by Andrew Frisicano

Philip Glass isn't the only 20th-century composer with a big birthday this year. Avant-garde composer John Cage would've been 100, and there are numerous chances to see his work (even more than usual) because of it. The shows below cover quite a bit of ground--eg. 1940's "Living Room Music" on the same program as 1991's "Four3"--and the best place to experience the pieces is definitely in a group.

Avant Music Festival, happening February 10-18 at Wild Project (195 E 3rd St at Ave B), explores the work of Cage at several shows. There's an afternoon/evening program on Saturday, February 11th, which includes a 4pm performance by Bang on a Can's Vicky Chow of Cage's "Sonatas and Interludes" for prepared piano, followed by a longer evening set. Tickets are on sale.

New music quartet loading performs as part of that Avant Music show, and will also presents an Evening of John Cage on Thursday, March 8th at Greenwich House Music School.

Issue Project Room, which just moved into a new home, has some Cage-related shows coming up, such as Stephen Drury playing his "Etudes australes" on February 24 and "On Silence: Hommage to John Cage" which features 13 new pieces that are all 4 minutes, 33 seconds long.

So Percussion hosts "We Are All Going In Different Directions--A John Cage Celebration" at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on March 26th. They'll be performing Cage's music, as well as that of Matmos and Cenk Ergün (who should be appearing) and Dan Deacon's "Bottles." Tickets are on sale.

It's the last stop in a Cage-dedicated tour, which also visits Boston, Toronto and Austin (info below). On March 27th, recordings from the tour will be released by Cantaloupe Records as Cage 100: The Bootleg Series, a limited-edition package with a blank 4'33" LP, a CD of "tracks chosen by chance operations" and a full archive of the shows online.

That show is part of Carnegie Hall's American Mavericks series, which also includes performances by Alarm Will Sound, William Basinski, JACK Quartet, San Francisco Symphony, WHY? and Danielson.

Also part of that is John Cage Unbound--A Living Archive, an online project through New York Public Library, which is going to collect performances and talks of Cage's work by musicians and students (and user-submitted videos). It's also going to have an archive of scores, photographs and other artifacts. Two videos from that--one of pianist Margaret Leng Tan showing you how to prepare a piano, and one with So Percussion crumpling paper (they love to do that)--are below.

Check out more videos, including 4' 33" performed by an orchestra, Andrew W.K. and a wall, below...

Continue reading "John Cage turns 100; lots of shows & other ways to celebrate"

"Any Jim Jarmusch buff could tell you that the man has great taste in music. Take the original scores for Stranger than Paradise and Dead Man, by John Lurie and Neil Young, respectively--stand-alone masterpieces that mesh beautifully with the director's stark black-and-white palette--or the killer lineup (Stooges, Sleep, Raekwon) he put together for the 2010 ATP New York fest. Curating isn't the same as performing, though, and even a disciple hip to Jarmusch's stint as keyboardist for early-'80s NYC art punks the Del-Byzanteens might second-guess his current instrumental abilities.

So what a happy surprise it is that Concerning the Entrance Into Eternity (Important), a new record that pairs Jarmusch's guitar with Jozef Van Wissem's lute, is one of the young year's most engaging listens: an album that dispels within seconds any sense of a filmmaker turned dilettante musician. -[Time Out NY]

Check out a song from the record as well as a live set of the pair at WNYC below.

Continue reading "Jim Jarmusch releasing album with Jozef Van Wissem, played WNYC, playing 2 shows at Issue Project Room"

by Andrew Frisicano

photo by Joseph O. Holmes

Issue Project Room will be moving into its new home at 110 Livingston Street on January 25th. To launch it, there will be a series of four shows with Dutch festival Gaudeamus Muziekweek. Those nights will include, among other things, a performance of Gyorgy Ligeti's "Poème Symphonique" for 100 metronomes and sets by the Wet Ink Ensemble and International Contemporary Ensemble.

Before that though, the folks at Issue will be closing out the Old American Can Factory room with a concert tonight (Friday, January 20th). That'll feature Jonathan Kane's February, Talibam! and MV Carbon & Tony Conrad. Jonathan Kane's February will also use the occasion to release a live album recorded at the space. Listen to a sample from that at the Free Music Archive. Tickets are on sale.

The New York Times reports that there is some work to be done by the group, which is $1.3 million short of its total construction budget. Still, moving in is a huge step. It's been four years since they first announced the new venue, and it'll be interesting to see how the space evolves.

Upcoming shows in the new theater include: Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch playing a release show for their collaborative album Concerning the Entrance into Eternity (tickets), Title TK (the trio of Howie Chen, Cory Arcangel and Alan Licht) on February 11th (tickets) and a reading with Thurston Moore and his poetry publishing company Flowers & Cream on February 23rd (tickets).

Listen to a clip of Van Wissem/Jarmusch playing from the new album on WNYC's New Sounds live, below. There are also videos from two performances that already happened at the the gorgeous 110 Livingston Space...

Continue reading "tonight is Issue Project Room's final show @ Old American Can Factory (110 Livingston here they come)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Now Age Karaoke

On 11/11/11, for their third and final installment of their artist residency, Prince Rama will herald in the end of the world by way of karaoke. Using the number one hit singles corresponding with the dates of eleven different predicted "apocalypses" such as Heavens Gate, Jonestown, and Y2K, they will "chop and screw" the songs to a point beyond recognition and invite anyone who wishes to participate to perform the resulting pieces. -[Issue Project Room]

Prince Rama kicked off a tour with Indian Jewelry one day later (on 11/12) at Cameo in Brooklyn. Prince Rama play Brooklyn again at Glasslands on February 23rd, though knowing them they'll play before then too. Before then they'll also visit Australia and many other places.

All tour dates, more pictures from possibly the world's first apolayptic karaoke party, and the band's new video for "Golden Silence", below...

Continue reading "Prince Rama hosted Now Age Karaoke on 11/11/11 @ Issue Project Room, schedule more shows (pics & dates)"

When William Basinski opened his nightclub Arcadia in 1992, Williamsburg had more than a decade of history as an outerborough artists' colony. Arcadia and a handful of other entities such as The Lizard's Tail, Lalalandia, Test-Site gallery, Nerve Circle Studios, Mustard and Galapagos transformed the artists' colony into a full blown urban subculture. No neighborhood in Brooklyn compares to Williamsburg for the shrillness of her declaration of artistic autonomy in the closing years of the last century. This neighborhood is the heart of the Brooklyn Renaissance. And at the heart of Williamsburg, in the pivotal years, was Arcadia. Join us on November 2nd, as we pay tribute to William Basinski and create the distinctive environment and spirited performances of Arcadia at 110 Livingston Street, our future home.
- Issue Project Room

Antony also just anounced a much bigger show happening this January.

Book fans take note of the Brooklyn Book Fest schedule, with "bookend" events starting today (9/15) and running through Sunday (9/18). One of the many events is a musical evening at Goodbye Blue Monday tonight....

Bovary? A tango for Anna Karenina? Every title, author and genre is fodder for songs written and performed by local musicians including Corn Mo, Phoebe Kreutz, Franz Nicolay, Sweet Soubrette, Dan and Rachel and Natti Vogel, inspired by Keith Richards' autobiography. Hosted by Susan Hwang.

DOWNLOAD: Prince Rama - "Rest In Peace" (MP3)

Prince Rama at MHOW in August (more by Erez Avissar)

Prince Rama are set to release their upcoming LP Trust Now on October 4 via Paw Tracks. You can grab the album track "Rest In Peace" above. Prince Rama are also putting out karaoke videos leading up to the album's release with other artists singing tracks off the new album. You can check out videos of G Lucas Crane of Woods singing "Incarnation" and Janka Nabay singing "Summer of Love" below.

They'll tour in support of the album opening for the equally otherworldly Gang Gang Dance on their GGD's previously announced tour. It hasn't been revealed if Prince Rama open GGD's October 22 Bowery Ballroom show during CMJ (which tickets are still on sale for), but Prince Rama's dates do list a CMJ show that day.

As mentioned, Prince Rama also have a residency at Issue Project Room scheduled. That residency includes a show on Thursday (9/8) at the Brooklyn venue. Admission is free and RSVP is open. According to Issue Project Room's site:

2011 Artist-in-Residence Prince Rama will transform ISSUE Project Room into a point of origins. They will construct a "sacred space" using gathered matter from off-site urban wilds of Brooklyn. Audience members will be invited to build their own instruments and utilize them in an extended jam session open to anyone who wishes to attend (regardless of musical skill). This aims to investigate the utopian symbology of "the jam session" as a poetic reenactment and microcosmic creation of an ideal democratic society. Cut off from the rest of the world, yet wholly imbedded within it, this ritual space becomes a NO PLACE.

All dates and videos below...

Continue reading "Prince Rama release 'karaoke videos', touring w/ GGD, playing other shows too (dates)"

Panda Bear at MHOW in July (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned, Panda Bear plays Brooklyn Masonic Temple on October 2. We also mentioned that the show would reportedly be taking place one day after another NYC show that would probably be at Webster Hall. It's since been confirmed that the other show will take place on October 1 at Webster Hall. Tickets go on sale Friday (8/26) at noon for the Webster show and the Masonic Temple show. An AmEx presale for the Webster Hall show starts Wednesday (8/24) at noon.

In other Paw Tracks news, Prince Rama's collaborative show with Sun Araw happens at Music Hall of Williamsburg this Friday (8/26), and Prince Rama have a bunch of other shows coming up too including September 8th at Issue Project Room.

All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Panda Bear's Webster Hall show confirmed, Prince Rama shows too (dates)"

An image from Robert Longo's Pictures for Music (1979), which will be played alongside Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio...

Since 1993 the record label Table of the Elements has staked its claim on a massive enterprise, intending nothing less than to rewrite the history of American music in the second half of the 20th century, and beyond. Its projects have focused on musicians whose light shimmers outside the frames of convention, and comprise a vital contemporary archive of experimental, minimalist, improvised and outsider musics.

Friday night (5/13), " Free/Not Free" night, will honor Rhys Chatham's 1977 opus Guitar Trio with projections by Robert Longo and a performance from The Lords of Tinnitus (Robert Longo, Jonathan Kane, Robert Poss, Ernie Brooks, Zach Layton, Adam Wills, Colin Langenus, Bill Brovold). Text Of Light (featuring William Hooker, Alan Licht, Nels Cline), Jon Mueller, and Peg Simone round out the lineup. Tickets are still available.

Finally, the Table of The Elements wraps up their celebration on Saturday, "Drone x 4" night, with the previously discussed Stephen O'Malley solo show with Jonathan Kane's February, a Tony Conrad / Gastr Del Sol performance film, and Igor Cubrilovic. Tickets are still available.

R.I.P. to Table Of The Elements, but at least they're going out with a bang.

--

In related news, Zeena Parkins is also on board for the upcoming Undead Jazz Festival as part of Zeena Parkins and The Adorables.

Roger Miller also has a show coming up as part of the Alloy Orchestra who will "perform its original live score to the newly restored version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis" in Prospect Park this summer.

Stephen O'Malley also has a show coming up in Pennsylvania.

The Table of the Elements fest lineup in list format, below...

Continue reading "the final Table of the Elements Festival is this week @ IPR, Alloy Orchestra plays Prospect Park this summer"

by BBG

Stephen O'Malley on stage with Sunn O))) and Boris (more by Greg Cristman)

"Sunn O))) is on a break. We've been so for about a year now. We did a lot from 2007 to last year. Five tours supporting the album, a hundred shows in a single year I think, which is a lot. We don't really want to become a touring band. Greg said something really funny about it once: 'We're not gonna turn into High on Fire!'. Sunn O))) focuses on irregularity, so when you're taking the irregularity from it, you're kind of sabotaging it. But we're curating a line-up in April at Roadburn festival in Holland, though. We've got Winter playing, Keiji Haino, Corrosion of Conformity, Trap Them, and a bunch of death metal bands. It's going to be amazing, actually, a real mix of old and new acts. We'll be playing too, of course." - Stephen O'Malley:

The NYC show is the third night of "the final" Table of The Elements Festival where Stephen will share a bill with Jonathan Kane's February, Helen Money, and Igor Cubrilovic. Stephen describes his solo set as "Primitive, minimal & loud guitar." Mission of Burma's Roger Miller also told us earlier this year that his M2 project would be playing the same fest. Stay tuned for more details (the venue is currently not listing it yet).

Stephen O'Malley recently dropped an LP as part of Aethenor, his project with Daniel O'Sullivan (Ulver, Mothlite, Guapo), Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver) and Steve Noble (N.E.W., Company, etc.). Stream portions of En Form For Bla on the Midheaven distro site.

All tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) schedules shows including the "final" Table of the Elements Fest"

If you've got some extra cash lying around, want to give to a good cause, want to help Elliot Sharp celebrate his 60th birthday in a very special way, and don't already have a ticket, note: limited VIP tickets will be available at the door of tonight's E#@60 event at Issue Project Room's 110 Livingston space. If you can't make it to the BrooklynVegan-sponsored shindig but you're free Saturday, grab a ticket now for the second part of the celebration which goes down at the (OA) Can Factory.

"Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He pioneered the use of a lap top computer in live performance with his Virtual Stance project of the 1980s. He has used algorithms and fibonacci numbers in experimental composition since at least 1987. He has cited literature as an inspiration for his music and often favors improvisation. He is an inveterate performer, playing mainly guitar, saxophone and bass clarinet. Sharp has led many ensembles over the years, including the blues-oriented Terraplane and Orchestra Carbon." [Wikipedia]

E#@60" is taking place at Issue Project Room's new location (110 Livingston), and the show is a benefit for IPR, a nonprofit and an important pillar of experimental/innovative music in our community. All proceeds will go towards "ISSUE's year-round critically acclaimed programs supporting hundreds of artists in the creation and presentation of groundbreaking new work." Tickets are on sale in various levels, including tax-deductible access to a VIP coctail reception with Jo Andres, Steve Buscemi, Jack Womack, and Tracie Morris.

BrooklynVegan is a proud sponsor of this event.

More details on the show and a stream of Eliott Sharp's Syndakit is below.

Continue reading "Elliott Sharp turning 60, celebrating at Issue Project Room (with Steve Buscemi, JACK Quartet, Jo Andres & more)"

DOWNLOAD: The Skull Defekts - "Fragrant Nimbus" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thank You "1-2-3 Bad" (MP3)

Daniel Higgs

Glasslands will host a headlining set from Zanzo (aka Hisham Baroocha of Soft Circle with Rob Lowe of Lichens) and additional performances from Thank You and Daniel A.I.U. Higgs TONIGHT (1/25). Entry will cost you a paltry $7, and the show starts at 8:30.

The show will double as a record release party for Thank You, as their new LP Golden Worry is out today via Thrill Jockey. Download "1-2-3 Bad" above and check out a video for "Birth Reunion" below. In early Feb, Thank You will hit the road in support of the LP, tagging Death By Audio on February 12th as part of that jaunt. Double Dagger is also part of the show, and will play NYU with Fucked Up the day before. Full Thank You tour sked is below.

Tonight at Glasslands is one of two NYC shows scheduled for Lungfish member Daniel A.I.U. Higgs in the near future He'll also play Issue Project Room on 2/26 with Heresy of the Free Spirit ("Jozef Van Wissem and Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalists Che Chen (violin, bowed rewap, bass recorder, percussion and tape machine) and Robbie Lee"). Tickets are on sale.

In addition to both of the previously mentioned shows, Daniel Higgs has announced that he has joined on as a member of Skull Defekts. Higgs will appear on the band's forthcoming LP Peer Amid due via Thrill Jockey on 2/15. Check out the first track "Fragrant Nimbus" available for download above/streaming below. The band will follow up the release of the LP with US dates in late March and April with Zomes, including April 3rd at Littlefield in Brooklyn.

That Skull Defekts song stream, the Thank You video, and all tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Daniel Higgs playing solo shows & in the Skull Defekts, Thank You touring w/ a new LP, Soft Circle+Lichens = Zanzo"

DOWNLOAD: Oval - "Ah!" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Oval - Ringtone II EP (zip file of MP3s)

Oval is an electronic music group founded in Germany in 1991... The band's original members were Markus Popp, Sebastian Oschatz, and Frank Metzger, although Oschatz and Metzger left the group in 1995. All three are regarded as pioneers of glitch, a genre of music that embraces the sound of damaged audio produced by the failure of digital equipment. Disdaining the use of synthesizers, Oval instead deliberately mutilated CDs by writing on them with felt pens, then processed the palette of fragmented sounds to create a very rhythmic electronic style. -[Wiki]

Oval will support the release(s) with three US shows, two of which will go down TONIGHT at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn (9/9). Tickets are still available for both the first (at 8PM) and the second set (at 10PM). The third Oval show will be a headlining date at the Sonar Festival in Chicago along with The Slew featuring Kid Koala, Martyn, Ben Frost, Nosaj Thing Visual Show, Black Devil Disco Club and many others. For more info, including ticketing, head to the Sonar site.

Oval recently released a video for "Ah!" from O which is viewable below (the song is downloadable above). In addition, Oval has released the FREE Ringtone II EP for download as well. Check out that above and dig on the tracklisting below.

Continue reading "Oval is here w/ a new double LP & A FREE EP (MP3s) --- 2 NYC shows (tonight) & then Sonar in Chicago (dates)"

photos by Greg Cristman

Master Musicians of Bukkake @ Issue Project Room

Much like its inspiration, the Pan-devoted, beatnik-adored Master Musicians of Joujouka, the floating infinity conjured by the Master Musicians of Bukkake draws on a tradition that echoes across millennia. Around in various formations since 2003, the Seattle entity has coalesced into a seven-piece in time for its first East Coast performance, headlining a marathon tribute to avant-everything label Important Records in the Issue Project Room courtyard. MMoB's collaborative web includes psych-trance-ritual ecstatics from Earth, Sun City Girls and the free-improv world, which makes each new project a mutable feast of electronic drones, Buddhist temple bells, gamelan breakdowns, fuzz-box meditations, and innovations like "Rag-Dun Tibetan trumpet" and "leprosy synth." -[Time Out]

More pics from the show are below...

Continue reading "Important Records showcased @ Issue Project Room - pics (Master Musicians of Bukkake, Chord, Cave & more) "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Master Musicians of Bukkake - "Perde Kaldirma" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Master Musicians of Bukkake - "Patmos" (MP3)

Ocean at Show No Mercy (more by Justina Villanueva)

Important Records will round up a gang of bands from their roster to perform at Issue Project Room on August 15th as part of a collaborative effort between the label and venue. Master Musicians of Bukkake will headline the event, bringing along Jozef Van Wissem, Duane Pitre, Helena Espvall + Fursaxa, Arborea, Kouhei Matsunaga, Ocean, The New Monuments (C. Spencer Yeh, Ben Hall and Don Deitrich), CAVE and Diane Cluck. Tickets are on sale.

Master Musicians of Bukkake musically have very little to do with that depraved sexual act, but much more to do with the Pacific Northwest's penchant for experimentalism:

Featuring members of EARTH, ASVA, BURNING WITCH, THE DIMINISHED MEN, and special guests from Secret Chiefs 3 and the thriving Istanbul music scene... MMOB has now solidified into a 7 piece cosmic psyche force. Like a reverse dark side of the New Age sound, ...Master Musicians of Bukkake perform ritualistic electric excursions into the outer and inner reaches. Relying more on the electric power of psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion. ...Outer spaced gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, meditations of a deranged Krishna gathering, and the Blurry acoustic guitar majesty of The Cascade mountains all reveal themselves....

Meanwhile, a few of the bands playing the Important Records celebration have new releases to celebrate. Duane Pitre is celebrating the release of his new LP of guitar and string minimalism, out now via Origin via Thrill Jockey Records (stream excerpts). Fursaxa has a new-ish LP of freak folk in Mycorrhizae Realm featuring Helena Espvall on cello.

CAVE has another date on the eve of the Important Records show; look for the California psychedelics to take the stage at Cake Shop on August 14th (not The Studio at Webster Hall as originally announced). CAVE's Pure Moods 12" is out now via Drag City.

Full Cave, Arborea, and Diane Cluck dates, as well as some video are below.

Continue reading "Important Records bands playing Issue Project Room & other dates - Master Musicians of Bukkake, Ocean, CAVE & more"

DOWNLOAD: William Basinski - Vivian & Ondine (excerpt) (MP3)

photos by Lori Baily, words by Andrew Frisicano

William Basinski @ 110 Livingston

Issue Project Room hosted reel-to-reel tape composer William Basinski at their new, currently being remodeled theater at 110 Livingston on June 11th. Basinski played two hypnotic sets in the former Elks Lodge, in what was only the second time they'd previewed the space.

The piece he played, Vivian & Ondine, was written, he explained, to coax his baby neice out of the womb. It's excerpted above and available on CD from Basinski's site. Joshua Light Show worked the visuals and bounced patterns around the ornate arches and ceiling. Clearly, the theater is an awesome space to hear vision-inducing loops, and will be a fun permanent home for Issue once they complete its renovation (which they're still in need of funds to finish) and move in permanently. More pictures from the night are below.

Issue has been putting on shows this summer in the courtyard of the Old American Can Factory (like Omar Souleyman for instance). The next of those is Bobb Trimble's Flying Spiders (in just his second NYC peformance), guitarist-led Loren Connors' Haunted House, Gary War and Samara Lubelski on July 11th. Tickets are still on sale.

They did an outdoor show in honor of Walt Whitman under the Brooklyn Bridge the other day, and on July 10th they'll go under the Queensboro Bridge for the first-annual Albert Ayler Festival, co-presented by jazz label ESP Live on Roosevelt Island's RiverWalk Commons. The show (and record fair) starts at 2pm and features The New Atlantis Sextet with Marshall Allen, William Hooker, Charles Gayle, Gunter Hampel, Giuseppi Logan and more. It's free, and the full schedule and poster is below...

Continue reading "Albert Ayler Festival coming to Roosevelt Island, William Basinski pics & other Issue Project Room news"

by Andrew Frisicano

Omar Souleyman @ Central Park Summerstage

"He is a legend in north Africa. Omar Souleyman in about 15 years has recorded around 500 studio and live albums and apparently has a godlike status in Syria, his country. Originally his music orbits around Syrian folk-pop, it is sung in Arabic and his audience is mainly in North-African countries.

Recently Omar Souleyman has became the hype of the indie blogosphere. He has been picked up by Pavement for their "exotic" slot on the second day at their All Tomorrow Parties festival. The hype mounted so fast that the third stage at Minehead centre was packed [with] thousands of guys wearing Pavement/Pixies/Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr T-shirts dancing to the disco music of Souleyman. Among these fans [was] the Dodos drummer who played [his own set the next day] wearing the official Souleyman T-Shirt." [Live on 35mm]

The next night in New York, Tinariwen performed with Sway Machinery at the Bell House, and Omar Souleyman played in the Old American Can Factory Courtyard with CSC Funk Band.

More pictures from Central Park, and some videos from all the NYC shows, below...

Continue reading "Omar Souleyman & Tinariwen played shows in Manhattan (Summerstage) & Brooklyn - pics & video "

Dear friends,

We are excited to announce an update regarding William Basinski's concert tonight (Friday, June 11) @ 110 Livingston with light by Seth Kirby and Brock Monroe, members of The Joshua Light Show and Light & Sound Design (LSD).

We have received an overwhelming number of reservations, and to insure that all can participate, we have added a second show at 9pm (doors open at 8:30pm) and moved the first to 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm).

We anticipate reaching capacity for both shows. Please take a moment to Re-RSVP for either the 7pm or 9pm concert. There will be a short post-concert reception after the 9pm performance.

Best & looking forward!

ISSUE Project Room

by Andrew Frisicano

Grouper @ Terminal 5 in May 2009 (more by Natasha Ryan)

So we managed to sneak into Grouper's rare Brooklyn gig on Friday night and still aren't sure what we witnessed over the course of her main 60-minute set. (She also presented a new tape collage piece.) To be honest, the entire thing looked/sounded incredibly creepy, as if one of The Shining's redrum-happy twins suddenly learned how to sculpt dronescapes and acoustic something-or-others from an ancient keyboard and several effects pedals. It didn't help that the room was humid as hell--literally--with Issue Project Room's single, solitary fan getting switched off in the middle of the first 'song' because it was interfering with Liz Harris' signal. [self-titled]

Coming up, Matt Mottel (Issue's artist-in-residence) brings his jazz duo Talibam! to the venue for a free performance on Wednesday, June 9th. On Friday, June 11th, composer and tape artist William Basinski presents his piece "Vivian and Ondine" at a free show at 110 Livingston (Issue's new being-remodeled space).

Man Forever (Kid Millions from Oneida's new composition for multiple rock drummers) performs with composer/musicians Elliott Sharp, Zeena Parkins, Frank Vigroux and Hélène Breschand on June 25th. Tickets are on sale. Man Forever have a new record almost out, and the project will be touring this summer.

The self-titled debut - two monolithic, hypnotic improvisations for arrays of carefully tuned drums- is due out [June 22nd] in an edition of 300 LPs featuring hand-pulled screens on recycled record jackets from Jagjaguwar vinyl imprint St. Ives. The touring quintet of Kid Millions, YEAH YEAH YEAHS drummer Brian Chase, Oneida cohort and KNYFE HYTS drummer Shahin Motia, drummer Allison Busch of AWESOME COLOR, and SIGHTINGS bassist Richard Hoffman, will be augmented by local percussionists in each city.

Man Forever plays tonight (June 8th) at the Tank with Dump (James McNew of Yo La Tengo), M&M and the New York debut of the Sloppy Heads (who have a new Kid Milions-produced 7", First Gasp, which you can download here as a ZIP). That show has tickets on sale.

Man Forever also headline a Monster Island show on Friday, June 11th.

The night after Man Forever at Issue - Zs, who just put out a new record, play Issue with sound/multimedia artist David Linton (on Saturday, June 26th).

Separate from Darmstadt is the venue's ISSUE Project Room's Sunday Concerts in the Courtyard series that'll be bringing a Sunday, June 27th lineup of Omar Souleyman (who plays Central Park the day before with Tinariwen) and CSC Funk Band (featured here) to the Old American Can Factory courtyard. Tickets are on sale. The other shows in that series are posted below.

On top of all that, Issue will be participating in the two-venue, 65th-birthday celebration for improv legend Anthony Braxton (father of Tyondai from Battles) happening on June 18 and 19th. It's at (Le) Poisson Rouge on the 18th and Issue on the 19th. Details, tickets links and video are below.

The full Issue/Darmstadt schedule, video from Zs' Gulf Coast benefit show at Shea Stadium on June 2nd, and more are posted below...

Continue reading "Darmstadt continues @ Issue Project Room, Man Forever, Zs, James McNew, Omar Souleyman & Anthony Braxton's birthday"

photos by Lori Baily, words by Andrew Frisicano

Ginn & Co. + CSC Funk Band @ Issue Project Room...

Greg Ginn and the Texas Corrugators joined CSC Funk Band for a night of music at Issue Project Room on April 19th, one of a several shows the groups played together in April. If you check out the pics, you'll notice Ginn & the Corrugators sitting in with the NYC funk band too. Greg Ginn's current tour continues through May 7th.

CSC Funk Band is a project headed by ex-USAISAMONSTER's Colin L and Matt Mottel of Talibam!. Mottel, an artist in residence at Issue Project Room, curated the show. He'll also bring Talibam!/"solo amplified piano and synthesizers" to the venue on June 9th. Before then, Talibam! play May 8th show at Death By Audio with PC Worship and Skeletons. More dates are below.

CSC has a live five-song session recorded in April up on the Free Music Archive. They play again on May 17th at Zebulon and May 22nd at Coco 66.

Mottel's Talibam! bandmate Kevin Shea has dates with his various other projects (like jazz band Mostly Other People Do The Killing) coming up too. All tour dates for then, and the rest of the Issue Project Room pictures, below...

Continue reading "CSC Funk Band played shows w/ Greg Ginn (pics), playing more shows, Talibam! & Kevin Shea too (dates)"

by Andrew Frisicano

This Sunday, April 11th, will be the first public concert at 110 Livingston St, Issue Project Room's soon-to-be-new space. The renovations on 110 Livingston, for which the nonprofit was called to raise $2.5 million ("well over half a million" of which they still need), aren't complete yet. All other upcoming events are still at the Old American Can Factory, while the new space is expected to open sometime this fall or later.

For this preview event, new music ensemble Ne(x)tworks will perform Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2 (a 6 hour piece) in its entirety. The free show starts at 11:30am and will be streamed live online through Q2.

[Issue writes]: String Quartet No. 2 has been performed in its entirety only a few times, the first being in 1999 by the FLUX Quartet at Greenwich Village's Cooper Union. The Ne(x)tworks quartet (which includes Cornelius Dufallo and Kenji Bunch, formerly of FLUX) will play the entire piece by candlelight in the cloistered hall while audience members are invited to stay for as long as little as they like. The beauty of candlelight is also a necessity as the space is still raw, in need of renovation and lighting.

"Two dozen people signed up for a soundwalk with Betsey Biggs, a young Princeton-trained composer and interdisciplinary artist who often creates site-specific performances. Beforehand, Biggs directed participants to a Web site where they could download "Detox Project," an electronic piece that she had assembled for the occasion. It consisted largely of sounds recorded in and around the murky old Gowanus Canal, in Brooklyn: machine noises, trucks backing up, the bell of a rising drawbridge, sirens, pedestrian chatter, and, for a long while, a voice softly humming a childlike, three-note melody.Late in the afternoon, we met at a boarded-up house at the corner of Third Street and Third Avenue and began following Biggs's lead, listening to "Detox Project" on earphones. The streets were deserted, except for a few hipsters pushing strollers. It was unsettling to hear loud sounds without seeing their source. Conversely, certain noises that seemed to emanate from the soundtrack actually came from real life: I was surprised to see live birds in a dead tree. The experience proved to be psychologically complex, exposing how we orient ourselves with our ears. And, as Biggs notes in her Princeton dissertation, this kind of work plays off Internet-era listening habits--the use of manicured playlists to create what she calls a "cinematic lull," a "solitary dream state." When the walk curled through the quiet streets of Carroll Gardens, the collage of noises subsided and the human voice took over. Biggs began banging on a tin drum that she'd brought along, and a friend played an accordion. An electronically mediated experience veered toward old-time music-making. At the end, we stood on the Third Street drawbridge and applauded the composer, who smiled bashfully, nodding toward the strangely beautiful ruined landscape behind her." [New Yorker]

Continue reading "Issue Project Room previewing new space w/ a 6 hour streaming performance, planning more soundwalk benefits"

words by BBG, photos by Greg Cristman

While I was getting my face caved in by Unsane et al, Nadja was dropping blissful/crushing tunes at the Issue Project Room (on 2/12), as one of the last events of the Unsound Festival. Our photographer Greg was able to catch all of Nadja but missed Xavier van Wersch and headliner David Daniell due to prior commitments.

Nadja are prepping to tour Europe with Thrones and OvO. Thrones will play a pair of shows in NYC this week, at Ash's Place on 2/18 and at The Stone on 2/19 as part of the Toby Driver curated month at the venue.

More photos of Nadja (with all dates), below....

Continue reading "Nadja played Issue Project Room (Unsound Fest) - pics "

photos by Lori Baily

Christy and Emily...

The viBe SongMakers is an advanced music/song creation program that accepts 4-6 underserved Brooklyn teenagers every year and gives them the tools they need to be tomorrow's artistic and cultural leaders and revolutionaries. Writing, recording, and performing orginal songs with professional musicians helps empower these girls to communicate through music. Instruction in piano, songwriting, drum machine, music theory, and digital production helps the girls make the music; an introduction to business and entrepreneurial skills helps the girls market and distribute their CDs; then, the girls learn basic video and editing skills and create their own music videos. [Issue Project Room]

Christy & Emily are currently touring Europe. That's where Pterodactyl travel this March, but not before playing a Febraury 28th show at Union Pool. More dates with the pictures, below...

Continue reading "Christy & Emily, viBE SongMakers & Pterodactyl played Issue Project Room (pics) + more tour dates "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Aidan Baker - "Liminoid Part III" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tim Hecker - "Chimeras" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tim Hecker - "Radio Spiricom" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tim Hecker - "Blood Rainbow" (MP3)

Nadja

The ongoing Unsound festival continues to impress. LPR will feature the great Tim Hecker TONIGHT (2/10) with Radian, Sweden's Tape, and Mountains with a special and unique set from a "band formed during the kids electronic music workshops" that have taken place throughout the festival. Tickets are still available.

Hecker released two LPs in the past two years: a solo effort entitled An Imaginary Country via Kranky last year and a collabo LP with Aidan Baker on Alien8 called Fantasma Parastasie. The ever prolific Baker has a few different projects up his sleeve but one of those, Nadja, will also be in NYC as part of the Unsound fest.

Nadja is scheduled to open the Issue Project Room on 2/12 with Xavier van Wersch and headliner David Daniell:

As a performer, Daniell utilizes acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitar along with a variety of electronics. He has worked for over a decade as a member of the improvising blues-drone trio San Agustin, along with many other collaborators through the years, including Tim Barnes, Ateleia, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Sean Meehan, Loren Connors, Tomas Korber, Greg Davis, as lead guitarist in Jonathan Kane's live band, and as concertmaster for Rhys Chatham's 100- and 200-guitar performances. Current active collaborations include a duo with guitarist Douglas McCombs (of Brokeback, Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day) and a trio with Christian Fennesz and Tony Buck (of The Necks).

Aidan Baker has a new LP entitled Liminoid/Lifeforms out NOW via Alien 8. Stream the entire thing and/or download one track, "Liminoid Part III", above. After NYC, Nadja will blast off to Europa to link up with OvO and Thrones (who is playing TWO NYC shows, 2/18 and 2/19) for a string of dates in later March/April.

Full tour dates and a bunch of videos are below.

Continue reading "Tim Hecker, Nadja, other upcoming (Unsound) shows + MP3s"