Martin Bisi
w/ Pink Lightning, and Lord Scrummage
Thursday, November 10th, at Small's Bar in Hamtramck
$6, 9 P.M., all ages
As a performer and record producer in New York City, Martin Bisi has been at a crossroads of indie/punk, avant garde, noire/cabaret rock, and electronic music since the early 80's. He has realized albums by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Africa Bambaataa, The Dresden Dolls, Herbie Hancock's Rockit, Boredoms, Helmet, White Zombie, Cop Shoot Cop, Jon Spencer's Boss Hog, Material/Bill Laswell, Foetus, Serena Maneesh and others. In the live performances he combines heavier post-rock psychedelia with upbeat story-telling indie fare, and unique sound layering.
Bisi is readying a new release for 2012, titled Ex Nihilo - Latin for "out of nothing". A darker tone dominates the new release, compared to '08's Sirens Of The Apocalypse and '09's Son Of A Gun EP -more an exploration of the psyche, with cathartic resolution. "Ex Nihilo" means "from, or out of nothing" -usually used in reference to creation by artists or God. The opening track "Suffer The Moon", is a return to the ritualistic quality of his 1988 album Creole Mass. With this new recording, Bisi's continues his history of sonic excess in the studio, which can be ambient and disorienting - as with the art-noise of Sonic Youth, or the industrial sensibilities of Swans and Foetus.
Bisi began his story in the downtown-meets-uptown scene of New York in the late 70's, where hip hop from The Bronx coexisted with avant garde experimentalism, the punk/glam of CBGB's, New Wave art-rock, and aggressive, nihilistic No Wave. In this world Bisi met Brian Eno who helped him start a recording studio in 1981, and he has since covered all these areas in his work.
Try a few of his tracks
Suffer the Moon
Fine Line