Empty House Cooperative music for an IRON POUR

Jonah Sacks (cello) and Dave Curry (viola, electronics, etc.) will be making noise, sound, & music to accompany an iron pour event, which involves fire, a huge metal scrapyard stage set, and molten iron casting performance art by Boston's Iron Guild:

MAGMA OPUS

SATURDAY JUNE 13th 2009 (raindate June 14th)
doors 7:30, performance 8pm - $5 suggested donation
Mac Steel Scrap Yard 286 North Main Street, Rutland, VT 05701

http://www.ironguild.net/

Link: directions on Google Maps

come on, take a road trip!

- DMC

Empty House Cooperative on MUXTAPE

http://emptyhousecooperative.muxtape.com/

DMC on Twitter

My Twitter page...
sometimes music, sometimes paint, sometimes nutty tangents...
micro-blogging, as the saying goes.

any of my pals on Twitter? (not you, Ma!)

http://twitter.com/davethepainter

xox
DMC

The world needs to learn about Dave Gross' GRIZZLER...

LINK: GRIZZLER at Mobius March 27, 2009, 8pm
725 Harrison Avenue, Suite One, Boston MA 02118



I've been playing with this group recently. I'm not sure if I'll ever meet everyone in the band - it's always different. I think of it as islands of sound building bridges to the other islands... everyone improvises with their distinctive sound and it can sound like a random collage sometimes, but its eccentric and energetic and fun. Approach with an open mind and it will expand.



from press release for upcoming show:

Grizzler is a large improvising band organized around a diverse group fifteen of Boston's best musicians. Individually and in other groups, these musicians have developed their own strategies for music making. In Grizzler, we each try to stay true to our own individual voices while creating a collective, spontaneous composition.



- DMC

History Post: EHC on hinah...

Time to remember and reconnect with hinah... old friends and musical & photographical taste-makers from France. Laurent and Eloise were early supporters of Empty House Cooperative, and their multi-media empire includes an extensive catalog of limited-release CDs, beautiful photographs by Laurent Orseau, reviews, favorite lists, creative writings, an archive of exclusive MP3 gifts of musicians they have some relationship with, and more...

LINK to Empty House Cooperative gift: Middle East Restaurant Dinner Music.
This is an early, slightly awkward recording, around 1998, i think, plus a later solo violin piece.
I appreciate it as a reference point for showing the learning curve of a shifting sound. Things have changed, but it's kind of cool to hear where EHC came from...


LINK to EHC: Improvisational Music - the limited edition CD that was later edited and mastered and became "Painted Plane" (Sedimental Records). This page of hinah includes all the info, but the disc is long ago sold out.

Thanks hinah, for keeping up with what's new and for maintaining the old archive stuff as well.

EHC pics of DMC, Chris Brokaw, and Jonah Sacks by Leslie Brokaw

"The Song That Never Ends"

A while back, I participated in a project by artist Jared Nielsen. Here's a quote from his site:

"The Song That Never Ends is the world's largest musical collaboration. It is a randomly constructed experimental composition composed of audio tracks contributed by musicians internationally."

I've never met Jared - he contacted me via e-mail one day. I e-mailed him a few long tracks of viola and upright bass and such... the song happens in art gallery settings, I believe there's a computer randomly assembling the composition from participants' contributions.

LINK to His site which includes extended samples.

xox
DMC

Empty House Cooperative at Outpost 186 January 14, 2009 - MP3 for you...

Another in my collection of experiments in sharing music...
Empty House Cooperative at Outpost 186 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 14, 2009. The full show, 23 minutes and 27 seconds.
The Players, pictured from left to right: David Michael Curry - viola/ saw/electronics, Craig Colorusso - bass clarinet, Jonah Sacks - cello.

Part of "The Series" - at Outpost 186 on Wednesday nights presented by David Gross and friends, dedicated to challenging the listener with the Boston area's best in the noise and improvisational field.

The control stripe above the photo uses Flashplayer. Listen to the stream by clicking the start triangle, or to get an MP3, follow this link and then look for "Download Original" next to a picture of a blue musical note on the right side of the page (around 27 MB). Sorry it's not a direct link, it's a free hosting service. Sometimes there are other ads for things that might say "download", like for unrelated audio converters and such, so again, be careful that it's the blue music note and small plain blue text type saying "Download Original".

If a monthly download limit is reached, it may become temporarily unavailable, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

Other pieces in the series:

"Empty House Cooperative at PA's Lounge, December 11, 2008 MP3 for you."

"a small wall of sound"

"EHC soundcheck November 9, 2006"

"whipping wires"

"sing and scream"

Enjoy,

- Dave.

Empty House Cooperative at PA's Lounge, December 11, 2008 MP3 for you.

Another experiment in sharing music...
This time, it's the entire Empty House Cooperative piece from the December 11, 2008 live show at PA's Lounge in Somerville, Massachusetts. It starts very quietly and is a little over a half hour long, so it may require patience for some.

The Players, from left to right: David Michael Curry - viola/ saw/ horn, Craig Colorusso - bass clarinet, Jonah Sacks - cello, Drew O'Doherty - guitar, Chris Brokaw - guitar.

Thanks to Brad Searles of Bradley's Almanac for the photograph.

This uses Flashplayer.
To get an MP3, follow this link and then look for "Download Original" next to a picture of a blue musical note on the right side of the page (around 36 MB). Sorry it's not a direct link, it's a free hosting service. Sometimes there are other ads for things that might say "download", like for unrelated audio converters and such, so again, be careful that it's the blue music note and small plain blue text type saying "Download Original".

If a monthly download limit is reached, it may become temporarily unavailable, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

Other pieces in the series:

"a small wall of sound"

"EHC soundcheck November 9, 2006"

"whipping wires"

"sing and scream"

Enjoy,

- Dave.

David Michael Curry - "a small wall of sound" MP3

Another experiment in sharing music...
Viola, guitar, and I've dusted off the old clarinet for some amateur skronk. I'm still exploring a favorite subject of feedback drones. Not much thought put into this... just letting it flow.

This uses Flashplayer.
To get an MP3, follow this link and then look for "Download Original"  next to a picture of a blue musical note on the right of the page (around 12 or 13 MB). Sorry it's not a direct link, it's a free hosting service. Sometimes there are other ads for things that might say "download", like for unrelated audio converters and such, so again, be careful that it's the blue music note and small plain blue text type saying "Download Original".

If a monthly download limit is reached, it may become temporarily unavailable, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

Other pieces in the series:

"EHC soundcheck November 9, 2006"

"whipping wires"

"sing and scream"

Enjoy,

- Dave.

Thalia Zedek nominated for 2008 Boston Music Awards (VOTE)

It looks like Thalia Zedek has been nominated for "Best Local Act of the Year" in the 2008 Boston Music Awards. HERE IS A CHANCE TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

Here is a link to vote:
http://contest.flyfi.com/bostonmusicawards08/vote/

Public voting ends December 5. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at The Roxy, Pearl, and Underbar on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m.

Here is a link to general coverage of the event from the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/packages/bma/

Other Thalia Zedek Links:
On Thrill Jockey Records
Thalia Zedek on Myspace

Thanks,
Dave

Come: Saints Around My Neck, reunion show in Spain, November, 2008

This is just a snip from a song, but in my opinion, it's one of the most powerful modern songs in existence. It's the last part of "Saints Around My Neck" performed by one of Boston's best bands, COME, who reunited for a show at the Tanned Tin Festival in Spain in November 2008. Featuring Thalia Zedek singing and guitar, Chris Brokaw on guitar, Daniel Coughlin on drums, and Winston Braman on bass. The night was sold out, but there were a couple other people from Boston in attendance, and we were all brought to tears. (OK, the Bostonians were mainly just me and Mel Lederman from the Thalia Zedek Band, which performed the previous night.)

with Love,
- DMC

EHC MP3 4 U

A piece of music for you - descriptively titled:

"Empty House Cooperative, a soundcheck before a show, from PA's Lounge, November 9, 2006, with DMC and Drew O'Doherty".



There were four players that night, Jonah Sacks on cello, Thalia Zedek on clarinet, Drew O'Doherty on guitar and melodica, and I played viola, singing saw, and did voice, loops & electronics, but only Drew was at the soundcheck, which features his melodica.

As with "whipping wires" and "sing and scream", this uses Flashplayer. Follow this link and then look for "Download Original" next to a picture of a blue musical note on the right side of the page to get an MP3 (around 7 or 8 MB). Sorry it's not a direct link, it's a free hosting service. Sometimes there are other ads for things that might say "download", like for unrelated audio converters and such, so again, be careful that it's the blue music note and small plain blue text type saying "Download Original".

Another experiment in sharing music... If a monthly download limit is reached, it may become temporarily unavailable, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

- Enjoy.

"Whipping Wires" solo DMC viola and feedback improvised music (Flashplayer & MP3)

Here is another piece of improvised music for you, along the lines of "sing and scream" but more aggressive with the feedback and manipulation of its overtones by blowing a toy superhero horn into the f-holes of the viola to warp the feedback... I'm also enjoying the fluid bass tones of the same loop underneath for both pieces, exploring a theme of heavy flowing hypnosis juxtaposed with whipping wire sounds and woody screaming vocal viola tones. These themes will often show up in a solo David Michael Curry or Empty House Cooperative show, and emanate from private musings in the home studio, which is not really a studio... just a random room in my apartment when I sense that the neighbors aren't around... sorry if I'm wrong about that, neighbors.

This uses Flashplayer. Follow this link and then look for "Download Original" on the right to get an MP3 (around 8 MB). Sorry it's not a direct link, it's a free hosting service. Sometimes there are other ads for things that might say "download", like for unrelated audio converters and such, so again, be careful that it's the blue music note and small plain blue text type saying "Download Original" on the right side of the page.

An experiment in sharing music... If a monthly download limit is reached, it may become temporarily unavailable, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

- Enjoy.

- Dave

Thalia Zedek Band - Europe TOUR - October, 2008

The Thalia Zedek Band is touring in UK and Europe in October, plus the Tanned Tin Festival in Spain in November... Danny Lee from Uzi, one of Thalia's earlier bands, will be filling in on drums for this tour. Daniel Coughlin will be back in the drummer's throne for Tanned Tin in Spain.


October 2008:
05/10/08 : Corsica Studios - London (UK) (www)
06/10/08 : The Cooler - Bristol (UK) (www)
07/10/08 : Firebug - Leicester (UK) (www)
08/10/08 : The Maze - Nottingham (UK) (www)
09/10/08 : Taylor John’s House – Coventry (UK) (www)
10/10/08 : Adelphi Club - Hull (UK) (www)
12/10/08 : El Lokal - Zurich (CH) (www)
15/10/08 : Unwound - Padova (I) (www)
16/10/08 : Viper Club - Firenze (I) (www)
17/10/08 : Circolo degli Artisti - Roma (I) (www)
18/10/08 : Covo Club - Bologna (I) (www)
19/10/08 : Chelsea - Vienna (A) (www)
20/10/08 : Feierwerk - Munich (D) (www)
21/10/08 : Bang Bang - Berlin (D) (www)
22/10/08 : Knust - Hamburg (D) (www)
23/10/08 : Botanique (Witlof Bar) - Brussel (B) (www)

November 2008:
14/11/08 : Tanned Tin festival - Castellon (ES) (www)

Empty House Cooperative live clip from Outpost 186 show.

Empty House Cooperative live video clip at a recent show at Outpost 186 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, featuring, left to right: Chris Brokaw on guitar, Craig Colorusso on bass clarinet, Jonah Sacks on cello, and David Michael Curry on singing saw and viola. Thanks to Jeffrey Smith for posting in on YouTube. The clip is from a 30 minute extended single soundscape piece.

a Free Song from Thalia Zedek Band "Liars and Prayers"

Photo: Thalia Zedek's champagne salute at the CD release party.

Enjoy the song "lower allston" - a free MP3 - courtesy of Thrill Jockey Records, of Chicago.

From the new record - Thalia Zedek Band "Liars and Prayers".

We're all quite proud of it, and I encourage you to get a copy.

xox
- David Michael Curry

Thalia Zedek Band "Liars and Prayers" CD Release Party will be a LIVE RADIO SHOW on the air and internet - WMBR Pipeline - Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Thalia, Mel, Daniel, DMC, Winston - photo by Damon Vrettos

Thalia Zedek Band "Liars and Prayers" CD Release Party will be a LIVE RADIO SHOW on the air and internet - WMBR Pipeline - Tuesday, April 22, 2008.

Pipeline! is the live local music program of MIT's WMBR 88.1 FM in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Every week a local band plays live on the air. Hosted by Jeff Breeze, show airs every Tuesday night from 8pm-10pm EST. Starting at 8pm, Jeff plays records and CD’s of bands from all over the New England region. Then, at 9pm (or close to it!), the Thalia Zedek Band will play live over the air until around 9:45pm, followed by a quick on-air interview.

You can listen live on the internet webcast, or download a podcast of the show afterwards.

Tell your friends around the world.
ROCK WITH US ON THE RADIO!


- DMC

Thalia Zedek Band "Liars and Prayers" new record out April 22, 2008

I love this record. It's got guts, life, death, colors, stars, love, politics, lies, and destruction.

The players: Thalia Zedek (sings/guitar), Winston Braman (bass), Daniel Coughlin (drums), David Michael Curry (viola, trumpet, backup vocals), M. G. Lederman (piano).

It was recorded by Andrew Schneider.

It's on CD or vinyl LP (LP includes MP3 download) from Thrill Jockey Records.

The Band:

(Dave, Mel, Winston, Thalia, Daniel)
photo by Damon Vrettos

PS:
As usual, this blog crosses over to all the bands & friends I play with, and other seemingly random topics...

xox
DMC


.

Sing and Scream...

Music for you: David Michael Curry - "Sing and Scream"



This uses Flashplayer. Follow this link and then look for "Download Original" on the right to get an MP3 (around 16MB). Sorry it's not a direct link, it's a free hosting service. Sometimes there are other ads for things that might say "download", like for unrelated audio converters and such, so again, be careful that it's the blue music note and small plain blue text type saying "Download Original".

Solo viola over a dark loop sample, 13 minutes, 42 seconds. Sounds similar in mood to Empty House Cooperative. The root of the loop is viola and reverb effects manipulated an octave lower. I recorded this in my apartment with direct signals from the amplifier and Line-6 loop sampler mixed with live microphones on the viola and in front of the amplifier, a Fender Princeton Reverb. The last five minutes is mostly shrieking feedback viola voicings... a sweet start and scary end. The reverb swell at the end is in the live performance with knob-turning of the reverb on the amplifier. My usual effects pedals include a lightweight Boss FV-50-H volume pedal, Boss Digital Reverb/Delay RV-3, Pro-Co RAT (distortion), Bixonic Expandora 2 (distortion), Line-6 loop sampler, Boss RC-20 Loop Station.

An experiment in sharing music... If a monthly download limit is reached, it may become temporarily unavailable, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

- Enjoy.

- Dave

Empty House Cooperative is part of Middle East 20th Anniversary and Benefit for Stephen Fredette - Saturday, Nov. 10

Middle East 20th Anniversary Party and Benefit for Stephen Fredette:

- Hallelujah The Hills, Reid Paley, The Thalia Zedek Band with special guest Chris Brokaw, Mel Lederman, Empty House Cooperative, Helms, IV Diffusin, Drug Rug

- also Billy Ruane’s 50th birthday.


November, 10 2007 at Middle East Upstairs 
472 Massachusetts Ave, Central Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139


Cost : $10 or contact me or anyone else you know on the bill for advance option of $8 reserve list
EARLY DOOR - 8PM

LINKS:
set times on Middle East Anniversary blog

myspace - hallelujah the hills
myspace - reid paley trio
myspace - thalia zedek
myspace - m g lederman
chris brokaw
myspace - drug rug
myspace - helms
Middle East Nightclub