July 19, 2018 by PGrant - 0 comments

FIELDS AMAZE (& other sTRANGE Music) 20th anniversary new recording

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new recordings + bonus tracks

1. Keeping Still
extended percussion quintet

2. Fields Amaze
homemade gamelan and microtonal keyboard

3. A Visible Track of Turbulence 1
flute, clarinet, and piano 4-hands

4. Everything Distinct: Everything the Same
three keyboards in Gb just intonation and three percussion

5. A Visible Track of Turbulence 2
flute, clarinet, and piano 4-hands

6. Imaginary Horror Film 1
chamber prog ensemble

7. The Weights of Numbers
aka Fractured Fictions
three keyboards and drums

8. Imaginary Horror Film 2
chamber prog ensemble

9. If One Should Happen to Fall
six words vs. thesaurus

“…a driving and rather harsh energy redolent of rock, as well as a clean sense of melodicism … the music’s momentum and intricate cross-rhythms rarely let up, making the occasional infectious tunes that emerge all the more beautiful for surprise.” – The Village Voice

Patrick Grant: piano, keyboards, electric guitars, gamelan, percussion – Kathleen Supove & Marija Ilic: keyboards – John Ferrari: drums & percussion – Barbara Benary: additional gamelan – David Simons: Balinese percussion & theremin – Keith Bonner: flute – Thomas P. Oberle: clarinet – Darryl Gregory: trombone – Martha Mooke: viola – Maxine Neumann: cello – Mark Steven Brooks: electric bass – Alexandra Montano: vocalise – Lisa Karrer: lead vocal on If One Should Happen to Fall.

All 2018 production, overdubs, revisions, and new stems recorded at Peppergreen Media, NYC and The Ferrari Factory, NJ. Mixed at Mercy Sound Studios, NYC – Garry Rindfuss: mixing engineer – Sheldon Steiger: album mastering – Patrick Grant: producer

Cover photo Cuming Co. Supercell, June 14, 2013 taken by Dave Rebot and used with permission. Album artwork, layout, and design by Eric Iverson. Peppergreen Media logo by Steve Ball. CD image collage created from Elément bleu XII, 1967 by Jean Dubuffet, photo credit: sTRANGE Music Inc.

Thanks and acknowledgements: The Braunschweig Family, Coudert Brothers, Bank Julius Baer, Matthews Panariello P.C., Chris LaBarbiera, Patricia McKenna, Context Studios, Music Under Construction, Philip Glass, Kurt Munkacsi, Jed Distler & Composers Collaborative Inc., Music for Homemade Instruments, Erik Satie, Kyle Gann & The Village Voice, The Bang on a Can Marathon, Stéphane Martin and the musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, The Ross Institute, The Knitting Factory, Patrick Grant Group, I Wayan Lantir, STSI/ISI Denpasar, Gamelan Son of Lion, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Johnny Reinhard & The American Festival of Microtonal Music, The Fractal Music Lab, James Gleick author of Chaos: Making a New Science, The Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Lichtenstein, The Mark Morris Dance Group, The Prix de Lausanne, Exploding Music, The Living Theatre, Kalvos & Damien’s New Music Bazaar, Annina Nosei Gallery, John Schaefer, WNYC’s New Sounds, Ralph Valdez, WDET Radio, James Moore & Independent Music Promotions Inc., Jocelyn Gonzales, The NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Roget’s Thesaurus.

August 22, 2016 by jedibunny - 0 comments

Angela Babin: Strings and Things

On this episode of Strings and Things, Angela Babin drops by to work on a Melody Maker that hasn’t been out and about in years, while our host Patrick Grant restrings his studio-weary Les Paul. They’ll swap stories about the weirdest gigs they’ve played in New York City, and talk about how numbers and math inspire Angela’s current compositions. Then they’ll amp up for a special Strings and Things duet.

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Since picking up the electric guitar at 14 years old, over the years Angela’s performed in a wide range of venues, from Folk City and CBGBs, to BAM and the Berlin Jazz Festival. She entered the downtown New York music scene with the band Off Beach, and played guitar in the nine-piece experimental rock group The Ordinaires. The Ordinaires were compared to Philip Glass, Captain Beefheart, Henry Mancini, Husker Du and Stravinsky – all at the same time! You may remember their cover of “Kashmir” was all over MTV at the time:

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Angela performed with Homer Erotic, founded by poets Maggie Dubris and Barbara Barg, as well as the groups Alpha Cat, Inviolate, The Raging Hormones, and The Blacklite Orchestra. She’s currently playing guitar with the blues-based Gotham Roots Orchestra, formed by composer/producer Cristian Amigo.

– photo by Marc Latrique

There’s a great blog post on the Prepared Guitar website where you can find out much more about Angela Babin and her work. Check it out!

April 9, 2016 by jedibunny - 0 comments

Nick Didkovsky: Strings and Things Podcast

On this episode of Strings and Things, we have the prolific composer/guitarist Nick Didkovsky, founder of the rock ensemble Doctor Nerve, and an agent of destruction in the grindcore outfit Vomit Fist.

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While changing the strings on his B.C. Rich Stealth guitar, he tells our host, Patrick Grant, how he uses the programming language HMSL to compose music, and explains the virtues of his single humbucker pickup. Then Nick and Patrick plug into some Vox Amps for an electrifying duet.

Listen to an extended version of “Episode 4 Petromyzontiformes”, the piece featured at the end of the episode:

BONUS! Listen to Nick’s brief demo of the Stealth guitar:

Nick also plays with the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet and composed music for the Bang On A Can All-Stars, Meridian Arts Ensemble, ETHEL, and others. He’s a co-founder of the $100 Guitar Project with Chuck O’Meara. Find out more about Nick and his many musical projects at didkovsky.com.

February 9, 2016 by PGrant - 0 comments

Podcast Premiere “Strings and Things”

Please check out the premiere episode of Strings and Things with composer/guitarist Tony Geballe…

http://www.stringsandthingsshow.com/

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On the premiere episode of Strings and Things, composer/guitarist Tony Geballe stops by to change the strings on his custom-built Nelson Fidelis TG1 electric guitar, while our host Patrick Grant re-strings his Rickenbacker 330. Tony tells us about his first guitar hero, and how he started playing in a Progressive Darkwave band. Then the Vox amps come out and they perform an excerpt from Tony’s score for a stage version of Faust.

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At some point every guitarist has to do it, so why not hang out with some friends and have fun while you’re at it? This is Strings and Things, the show where musicians come by to change their strings, talk about all kinds of things and make some music. We hope you’ll join us for the new Strings and Things podcast, a Peppergreen Production for Headstepper Media. Listen at http://stringsandthingsshow.com

‪#‎voxamps‬ ‪#‎daddario‬ ‪#‎EHX‬ TILTED AXES: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars ‪#‎podcast‬ ‪#‎guitar‬ ‪#‎electricguitar‬ ‪#‎discoverguitar‬ Braindance VOX amps USA Electro-Harmonix D’Addario Strings and Planet Waves

December 21, 2015 by PGrant - 0 comments

Happy Anniversary, Tilted Axes!

Tilted Axes Roster 2011-15

Four years ago today, Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars made its debut at Make Music New York‘s 1st annual Make Music Winter on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 in New York City. Now, 1,461 days past, the project has been produced in a number of cities on three continents. More to come in the New Year. Thank you to all the musicians, presenters, and sponsors who have make everything possible. Guitarists, bassists, and percussionists – you are the most awesome. Here’s to the future tilts that await! ~ http://www.tiltedaxes.net/ ~ https://www.facebook.com/tiltedaxes/

August 2, 2015 by PGrant - 0 comments

TILTED AXES TO PERFORM IN NYC’s VILLAGE HALLOWEEN PARADE OCT. 31st

“Monster Riffs & Tritonic Tintinnabulations”

New York’s Village Halloween Parade is an annual holiday parade and street pageant presented on the night of every Halloween in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Stretching more than a mile, this cultural event draws two million in-person spectators, more than sixty thousand costumed participants, dancers, artists and circus performers, dozens of floats bearing live bands and other musical and performing acts, and a world-wide television audience of one hundred million. The Village Halloween Parade, initiated in 1974 by Greenwich Village puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee, is the world’s largest Halloween parade and the only major nighttime parade in the United States.

Among the parade’s signature features are its pageant sized puppets — giant rod puppets “articulated” by teams of puppeteers — and its open participation to anyone in a costume who wishes to march. It has been called “New York’s Carnival.” Although the parade is currently not as informal and wild as it was in its earliest years, it is in effect still an alternative festival.

The parade has been featured in many national magazines and travel guides, and has been a subject of study by leading cultural anthropologists. According to The New York Times, “the Halloween Parade is the best entertainment the people of this City ever give the people of this City.” “Absolutely anything goes,” says USA Today. “Be prepared to drop your jaw.”