On Monday April 24th I'll be performing another solo set of electric organ space music at Halyards. I'm excited to be joined by guitarist and vocalist Grey McMurray.
Hearing Things is excited to present the video for "Tortuga"! This track is from our soon to be released first album, "Here's Hearing Things". Slowly, but surely.
Here's a mention of the video by Nate Chinen on the WBGO blog.
I'll be performing some new music written for the Yamaha YC-30 Electric Organ + electronics and drum machine this Sunday at Halyards, a cozy bar in Gowanus with a music room. I'm excited to be joined by Jason Nazary who will be presenting new music for solo drums and synthesizers at 8pm, and extra excited for the live visual art projections by Jacob McCoy which will accompany the music.
Monday March 20th at 8pm
Halyards (406 3rd Ave, Brooklyn)
8pm Jason Nazary - Drums and Synthesizer
9pm JP Schlegelmilch - YC-30 Electric Organ and Electronics
I'm so proud to be a part of this benefit concert on Friday at Littlefield.Hearing Things will be performing with two incredible bands, Shilpa Ray and The Kominas. All ticket sales will be going to support two incredible organizations, Sapna NYC and Women for Afghan Women.
More info about the organizations is below. Hope to see you there!
SAPNA
sapnanyc.org
Sapna NYC transforms the lives of South Asian immigrant women by improving physical and mental health, expanding economic opportunities and building a collective voice for change.
Women for Afghan Women
http://www.womenforafghanwomen.org/
Women for Afghan Women is a grassroots, human rights organization dedicated to securing and protecting the rights of disenfranchised Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan and New York, particularly their rights to develop their individual potential, to self-determination, and to be represented in all areas of life: political, social, cultural and economic.
Tonight! Jan 15th 2017 at Cisco Bradley's New Revolution Arts music series!! Loft jazz, baby.
Here's a note from Cisco about the night:
The first New Revolution Arts event of 2017 is going to be a transcendent night of music, poetry, and artistic vision. Please come out for music and fellowship in the community. If you are an artist who has presented your work in the series before, please take advantage of the artist special. It promises to be an exciting night!
8 pm--Bonnie Kane 5-amp solo flute
8:45 pm--Ekene Okobi and Maria Ines Toro Luna
9:15 pm--Kenny Warren Quartet with J.P. Schlegelmilch, Noah Garabedian, Satoshi Takeishi
10 pm--No Land, Daniel Carter, Devin Brahja Waldman
New Revolution Arts
7 Stanhope Street
Brooklyn (Bushwick)
J/M/L Trains
B38/B52/B54/B60/Q24 Buses
Please share to spread the word!!
$15 suggested donation
Artist special: $10 suggested donation to artists who have played the series before
Matt Bauder - Saxophone
JP Schlegelmilch - Electric Organ
Vinnie Sperrazza - Drums
East Coast Mini Tour
Four-night east-coast mini-tour opening for Nick Waterhouse
October 8th, 2016 8pm
Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
October 10th, 2016 8pm
Cambridge, MA @ Sinclaire
October 11th, 2016 8pm
Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
October 12th, 2016 8pm
Washington D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel
Though someone once proclaimed in a song that "each day is Valentine's Day", you won't get to see a gig like this just any day, even in Brooklyn! I'm thrilled that Hearing Things will be sharing the stage with these wonderful bands tonight at Barbes. 9pm: The Fraternal Order of the Society Blues--disciples of Blues legend Carolina Slim play soulful tuneful songs that the people understand 10pm: Hearing Things--"kind of Middle Eastern flavored surf rock with old-school R&B honking and striptease-worthy themes" (Chicago Reader)
11pm: The Sway Machinery--"unclassifiable, uplifitng" (The New Yorker)
I made it out last night to Craig Taborn's residency at the Stone to hear the improvising group Farmers by Nature with Gerald Cleaver and William Parker. It was my first experience seeing them live, and the room was packed with free jazz musicians and aficionados. Before they started playing Gerald Cleaver remarked to the audience, "So should we pray now or later"?, perhaps in response to the hushed expectation that was beginning to electrify the room.
As they started playing the music immediately had a very physical, tactile feeling, especially watching Craig Taborn and William Parker. There was nothing "abstract" about their improvising, everything felt rooted in the body.....or in the earth? Does the name of the band imply something to this effect? "Farmers" of the primordial soil of music?
Every time I see Craig Taborn play the piano I'm struck by the way he's able to completely transform the instrument through the power of his musical imagination and staggering technique. There's always a moment where my ears stop registering the sounds as originating from the piano and the music enters a transcendent realm of pure sound.
Very excited for this one. We had a great time touring with Will Butler in March but didn't get to do a show in New York with him. Also excited to have a comedian on the bill, Jo Firestone!
Playing tonight with the Kenny Warren Quartet at the newest addition to Brooklyn's Gowanus-area music venues, Threes Brewing! This place has been a great new home to live music in Brooklyn, especially as a host to the recent Sound Minds Festival. I'm excited to play Kenny's music with this great band!
Very excited for this new jazz festival at Three's Brewing in Brooklyn this Sunday. I'll be playing with Hearing Things at midnight. Please come out and support this festival, it's a great lineup of Brooklyn jazz/improvised music at its finest and there are hopes of it becoming an annual event.
$30 for SIX BANDS + 2 FRESH BEERS 7 pm - Miss Elie Sorbsel featuring Emilie Lesbros 8 pm - Bizingas Plays the Blues featuring Brian Drye, Kirk Knuffke, Jonathan Goldberger plus special guests Hank Roberts and Tom Rainey 9 pm - Dustin Carlson's Air Ceremony featuring DC, Mike Baggetta, Danny Gouker, Kate Gentile and Josh Sinton 10 pm - The Kate Gentile Quartet featuring KG, Jeremy Viner, Adam Hopkins and Matt Mitchell 11 pm - FOLKLORDS featuring Ajemian Jason, Peter Hanson, Nathaniel Morgan, Owen Stewart-Robertson and Jason Nazary. 12 am - Matt Bauder's Hearing Things featuring Matt Bauder, Jp Schlegelmilch and Vinnie Sperrazza Tickets can be purchased in advance here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2019312
This week I caught Kenny Warren's band Laila and Smitty at Barbes celebrating the release of their 2nd album. They're really pushing their avant-Americana style in new directions with more layered rhythms and some African-sounding textures reminiscent of tUnE-yArDs. Kenny's singing is understated but very emotionally direct. The band is great, and it was nice to hear Jeremiah Lockwood again on dobro, who was originally in the band before he moved to the west coast.
Hearing Things went into the studio to start tracking our first full length album! So far the only recorded music we have is a 45-inch single we made before going on tour with Will Butler. It's now available through our Bandcamp page. Get yours now, they're sure to be collectible someday!
I brought both of my Yahama organs to the studio, here they are like a happy family.
The recording was done at BC Studios in Brooklyn, very cool place, slightly spooky vibe. I've heard rumors that it's haunted. Matt kind of looks like a ghost with a saxophone in this photo.
We found some old tapes lying in a pile that on closer inspection were from John Zorn's 1988 recording "Spy Vs. Spy". There were even little notes on the boxes about the different tapes with comments like "John didn't like it."
It's happening! Tomorrow, Sunday April 5th at Cornelia St Cafe, sets at 8:30 and 10pm. We will be celebrating the release of our new album, "Drifter". We've been working diligently and are so excited to share the music with you! We'll be playing selections from the album and a lot of new material as well. We hope you can join us!
I was recently invited to be a guest on the Wing Walker Music Podcast, which you can now listen to at their website. Drew Williams and I discussed my musical background, and some of my current bands and recordings. I hope you'll give it a listen, it was really fun to do this kind of informal interview with Drew.
Also featured on the Wing Walker website is a series they call the "Wildcard", where a band or musician pick out a few albums that they've been listening to recently. Drew asked each member of Old Time Musketry to participate, and the results are quite interesting! Check it out here.
This week Hearing Things kicks off our tour with 2 shows in NYC and then we hit the road opening for Will Butler of Arcade Fire! We've been rehearsing regularly since the fall and the music is really getting exciting! It's hard to categorize, so you'll just have to come out and hear things for yourself. (Get it?).
The first show is TONIGHT March 14th at Nublu in Manhattan. We go on at 10:30pm.
We also have a 45rpm record available only at the shows!
Hearing Things is:
Matt Bauder - Tenor Saxophone
JP Schlegelmilch - Electric Organ
Vinnie Sperrazza - Drums
Here's the complete dates of the tour!
Sat 3/14 @ NuBlu
62 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
10:30pm
Fri 3/20 @ Bar Lunatico
486 Halsey St
Brooklyn, NY 11233
8pm
Sun 3/22
Pittsburgh, PA
Howler's Coyote Cafe
Wed 3/25
Lafayette, IN
The Spot Tavern
Opening for Will Butler:
Mon 3/23 - Chicago, IL, The Hideout
Tues 3/24 - Bloomington, IN, The Bishop
Thu 3/26 - Grand Rapids, MI, Calvin College
Fri 3/27 - Toronto, ON, The Horseshoe Tavern
Sat 3/28 & Sun 3/29 - Montreal, QC, Bar Le Ritz
I'm very excited to announce the upcoming release of Old Time Musketry's long-awaited second album, "Drifter" on NCM East Records! We recorded it back in December 2013 and are finally ready to share it with you all. I'm very proud of how it came out, and it features some amazing playing from everyone in the band: Adam Schneit - Saxophone and Clarinet JP Schlegelmilch - Piano and Accordion Phil Rowan - Bass Max Goldman - Drums and melodica The official release date is March 31st, but we'll be celebrating with a performance at the Cornelia Street Cafe on Sunday, April 5th at 8:30 PM. We hope you can join us if you're in town! We'll be playing two sets, $10 cover / $10 minimum. www.corneliastreetcafe.com If you live out of town or can't make it to the show, the album should be available on March 31st at the NCM East site, CD Baby, Amazon, Itunes, Bandcamp, and many more. Currently, you can pre-order a digital download of the album at Bandcamp and Amazon: oldtimemusketry.bandcamp.com/releases Thanks so much for your support and we hope to see you on the 5th! Love, OTM (Phil, Max, Adam, & JP) www.oldtimemusketry.com www.ncmeast.com
For the past several years I usually allot some time each winter to immerse myself in Schubert's song cycle Winterreise (Winter's Journey), a collection of 24 songs that tell the story of a rejected lover who wanders out of his village into a bleak winter landscape. This winter had almost passed by, Schubert-free, until I began reading a new book by the tenor Ian Bostridge which explores the themes of each song in the cycle. I've been listening to the songs daily and playing the score at my piano, occasionally belting out some fake German words or nonsense syllables for the vocal melody. I'm realizing that I haven't even scratched the frozen surface of this haunting work.
It's been a frigid winter in the Northeast, apparently one of the coldest and snowiest in the past 150 years. But the unsettling larger picture shows the trends of global warming continuing, with January 2015 being the 4th warmest recorded January in history, and the 347th straight month of above normal warmth.
The thing I needed to really connect with the spirit of Winterreise was a trip outside of my urban Brooklyn environment. My wife and I took a drive to her hometown in the Hudson Valley and were transfixed by the austere beauty of winter in the country. We looked at the frozen Hudson river, with strange shapes of ice strewn over it almost resembling the ruins of some past civilization. We saw fields and farm lands covered with untouched white snow, and some with paths of footprints from previous Winter Journeys. One could easily imagine the protagonist from Wintereise wandering forlornly through these lands.
I was especially captivated by a willow tree by the river, which instantly reminded me of the linden tree in one of Schubert's most famous songs, "Der Lindenbaum". In the song the wanderer passes by a linden tree which brings sweet nostalgic feelings and memories:
At the well before the gate
There stands a linden tree;
I dreamt in its shade
So many a sweet dream
I cut into its bark
So many a word of love;
In happiness and sadness it drew
Me back to it again and again
In his book Ian Bostridge explores the sinister double meaning of the tree, which also represents the romantic era's obsession with death. The attraction that the wanderer feels for the tree could also mean the solace of death's embrace and rest for his tormented soul:
And its branches rustled
As if it were calling out to me:
Come here to me, old chap,
Here you find your rest.
The chapter on "Der Lindenbaum" in Bostridge's book also makes connections to Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain (another great winter companion):
"The chapter itself is called "Snow", and it creates, suggests, hints at a parallel between the predicament of the wanderer in Wintereise, compelled by his own nature to wander through a winter landscape, and that of Mann's protagonist, tubercular sufferer, who has sunk into the comfortable but deathly embrace of the snowbound sanatorium where most of the story plays out. In "Snow," Castorp escapes from his confinement, venturing outside, and gets lost in so doing he confronts ultimate questions. Reading "Snow" is, if nothing more, a good imaginative and mental workout for singing, or experiencing, Winterreise. "
Finding these kinds of connections in great works of art is one of the most fantastic things in life for me. Bostridge continues:
"There are many more detailed parallels. The relationship between this winter landscape and the confronting of existential questions, to start with: snowy blankness, "white whirling nothing," "white darkness" as a blank screen upon which the ultimate can be projected and grappled with in a sort of ironic, almost jocular, tone which the two works share."
Bostridge made a collection of music videos to accompany Winterreise which have a borderline goth quality that makes them feel oddly contemporary. Here is "Der Lindenbaum:"
I really enjoyed reading this Pitchfork review of the latest Led Zeppelin reissues, which include my two favorites, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti. It's interesting how Pitchfork now has reviews of classic albums of the 60's and 70's along with their taste-making commentary on current musical trends. It's cool to get a contemporary perspective of these iconic records, and I found these reviews particularly well-written and insightful.
Mark Richardson's essay on the Zeppelin reissues reserves the highest praise for Physical Graffiti, comparing it to the Beatles' famous double LP:
"It's Led Zeppelin's White Album, the one they made when they were at their creative peak and had a million ideas, but were also under a tremendous amount of strain and saw the end starting to come into focus."
I hadn't thought about about Physical Graffiti in this way before, and it gave me a new appreciation for the sprawl of this record. Although it's hard for me to pick a favorite between Physical Graffiti and Houses of the Holy, I like thinking about the different approaches to making albums that these two represent. One is the no-filler, carefully considered masterpiece, the other a kind of outpouring of musical ideas.
This sent me to Richardson's Pitchfork review of the White Album, which was even better. He mentions how the phrase "It's like their White Album" has entered the lexicon of music fans:
"To use the expression is to conjure a familiar cluster of associations: The work in question is large and sprawling, overflowing with ideas but also with indulgences, and filled with a hugely variable array of material, some of which might sound great one day and silly the next. A band's White Album is also most likely assembled under a time of great stress, often resulting in an artistic peak but one that nonetheless scatters clues to its creator's eventual demise."
Richardson lists some other records that fit the description of a "White Album": Prince's Sign o' the Times, Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, the Clash's Sandinista!, and Pavement's Wowee Zowee. But I searched my record collection in vain for "White Album" candidates, I think they must be an exceedingly rare species.
