Back in June, 2013 painter & musician SiLas Be Ritchie went in for a double lung transplant. Silas had been ‘on call’ for a while & we all knew this could come at any time. An unfathomable situation to me – you wait & wait, then out of the blue a phone rings, “hey, we’re ready to rip that giant organ out of your chest and replace it with a new set”… I certainly didn’t imagine that I’d be out of town when the call came – in Indianapolis, performing the horror-score to NoExit Performance production of “This Is Not Shakespeare’s MACBETH“. We had received the stems for this remix project prior to the surgery. When I heard SiLas was going in, I went right to work on a BRAIN GRIMMER contribution ~ trying to send out sonic good-vibes to Si while he was in procedure & recovery. We’re all grateful that he came out of surgery just fine and has been living his life full of breath!
Fast forward to November, 2014, the more recent good news is… the Tea Life: Wabi-Sabi Remixes album has finally dropped! It has been well worth the wait to hear the wonderfully crafted and varied interpretations that have resulted in these remixes. Kudos to Si for putting this together!
” Wabi-Sabi is the second track off of Tea Life 2, the sophomore record by Silas Be and Brian Tairaku Ritchie (Shakuhachi master & bassist of Violent Femmes). The 4 stems of music that assemble the song (Drums, Flute, Bass, Chime samples) were sent to an array of musician friends. I asked my friends to create a new composition using any amount of the original music, except zero. What returned are these transmission. Enjoy. “
If you choose to pay $25 for the album, include your address in a message, and I will create and send to you an original Silas Be watercolor painting.
Album Cover Art: Silas Be
Track Art by: Andrew Jay (except “Ghost” by John Praw, Image by John Praw, and Wabi-Sabi art by Silas Be)
The BRAIN GRIMMER contribution, ‘crop dance’, is one of my favorite tracks that I’ve worked on… it’s also been the most difficult to mix & master. For the last 3 months I’ve been working on/off towards re-mastering the track. I’ll be releasing a new BRAIN GRIMMER ep some time in early 2015, comprising of remixes, guest-producer features, and cover songs from the last 2 years. More on that in the coming months!
2013 was an exceptionally robust year of music for The Brothers Grimm – 2 live theater scores, 5 album releases, many collaborative live shows & a couple of guest features. For your better discovery & enjoyment, we have put all our new 2013 albums in this one post (plus extra video goodies).
\\ Thanks to those who support our music live & online, we are ever appreciative!!
~ The Brothers Grimm
_____________________________ JAN Current of Air by Koala Yip
We started off the year with an international premiere in Hong Kong featuring Live Dance & LED Art scored by the track Chakpur from The Brothers Grimm 2012 release, Redolent Spires.
LED + Lighting | James Kong, Morgan Aasdam, PC Sei
Choreography | Koala Yip
Dancer | Christine He
Score | Brothers Grimm
Mine All Mine and GrimmusiK present COLIAS 1, the first in a new series of experimental ambient releases. COLIAS 1 features many of Madison’s most prolific experimenters (with regional and national guests):: Nude Human, Wayfaraway, bell monks, Kurva Choir (w/ CJ Boyd), Pat R. & Emily Brown, Asumaya, Kathleen Baird (of Spires That In The Sunset Rise), Brain Grimmer, Melancholy Elephants, William Z. Villain, eskimeaux, James Mooney, John Praw, Gregory Tayor, Shawn Kenneth Pierce, *hitmayng, Corey Murphy, Dressed Up, Silas “Be” Ritchie feat. Brian Tairaku Ritchie (of Violent Femmes), Brothers Grimm & db pedersen, Troy Schafer, A.Rex, Thollem Electric, Ben Willis.
” Watercourse Quartet showcases the willfully unsettling improvisations of four players who’ve each left a distinct mark on Madison music. Several of the Quartet’s members play in the ambitious avant-jazz band Lovely Socialite Mrs. Thomas W. Phipps […]; bassist Ben Willis has played behind Anna Vogelzang. Cellist/multi-instrumentalist Brian Grimm has recently played some live sets with Julian Lynch, and lately has composed everything from original scores for Madison theater companies to the cracked instrumental hip-hop of his project Brain Grimmer. Grimm and his brother A.J., record dense compositions under the name The Brothers Grimm. […] the album mixes cello, upright bass, classical guitar, and Chinese stringed instruments in sometimes-scraping, playfully obtuse pieces. “
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AUG (Sketches) Beats EP 2 by BRAIN GRIMMER
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SEP ___________________________________________________________________ A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Sisters Three (aka Bros.Grimm & db pedersen)
dbl-side Poster w/ codes | 46 tracks | 53m12s
| AJ Grimm – classical guitar | BC Grimm – cello & guzheng
| DB Pedersen – vocal-foley/sfx, throat singing, shruti box, various flutes, animal noises
Implements & Sough:
Pot Lid “tree” (struck//bowed), bowed Saw, various Bells, Slide Whistles, Woodblock, Wup-Wob Cards (bent//bowed), boxes of Twigs//Branches … & etc!
Original Live Theater Score for Strollers Theatre
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
May 3rd – May 25th, 2013 @ Bartell Theatre
William Shakespeare | directed by Greg Harris
performed by BRAIN GRIMMER | Ableton Live > APC40 + QuNeo
Original Live Theater Score for NoExit Performance
THIS IS NOT SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH
June 13th – June 29th, 2013
@ The Irvington Center (Indianapolis, IN)
William Shakespeare | directed by Michael Burke
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Behind The Scenes: Bradbury’s Foley Sessions
Video by Glynnis Ritchie & Jon Brumbaugh
______________________________________________________________ \\ Unreleased albums/eps recorded in 2013 & scheduled for release in 2014 ⇉
“The books are back, but the party’s still on. On September 19, Central Library will be STACKED.We’re filling it with art, music, and local fare. Grab a drink and check out the art displayed around the new library and be prepared to meet your “Makers.” The Bubbler at Madison Public Library is bringing in community partners to set up hands-on activities. Don’t miss the Paka Paka light show dance party on the brand new 3rd floor! We’ll have live music and DJs on every floor.“
Proceeds benefit Central Library
100 Artists/ 1 New Library / 1 Day Only
DJs | Nick Nice, Wangzoom, Doctor Oxygen w/ PAKAPAKA Lightshow
LIVE MUSIC | MAIN STAGE———————–FIRST FLOOR ———————- SECOND FLOOR 08:30 Pioneer ——————— ———————– —————– ————————– 09:15 The Wets ——————-09:00 Spires… Sunset Rise ——-09:00 Pidge Anther
10:00 Golden Donna ———— 10:00 Samantha Glass ———– 10:00 Dietrich Goesser
11:00 Trin Tran ——————- 11:00 Noxroy ———————— 11:30 DB Pedersen
12:00 Control ———————- ———————– —————-⇝w/ BCG ————-
Wrest (on tour) ———————————-|Eric Miller + BC Grimm
Jack Wright – sax ——————————–| BC Grimm – cello / 古筝 / 古琴 / 二胡
Evan Lipson – upright bass ——————–| Miller – trumpet/viola da gamba/baroque cello
Benjamin Bennett – percussion —————| “Sounds of today, instruments of antiquity!”
The Brothers Grimm were lucky to share a set with Benjamin Bennett in 2012 at Audio For the Arts (> recent isthmus article) for the Surrounded By Reality series. Ben, fresh off an intensive meditative retreat, brought the house down with a fantastic sit on the floor set. Those in the control room claimed there had to have been more than just one percussionist performing in the room! He’s back in town on tour with a trio called Wrest (sax, bass, & percussion). These guys listen intently, resulting in delightfully sensitive free-improv – perfect for the Tea Room!
Wrest“The kind of music we play is called Free Improvisation, where Wrest cannot be counted on to play the same way each time. There is no typical Wrest “experience.” We are using all our imagination each show to get past what we did the night before. Free Improvisation is not a genre of music with characteristics that separate it from other musics. Rather it’s an approach to playing by musicians who would be bored representing an image of what they are. That’s why we can say, we don’t know what we’re doing until we do it. “
Described twenty years ago as an “undergrounder by design,” Jack Wright is happy to inhabit the vast territory below the radar of the professional music world. Since 1979 he has been traveling through the US and Europe in search of interesting partners and playing situations, and open to whatever might happen. Now living in a small Pennsylvania town, at 70 he is still the “Johnny Appleseed of Free Improvisation,” as Davey Williams called him back in the 80s. And he is still inspiring players outside music-school careerdom. Whenever he plays today, all that he has traversed is present, from fiery, breathless free jazz to quiet, breath-filled, and often animalistic sounds. A reviewer for the Washington Post said, “In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king”. For more info go to springgardenmusic.com, for sounds:soundcloud.com/#jackwright writings: http://jackiswright.wordpress.com/
Evan Lipson (b. 1981), now from Chatanooga, has been active as a musician since adolescence. In an on-going pursuit of all things occult and aberrant, Lipson acquired an early interest in the lateral realms of visionary & experimental music — seeking to transcend the existent paradigms of idiomatic expression. His formative experiences were in underground rock, modernist composition, freak pop, jazz, noise, as well as various modes of improvisation. Lipson cultivates a palpably intense and vehemently iconoclastic body of music. He has performed in numerous groups including Normal Love, Satanized, WREST, Psychotic Quartet, Femme Tops, Legion of Strategic Deception, Dynamite Club, and Ruins. Past tours have taken him throughout North America, as well as Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan. His music has been released on several imprints including SKiN GRAFT, UgEXPLODE, Public Eyesore, High Two, Badmaster, Caminante, New Atlantis, and Damage Rituals..
Ben Bennett, living most of the time in Columbus Ohio, started playing music as a young child, with an interest in jazz that moved steadily towards the more avant-guarde, then to free jazz, and onward into the world of free-improv. Using extended techniques involving breath and friction, as well as the time-honored tradition of hitting things with sticks, he plays an evolving pile of frame drums, pre-tuned drum heads, metal things, tubes, and other objects that can be combined and recombined to get a variety of sounds. This set-up lends itself greatly towards being crammed in a backpack, strapped to a bike, dragged along the ground, or thrown down the stairs, generally without physical or psycological damage. Recent projects besides Wrestinclude: bst.cr – trio with Ryan Jewell and Wilson Shook, Rotty What – trio with Jack Wright and John M Bennett; Central Ohio War Coalition – with Mike Shiflet, Joe Panzner, and others; duos with Ryan Jewell, Jack Callahan, and Ben Hall; and solo performances. Ben will be resident at the Spring Garden Music house during Dec. and Jan. 2012-13.
Eric Miller, gambist and cellist, plays viola da gamba and baroque cello with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Eliza’s Toyes, Ensemble Musical Offering, and has appeared with the Madison Bach Musicians, and many others. As a modern cellist, Eric has performed with American Players Theater. Additionally, as an accomplished trumpeter and able improvisor, Eric can be heard in settings around Southern Wisconsin such as jazz ensembles, singer/songwriters, and experimental ensembles. A passionate educator trained in the Suzuki approach, Eric maintains a large cello and trumpet studio in Madison.
FREEMAN//BORDEN//CAIN Trio (Buffalo)
Brothers Grimm recently played a Dobra Tea set with TJ Borden, which was one of our finest guest performances to date. A vast array of Contemporary & avant-garde techniques, improvised with classical precision. He is also back, on tour with a trio including cello, electronics, & sax. We can’t wait to hear what this intense, skronky, free-improv noise-trio has to offer!
YID VICIOUS Madison’s premiere quirk-fest Klezmer Ensemble, prepare for a face-melt!
August & September – Live Music Series & Festival Show Performances featuring Lovely Socialite Mrs. Thomas W. Phipps, Brothers Grimm, Sisters Three, BRAIN GRIMMER, & plenty of local friends/favorites!
Frank “Bucky” Pope featuring Dave Adler and Calvin Thorne: Bucky Pope of Madison punk greats the Tar Babies plays with his new trio.
Brian Grimm makes bizarre, hip-hop-inspired instrumentals under the name BRAIN GRIMMER (BEATS EP) and will conjure them up with help from an MPC here. “
> Preview Stream Brain Grimmer’s new 20 track (Sketches) BEATS EP 2on Arts Extract Podcast!
” The Brothers Grimm open with a set of originals, followed by Anubis Quartet, playing adventurous new music for saxophone quartet including Rasch by Franco Donatoni, New York Counterpoint by Steve Reich, and a new work for saxophone quarter and soprano by Monte Weber. “
Color Field Festival also features guest artists TIGUE percussion trio (NYC) & Clocks in Motion percussion ensemble (Mad)
