Category archives: Musician
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5 years ago
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New York City based non profit Art for Progress has launched an online music resource for NYC students and anyone who's interested in learning how to produce music, play an instrument or vocal instruction.
In response to the school closures and what seems like the
inevitable end of the school year, Art for Progress is taking a progressive
approach to providing instruction for our students in both our elective music
classes, after school programs and our BREC campus wide after school music
program.
To address this challenge, we will be providing weekly educational videos that will align with what was being taught in the classrooms prior to the school closures- instrument instruction, vocal instruction and music production. New content will be posted along with a narrative for each video, and our teachers will be available to take questions, arrange chats and for follow up meetings.
We expect to launch the online program on Monday, March 23rd and as we come up with more creative ideas we will continue to add more to the program. At this point, we will provide as many resources as possible to be sure that this is the best experience we can provide outside of the classroom.
We’re excited to do this for our students and for anyone who wants to learn through this new resource. For any inquiries, please contact admin@artforprogress.org.
Please subscribe to the channel and follow us here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbEUTEdVVFNtY49A7D01-ZA
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6 years ago
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This summer, thanks to a grant from the Matisse Foundation, I had the great pleasure of teaching the music portion of the Art for Progress Summer Arts & Music Program for high school students and young adults interested in pursuing creative careers. Consisting of series of four workshops held on Sunday mornings during July and August at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, the program was designed to explore the many real-world considerations inherent to careers in the arts and music. The focus was to look at some of the dynamics at play in the music and art worlds, and to provide support in the development of specific skills in the various media. Each week, a professional working in the arts was invited as a guest speaker and to host a short discussion. The speakers were happy to answer questions and were very informative and animated as they enlightened the group about the day-to-day life of a working artist. Everyone seemed to have a great time and to get a better sense of how to approach their work professionally going forward. On a personal note…I had the fantastic opportunity to study visual art in Paris while in college, and later jazz theory and improvisation, so it was auspicious to me to be able to work with the foundation representing French painter Henri Matisse, a personal favorite and early influence. Matisse was known to love American jazz music, and that added to my special sense of personal investment in this project. We at AFP are[...]
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7 years ago
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It was the industrial revolution that first attempted to record sound “as a medium for preservation," activating the phenomena of noise as an integral source when documenting history. Thomas Edison received notoriety for the phonograph in 1877, but it was really Edouard-Lèon Scott de Martinsville who invented the phonautograph in 1857, the first recording device. The device was specifically created to study frequency found in sounds, an intention much different from the phonograph invented by Edison which was to play and “reproduce the recorded sound… originally recorded onto a tinfoil”. As per historical reference ( author unknown ), “The phonograph revolutionized the art of music. Performances were recorded and people could listen to them at their leisure. It also made music and communication more public. The invention signaled the birth of a new form of entertainment and an entirely new field of business that fed the demand for the new invention, the music industry”- hence both inventions put an end to the masses' naiveté to the sense of hearing, and introduced the start of audio’s sensational future possibilities.
When we fast forward through the history of music and sound, we could say that the underground rave music scene (which famously erupted somewhere in between Chicago and the UK during the late 80’s), had a lot of thanking to give the founding fathers of sound, more so Edison’s phonograph. It was the phonograph that gathered groups of people before a speake[...]
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7 years ago
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Jean-Michel Basquiat was a well known plastic artist based in New York and sponsored by Andy Warhol. Music was very important in the life and work of this artist, and in 1979 he formed an experimental band with the artist and actor Vincent Gallo.
They named the band "GRAY" as a tribute to the book of anatomy published by Henry Gray in 1950.
The band arises in the middle of the punk explosion of New York, but especially to a more experimental branch known as No wave. No wave has a very industrial sound where the electric guitar is used not as a musical instrument, but as a tool that generates noise. He was also interested in the frenetic and eclectic rhythms of the seventies and eighties, like the incipient rap of the hip hop movement.
Basquiat played the clarinet and the synthesizer and the band frequented famous venues like CBGB where Blondie and The Ramones made their debut, the Mudd Club, etc.
The music from "Gray" can be heard in several films including "Downtown 81," starring Basquiat, talking about his life as an artist in New York.
Nerea T. Ruiz
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7 years ago
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Pedro, welcome to AFP, we are pleased to have you here. Please tell us when you started playing and producing electronic music? Tell us about your first project.
I started experimenting with audio edition software when I was 16. At first, my intention was only pure distraction and fun. Before, I used to listen to lot of music, not only electronic music but also good rare versions of everything that you can imagine. I have a brother who is a music lover. I was also an amateur guitar player in a band.
It's my understanding that you've produced music under different artistic names and musical projects in the past? This was before your personal projects, correct?
When I was 22, I started to mix music using the name Pettre and was using it for many years. I published a track on Hivern Discs with John Talabot and Pional. Afterwards, with my project duo called Aster, I have worked for years at Hivern Discs and also at the famous label Mathematic Recordings, based in Chicago. With my recent project Pedro Vian and also with the Aster duo, I've had a presence in important festivals such as Sonar and Primavera Sound.
How do you define your style?
It is impossible to me to categorize it in a single style, because it is a mixture of many. Basically, I don't know how to define it. The experimentation is predominant; many times I feel myself with a foot on the dance floor while the other foot is in the spiritual and ambient side.
https://soundcloud.com/pedro-vian
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7 years ago
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Art for Progress wants to say goodbye to 2017 with the best electronic music albums of the year.
Below you find our year-end top ten AFP picks that we have selected especially for you. The list includes a video and the label info where the records have been published.
2017! It was a great year for music in the world with many awesome, high quality albums created by the most talented artists from across the world.
Enjoy the new year and may your 2018 be full of good music!
Happy 2018!
1. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream. DFA and Columbia Records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKeJFxwuBBE
2. Björk - Utopia. One Little Indian Records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqbv7cCM5AI
3. Laurel Halo - Dust. Hyperdub.
4. Four Tet - New energy. Text Records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWInZ4N6C2g&t=2357s
5. Bonobo - Migration. Ninja Tune.
6. James Holden - The animal spirits. Border Community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj35YNtP3IE
7. Powerdance - The Lost Art of getting Down. Powerdance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHrBXKtc0Sc
8. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Rest. Because Music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRwgL_PrQYQ
9. Errorsmith - Superlative Fatigue. Pan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fsCgZh6E8k
10. Arca - Arca. XL Recordings.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZqsyBiYZFQ3bQ6wAHoeYkkt[...]
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7 years ago
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MLiR stands for Modern Life is Rubbish, an utterly accurate and ironic name. Founded by the two absolutely crazy Swedes from outer Space, Marco Gegenheimer and Einar Christofferson. In 2016 the two lads broke through with the musical and mega hyped debut EP ”Swedish Lo-Life” on Studio Barnhus, the re-known and eclectic record label run by Axel Boman, Kornél Kovács and Petter Nordkvist.
An EP of 5 songs, featuring the big hit people with almost 300 000 plays on Spotify so far. Up next in 2017 for Marco and Einar is their 2nd installment for Studio Barnhus, an EP under the name ”Trans-World Junktion”. They also have EP:s coming early 2018 for UK label Banoffee Pies, Berlin based Lossless, a 3rd EP for Studio Barnhus and non 4/4 stuff for Magic Teapot Records. Apart from all this, the boys are also preparing a live show for next year where everyone will be able to see them shaking their asses and showing the world they’re here to stay to make you go bananas. Modern Life is Rubbish, and you know it!
Marco, nice to meet you and welcome to Art for Progress. MLiR it is the new project you have created, but your career started a long time ago. Please, could you tell us when did you start to produce music?
My interest to produce music started after having a 5.5 years break from DJ'ing in 2009. I then started working on an album for Ratio?music / Rush Hour (which got lost) and released several EP's on Ratio?music / Rush Hour, Moodmusic and Perplex Recordings. I had a band ca[...]
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9 years ago
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At The James Baldwin School in Chelsea, AFP's program is in its 3rd year, offering after school digital audio production, musical instrument instruction and performance coaching. Students range from 9th to 12th grade and come to the program with a variety of individual goals in mind. The sessions vary, and participants usually work individually or in small groups.
The class combines a combination of elements which are often going on simultaneously. One group may be learning how to sequence beats to a metronome track on one computer, while another student is involved in the more advanced stages of a fully fleshed out track on the next. At the same time a vocal duo may be working out harmonies to a rock ballad, while others are learning how to build scales and chords on the piano. In all cases, the fundamentals of music making are uncovered and explored. The focus is always on building a working musical vocabulary and developing the ability to use music for self-expression.
This year at Baldwin I have seen remarkable progress on every front. Beat-makers have progressed from struggling at playing simple kick and snare patterns, to building complete tracks and having their friends rap over them. Drummers who had never played a drum-set maintain a groove behind a full band. I’m especially impressed with Reshwan and Katana who had never met before. Within a few short months they have become a powerful cohesive duet act eagerly learning the theory to support their development[...]
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9 years ago
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To celebrate the release of their first release on Fueled by Ramen Records, The Front Bottoms played Brooklyn’s Rough Trade. Entry to the show was granted with purchase of the album, Back On Top, and came with a signing after the show. The formula is one Rough Trade is a) known for and b) built for. The combined record store/concert space has the stage in the back and the floor space within the shop itself to accommodate both events.
Before the show fans, most of whom were hugging a recently purchased vinyl of Back On Top, lined up along the wall of the store, chattering excitedly about the record. It was a fairly young crowd, some members bragging about how they had cut class to line up early. The guy handing out 21+ wristbands didn’t have much to do. Despite the age difference, one thing was clear. Everyone was there for the band.
Not that only die hards are capable of showing up to an early show on a weekday evening. Everyone is and was welcome. It wasn’t the show that collected passersby or casual listeners. Partially because Rough Trade is tucked somewhat away from the rest of Williamsburg and partially because the nature of the show attracted the more “serious” fans. The majority of the crowd accumulating in Rough Trade really, really liked the band. That’s why they showed to the concert/signing, not just the band’s gig later in the month at Irving Plaza. In fact, many talked about going to both shows. Some even buzzed about seeing the band earlier in the summ[...]
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10 years ago
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Barcelona-born Brooklynite, pianist Eva Novoa has produced two cds, her debut Trio (with Masa Kamaguchi on bass and Marc Lohr on drums), and Quartet (with Ernesto Aurignac on alto saxophone, Masa Kamaguchi on bass and André Sumelius on drums), both released on the label Fresh Sound New Talent. Before moving to Brooklyn, she lived many years The Hague, Netherlands, studying, and eventually teaching at Koninklijk Conservatorium.
It was in Holland, that she not only learned Dutch curse words, she also how to live in shitty weather: "It's much worse than New York. It may rain 6 days out of 7, she says while chatting in her kitchen, over espresso and Spanish shortbread cookies. "Wherever you go, you're soaked, shoes are dripping water."
Find out about her beloved fashion accessories after the jump, and learn more about this gifted musician at EvaNovoa.com.
Jacqueline Colette Prosper, @yummicoco
Floral Infinity Scarf
I found this floral scarf on my way to work at a musical theatre in Holland. In a country where there's so much wind, and you're on your bike, your scarf eventually flies away.
So you just do this [EVA MAKES A DOUBLE LOOP WITH THE CLOSED-LOOPED FABRIC], and you don't lose it. It's really warm! In Holland, you always have to wear a scarf. even in the summer. The weather sucks, and you have to wear something [warm], or else you'll get sick.
Vintage Little Black Dress From Grandma
For the anniversary of the mus[...]
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10 years ago
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I recently had the distinct pleasure of compiling an oral history of the seminal underground New York club Better Days, a ’70s and ’80s contemporary of spots like the Paradise Garage—though Better Days was much smaller and, possibly because of that, less lauded. (You can read that piece in full here, on the Red Bull Music Academy website.) One of the main interviewees for the article was Bruce Forest, an iconic DJ (and later, prolific producer) who was on the Better Days decks throughout most of the ’80s. (In the ’70s, the late, great Tee Scott ran the show.) Forest has a great memory and is a fantastic teller of tales—but, for reasons of space and clarity, some of his best stories had to be omitted from the history. So we figured, why not share a couple of his best ones here?
Loleatta Holloway
This story concerns how the inimitable disco diva Loleatta Holloway’s between-song patter became one of the most ubiquitous samples in dance music history. It was all Forest’s (accidental) fault.
Bruce Forest: “It was not easy to have live performances there. It was a very, very hard room to do live sound in; it was a round room with tons of bass. But we would do it sometimes anyway. Jocelyn Brown probably performed there seven or
eight times. And there was Lolleata Holloway. She was one nasty woman when she wanted to be. And she was big; she could have easily kicked the shit out of me. Anyway, when she performs, she does five or six songs, but in between the songs, s[...]
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10 years ago
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Yes, we’re almost two weeks into 2015, so please forgive the lateness of this list—we’re just now recovering from a great New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day spent with the Bunker and 718 Sessions crews. But it’s never too late to support the home team, right? In the underground-clubbing realm, the fact that there’s been so much great music created by Gotham artists and/or released on local labels over the past twelve months is another sign of the scene’s strength—and really, we would could have made this a Forty Fave NYC Tracks list without breaking a sweat. But, for now, let’s go with the five below—click on the images to hear the tracks. Enjoy!
Siren
“Gauntlet”
Compost
There’s a windswept feel to “Gauntlet, ”the long-awaited first fruits of a studio partnership between Metro Area’s Darshan Jesrani and the Disques Sinthomme label’s Dennis Kane. It might be the majestic guitar chords, or the wailing vocals (from Apollo Heights’ Daniel Chavis), or the cut’s spacious arrangement and willingness to take its time to get wherever it’s going. Whatever it is, the song is something of an overlooked modern classic. And holy crap, does that pumping bassline hit the spot! There’s a fine remix from London groove machine Ray Mang that tightens up the song’s feel a bit—he basically houses it up, toughening up the rhythm and accentuating the acid bleep, giving it an added sense of urgency. But for our money, the sprawling original does the trick just fine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?[...]
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