their many tours around the world. This act somehow has equal relevance in sleazy nightclubs, pizza restaurants, and university lecture halls.”http://www.myspace.com/quintronandmisspussycat
http://www.quintronandmisspussycat.com/index.htmlINDIAN JEWELRY
Indian Jewelry is a band from Houston Texas formed by Erika Thrasher and Tex Kerschen in 2002. Since then we have only become more tan.
We’ve been helped by many talented and generous fiends. Tan fiends. Most recently Kim System (electro/bass), Mary Sharpe (drums/percussion), Brandon Davis (o.g./guitar), Rodney Rodriguez (drums), Travis K. (soft hand guitar), and Domokos (projecting gongs/feather guitar).
The group has also included Jimi Hey (ozark percussion), Michael Belfer (guitar), Abi Cohen (pandemonium), Candice Vincent (saxophone), Leslie Keffer (static), Nic Barbeln (vox), Rosalinda Gonzalez (violin), Don Bolles (drums), Margeaux Cigainero (guitar), Andrew Scott (guitar), Donna Huanca (drums), Pete Czechvala (saxophone), Bryce Martin (drums), Anna Bechtol (drums), Ken Consumer (electronics/gongs), Bobby Deeds (electronics), J-Morrison (ghostworm), Squeaky (pizazz), Ralf Armin (starmaker/saxophone), Chad Colehower/Sequential Sheik (sequential circuits).
Currently we are engaged in the following projects. Securing a home for the Girlgang Library. Mexico of the mind. “Swamp Bats” DVD. Continued studies: Tidal Economics. As luck would have it we are also making a new album.
We have also toured and recorded as NTX+ELECTRIC, TURQUOISE DIAMONDS, the CORPSES of WACO, and the PERPETUAL WAR PARTY BAND.
We come from the SWARM of ANGELS.http://www.myspace.com/indianjewelry
http://www.swarmofangels.com/indianjewelry.htmlJEFF THE BROTHERHOOD
JEFF The Brotherhood is Jake and Jamin Orrall, two brothers that play drums and guitar. They grew up in Tennessee making music and trying to have a good time. Since their inception they have been playing anywhere from house parties to rooftops, backyards, bars and art galleries and releasing their own records, tapes, comic books and home made videos.
The Brotherhood has been called “kraut punk”, “psychedelic grunge” and “noise pop” drawing comparisons to bands like Hawkwind, Wipers, and early Sonic Youth.
They have been carrying their heavy damage all over the country since 2006 and have shared bills with Oneida, Battles, Sonic Youth, Ex-Models, Jay Reatard, Black Pus and Dave Cloud. Their “we’ll play anywhere” attitude and frenetic live shows have earned them near legendary status in the clubs and basements of Nashville and beyond. With three guitar strings and a minimal drum kit, they manage to distill rock to its primal essence.
They just released two split seven inches, one with Sisters from Brooklyn and the other with Screaming Females from New Jersey. Their latest full length “HEAVY DAYS” dropped October 13, 2009 on their family run record label Infinity Cat Recordings.http://www.myspace.com/jakeandjamin
GOLD PANDA
Hailing from Chelmsford in Essex, but a resident of East London for some time now, Gold Panda started writing beats and collaborating a few years ago, working with the likes of Infinite Livez and Shuttle (both Ninja Tune) as well as creating his own material.
Having spent downtime behind the counters of various establishments of ill repute – finding out that record stores and adult stores are no less seedier than each other, he consolidated the rest of his hours creating archives of electronic music; each track different from the other, incorporating multitudes of styles and disparate influences and obscure samples and base material. Having sated the need to create these volumes of material, he poked his head into the world by way of a collection of instantaneously raved-about remixes, that quickly found the interested of various labels, blogs and taste makers, leading to requests for him to re-edit the likes of Little Boots, Telepathe, Bloc Party, Simian Mobile Disco and even lounge-tronica act Zero 7.
In the meantime, Gold Panda began culling his back-archive of material for a series of low key releases: the first was ‘Miyamae’, a 12” on Various, followed by the ‘Quitters Raga’ 7” on Make Mine, and the third, ‘Before’ was released digitally and on 250 limited CDs via Puregroove. Now having essentially cleared the decks (bar the 100+ tracks that may one day creep into the open as he sees fit), the second half of 2009 will see Gold Panda pushing on and consolidating his quickly burgeoning reputation as one of the brightest names in the electronic scene.
What does it sound like? One writer claimed that: “He intuitively mixes lop sided, chopped up hip hop style beats with a gorgeous refined melodic techno sensibility creating a fresh cross genre sound that’s distinct and accomplished.” Which sounds pretty good, so let’s go with that.
The music on his three recently released EPs this summer (2009) is influenced by a year spent living in Japan, as well as B movies on vhs video, minimal techno and hip hop, and all these influences bleed into his sound. An avowed lover of Japanese culture and it’s lifestyle, Gold Panda spend two years at the renowned School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS) learning to read and write Japanese. He plans to return to Japan later this year to continue writing more material, as well as playing out his material as he takes his live show far afield from the flat in Hoxditch where it was created. With new material, live shows and ultimately a defining long-player to come, the next 12 months should be hugely fruitful in the immersive world of Gold Panda.http://www.iamgoldpanda.com/
http://www.myspace.com/goldpanda
http://www.windishagency.com/artists/gold_pandaGHÉDALIA TAZARTÈS
French musician of Turkish parentage, Ghédalia Tazartès is an uncompromising artist who defies categorization. His public appearances remain exceptional events as he rarely performs in concerts or releases albums.Ghédalia Tazartès is a nomad. He wanders through music from chant to rhythm, from one voice to another. He paves the way for the electric and the vocal paths, between the muezzin psalmody and the screaming of a rocker. He traces vague landscapes where the mitre of the white clown, the plumes of the sorcerer, the helmet of a cop and Parisian anhydride collide into polyphonic ceremonies.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gh%C3%A9dalia_Tazart%C3%A8s
THE FLAMING RAYS OF THE SUN
Jean-Sébastien Truchy, you, within an abyss of outside personification of unstoppable bludgeoning euphoria, are transforming all that you are into an insatiable better, always more and! Speaking to be, a voice directed towards you who watch me and make me exist, like you in me. Strand of life that shapes, directs, recognises and absorbs beings in the path of the eyes of the possible, ultimately, always existing more, for them, for us, for me in you, and the Other in me. To meet, you and them, Dominique Pétrin, Philippe Lambert, John Chang. To meet for a moment, to cry, to laugh, to live…
Come! You too… we will drink tears of smiles under fantastic rays of an ecstatic universe tasting of us.GHOST’S OF GHAZALS
Ghost’s of ghazals is a polymorphous, experimental noise collective, formed in january 2009. the crew is led by guitarist/vocalist Chittakone Baccam & in march 2009, the line-up was completed holding 8 members, the live acts also featured great musicians from Montréal’s underground noise scene. les ghost’s of ghazals also make sonic visuals that are projected while performing they’re non-sense explosion.THE FRAME QUARTET
Band Members
Tim Daisy – drums
Fred Lonberg-Holm – cello
Nate McBride – electric and acoustic bass
Ken Vandermark – tenor sax/Bb clarinet
Ken Vandermark’s newest ensemble presents his most recent strategies for integrating composition and improvisation in a contemporary music context. The line-up features long-time associates Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello & electronics), Nate McBride (acoustic & electric bass), and Tim Daisy (drums & percussion). Though this is the first time that these four musicians have worked together in the same lineup, all of the members of the ensemble have played with Ken in other formats, performing concerts in North America and Europe for many years. Collaborations of particular note would include the Vandermark 5 (with Tim Daisy and Fred Lonberg-Holm), the Free Music Ensemble and Powerhouse Sound (with Nate McBride). The Frame Quartet began its work together in January of 2007 on a tour of Europe, since then they been performing frequently in their hometown of Chicago, developing new material together.The compositions Ken has written for this group move even further away from the jazz tradition than his previous bands. Utilizing ideas from adventurous music in other fields, such as underground rock and contemporary composition, and sources like Ennio Morricone’s approach to film scoring, Ken has created a vehicle of expression that sounds unlike any other ensemble performing today. In addition, certain organizational concepts have been taken from the linear construction methods found in cinema; this has been done as a means to redirect the improvising, shifting it away from the development found in most contemporary music environments. All of the predetermined elements are interfaced with a variety of improvisational tactics, and the pieces can be spontaneously reformatted at each performance. In a sense, the structure of the music is also improvised by the band, and with systems that can’t always be predicted by the members of the group.
http://www.kenvandermark.com/work.php
KIDD JORDAN
Edward ‘Kidd’ Jordan is probably the single most under documented jazz musician of his generation. A fact that is even more remarkable when you consider that he is also one of the busiest working musicians in the world. The list of bands and artists he has performed with reads like a 40-year Grammy program….from Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder to Aretha Franklin and the Supremes. And the list of jazz musicians he has performed with goes even wider….from Ed Blackwell and Ellis Marsalis, to Ornette Coleman, Cannonball Adderley and Cecil Taylor. Fortunately, this fact has not lost on his appreciative European audiences and was recognized by the French government with a knighthood for his contribution to the European performing arts. In addition to his live performances though, Kidd has long been associated with music education due to his position at Southern University at New Orleans, his work with children, documented by 60 Minutes, and his educational programs in Sierra Leone, Senegal and Mali. A quiet genteel man, Kidd has always remained faithful to the sounds in his soul. The honesty in his playing is only matched by a tone that has rarely been heard in the history of his instrument. When audiences talk about Kidd, sometimes it is necessary to stop and think for a moment…are they referring to Kidd the prophet, the artist, or the teacher….Fortunately for all those that are privileged to know and hear him, they are all the same, all one. http://www.indiejazz.com/ArtistDetail.aspx?ArtistID=122
HAMID DRAKE
Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Drake studied with Harry Hawthorn (trap set), Raman Papaiah, Ustad Kedar Khan, Ranchod Das Pandya (tablas), Howie Levy (congas), and Hamza El Din (frame drums). Hamid Drake’s longest musical association is with Fred Anderson, with whom he has worked from 1974 to the present day. Through Anderson, he met and played with George Lewis and Douglas Ewart (late ’70s). Another longtime association has been with Adam Rudolph, a percussionist whom Drake cites as one of his major influences along with Eddie Blackwell. Rudolph and Drake have worked together as a duo and in larger group contexts since 1976. Hamid also worked extensively with Don Cherry from 1978 until his passing in 1995. Since 1977 Drake has been a member of the Mandingo Griot Society. Others with whom Drake has worked over the years are Marilyn Crispell, Pierre Dorge, Norwegian pianist-composer Georg Gräwe, Herbie Hancock, Misha Mengelberg, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter, Malachi Thompson, fellow percussionist Michael Zerang and most notably with Kent Kessler and Ken Vandermark in the DKV Trio. With these diverse artists, playing in a broad range of musical settings, Drake comfortably adapts to north and west African and Indian impulses as well as reggae and Latin. Among drummers he has cited as being influential, aside from Blackwell and Rudolph, are Philly Joe Jones and Jo Jones. It was through the latter’s broad-based concepts that Drake was impelled to explore earlier forms of drumming that had been drawn into jazz before the advent of free jazz. One result of these interests is that Drake’s playing is often rather more structured and touches upon more identifiable bases than that of many of his contemporary percussionists. He also frequently plays without sticks, using his hands to develop subtly commanding undertones. His tabla playing is also notable for his subtlety and flair. Drake’s questing nature and his interest in Caribbean percussion led to a deep involvement with reggae. This, too, began in the 70s and he subsequently worked with many noted names of the genre, including Michael Rose, Sister Carol, the Heptones and Africassa, the latter evolving into Kwame and Wan Africa. In the late 90s, he played with Dave Anderson and the l-Lites.
Perhaps the city’s most exciting percussionist, The New York Times recently raved about Drake’s ability to incorporate pattern-based drumming into free jazz. “But,” says Chicago Reader critic Neil Tesser, “this skill probably isn’t as important to his success… as his deep swing and extraordinary ear for shading and color.” Peter Margasak (Chicago Reader) adds that Drake “can play anywhere from deep in the pocket to way out in space.”
Hamid Drake’s recorded material is best represented on Chicago’s Okkadisk label.
www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Hamid_Drake.html
WILLIAM PARKER
William Parker is an enormous figure, a fantastically talented bassist who doubles on percussion, flutes, pocket trumpet, tuba, zintar and whatever other instruments might catch his fantasy. He churns out full-length works faster than they can be documented (his recordings often end up just teasing at the breadth of his ideas) and is at the same time one of the most in demand bassists working in jazz. While his recordings go back to 1979, Parker’s first high-profile job was in Cecil Taylor’s Feel Trio with Tony Oxley in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Since then, he has been a regular part of groups led by Matthew Shipp and David S. Ware and led several groups, including the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and the great In Order to Survive. His mastery on his instrument is unsurpassed and his recordings run the gamut from freely swinging jazz to full-on sonic attacks. He’s led dozens of recording sessions and appeared on scores more, and his presence generally means something worth hearing was going on.
“It is through poetry and vision that life is discovered; discovered, and then altered. The premise was to start a human revolution…to bring dreams closer to present day reality. The music called ‘jazz’ is less than 100 years old; to young to repeat itself.”
William Parker, January 1996Having performed on more than 100 recordings over the past three decades, William Parker has been a driving force in keeping the mislabeled and misunderstood notion of free jazz alive and in the front of many listener’s consciousness. Considered by many to be the greatest bassist ever to have played avant garde jazz, today his name is mentioned with equal frequency with the likes of Dave Holland, Charlie Hayden, Barre Philips, and Barry Guy.
As a mainstay of New York City’s progressive jazz scene since the 70′s and a core member of the Cecil Taylor Unit in the 80′s, it is hard to name an artist that Parker hasn’t performed with. But that was yesterday and today he remains as socially active and musically prolific as ever serving as the invisible hand behind the groups of David S. Ware, Matthew Shipp, Assif Tsahar; leading one the premier new music festivals in the world, Vision Fest in New York City; leading his own quartet, In Order To Survive, with Cooper-Moore, Rob Brown, and Susie Ibarra; and all while composing and performing in such other realizations as his recent collaboration with poet and playwright, David Budbill, in their performance tour of Budbill’s work, Moment to Moment.
“Just the idea that the layman has about the music is wrong. There’s nothing ‘out’ about this music. If you analyze it, you find that it has rhythm, harmony, melody. It has extended techniques. It’s influenced by music from all over the world, you know? The cell of sound is smaller. The rhythm isn’t constant, it’s more like the idea of a pulse, where you take a longer rhythm and break it up, varying smaller and longer cells. Sometimes you’re playing a chant that builds to a fever pitch. You deal with dances, the feeling of the blues. But it’s not about playing anything you want to play. It’s not even about wanting to play. It’s about having to do it, and training yourself how to go along with sound and a flow of ideas.”
ISIS
Isis is a monolithic, breathing, dense, incredibly spiritual musical experience that, while rooted in heavy metal and the punk/hardcore aesthetic, relies just as heavily on ambience, atmosphere, and tone as it does complexity, aggressiveness, and raw emotion. Not so much a band per se as a collective, the artisans who comprise the Boston quintet paint vivid and surreal conceptual compositions layering feedback, power chords, intense quiet/loud dynamics, and vocals that are often shouted, more often screamed, and occasionally sung.Isis was formed by Hydra Head Records owner Aaron Turner, who was hoping to take the minimalism of Earth and the Melvins and combine it with the experimentalism of Godflesh, backed by the depth and power of the band’s most obvious musical counterpart, Neurosis. It was the union of Turner with bassist Jeff Caxide and powerhouse drummer Aaron Harris that formed the core of the Isis project in 1997. The band recorded a demo that year with guitarist Randy Larson, garnering the attention of Escape Artist Records.
In 1998, together with noisemaker Chris Mereshuk on keyboards/samples and minus Larson, the band recorded The Mosquito Control EP at God City Studios, establishing Isis immediately upon its release as a band with artistic vision, conceptual foresight, and tremendous power. Former Cast Iron Hike guitarist Mike Gallagher joined the band in time for a tour with Converge and Cavity, just as Mereshuk exited and was replaced by Agorophobic Nosebleed’s Jay Randall. In 1999, Isis released an EP called The Red Sea through Second Nature on both 8″ vinyl and CD. Randall exited the group and was replaced by Cliff Meyer, who also plays a bit of guitar. Isis subsequently toured with Cave In that summer, and supported Neurosis — who had become admirers — that winter.
In 2000, Isis produced their masterwork, the Celestial opus, which builds upon the promise of the EP releases while expanding the band’s scope to include more warmth, melody, and openness than its decidedly brutal predecessors. The band toured relentlessly in its support with the likes of the Dillinger Escape Plan, Candiria, and Burn It Down, releasing a follow-up of material from the Celestial sessions through Neurosis’ own Neurot Recordings in 2001. Dubbed SGNL>05, the Neurot EP picks up the conceptual and musical threads of Celestial and expands upon them, complete with a remix by one of the band’s heroes, Godflesh electronic wizard Justin Broadrick.
Their 2002 album Oceanic became their breakthrough record, receiving positive reviews across the board. Two years later the follow-up, Panopticon, appeared with the two-CD remix collection Oceanic: Remixes/Reinterpretations landing in 2005. In 2006 the band collaborated with the Scottish pop band Aereogramme for the 14th volume of the Konkurrent label’s In the Fishtank series before they released their next full-length, In the Absence of Truth.
www.isistheband.com
www.myspace.com/sgnl05
CAVE IN
Cave In is an alternative/metalcore band that formed in 1995, in Methuen, Massachusetts.The group’s early work on Hydra Head Records was more extreme and chaotic in the style of bands like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan, but their later output appears to be influenced by a wider range of styles. Their 2003 album Antenna (released on RCA Records) has had more success than previous albums and enabled the band to play the second stage on the 2003 Lollapalooza tour. However, playing Lollapalooza didn’t garner the band enough financial success to prevent them from being dropped from RCA Records’ roster. Although the albums before Jupiter had alluded to melodic yearnings within the group, the throat injuries of lead vocalist Stephen Brodsky clinched the band’s decision to move forward with the group’s present, more euphonious sound and abandon their metalcore leanings.
Most of Cave In’s recent material can be categorized as space rock, using themes centering around space. Examples of this are the songs Jupiter and New Moon, album names Jupiter and Antenna, and the band’s singular brand of resonating ambient “spacey” guitar effects they incorporate into their songs.
Cave In released a new album, entitled Perfect Pitch Black, on September 13, 2005 on Hydra Head Records. Perfect Pitch Black is a quasi-return to Cave In’s metalcore roots, integrating heavy metal-esque vocals and guitar progressions into their well-developed space/prog-rock influences that they’ve been utilizing since Jupiter.
In November, 2006, Cave In announced that they were officially on hiatus.
In April 2009, Cave In publicly announced they had ended their more than three year hiatus. The band recorded a new four-song EP, Planets of Old, that was originally exclusive to vinyl from Hydra Head Records, and first made available at their reunion show on July 19, 2009 at Great Scott’s in Allston, Massachusetts. The EP was later released on CD in January 2010.
LOPIN’ ALONG THRU THE COSMOS
THE SONGS OF JUDEE SILL
Judee Sill was a fabulously gifted songwriter, composer, arranger, singer and musician. She was the first artist to be signed to David Geffen’s Asylum Label. She released two critically acclaimed albums, Judee Sill(1971), and Heart Food (1973). Both unfortunately were commercial failures, and Judee Sill fell out with the Label, living a rough life until her death in 1979. Since, she has been slowly rediscovered, and interest in her beautiful compositions has led to her work being re-released in 2005 by Rhino Handmade.
Her music is a rare mix of country and folk influences, Gospel piano; baroque string arrangements, and beautiful horn solos. Many of these musical styles were criss-crossing pop music in the late 60’s and early seventies. Yet her unique melodic genius and the beauty of her arrangements are unique and brilliant for any time. Listening, one feels the warmth of the 1970’s in her music, yet it’s incredibly fresh, even today. She is one of the Greats.
This show is an attempt to present her music, not as covers, but as a work of a composer-arranger that a large ensemble would interpret and perform. We will present a collection of songs arranged closely to the original recordings, and present them perhaps as they were intended to be performed, had she been given a chance to produce her own concerts.
The ensemble performing this show is still being formed, but will consist of 25 or so musicians from Montreal composed of singers, string players, horns and woodwinds, pedal steel, guitars, basses, piano and drums.http://www.myspace.com/judeesill79
KATH BLOOM
Kath is a folk, country, and avant-garde legend. She has been making records since the late 70s, and has had her music featured in the movie Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater (starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy).The daughter of world-renowned oboist Robert Bloom, Kath was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, where she trained as a cellist. However, Kath met avant-garde guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors in 1976 and teamed up with him for a series of now highly sought-after recordings of traditional blues songs and Bloom’s fragile, beautiful originals. Some records were released in editions of as few as fifty, most no more than 300 copies, until the duo released their swansong Moonlight in 1984.
After a period of child-rearing, family life and daily financial struggle, Kath began to return to the studio in the 1990s. These new songs, recorded in friends’ lounge rooms or cut-rate studios, reveal a mother-of-three songwriter as accomplished and affecting as any of her more acclaimed colleagues such as Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch or Hazel Dickens.
In the mid-nineties US director Richard Linklater stumbled across her music and used the song Come Here in Before Sunrise, but despite an initial flurry of interest, little came of the exposure. Kath’s album Finally, released on Chapter Music in 2006, is the first record she has put out since 1984, aside from her own self-released CD-Rs and cassettes.
Now Kath plays with her band Love At Work, including longtime collaborator Tom Hanford and husband Stan Bronski, and has just released a brand new recording on Mark Kozelek’s Caldo Verde imprint, the sublime Thin Thin Line.
Eric Boeren cornet
Michael Moore alto saxophone / clarinets
Wilbert de Joode bass
Han Bennink percussion
The Eric Boeren 4tet began by concentrating on the early quartet music of Ornette Coleman. That repertoire was ‘pulled off the record’ and was interspersed with Boeren’s own compositions. Over the years more and more original compositions have been added to the band’s repertoire.The line-up of the Eric Boeren 4tet is comparable to that of the Ornette Coleman Quartet of the early sixties. The big difference between the two quartets is the way in which the material is handled. Whereas soloists alternated in the Coleman Quartet, in the Boeren 4tet all four musicians share the improvisational space on an equal basis. A collective vision, where musicians have the improvisational room to further develop the musical forms. The existing material suggests the personality and direction of those improvisations.
The compositions of Eric Boeren are deeply rooted in the jazz and blues tradition. They are characterized by strong, often jumpy melodies and unusual keys, which keeps the improvisers on their toes.The quartet has played throughout Europe and completed successful tours of Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
A new album – Song For Tracy The Turtle, Live at Jazz Brugge – will be released in spring 2010 by CleanFeed.Discography
Cross Breeding (BIMhuis 005, 1997)
Joy of a Toy (BV Haast 9907, 1999)
Soft Nose (BV Haast CD1501, 2001)Review excerpts
“There is near-perfect synchronicity, tuneful joyousness, and a relaxed sense of swing that permeates nearly every measure.” All Music Guide
“Gives a new meaning to the description Hot Jazz. Thank you, Eric, Ornette would love this band.” Downbeat
“It broke into joyful collective improvisation – sometimes lightly, sometimes with an
explosive starburst effect. Sometimes it achieved real counterpoint,
sometimes just startling instants of simultaneous exclamation. Boeren played
a long narrow cornet, so clean and bright that it sounded silvery, like the plating of
his instrument.” Melbourne Age“… the wonderfully accessible swing, compelling Coleman (like) themes and interplay of these four is so refreshing. The four musicians make equal use of the improvisational space, and there’s plenty to see and to experience. An evening full of surprises.”
Josien Lucassen: Draai om Je Oren (concert May 2009, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)“ The music is saturated with a warmth that accommodates a great deal and excludes very little. All four musicians are confident that they can find a solution for any situation, and that embues the music with energy. Much of it seems to happen by chance, a little is well planned. The more you listen the more irrelevant the distinction becomes, because the result is always contemplative and surprising music.”
H.J. Linke: Frankfurter Rundschau (concert Darmstadt, Germany)They whizzed and screeched and buzzed and sawed and thumped and thundered and flew and laughed all through that set with the same manic energy I’ve seem them all display at every single other gig I’ve ever seen most of them play in the days and years prior. They love playing and they love playing with each other. No flagging energy in that room.
Josephine Ochej: Vancouver Jazz Festival, 2003….With what command Boeren and his fellow musicians deal with the material is apparent in the loose-knit compilation that combines the title song with compositions by Coleman and Blake. In “Soft Nose” the two horn men can paddle in the roaring waters, securely and creatively supported by bass and drums….
Jazzpodium, review Soft NoseAt once telepathic and pleasingly loose, the communication between the horn frontline, drummer Han Bennink and bassist Wilbert de Joode allows the group to employ a playfulness redolent of the ICP; any individual can introduce material from the quartet’s book in midstream, sometimes triggering the others to join in, sometimes overlaying a line from another tune for thrilling juxtapositions. Whatever path they take, the players are always in motion, jotting off terse counterpoint, commenting on a particular phrase or jostling for position…..
Peter Margasek: Downbeat, review Soft NoseRipsnorting and clean-cut, the flying Dutchmen who are invading the new jazz are musical madcaps who mix cocktails of the logical and surreal with knee-slapping swizzle sticks.
Fred Bouchard: Downbeat, review Soft Nose…this disc offers all you could wish for – a nice balance between strong
and delicate music – which is quite an accomplishment. As for the old saying “it don’t mean a thing….”……it really does swing…..The originals blend in perfectly with Ornette’s book of neoclassics…a great disc as easy to describe as it is to catch the wind…..
E. Fuente: Cuaderno de Jazz, review Joy of a Toy“Joy Of A Toy” tackles some brisk, challenging music, each player given space to shine. It is the group-play that is significant. This swings, has lots of edge, celebrates Ornette without being any less original. An easy “yes” for this attractive performance.
Doug Lang: Coda MagazineEric Boeren made his first steps in music with the brassband of Ulicoten, a small village in the south of Holland. He played solo euphonium, then moved over to the Eb tuba. He liked the bizarre look of a sixteen year-old carrying that immense horn at the rear of the band! Being lazy and not willing to count out the multiple bars of having nothing to play, he started to listen to the interplay of melody and counter melody for cues to come in on time.
At eighteen, after attending his first concerts of improvised music, he switched to cornet, his first love. He attended workshops at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, and developed his interest in melodic shapes, musical cues, texture and sonority. In the following years Boeren played with the Maarten Altena Ensemble, Willem van Manen’s Contraband, Ab Baars Tentet and the Paul Termos Tentet. He formed the Eric Boeren 4tet, which features Ornette Coleman’s compositions alongside his own pieces. Boeren plays in Available Jelly, Bik Bent Braam, Sean Bergin’s MOB and Frankie Douglas’ Sunchild. He also composes for these ensembles.Born in Eureka, California in 1954, Michael Moore was taught to play the clarinet by his father. After studying with Jaki Byard and obtaining a degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, Moore first visited Europe with the Salt Lake Mime Troupe in the late 1970′s. In 1982 he moved to Amsterdam, where he received the coveted Boy Edgar Prijs. In addition to the Clusone Trio, Moore has played with Gijs Hendriks, Misha Mengelberg, Guus Janssen, Maarten Altena, Marilyn Crispell, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Helias, Fred Hersch, Klaus Konig, Myra Melford and many others. Moore has also been involved in many theater and dance projects, and is the founder of the Ramboy recording label. Current groups include ICP, Available Jelly and diverse projects with Michael Vatcher. ” Moore’s a virtuosic wind instrumentalist whose ironic whimsy never outshines his respect for the music.”
SF WeeklyWilbert de Joode (1955) is a veritable research scientist of bass pizzicato and bowing techniques. A self-taught musician, he has been playing the double bass since 1982 and is currently one of the most active bass players on the improvised music circuit. His individual style and musicality transforms the double bass into an equal partner in the most varied ensembles. A personal tone color, exploration of the outer registers, idiosyncratic improvisations and the use of gut strings contribute to an instantly recognizable and intriguing sound.
Wilbert de Joode is active in the Ab Baars Trio, Eric Boeren 4tet, trio Braam/de Joode/Vatcher, Bik Bent Braam, the Astronotes and Corkestra. New developments include solo concerts and work with dance improvisers. He has worked with, among others, Hamid Drake, Steve Lacy, Rosswell Rudd, The Ex, het NU-ensemble, Jaap Blonk, Charles Gayle, Misha Mengelberg, Sunny Marray, John Tchicai, Fred Frith, Mariëtte Rouppe van de Voort, Dylan van der Schyff, Thomas Lehn, Achim Kauffman, Johannes Bauer, Frank Gratkowski, Martin Blume, Barre Phillips and Derek Bailey.
De Joode plays regularly in festivals and concerts throughout the world. He has released a solo CD, Olo “a suite of improvised, short, wayward, witty, gloomy, beautiful and freakish bass solo’s”.Han Bennink is one of the unfortunately rare musicians whose abilities and interests span the music’s entire spectrum, from Dixieland to free. His straight-ahead playing is absolutely convincing — his time is solid, his sense of swing strong, and his technique flawless. He also possesses the requisite qualities of a free jazz virtuoso; Bennink’s ability to interact quickly and creatively with horn players and pianists is great, as is his ear for timbral contrasts. What ultimately makes Bennink special is his manifest love for the music, a love that inclines him to tear down the cardboard walls that too often separate different schools of jazz. At his best, with colleagues who share his all-encompassing stylistic embrace, Bennink plays the continuum of jazz as an instrument unto itself.
Bennink began playing drums while in his teens under the influence of his father, a classical percussionist. He played with hometown musicians in the early ’60s. Between 1962 and 1969, Bennink backed local American jazz greats like Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and Eric Dolphy on their visits to Holland. In 1963, he formed a quartet that included pianist Misha Mengelberg, which played the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival. In the mid-’60s, Bennink began to play free jazz with the likes of Mengelberg and Willem Breuker. In 1967, those three founded the Instant Composer’s Pool, a not-for-profit organization designed to promote the Dutch jazz avant-garde. Around that same period, Bennink began continuing associations with the saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, guitarist Derek Bailey, trombonist Alex Schlippenbach, trumpeter Don Cherry, and the Globe Unity Orchestra. In the ’70s and ’80s, Bennink led and played as sideman on a number of sessions on the FMP, Incus, and Soul Note labels. In the late ’80s, Bennink started, with cellist Ernst Reijseger and saxophonist Michael Moore, the Clusone Trio, which became perhaps the percussionist’s most ideal performance vehicle. Much in demand as a solo player, Bennink also plays with ICP, Eric Boeren 4tet, Tobias Delius 4tet, Borstlap/Glerum/Bennink and his, since 2008, his own Han Bennink Trio.Song For Tracy The Turtle by Eric Boeren
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AKI ONDA
Aki Onda is an electronic musician, composer, and photographer. Onda was born in Japan and currently resides in New York. He is particularly known for his Cassette Memories project – works compiled from a “sound diary” of field-recordings collected by Onda over a span of two decades. Aki Onda’s musical instrument of choice is the cassette Walkman. Not only does he capture field recordings with the Walkman, he also physically manipulates multiple Walkmans with electronics in his performances. In another of his projects, Cinemage, Onda produces slide projections of still photo images set to live guitar improvisation. Onda has collaborated with artists such as Michael Snow, Ken Jacobs, Alan Licht, Loren Connors, Oren Ambarchi, Noël Akchoté, Jac Berrocal, Linda Sharrock, and Shelley Hirsch.
NIMALAN YOGANATHAN
Nimalan Yoganathan is a Montreal sound artist and musician. His work often incorporates raw and sculpted field recordings from his travels through bustling cities, rainforests, and spiritual sites. Electronic gestures are used to mimic the timbral and rhythmic properties of these environments. Nimalan attempts to accentuate the gray area between synthesized and natural sounds. In a time when global communities are being plagued by noise pollution, he believes it is crucial to preserve and accentuate the subtle but musical sounds hidden all around us. He recently returned from an artist residency in Nunavik where he was gathering field recordings of the vast arctic landscapes and Inuit throat singers. Nimalan is also involved with radio production, installation art, and sound design for film, dance, and theatre. He has released experimental Dub and Hip-Hop albums on labels including Le Son 666 and No_Type. Nimalan studied electroacoustic composition at Concordia University and electrical engineering at McGill University.http://nimalanyoganathan.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/shoebombermusicLEON LO
Since 1999, Léon Lo has been looking to music as both goblet and nectar. His endeavours have been process-based, regardless of their myriad forms.
Little Bang Creations
WHERE THE RIVER GOT THE WATERI could never remember where I was going in the world. But when I cut open a rabbit and ate him and his memories, I knew to follow the river. When you are going back, you know where you are going, so I didn’t worry. The world was bigger because I recalled where I had been, and could dream of what lay in front of me.
Where the River got the Water is a performance inspired by our consciousness of time and the path forged of both destruction and creation, in the push to move forever forward.
Concept: March Hutchinson, Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, James Irwin
Dance: Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Louise-Michel Jackson-Millet, Soula Trougakos
Music: Katie Moore, Matthew Woodman, Brad Barr
Sound Design: Nicholas Basque
Design: March Hutchinson
Story: James IrwinLittle Bang Creations is at the root a dancer, a visual artist and a writer.
We’re a company that creates spectacles and objects combining our mediums in collaboration with others. We’re interested in how each craft sits on, and holds up the other, and causes us to accomplish things we wouldn’t otherwise do.
Within Little Bang we place dance, visual art, and poetry in new contexts to be appreciated by larger, or at least different, audiences. By blending these forms with theatre, design, story, and particularly pop music we tend to make the esoteric more accessible, and put some new pants on the accessible.
We’re together because these mediums make a very sharp combination, and so do we.Hanako Hoshimi-Caines
Hanako studies, works and does her own thing as a dancer.
She studied at L’École Supérieure de Danse du Québec, the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, from which she graduated in 2001.
Her professional career began with a diverse range of companies and independent choreographers, such as the Caravan Stage Barge Company (traveling theater ship), Ohio Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and choreographer Louis-Martin Charest. In 2003, she joined the company Cas Public (Hélène Blackburn) with whom she worked until 2006. Since then she has worked as an independent dancer with choreographers Jane Mappin, Emmanuel Jouthe (Carpe Diem), Edgar Zendejas (Ezdanza) and Louis-Martin-Charest. Hanako joined José Navas/company Flak for the creation of “S” in February of 2008.
In 2007 and 2008 Hanako undertook two personal projects of great significance to her: the creation of Little Bang Theory her first full length piece which led to the formation of Little Bang Creations with March and James; and a mentorship project with Ireland-based Fabulous Beast Dance Theater as well as Ted Stoffer, dancer and choreographer for Les Ballets C de la B.
Little Bang Creations gives her the opportunity to explore possibilities of storytelling within dance, something she’s very interested in, and work on other things like putting books together and creating work with different groups of people that she otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to do.James Irwin
James writes songs, poems, and stories.
He is currently working on an album with his band my people sleeping; a solo album of songs under the name mamatschi; a book of stories about semi-ridiculous explorers; a book of poems titled I want this Job Naming Colours; and the libretto for a musical theatre piece called Olivia with songwriter Katherine Peacock and The Coal Choir, which he sings in.
He studied creative writing and literature at Concordia University and also holds down a very strange job writing for websites which has taught him that lying online is ok— to be moral you just have to do it creatively.
James is also working on the folk tale A Colour Like Orange with March as the illustrator, with whom he has already created The Famous Explorer of the 21st Century.
James thinks of Little Bang as a fancy way out of his own head, a chance to collaborate with these beautiful people, a total challenge and expansion of his creativity, and a way to be involved in live productions, which he loves.
March Hutchinson
March is a painter, illustrator and designer.
She’s good with her hands, making whatever is necessary certain to be beautiful, or not if need be! March grew up on the Caravan Farm Theatre, with music, horses and story informing her imagination. Since moving to Montreal and completing her BFA at Concordia University she’s acquired diverse work experience in both her personal painting practice, illustration, theatre design and props for film.
March is delighted to work with the other fine members of Little Bang, lending her creative sensibility and practical know-how to the development of new multi-disciplinary works. She feels honored to be part of such a beautiful collaborative team.GROUPER
Grouper is the assumed name of Northern Californian artist Liz Harris, and over the last few years she has quickly nudged herself into the underground spotlight with her peculiarly disarming music.Her journey began with the haunting midnight ambience of ‘Way Their Crept’ released on ex-Deerhoof member Rob Fisk’s Free Porcupine Society label in 2005. The record was instantly praised by British site Volcanic Tongue who described it as a ‘wildcard late entry for album of the year’, and its woozy blend of William Basinski-esque drone and breathy vocals slowly garnered the attention of music fans around the world. What followed over the next few years was a handful of stunning releases, from ‘Wide’ (again on FPS) to the haunting collaborative recording with Xiu Xiu entitled ‘Creepshow’. With each release Liz grew in confidence and refined her unique style, coming to a head with the limited ‘Cover the Windows and the Walls’ LP on Root Strata which sold out in a matter of weeks.
In 2008 she released the album which defined her sound; ‘Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill’ and through cult British imprint Type Records she finally reached the wider audience she deserved. The album achieved an unprecedented amount of critical acclaim, with respected US webzine Pitchfork mentioning it in their top albums of 2008, touting it as ‘druggy and sexy and arty and pretty, but never pretentious’. In 2009 she toured the USA in support of Animal Collective (one of the world’s biggest alternative acts), released split 7”s with City Center and Pumice and continues to stun audiences worldwide with her truly unique songs.
http://www.myspace.com/grouperrepuorg
http://www.groundcontroltouring.com/artists/grouper/
GRIMES
Grimes is Claire Boucher. Lack of musical training yields unpretentious but compelling composition in which electronic and organic sounds come together in a colourful goth-pop-noise medley. Drawing from classical medieval chorale and synth-pop, among other things, Grimes fuses contemporary instrumentation with classical vocal practices from around the world.
THIS QUIET ARMY
Eric Quach is a guitarist and sound engineer who performs under the name Thisquietarmy. He is also the guitarist and founding member of the Montreal-based instrumental rock band Destroyalldreamers. With two internationally acclaimed albums, “À Cœur Léger Sommeil Sanglant » in 2004 and « Wish I Was All Flames » in 2007 on Where Are My Records, a Montreal record label, as well as a 12” vinyl EP « Glare/Halo » in 2006 on Claire’s Echo, an American record label, Destroyalldreamers has gained a notorious cult band status amongst their peers.
As Thisquietarmy, a one-man solo drone/ambient project, Quach composes visual guitar-based soundscapes and experimental music that goes beyond the typical song structure. By exploring his guitar as a tone generator, he furthers the boundaries of his instrument with the use of multiple effect processors & real-time loop-samplers, alternating the guitar signal’s shape and tone, blending textures over textures, merging a wide combination of sounds together and developing the melodies hidden in these walls of sound. Concrete musical ideas are often generated by the re-interpretation, the decomposition and the reconstruction of its own improvisations. Thisquietarmy performs live regularly throughout Canada and the USA, and has played with Ulrich Schnauss, Olafur Arnalds, Tim Hecker, Troum, Nadja & Caspian just to name a few.
Thisquietarmy has released two albums « Unconquered » and « Blackhaunter » in 2008, respectively on Poland’s Foreshadow Productions and USA’s Elevation Recordings. He has also released several EPs including: « Wintersleeper » (2005) and « Orange » (2006), both on his own imprint This Quiet Army Records, « Echotone » (2007) on Canada’s Chat Blanc Records. A collaborative album with Aidan Baker (Nadja) will be released in 2009 on USA’s Killer Pimp Records and Thisquietarmy is currently working on a few short-film scores and soundtracks. With already such a large body of work in which is revealed a large range of guitar-based sonic styles, from minimal drone to electro-ambient to psychedelic shoegaze/post-rock, Thisquietarmy is a forward contender as a pioneer of the experimental ambient Canadian music scene.
Live performance
Thisquietarmy has been performing live since 2006, especially in Montreal and Quebec City, but also in Ontario and in the USA. The live performances are always presented as a multimedia installation, based on an impromptu score to a prepared film. The usual themes revolve around dark ethereal ambiences and ghostly abstract, prepared by Thisquietarmy himself.
Except for the occasional propulsive beat, no other sound is pre-recorded on stage as everything is done live on the fly. Armed with no less than three loop-samplers, a dozen of pedals, dual-mono signals, as well as dark & ghostly visual projections, Thisquietarmy’s live material can be as structured as it can be improvised on the spot, depending on the moment’s vibe, and drowns the audience in a dream-like hypnotic state of introspection that can sometimes turn into a nightmare. Since 2006, parallel works in sonic exploration and visual montage have been in constant evolution with each performance.http://www.thisquietarmy.com
http://www.myspace.com/thisquietarmyAIDS WOLF
AIDS Wolf was birthed into the heady days of Montreal’s millennial music scene. Yannick Desranleau (aka Hiroshima Thunder) and Chloe Lum began the band as a 4 piece in 2003. Unlike most of the local units finding fame out in the world beyond Quebec, AIDS Wolf pushed an abrasive, unforgiving and rather unwieldy sound around North America in a battered van. Alexander Moskos (aka the Zone) joined in 2008. Desranleau, Lum, and Moskos work in a novel trio format (drums, guitar through two amps and voice) augmented with (erstwhile forsaken) guitar effects and voice synthesis.
AIDS Wolf has formalized its sound over its years into a tight construction relying on intentional dissonance, polyrhythms and disjunctive compositional forms. The band takes its cues from “classic” New York No Wave, 90’s Midwestern No Wave, vegan cooking, 70’s proto-punk, beefheartian modes, Ville-Marie school of white elephant architecture, Literature, www.crwflags.com , post-war continental modern composition and their unrivaled network of friends and acquaintances the world over.
The band signed early on to the legendary American noise rock label Skin Graft Records who co-released their debut with Brooklyn’s Love Pump United. In addition to their two full-lengths, The Lovvers Lp and Cities of Glass, they have released countless collaborative and split lps, seven inches and cassettes. AIDS Wolf newest, as of yet untitled, lp was recorded in Montreal and will be released in the fall. The band will also release a collection of remixes of their Throbbing Gristle cover “Very Friendly” this summer.http://www.skingraftrecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/aidswolf
POCAHAUNTED
Pocahaunted were self-proclaimed “the Olsen twins of blissed out drone” from Eagle Rock, California, United States – Amanda Brown and Bethany Cosentino. Debuting in 2006 with cassettes Moccasinging and What the Spirit Tells Me, Pocahaunted quickly rose to became one of the most popular Not Not Fun related bands releasing several albums (including critically aclaimed Island Diamonds) on various underground labels. They have been described as a journey through the celestial mind, whatever that means and they play a unique brand of hypnotic droning psychedelic bliss, an earthy sound conjuring unearthly visions. Since spring 2009, Pocahaunted are Amanda Brown, Britt Brown (Robedoor), Cameron Stallones (Sun Araw), Diva Dompe (BlackBlack), Ged Gengras (Antique Brothers). Bethany now records as Best Coast.“Pocahaunted have metamorphosized into this sexy writhing howling five piece that rescue free folk from it¹s beardy ghetto, and turn it into something actually danceable. And, sexy.” - VICE MAGAZINE
“Predictably, it seems like Sonic Youth are onto them, and the band¹s capacity to make serious noise art with when the need arises a kind of irreverent spirit, is something that that sometimes goes missing in what appears to be a still-expanding new psych underground.” – UNCUT MAGAZINE
“The perfect balance between pop aesthetics, DIY urban groove and ominous, obscure psychedelia.” – AQUARIUS RECORDS
“Dark, spaced-out bass grooves, Middle Eastern-influenced guitar drone and steady, beat-driven psych-pop. We’re hard pressed to think of other bands…who are making such soulful, unrestrained, inventive psychedelic music.” – OTHER MUSIC“Thudding, nod-out acid rock rhythms with wordless choirs of abandon and power vocals extrapolated from hypnagogic 1980s pop. Something in the achingly elongated guitar lines and orchestras of throat that is just supremely addictive. Pocahaunted are at the absolute peak of their powers right now.” – VOLCANIC TONGUE
http://www.myspace.com/pocahaunted
You Do Voodoo by Pocahaunted
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EMERALDS
Emeralds are an ambient/drone music trio from Cleveland, Ohio.John Elliott, Mark McGuire and Steve Hauschildt began playing music together under the name Fancelions in 2005 in Cleveland’s western suburbs of Bay Village and Westlake. However, due to a desire to simplify and focus more on live improvisation, they re-formed as Emeralds, playing their first show under that name in June 2006. Since then the group has released over thirty recordings, on labels such as Hanson Records, American Tapes, Manhand, Ecstatic Peace! and also on their own imprint Wagon.
The album Solar Bridge, released in 2008, is their most widely known release to date. In fall of 2009 the band self-released the follow-up full length to Solar Bridge which is self-titled Emeralds, as well as the monstrous What Happened on No Fun Productions.
In the coming years Emeralds releases will appear on Editions Mego and Industrial Records.
They have collaborated with Aaron Dilloway on the cassette Under Pressure, released a split tour CD with Japanese noise musician Pain Jerk and opened for Throbbing Gristle in New York. The band has also had the pleasure of performing headlining spots in Carlos Giffoni’s No Fun Fest in New York and Stockholm, Sweden. Mark McGuire and Steve Hauschildt also perform and record under their own names. John Elliott performs as Outer Space, Imaginary Softwoods, and as various other aliases.
Emeralds are noted for blending ambient music with 80’s synthesizer textures, German kosmische music and the minimalism of Terry Riley.
http://www.last.fm/music/Emeralds
MOTH COCK
Moth Cock is made up of Doug and Pat who’ve been living together and making jams since 2006.http://www.myspace.com/cockmoth
DRAINOLITH
Drainolith has been the moniker for most solo activities undertaken by Montreal musician Alexander Moskos since 1998. The name was invented in order to fill out catalogues for Moskos bedroom label She Sells Records (shesellsrecords.blogspot.com)Moskos works with analog synthesis, modified consumer electronics and ancient electronic drum scraps to create his music. Drainolith takes its cues from a higher modernism: early 20th century vernacular architecture, jazz pianists Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Cecil Taylor, the slow aesthetic, Iannis Xenakis as well as more recent additions to the out-there canon: Baltimore’s Nate Nelson (mouthus, afternoon penis), Michigan,s noise underground and his extended Network of friends and accomplices.
Moskos’ activies in Montreal range from being the first-chair guitar in noise rock group AIDS Wolf, collaborating with Blake Hargreaves in Thames, Alex St-Onge and Roger Tellier-Craig in Et Sans, Philippe Lambert in Goa! and Brian Damage and Michael Caffrey in The Unireverse.
2010 will see the release of a new Drainolith record called “Hi Lux” as well as a collaboration with John Elliot (Emeralds/Outerspace), a two week US tour and recording of a proper LP.
http://www.myspace.com/drainolith
DREAMCATCHER
Formed in Montreal in 2004, DREAMCATCHER, composed of Katherine Kline and Blake Hargreaves, is one of the grandest and loudest outfits in Montreal’s explosive underground music scene. DREAMCATCHER’s hot-wiring, saturated and hypnotic sound layers, as well as strings and splatters of sonic mess and power-electronics/old-school/new school aesthetics, have earned them a devoted following in Montreal and beyond throughout the years.After a handful of limited releases, like ‘HOLYSMOKES’ (a live performance on CKUT 90.3 McGill) on ALIEN8 RECORDINGS, the group finally gave birth to their first proper album, NIMBUS CD/LP in 2005 (OHNONO/FLUORESCENT FRIENDS), to great acclaim.
The present collaboration between DREAMCATCHER and .ANGLE.REC., a project that was initially envisioned some time ago, breathes a second life into a pair of past productions initially released by two of today’s most influential art-house labels, releases that until now, only a handful of enthusiasts had the opportunity to hear.
Originally produced on cassette in very limited editions on the AMERICAN TAPES label (run by WOLF EYES’ John Olson) and NAUTICAL ALMANAC’s HERESEE label respectively, “PROM NIGHT” and “EYES OF LEATHERFACE” are archived here on clear vinyl, side by side, original label artwork provided, for an enlarged audience and for posterity. These two outstanding DREAMCATCHER sessions include material from their first recorded jam ever, and rank among the favourites of the duo. They represent the furthest expanse and total richness of DREAMCATCHER world-changing vision. And furthermore this is without a doubt one of the sickest, most twisted and noisiest releases from the .ANGLE.REC. camp so far, and with it, the sonic territories covered by the label strech again. It also is the label’s first 12’’ release! This monstrous, tension filled and chunky plate of sound with lots of unexpected eruptions and aural collisions is limited to 300 copies.
Blake’s first record “The Waxathon” came out in 2003; he also co-runs the FLUORESCENT FRIENDS label and plays in the psych-core bands COUSINS OF REGGAE and THAMES. Katherine does solo work as CELINE BEYOND and is a member of DEATH DRIVE and WONDER YEARS.
www.angle-rec.net/ar12_en.html
http://www.myspace.com/thisisdreamcatcherNO NECK BLUES BAND
The No-Neck Blues Band, also known as NNCK, is a seven-member free-form improvisational musical collective from New York City. Formed in 1992, the original band was of eight members (until John Fell Ryan left to join noise group, Excepter), and has practiced weekly in a space in Harlem since. Membership includes Dave Nuss, Keith Connolly, Dave Shuford, Jason Meagher, Pat Murano, Matt Heyner, and Michiko (aka Mico).
Members of NNCK have been involved in numerous side-projects and off-shoots, including Angelblood, Eye Contact, Izititiz, K. Salvatore, Malkuth, Enos Slaughter, Suntanama, Egypt is the Magick #, Test, Coach Fingers, Under Satan’s Sun, and D. Charles Speer & the Helix.
Along with their many releases on their own label, Sound@One (or s@1, as it often appears), NNCK has released albums on Ecstatic Yod, New World of Sound, 5RC &, recently, locust music. Singles have been released on Dry Leaf Disks (UK), New World of Sound, and Ecstatic Peace. Their first studio album was Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Names Will Never Hurt Me, produced by Jerry Yester on John Fahey’s Revenant Records after a particular interest on Fahey’s part. This was followed by Qvaris on 5RC, and Embryonnck, a collaboration with the German band Embryo released on Staubgold Records. The most recent releases by the band are Nine for Victor, a recording from a live performance in Quebec & a 2007 deluxe reissue of the band’s privately issued “Live at Ken’s Electric Lake” originally released a decade earlier, Clomeim in 2008, and At 6am We Become the Police in 2009 on Locust Music.http://www.soundatone.com/
http://locustmusic.com/index.php?option=com_artists&cid=84&task=view&Itemid=6
STELLAR OM SOURCE
Stellar OM Source is the solo project of electronic musician, composer, visionary artist and architect Christelle Gualdi. She began to play electronic music as a teenager while recording soundtracks for exhibitions, assisting her father at the radio studio using Yamaha MSX and Atari 1040 systems. Next to this, her music taste has been influenced by early fascination for fusion, guitar heroes and ECM artists, as well as disco and new-age music. She studied music theory, electro-acoustic composition and architecture.She plays today a range of analog synthesizers and make an extensive use of electronic systems and MIDI. Stellar OM Source involves musicality as a transport to the ocean realm within the stars. She combines gorgeous keyboard style with clusters of overtone gravity so thick they seem to simply hang in the air and unravels true beauty. Beyond the interface of the machine, she conveys spirituality and an emotional body to the piloting of the future. Her sounds can be related to Terry Riley, Doris Norton or Ryuichi Sakamoto.
She extensively tours throughout Europe and the United States and played with numerous members of the international experimental and avant-garde scene.
After several years of collaborative releases, her solo debut LP came out in March 2009, recorded and released by the American Black Dirt Records label in New York State. She self-released a CD trilogy in May 2009, spanning four years of recording.
http://www.myspace.com/omsourceGAVIN JOHN SHEEHAN & IDENTITY PROTEST UNIT II
Gavin John Sheehan has been composing and performing music since 1990. Early experiences produced albums and performances as drummer, guitarist, and co-composer in a number of local bands from his home town.From 1998 to 2001, he composed, recorded and released “Reno Air” a 74 minute minimalist drone piece. He attended Vancouver Community College for Musical Composition and Concordia University for Electro-acoustic studies. Between 2003 and 2010, he composed, performed and improvised in several ensembles in Montreal including The Identity Protest Unit for his piece “October the Two” (2004), Rivers and Mountains as co composer and guitarist (2004 through present), Pas Chic Chic for live performances (2007-2008), “Shell of the Curved Centennial” as composer and performer (2008), and regularly with Montreal based composer Sam Shalabi in both his Land of Kush and Egyptian Light Orchestra ensembles (2007 to present).
As of late, he is completing work on his Piece “Hate is all ‘Around’” which is due to debut at Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo under the name Gavin John Sheehan and Identity Protest Unit II. He presently lives in Montreal.
ONEIDA
Oneida is a rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Their influences include psychedelic rock, krautrock, and hard rock, but the overall structure and intent of their music cannot be easily traced to any of these styles, or the myriad other styles they have drawn upon in recordings.
The most striking and consistent aspect of Oneida’s music is their use of and fascination with repetition. Their 2002 LP, Each One Teach One, for instance, begins with two especially long tracks, Sheets of Easter and Antiobiotics, the former over fourteen minutes long, the latter more than sixteen. Both of these songs are composed of one repeated riff (with a few short interludes on Antiobiotics).
In addition to the use of repetition that easily outstrips the patience of most casual listeners, Oneida’s music can be distinguished by the band member’s extensive use of and enthusiasm for antique keyboards and analog electric pianos. Repetition in Oneida’s music greatly complements the strengths and uniqueness of the fuzzy or cheesy-sounding keyboard elements.
The band also runs Brah Records, an imprint of Jagjaguwar. The label has released records by Parts & Labor, Oakley Hall, Home, Company, and an Oneida/Plastic Crimewave Sound split 12″.
In September 2007 the group celebrated 10 years of existence with a concert at the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in NYC.
In June 2008, it was announced that the band would be releasing a triptych of new records, referred to as the “Thank Your Parents” series. The first of these is Preteen Weaponry, which was released in August 2008, and the second is a triple album, Rated O, released in July 2009.
For the reductivist in you, consider Oneida the bastard offspring of a Can/Suicide marriage, a band who is not afraid to pluck, tap, bend, synth or crash their way to the various extremes of rock, pop, folk and the avant-garde, and who brilliantly do so without alienating the respective fans of any of these so-called “genres”.www.myspace.com/oneidarocks
http://enemyhogs.com/site/
http://www.jagjaguwar.com/press/oneida/oneidapress.php
U.S.A OUT OF VIETNAM
U.S.A. Out of Viet Nam is made up of three disparate Toronto/Montreal musicians. One of the guys was in a pretty popular band that made video
