2010
IN ORDER OF PERFORMANCE:
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 videos and stuff and one guy was in a popular band who also made videos that inspired some of the worst bands you are likely to hear. After the second guy quit the popular band he formed another band that nobody liked, who also made videos but nobody bothered to watch them. I suppose it should be noted he also hated the other guy’s popular band where as the initial guy who only played in a popular band had never even heard of the other guy’s popular and unpopular band.
The third member, drummer Eric Cohen though was never in a band anybody really liked but his other band Balboa should soon change all of that. Balboa only performs selections that originally appeared in the first four Rocky pictures – which, as anybody with a functioning pair of ears on their noggin would justly proclaim as “pretty fuckin’ rad, Jack”. Balboa also features current and former members of Coney Hatch, Talas (who featured a young Billy Sheehan from Mr. Big!) and former Kiss drummer Peter Criss’ Jump Blues Band Revue, needless to say with this impressive pedigree Balboa are indeed the fuckin’ tits. Wake the neighbors, Balboa are here!
Uh, U.S.A, Out of Viet Nam don’t play any soundtracks from movies and are very loud, this is also their first show so don’t get your hopes up. They also do not feature any members of Peter Criss’ Jump Blues Revue, but the one member who once played in a popular band and later an unpopular band did get the famous feline Kiss trapsman’s autograph at an in store signing once. Balboa!HAIR POLICE
Working with traditional rock instrumentation as well as electronics, tape manipulation, and oscillators, Hair Police builds demonic walls of sound for a result reminiscent of Throbbing Gristle, early Black Dice, and Wolf Eyes. Hair Police formed in Lexington, KY, in January of 2001. The original lineup included Matt Minter and Ross Compton, but the group soon settled on Mike Connelly (guitar, vocals, tapes, noise), Robert Beatty (electronics), and Trevor Tremaine (drums, vocals, tapes). Soon after forming, the group released its 2001 debut, History of Ghost Dad on Gods of Tundra. Blow Out Your Blood followed on Freedomfrom in 2002, and 2003 found Hair Police in an extremely productive mode that produced Movies: Live ’01-’02 (a cassette on Animal Disguise), the Mortuary Servants 7″, a self-titled cassette on Hospital Productions, Probe Cutting (a cassette on Gods of Tundra), and splits with Cadaver in Drag and Viki — the latter of which secured the band its widest distribution. In 2004 Hair Police released a new album, Obedience Cuts, as well as a split with Crystal Fantasy. The following year saw two new albums –Constantly Terrified and Drawn Dead–as well as a reissue of their self-titled album for Hospital Productions on CD. In 2008, they released The Certainty of Swarms on No Fun Productions.
~ Charles Spano, All Music Guide.
BURNING STAR CORE
Cincinnati native C. Spencer Yeh has been performing under the Burning Star Core moniker since 1993. A classically trained violinist, Yeh is the center of the amorphous free noise group whose past collaborators have included: Comets on Fire, Hotogisu, Chris Corsano and Thurston Moore. The recordings vary: from solo performances of sparse, ethereal drones to full-band, dense, psychadelic noise attacks.
http://www.myspace.com/cspenceryeh
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.
http://www.myspace.com/noveller
http://www.sarahlipstate.com/ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER
Oneohtrix Point Never’s Rifts trilogy comprises Daniel Lopatin’s first three full length records – Betrayed in the Octagon, Zones without People, and Russian Mind. The Rifts trilogy travels from the outside-in, beginning with the dark space sonatas of Octagon, down through the mechanized vistas of Zones and completing itself with the haunting electronic animus of Russian Mind. This journey is underscored with a natural growth which sees Lopatin developing his unabashed worship of the analog poly-synth as a free standing musical apparatus towards a fully realized OPN world of sound; at once incorporating synth prog, modern noise, early techno, drone, minimalism and computer music. With Rifts it is possible to zoom out on the OPN project and recognize Lopatin as both an auteur and alchemist; achieving a signature sound while drawing on a buried history of electronic music. The double disc includes all three albums in its entirety (originally released on limited edition vinyl only) as well as selections from rare and out of print cassette and CD-R releases, with recordings spanning as far back as 2003. Fully re-mastered for digital audio by James Plotkin, art by Tom Scholefield.http://www.myspace.com/pointnever
http://www.pointnever.com/
http://fourpawsmedia.com/oneohtrixpointnever/CARLOS GIFFONI
Carlos Giffoni is a Venezuelan electronic musician who resides in the New York City area since the year 2000. Currently using modular synthesizers, hand made custom instruments, and various types of analog and digital synthesis in the composition of electronic music pieces, as well as improvising live with local and international musicians. His recent solo work has focused in live analog synthesizer pieces that put his style in a line with early techno and cosmic electronic music while maintaining the harsher edge of his previous noise works. Along his solo work he is also working on a new ‘acid music’ project called No Fun Acid.Carlos remains a major figure in the US and international experimental music scene, performing live in New York and in a number of tours and festivals in the US, South America, Europe and Japan. He is the curator of the No Fun Fest, a yearly event in Brooklyn bringing together a wide variety of international experimental musicians as well as running the No Fun Productions label. His work has been featured in many publications including The New York Times, The Wire, Pitchfork, Art Forum, Tokion, Signal to Noise and many others.
He also holds an MFA in design and technology from Parsons School of Design.http://www.myspace.com/carlosgiffoni
http://www.nofunfest.com/
http://www.nofunproductions.com/
http://www.carlosgiffoni.com/LE RÉVÉLATEUR
Le Révélateur is a resonant beast blasting its way through labyrinths of eroded nostalgia filled with psychedelic synthesizer waves and repetitive sun-drenched pulses.
Karl Lemieux will be doing projections for this show.WILLIAM BASINSKI
William Basinski is a classically trained musician and composer who has been working in experimental media for over 25 years in New York City, and now Los Angeles. His haunting and melancholy soundscapes explore the temporal nature of life, resounding with the reverberations of memory and the mystery of time. His epic 4-disc masterwork, The Disintegration Loops, received international critical acclaim and was chosen as one of the top 50 albums of 2004 by Pitchfork Media. Art Forum selected The River, his transcendental 2-disc shortwave music experiment on Raster-Noton.de, Germany as one of the top ten albums of 2003. His concerts and installations and films made in collaboration with artist-filmmaker, James Elaine have been presented internationally, most recently at The Venice Biennale of Music, Venice, Italy, Happy New Ears Festival, Belgium, FOCUS ONE Festival, Poland, Filosophia Festival, Carpi, Italy, and Cite de la Musique, Paris, among others. Basinski’s latest albums, 92982 and Vivian & Ondine were released in 2009 on 2062/USA and distributed internationally. The Wire magazine selected 92982 as one of the top 50 releases of 2009.http://www.mmlxii.com/home/home.html
http://www.myspace.com/williambasinski
EXPO ’70
Expo ’70 is the main driving improvisational essence of Justin Wright. Having started the project in Los Angeles in 2003, Wright has pushed his project to new levels, releasing a number of albums as cdr’s and 2 full-length albums. Expo ’70′s first album “Animism”, which debuted in 2007 on Kill Shaman, is an eclectic mix of krautrock, ambient drone, space exploration and minimal compositions. Comparisons range from Brian Eno, Ash Ra Tempel, A.R. & Machines, SunnO))) and Earth, but not directly sounding like any of those artists in their entirety.Wright’s recent release “Black Ohms” on Beta-lactam Ring Records brings new life to the term drone. A world of sounds that catches the listeners subconscious and drifts them to alien lands and foreign terrain while maintaining a dreamlike quality with shifting melodies and moods. Mostly comprised of single guitar improvisations, Wright manifests rich textures and brooding low end passages full of energy that tend to sound like long synth compositions akin to early Tangerine Dream and early minimalist composers like Terry Riley.
Expo ’70 recently completed a West Coast tour, playing a sold out show in San Francisco with Wooden Shjips and ARP. Accompanying Wright was Matt Hill, a local Kansas City musician who studied at Berkeley College of music in Boston. Hill contributed bass and analog drum patterns underlying Wright’s ability to work up these long rich drones into what some might reflect a classic rock band. The live shows consisted of the two sitting indian style in front of their amps, forcing audiences to sit along with them while they build soundscapes. With a blast of smoke from a fog machine, the canvas was layed for them to rise up and get into so Pink Floyd and Hawkwind-like sonic psychedelic playing with Hill looping bass lines and Wright catching waves of melodic of guitar soloing.
Wright played Bordeaux, France late 2008 as part of a festival revolved around the celebration of French Psychedelic music which started back in 1968. The 3 day festival included acts from France and all over the world. Some act include Ame Son, Endless Boogie, Steve Gunn, Psychic Ills, The Telescopes, The Skaters, Stellar Om Source and many more. Wright was proud to have Expo ’70 included in this event.
Wright designs and packages most Expo ’70 releases himself building an aesthetic around the project as a long lost relic from the 1970′s underground music scene.
http://www.exposeventy.com/sonicmeditations/artists.html
http://www.myspace.com/expo70
http://www.exposeventy.com/menu.htmlDISCIPLINE X
Discipline X is the solo project of Brian Damage, ex-Phycus, ex-Unireverse. The projet was started in 2000 as Phycus was ending. One CDr was released at that time.Discipline X was revived in 2009. A new download, “Futuric”, was released, based on the live set of the fall of 2009.
When Sun Ra met John Cage, the one thing they agreed upon was that the most important musician trait was discipline. No matter what style of music a musician performs, successful musicians must be devoted to their craft. Sun Ra planned a series of 100 “Discipline” recordings, and eventually recorded far more than 100 of them.
John Cage often composed based on a set or rules, or disciplines. I am also using a set of disciplines to create this music. For the first CD, for example, the rules included that each track must be comprised of several loops running out of phase with each other, there must be minimal human intervention in the creation of the loops, and that each track needed to be exactly 10 minutes long.
For the current version of the project, I have added a second style of composition, with its own set of rules, for example, each sound can only play a single note. Other styles, each with their own set of compositional rules will be added and combined together.
MATTHEW SHIPP
Matthew Shipp was born December 7, 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware. He started piano at 5 years old with the regular piano lessons most kids have experienced. He fell in love with jazz at 12 years old. After moving to New York in 1984 he quickly became one of the leading lights in the New York jazz scene. He was a sideman in the David S. Ware quartet and also for Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory before making the decision to concentrate on his own music.
Matthew Shipp has reached the holy grail of jazz in that he possesses a unique style on his instrument that is all of his own- and he’s one of the few in jazz that can say so. Mr. Shipp has recorded a lot of albums with many labels but his 2 most enduring relationships have been with two labels. In the 1990s he recorded a number of chamber jazz cds with Hatology, a group of cds that charted a new course for jazz that, to this day, the jazz world has not realized. In the 2000s Mr Shipp has been curator and director of the label Thirsty Ear’s “Blue Series” and has also recorded for them. In this collection of recordings he has generated a whole body of work that is visionary, far reaching and many faceted.
Matthew Shipp is truly one of the leading lights of a new generation of jazz giants.
Matthew Ship 4D
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WHIT DICKEY
Legend says that drummer Whit Dickey has four arms, and more than one jazz critic wanted to prove it. His brain must have independent centers of control to run what he does with all the parts of his drumset, and his body seems to clone itself. We can’t believe in the simultaneity of so focused events, but this is it. He really does it, with no tricks or overdubs. Until we begin to understand some things. When we know that Thelonious Monk is an important reference for Dickey, we finally see what’s happening. The late genius of the jazz piano proposed the complete autonomy of both arms, like if there was two pianists and not just one, and that’s what this inspired improviser does, adding his legs to the process. Once the stickman in the David S. Ware Quartet, soon he became the leader of his own groups, inviting other virtuosos like Chris Lightcap and Rob Brown to play with him. Considered a heir of drums masters Tony Williams and Elvin Jones, hear him during a solo convinces us definitely that jazz has a present and is going to have a future. And considering that Whit Dickey composes with a percussionist point of view, is to expect a very energetic following of this music continuum. Maybe we can dance it again…
http://www.aumfidelity.com/dicky.html
http://www.cleanfeed-records.com/artista.asp?intID=129bMICHAEL BISIO
“…he is a marvelously inventive bassist that seemingly has burst forth over the years as a musical trunk rather than a branch. His technique is formidable, both pizzicato and arco, and he taps into a virtually inexhaustible wellspring of musical ideas when he plays.”
Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music ReviewMichael Bisio invariably astounds audiences with the beauty of his tone and the intensity of his very personal musical language. His music has received 4 stars from DownBeat, Jazz Times states his music “resonates with intelligence, emotional depth and probing virtuosity.” Journalist Paul DeBarros in Signal to Noise notes; “For years free improvisers have explored the tactile aspect of performance, in which the nature of the encounter between the player and the instrument becomes the subject of the music itself. Bisio is one of the few musicians that has managed to meld this high-concept sense of physicality with the soulful charge of jazz. His fiddle-high, scraped overtones create a tangled choir that is impossible to resist; his expressiveness with the bow is unmatched. Having whirled the listener into a transportive state, he gently shows them the way out…”
“His expressive touch is distinctive.” The New York Times
As a recording artist Michael appears on over 50 cds, he is leader on 10 cds and co-leads 7 duet recordings. His recorded output has consistently met with critical praise. Michael’s first international release, In Seattle, (Silkheart), was chosen as one of the “Best Jazz Records of the 1980′s” in the Village Voice. Connections, (CIMP), 2005, as reviewed in Cadence Magazine. “…this is another important disc from Bisio and company that highlights Bisio’s talents as a musician, composer and bandleader.” Fourteen new releases in 2009 included two MBQ cds for CIMP and Not Two, two cds by Tomas Ulrich’s Cargo Cult, and Old Dog, By Any Other Name, (Porter Records). The very beginning of 2010 saw the release of Session at 475 Kent, duets with the highly acclaimed pianist Connie Crothers on MutableMusic.
As a composer Michael has been recognized with nine project grants from various arts organizations, in 2003 he was awarded an Artist Trust Fellowship.
Seminal studies in creative music processes were with Bill (William O.) Smith and Stuart Dempster.Early tenure with trumpeter Barbara Donald and saxophonist Carter Jefferson left an indelible mark on Michael’s music and spirit. Another major influence is Joe McPhee. Joe and Michael have created a body of work that includes two duo cds, Finger Wigglers and Zebulon, (CIMP) in addition to over a dozen other releases including: Port of Saints, (CJR), Joe Giardullo’s Shadow and Light, (Drimala), and Angels, Devils and Haints, Joe Mcphee and the World Bass Quartet, (CJR).
Other artists Michael has collaborated with include: Wayne Horvitz, Charles Gayle, Bob Nell, Sunny Murray, Louie Belogenis, John Tchai, Pauline Oliveros, Vinny Golia, Julian Priester, Eyvind Kang, Diedre Murray, Rashied Ali, Jim Nolet, Saadet Turkoz, Dominic Duval, Tomas Ulrich, Oluyemi Thomas, Matthew Shipp, Karl Berger, Warren Smith, Connie Crothers, Sonny Simmons, Jay Rosen, Avram Fefer and Stephen Gauci.
“Bisio’s ability to project such a diverse array of timbre and technical skill mark him as one of the leading bassist of his time.” Steven Loewy, www.allmusic.com
NATURA SONORIS
Natura Sonoris, a multimedia piece designed by performer/sound artist Magali Babin around the audio special effects that have ruled the world of scary movies. Natura Sonoris was originally commissioned by Productions Supermusique in 2009, and the version presented as part of Suoni per il Popolo 2010 has been slightly retooled. Babin has drawn inspiration from the incredible tones used by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (Natura Sonoris 1 & 2, Polymorphia), whose music full of subtle details has been so good to the silver screen (Shining, The Exorcist).
Beware, things will get tensed!For this surprisingly lively performance,Magali Babin (who will be playing electronic instruments and amplified metal objects) will be accompanied by her electronica partner Myléna Bergeron, co-composer of the music for Natura Sonoris. They both amplify, transform, and manipulate the sound of their acoustic and digital instruments in real time. By playing artfully with tension, they conjure up unnerving moods worthy of the best horror flicks. Filmmaker Karl Lemieux will be projecting his animated black-and-white images while etching on 16-mm film, all in constant interaction with the music. L’œil de verre (a duo consisting of Carl Fortin and Jean-Benoit Pouliot) will be bringing in colour, handling matters and lights on modified overhead projectors to create fugitive light scenes bent out of shape.
True Free Sound Cinema!http://www.supermusique.qc.ca/fr/evenements/20577/
http://www.myspace.com/magalibabinNatura Sonoris – Magali Babin
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Patrice Coulombe
Audio Art / InstallationsFollowing years of compositional studies, Patrice Coulombe has dedicated himself to performance, audio art, and media installations. Since 2003, he’s produced sonic pieces as a solo artist or in collaboration which marry the sounds of traditional instruments with those of electronics and machines. Further, Coulombe creates different works using a multitude of other processes — electronic distortions, the disintegration of reel-to-reel analog tapes, interruptions — using precorded texts ans monologues.
Outside of his audio work, Patrice Coulombe creates media platforms for a variety of Canadian and international artists, as well as teaching media arts and sound creation at the the University of Quebec in Montreal.STEVE BATES
After stumbling through early noise making adventures in punk rock bands, Steve developed an interest in more experimental forms of organizing sound into improvised and composed music, radio, and installation projects. This expanded notion of working with sonic material eventually leads to founding a sound art festival in Winnipeg, Send + Receive: A Festival of Sound, which he directed for 8 years. He is currently living in Montréal and is the Sound Coordinator at Hexagram Institute for Research/Creation in Media Arts and Technologies. Current projects include collaboration with Douglas Moffat for a permanent sound installation commissioned by the City of Toronto and a full-length release on Oral Records.JODA CLEMENT
Joda Clément was born in 1981 and raised in Ontario, Canada. He is the son of electronic/ambient music artist Tim Clement. He began his earliest experiments with electronic music at the age of fourteen. Since then he has been developing a unique repertoire of methods and techniques for working creatively with sound. His first album ‘Movement + Rest’ was released by Alluvial Recordings in 2005. Joda’s work incorporates analog and acoustic instruments, the human voice, found objects and non-descript sounds recorded from the natural and urban environment, blurring a distinction between sources to create landscapes of sound that unite properties of both musical and everyday contexts. Joda integrates these elements into compositions, improvisation, installations, and performances throughout Canada and in the US. He now lives and performs regularly in Toronto.http://jodaclement.wordpress.com/
http://www.jodaclement.com/
http://www.myspace.com/jodaclementJULIA KENT
After years of playing cello with a myriad of artists and ensembles, Julia Kent holed up in her Lower East Side apartment to make a solo record inspired by touring and the disjunctions of travel. Incorporating multitracked cello, omnichord, and field recordings from airports around the world, her “lovely, melancholy,” compositions, full of “aching romanticism … rich melodicism, and detailed arrangements,” make up Delay, her solo debut, released by Shayo Records in Europe and Important Records in North America.Julia Kent was born in Vancouver, Canada, studied cello at Indiana University, Bloomington, and lives in New York. She was an original member of cello-rock band Rasputina, who released two records on Columbia and toured throughout North America. After leaving Rasputina she joined Antony and the Johnsons, playing on and contributing string arrangements to the group’s Mercury Prize-winning record I Am a Bird Now, and touring Europe, North America, Australia, and Brazil, including shows at Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall and numerous television appearances. In addition to her ongoing participation in Antony and the Johnsons, she has performed and/or recorded with many other artists and ensembles, including the Angels of Light, Ben Weaver, Burnt Sugar, Leona Naess, Teddy Thompson, Devendra Banhart, Donovan, Larsen, William Parker, and Angela McCluskey.. As a solo artist, she has performed at the Donau Festival in Austria, the LEM festival in Barcelona, and at venues throughout Europe and the U.S.A.
http://www.juliakent.com/index.php
http://www.myspace.com/julia_kentVenizelos by Julia Kent
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REBECCA FOON
Rebecca Foon is a composer and contemporary cellist who has worked and recorded with various artists including Silver Mt. Zion, Patti Smith, Lhasa de Sela, Patrick Watson, and Carla Buzolich. She has worked on and composed various soundtracks including the documentary film H2Oil. She is a member of the band Esmerine and co-founder of Madrona Records.SARAH PAGE
Sarah Page began playing the harp in 2000 at the age of 19 during her second year of classical guitar studies at Vanier CEGEP. She spent four years studying with Jennifer Swartz at McGill University. While there she appeared as a soloist with both the McGill Orchestra and choir and was awarded first prize in the 2005 Classical Concerto Competition. She has participated in many orchestral festivals including The National Youth Orchestra of Canada.In 2002, Sarah became interested in exploring the boundaries of her instrument. Since then she has been recognized for her ability to integrate the pedal harp into several different genres of non-traditional music and unconventional spaces. This continues to be the main focus of her work today. Sarah has done a great deal of improvising, recording and touring with long time friend and collaborator Patrick Watson. Her playing with Patrick inspired Amon Tobin to create a track based on her improvisation for his 2006 release The Foley Room. It was also through her work with Patrick that she met Lhasa DeSela. Her friendship with Lhasa quickly turned into a successful musical partnership. Sarah helped write and arrange, as well as performing on Lhasa’s latest album. As a member of her band, Sarah played many shows with Lhasa from 2007-2009.
Sarah appears on albums by Lara Fabian, Arianne Moffat, Amon Tobin, Lhasa DeSela, Patrick Watson and Plants and Animals. She has performed with Barry Manilow, Michael Bolton, and Josh Grobin. She can also be heard as a soloist with Common Thread on CBC.
Sarah is currently working with guitar and drum duo The Barr Brothers. They are preparing to launch and tour their new album which has just been completed. She has also just begun to record with Esmerine. The two marimba, cello and harp quartet hopes to finish and release their album by December.
THE VANDERMARK 5
Ken Vandermark formed his quintet, the VANDERMARK 5, during the spring of 1996. Since that time it has been a major outlet for compositional and improvisational ideas that have been fascinating its leader, whose thinking has been developed through years of work with groups like the NRG Ensemble, AALY, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Free Music Ensemble, School Days, Free Fall, the Territory Band, Powerhouse Sound, Frame Quartet, and the Resonance Ensemble- the members of which represent an international gallery of the cutting edge of contemporary music.Each of the band’s current members has years of performance experience working with a wide variety of music. This, coupled with the range of instrumentation and stylistic potential held by the ensemble, allows Vandermark to compose material that runs the gamut of musical possibilities- he incorporates elements of Jazz history, contemporary composition, Funk and Rock throughout the group’s music. Even so, the quintet’s main focus is developing methods of improvisation. Each piece is arranged to allow ample room for the members to interpret and reinterpret the writing; this creates an environment where the performers are constantly interacting and utilizing their ideas in a spontaneous way.
In the spirit of the great bands scattered throughout the history of Jazz, the Vandermark 5 has always concentrated on live performance as the means to hone its skills and develop its concepts. For many years the quintet played on a weekly basis at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Now the ensemble has shifted their concert schedule to the road, touring in North America and Europe on a regular basis, and incorporating weekly concerts at the Elastic performance space when the members are back home.
http://www.kenvandermark.com/work.php
DM STITH
David Stith comes from a musical family: his father is a college wind ensemble director and former church choir director; his grandfather is professor emeritus in the music department at Cornell University; his mother is a pianist; his sisters sing opera, play piano, tap dance, play timpani and are excellent soft ball players. David Stith grew up dreading the family ensemble’s appearances in church, preferring instead to draw mazes on the blank sides of church bulletins during services. In fifth grade, a harrowing performance of Phantom of the Opera at a school assembly (accompanied by his mother on piano) nearly turned him off to music for good. He started a noise band in high school, called Starchild (or Starchildren, or The Pool –they never did quite decide); but they preferred painting their guitars over playing them. David wrote a lot of bad poetry during this time.In college, David attempted writing a novel and a children’s book, illustrating his work with original woodcut prints. His pursuit of writing and illustration brought him from Rochester to Brooklyn, where he took up work as a graphic designer. While in Brooklyn, David befriended Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), and soon after began facilitating, in small technical ways, the recording of her album Bring Me The Workhorse. This, in turn, spurred David to begin writing and recording songs of his own. It was a casual, private affair. He spent countless days stored away in his bedroom, sketching folk songs with epic electronic gestures, a rekindling of passions for his first familial love: music.
David completed his first catalog of songs for an album called Ichabod and Apple, written and recorded in the first month of his song-writing experiments. His first full length album is Heavy Ghost, on Asthmatic Kitty Records.
It was no grand injunction that encouraged David to return to music. He writes songs for the same reasons he enjoys a good conversation: it’s just natural. His songs come out of a knock-about life, pressed by the urge to overcome insecurities, to probe questions, to revisit dreams and visions.
http://asthmatickitty.com/dm-stith
SILJE NES
We first became aware of Norwegian multi-instrumentalist / singer / songwriter Silje Nes through a unique and charming demo she sent us in early 2006. Silje grew up on a tiny town called Leikanger, in Sognefjord, the largest fjord in Norway. In 2000, she moved to the rainy town of Bergen – where she still lives – to study philosophy and then visual communication. Silje has previously played in an indie pop band, and other highlights from a diverse musical background include playing timpani in an orchestra and bass drum in a marching band.Starting making her own music around 2001, Silje began by recording on 4-track demo software through a tiny inbuilt microphone on her laptop. Though she’d previously studied classical piano, when she started recording, she did so with guitars and instruments she had no previous experience of playing. In this she was simply guided by the sounds she loved, and the excitement of discovering new instruments and sounds without learned conventions.
Starting out by working purely instrumentally, Silje made use of whatever equipment she could get hold of – guitars and an old synth, a cello, a drum kit, a laptop, as well as loop pedals to build layers of her own playing. Little by little she also found ways of including her own voice in the mix, both as texture and song, and her music has organically evolved from there. Although she made a successful live debut outside of Norway with a set at FatCat’s ‘Open Circuit’ festival in Belgium in early 2007, during this period Silje had only played her songs for very few people locally.
Her first album for FatCat, the quirky, adventurous ‘Ames Room’, was released in December 2007. Whilst creating a sound-world entirely her own, the record shows a similar single-mindedness and (autodidactic) adventurousness to fellow peers like Tujiko Noriko, Islaja, Lau Nau, Eglantine Gouzy, Foehn, or Leila Arab, also sharing something of the homespun, sprawling beauty of the likes of The Pastels, Pram, or Crescent. Beautifully pieced together, tracks unfurl like a series of intricate constructions, or like some kind of strange blown-up world of insects or curious creatures – the whole teeming with life and a great sense of fun.
A digital-only EP, ‘Yellow’ followed in March 2008, featuring three exclusive, previously unreleased tracks, all created in the same period as the album. Silje then toured the UK and Ireland in May and played dates in Norway and Berlin over the summer.
Silje Nes is currently in the studio recording a new album which will be out in 2010.
http://www.myspace.com/siljenes
http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artistInfo.php?id=122INLETS
A worrier, childhood choir member, and unfocused student of many instruments, Sebastian Krueger marries the darker ornaments of baroque pop with lo-fi intimacy. Far from his Wisconsin roots and perfunctory piano lessons, he works out of a small Brooklyn apartment as Inlets, incubating songs over the course of months and creating short, dusty suites.Thanksgiving of 2006 brought the free online release of the Vestibule EP, an eight-song collection that won round praise from music blogs including Stereogum, Gorilla vs Bear, Said The Gramophone, and Le Blogotheque. Framed by eclectic layers of clustered woodwinds, brass, and percussive guitars, the record captured a personal and raw enterprise.
Rather than promote the new project, Krueger dug in and committed to the slow process of writing an ambitious collection of new songs. Now, Inter Arbiter picks up where Vestibule left off, but the scope is wider and the hues are sharper. Krueger has honed his arranging abilities, creating elegant high drama from bursts of strings and discord from jangly cheap guitars.
Inter Arbiter is due April 20th via Two Syllable Records.
http://www.inletsmusic.com/index2.php
http://www.myspace.com/inletsREIGNING SOUND
Reigning Sound was formed in 2001 by Memphis, TN garage-punk legend Greg Cartwright (vocals/guitar), who is also known for his previous bands The Compulsive Gamblers and The Oblivians. After Cartwright relocated his family to Asheville, N.C. in 2004, bassist David Wayne Gay, drummer Lance Wille and keyboardist Dave Amels joined him to complete the new line-up.Reigning Sound’s debut,”Two Sides to Every Man”, a three song 7″ single, was released in May of 2001. One month later came their first full-length album “Break Up, Break Down” (Sympathy for the Record Industry). With its country-folk melodies, the first album was to be an early blueprint of where Cartwright’s songwriting was headed. “Time Bomb High School,” (In the Red) was released in August 2002, and is known for its polished sound, pop hooks and near-perfect balance of classic R&B and rock-n-roll. Aside from the many stand-out originals on the album, cover songs like “Stormy Weather” and “Brown Paper Sack” prove Cartwright has mastered the art of revamping old songs and making them seem like his own.
The band’s third album “Too Much Guitar,” (In the Red) was released in May of 2004. With recording help from fellow Memphians Jay Reatard and Alicja Trout of the The Lost Sounds, it’s by far Reigning Sound’s loudest and noisiest album to date. Songs laced with psych-pop, garage and soul under a blanket of fuzz is the vibe heard throughout the entire album. The obnoxiously loud “We Repel” opens this record and from the first chord it’s apparent that it’s not a sequel to any of their earlier records. An opening slot on a huge American tour with the Swedish garage band The Hives helped to promote the album shortly after its release.
“Reigning Sound: Live at Maxwell’s” (Telstar/Spoonful) was released in July of 2005, which was an interesting show to say the least. By the end of the gig Cartwright, with no back-up set, broke all but three guitar strings and still finishes the show for his usual rowdy crowd. This live album has a unique, rough-around-the-edges feel, not to mention it’s also the only place to find the stand out track “I Need You Now,” a soulful Sam Cooke cover song that allows Cartwright to pay homage to one of his favorite singers.
In September 2005 Reigning Sound released a rarities compilation “Home for Orphans” (Sympathy for the Record Industry). The album features slower, moodier alternate versions of tunes from “Too Much Guitar” along with some other unreleased tracks.
Another live LP, “Reigning Sound: Live at Goner Records,” (Goner Records) was released in late January 2006. This is a daytime in-store performance recorded in June of 2005, and with its crystal clear production, gives listeners an accurate account of what Reigning Sound is all about. The album also hosts great cover songs like “Black Sheep” by Sam the Sham, “Tennessee” by Carl Perkins and “Do Something” by The Swingin’ Yo-Yo’s.
After spending a portion of 2005 recording a George Soule album with legends Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, the band once again began recording as a backing band with another rock legend, Mary Weiss of the 60s band The Shangri-Las, who is widely know for the hit song “Leader of the Pack.” Cartwright wrote nine of the 14 songs on the record, he also co-produced the album with Norton Records owner Billy Miller. The album “Dangerous Game” (Norton) was released in March 2007 and received rave reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone Magazine. Reigning Sound also performed the Cartwright tune “Stop & Think It Over” with Weiss on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
On August 11, 2009, Reigning Sound released its long-awaited album, “Love & Curses.”
http://www.myspace.com/reigningsoundfans
http://www.intheredrecords.com/pages/ReigningSound.htmlon
THE A-BONES
Bashing out garage rock years before it was fashionable and rockabilly-influenced sounds as if the Stray Cats had never happened, the A-Bones were a Brooklyn-based five-piece that approached the sloppy greatness of rock & roll’s past with a beer-addled enthusiasm that had nothing to do with “oldies” or “nostalgia” and everything to do with the primal impulse to play music that’s fast, loud, and wild. Named for a tune by the Trashmen, the A-Bones were led by vocalist Billy Miller and drummer Miriam Linna, who previously bashed it out in the Zantees and were also the brains behind wild-assed pop culture journal Kicks and label Norton Records, both of which reflected the same frantic attitude as their band. (Filling out the lineup were Bruce Bennett on guitar, Mike Lewis and later Marcus “The Carcass” Natale on bass, and Lars Espensen on sax.) The A-Bones kicked off their career in 1984, and two years later they released their first record, a 10″ EP called Tempo Tantrum, with the album Free Beer for Life! following in 1988. They lent their services as a backing band to such unsung rock & roll legends as Rudy Grayzell, Hasil Adkins, Johnny Powers, Ronnie Dawson, Roy Loney, and Cordell Jackson, released a fistful of singles on various hyper-cool labels, and released five full-length LPs for Norton before finally calling it a day in 1994. The group played occasional reunion shows over the next decade, though, and in 2004 recorded a new tune (with backing vocals from the 5.6.7.8′s) for a 20th anniversary retrospective, Daddy Wants a Cold Beer and Other Million Sellers. In 2009, the A-Bones reunited again and released the full-length studio effort Not Now!http://www.myspace.com/theabones
BLOODSHOT BILL
Greasy Canadian has traveled on his own, playin’ all over USA, Canada, Europe, Mexico…all sorts of places too, from big festivals to tiny bars to trailer parks & truck stops…Tours mostly as a one man band, but has bands too…He is currently banned from entering the USA…Has put out a buncha “music”, and has alot more comin’…Has his own brand of hair grease, “Nice’n'Greasy”, custom made for him by AGS, and it is without a doubt the best there is…Has a lotta side-bands you’ll never hear (“thank god” sez you)….If he comes to your town and you want to make him happy, he likes spaghetti and meat a lot, but not too much before the gig, please.http://www.bloodshotbill.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bloodshotbillFROG EYES
Victoria, BC’s Frog Eyes rose from the ashes of the little known band Blue Pine when singer/guitarist Carey Mercer and bassist Michael Rak set out to shake the scent of absinthe and clove and engage in something a bit more whiskey-soaked and volatile. What they came up with was more striking and intense than anyone could expect. Joined by Mercer’s wife Melanie Campbell on drums and Spencer Krug (later of Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade) on keyboards, the group recorded The Bloody Hand and released it in 2002 on local Victoria/Vancouver label Global Symphonic. Krug moved to Montreal and was replaced by Grayson Walker on keyboards. The band caught the attention of U.S. label Animal World Recordings who co-released The Golden River in 2003. The album saw a tremendous amount of critical praise from the press while audiences started to fawn over the band’s incredible live shows.2004 proved to be a banner year for the band and its members. The Soft Abuse label released a collection of Mercer’s older solo recordings under the Blackout Beach moniker in February. When Animal World went into hiatus, Absolutely Kosher picked up the baton. Mercer recorded a selection of songs from the first two albums as well as from the forthcoming third album on his own and released them under the Frog Eyes moniker as the limited edition album Ego Scriptor in March and whole band released the entropic classic The Folded Palm in October.
One tour later and Walker left the band. The remaining members collaborated with Dan Bejar of Destroyer for the Notorious Lightning and Other Works, an EP of reworked songs from Destroyer’s Your Blues album, in 2005, touring together in the U.S. and Europe. In early 2006, Absolutely Kosher reissued the band’s first two albums, both with extra tracks. 2006 also found Krug rejoining the band from afar (Montreal) in preparation for their next album slated for early 2007.
www.myspace.com/frogeyes
http://www.absolutelykosher.com/artist.php?id=21
PEARLY GATE MUSIC
Pearly Gate Music is an indie folk band heavily influenced by traditional American music and country. They sound similar to Fleet Foxes and the lead singer Zach Tillman is the brother of Fleet Foxes drummer Joshua or J.Tillman. Zach Tillman also plays bass in his brother’s touring band and plays bass and sings on some tracks on J.Tillman’s 2009 album “Vacilando Territory Blues”.PENGO
Noise heathens, bashing out the psychedelic chaos since 1998. Tons of releases on tons of labels from all over the world. Tours all over the U.S. & Canada. Soundtrack to the Center of the Cyclone inside your head.http://pengo.carbonrecords.com/
DISGUISES
Toronto’s pissed-off and downright reckless fucks stuff powders scraped from scum-punk, freak-rock, tribal primitivism and mystical madness into one deadly cannon that walks the line between composition and improvisation. Disguises make music for people who like to see sounds explode out of instruments.BERNARDINO FEMMINIELLI
Femminielli is the solo project of electronic musician Bernardino Granados-Toledo. His music reflects mysticism from his salvadorians roots, war and spitituality, he’s generally playing solo or accompagnied by others musicians like Dominique Ethier or Francesco de Gallo. He released two albums under the thematic of Heredity: Las Enamoradas and La Montaña del Capricornio and others productions on Hobo Cult Records.www.myspace.com/bernardinofemminielli
www.hobocult.blogspot.com(Alexander von Schlippenbach, Evan Parker, Henrik Walsdorff, Gerd Dudek, Rudi Mahall, Axel Dörner, Johannes Bauer, Christof Thewes, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Paul Lovens, Paul Lytton)
In 1966 German pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach received the invitation to write a composition for a 14-pieced free jazz Big Band to be presented at the Berlin Jazz Days. The title of the composition: Globe UnityThis was the birth of this unique orchestra which received great critics but the concert also has been titled “a men´s joke featuring the devil”. The artistic director of the festival Joachim-Ernst Berendt also took care of the promotion of the band afterwards. The band released their first recording on the Saba label and performed at the “Donaueschinger Musiktage” the most important contemporary music festival in Germany. The first line-up involved musicians like Peter Broetzmann, Manfred Schoof, Gerd Dudek or Mani Neumeier.
During the first years the compositions of Alex Von Schlippenbach were the basis referring to the collective interaction play. Graphic notation has been used and later on GLO also integrated ragtime pieces of Jelly Roll Morton.
During the period of 1970 – 1977 the band music has been developped in a different way. The music of Eisler and Kurt Weill, musical humor and arrangements of Willem Breuker were added to free improvisation. Peter Kowald and Alex Schlippenbach were the two directors of the group at that time.
The orchestra toured half of the world, from Toronto via New York and from Bonbay to Java. All these tours have been arranged and sponsored by the German Goethe Institute. Also all important European Jazz Festivals have been played.
In 1982 the GLO received the “Down Beat Jazz Poll” – “Talents deserving wider recognition”. The 20 th anniversary has been celebrated at the Berlin Phiharmony in 1986, followed by a legendary concert at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 1987. At the end of this concert the audience was waving white handkerchiefs to show that GLO has won the battle. At that time GLO was freely improvising in total including individual solos.
After a break of some years the musical history of the band was continued with a concert in Aachen in 2001. Then GLO performed at the internationally well-known Jazz Em Agosto Festival – Lisbon in 2005. The 40 th. band anniversary has been celebrated with a recording at the SWR radio station – Baden-Baden and the jubilee concert at the Berlin Jazz Fest in November 2006. Kenny Wheeler, George Lewis and Jen Bishop guested the orchestra for this occasion. Concerts at Mannheim, Bielefeld, the Burghausen Jazzweek, Tours, Brest, Dachau, Hasselt, Amsterdam, Rome and Zagreb followed. Musicians like Albert Mangeldorff, Peter Kowald , Bob Stewart , Willem Breuker, Peter Broetzmann, Kenny Wheeler, Guenter Christmann or George Lewis, to only name a few – have joined this unique orchestra during the decades .
Globe Unity Orchestrahttp://www.intaktrec.ch/133-a.htm
TALIBAM!
Audio terrorists Talibam! is a NYC duo formed by Kevin Shea (member in bands like Storm & Stress, Coptic Light and People) who plays drums, and Matt Mottel (synth).In 2007, after several limited CDR releases, they released their first CD studio album on Azul Discografica called ‘Ordination of the Globetrotting Conscripts’. The NYC group’s first-ever studio record is the result of one non-stop, three-day session of furious improvisation. The duo of Matt Mottel and Kevin Shea, collaborating with former member Ed Bear (baritone sax, electronics), recruited an ensemble that includes some of New York’s most advanced improvisers: Peter Evans, Cooper-Moore, Michael Evans, Anders Nilsen, Moppa Elliott, Jeremy Wilms, Jon Irabagon, and Robbie Lee. They emerged from the studio with this luminous, unexpected masterpiece of cracked, American noise. The sonic maelstrom they work up in the course of these eight songs and forty-five minutes highjacks the vocabularies of free-jazz, Appalachia, Afropop, psychedelia, electro-acoustic composition, and noise and spins them out in vivid constellations of sound. Its antecedents include Bat-Chain Puller, Astro-Black, Machine Gun, Rock In Opposition, Moon in June, Keith Moon, Ground Zero, Dancing in Your Head.
http://www.myspace.com/talibam
Ghost Cloud by Talibam!
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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.
http://www.myspace.com/tonstartssbandht
PANOPTICON EYELIDS
Panopticon Eyelids was born in 2002 just before the city of Montreal was taken over by the Ethiopium Biker Rock gang. The band formed to explore Internal Panoramic Visions of organized chaos. At first inspired by a myriad of styles and approaches, Panopticon evolved throughout the years to develop their own personal style. The beginnings were informed by No Wave primitivism, free improvisation and fucked up psychedelia. In order to survive, the band learned how to make their own Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie. This was necessary to achieve Internal Panoramic Visions. Without the Beanie the brain wouldn’t stay functional after the Psilocybin satellite had broadcast its sound-waves through the eardrum’s mechanism. This would melt your Broca within the blink of an eye… and then you wouldn’t be able to speak, think or understand shit!http://www.panopticoneyelids.com/
http://www.myspace.com/panopticoneyelids
