Category archives: Musician

  • We Learn Dances: an interview with DJ, producer and label honcho Dennis “Citizen” Kane

  • 10 years ago
  • Welcome to We Learn Dances, an occasional series on the people, parties and (most of all) music that make clubland the wonderful place it is. The focus will be on the slightly more refined, artistically oriented end of the nightlife spectrum—yes, such a thing exists, believe it or not—rather than on the superficial pleasures afforded by either the bottle-service scene or the EDM world. At least, that’s the plan. We’re kicking the series off with a man who’s intimately familiar with the concept of sophisticated dance music, Dennis “Citizen” Kane. He’s been an integral part of NYC’s nightlife since the mid-’90s, when the Philly transplant hit NYC and established himself in the underground scene as one of its most knowledgeable DJs; since then, he’s since played scores of venues across the city and around the world. He’s established a pair of respected record labels: Disques Sinthomme, which has released a wide range of work featuring the likes of Max Essa, the Beat Broker, Liquid Liquid’s Sal Principato and Richard “Padded Cell” Sen, and an edit imprint, Ghost Town, which has seen contributions from Brennan Green and Bicep, among many other notables. He’s a talented producer himself, with material out on such respected labels as Tummy Touch, Ubiquity and Adult Contemporary (track down his mix of Yagya’s “Rigning Sjö” on that last label—it’s killer.) His website, dsgtnyc.com, hosts a rather amazing podcast that’s featured sets from such international stars as DJ Harvey, Prins[...]

  • Nasrene Haj and the Creators Collective: Helping Out the Brooklyn Art Scene

  • 10 years ago
  • In the fall of 2012, Nasrene Haj and Mila Pinigin formed the Creators Collective. At the time Haj and Pinigin, who had recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, were interested in creating a collaborative space in which other artistic individuals could come together to network, generate discussion and develop projects and events which challenged the status quo. In the two years since the Creators Collective was founded, Jeremie Gluckman joined the organization as Research Director while Haj has remained at the helm guiding the Creators Collective forward, always seeking out new and innovative ways to engage the arts on a micro and macro scale. I spoke with Haj who is the Director and Co-Founder of the Creators Collective, about what it is like being a working artist in Brooklyn today, what challenges she faced starting an organization, and what changes she has seen in the Brooklyn arts community having grown up here Anni Irish: How was the Creators Collective formed? And what was your intent for this organization? Nasrene Haj: I founded The Creators Collective with one of my best friends from college, Mila Pinigin. One evening, while studying abroad in Italy our junior year, we were having dinner and started throwing around ideas for projects we’d like to work on together. We thought about how amazing it would be to create a small collective in Brooklyn that would engage these various projects with other friends and community members. A few months after gradu[...]

  • Biography

  • Former Sweet Lizard Illtet frontman, electronic Violinist, vocalist and composer based in New York City. Doing solo electronic violin performances influenced by avant-garde classical, jazz Improvisation, punk and hip-hop. Zef has been creating music for commercials, documentaries, theater, dance and with his own bands for over 20 years. He has worked with many artists including: John Cage, PsychicTV, Backworld, Peter Murphy, Oxbow, Firewater, The Bell Band, Moe. and J. Ralph. Multi media collaborations with visual artists: Keith Haring, Ron English, Seth Tobocman, Mac McGill and with Art for Progress. Spoken word artists including, Allen Ginsberg, Jim Carrol and Wammo.

  • Artist Statement

  • Currently doing solo performances worldwide with loop pedals and laptop beats. Zef expresses a full range of emotion as a singer, a unique string player and a performer of the psychedelic-industrial evolution of jazz and rock music. Also working on a new freeform, soundtrack style collective group, SAUCERBOY. Saucerboy is a collaboration with longtime friends, Mr. Taps, Eric Worbitz and Lawry Zorillo. Featured on the new PsychicTV record, "Hell is invisible Heaven is Her/e" (Cargo), Zef will be touring throughout the year with PTV3.

  • Audio

  • https://soundcloud.com/zefnoise/carousel-of-death-ambient https://soundcloud.com/zefnoise/02-bloodthirsty-1 https://soundcloud.com/zefnoise/03-possibilities-1 https://soundcloud.com/zefnoise/04-sweet-dreamin