Blog

  • Iannis Xenakis (composer, architect, visionary) at the Drawing Center in NY

    Greek avatgarde composer and visionary architect was amogst the pioneers of stochastic electro-acoustic music. His unique approach hinged on applying the science and mathematics of his engineering and architectural background to his musical endeavours. His scores were often written on architects’ design paper rather than sheet music and he employed shapes and vectors to identify instruments, sounds and clusters.
    I found out about this fascinating exchibit (which features drawings and audio) just in time through amazing bassist Trevor Dunn. It closes April 8th so I recommend you check it out soon. It was especially interesting to me because of all the music I record, listen to and check out live, it’s basically a look back on some of the origins of it all. Highly recommended.

  • Pharaoh’s Daughter live at Joe’s Pub

    Have been wanting to see Pharaoh’s Daughter for a long time and finally got a chance tonight at Joe’s Pub. The female-fronted octet features Basya Schecter on multi-lingual lyrics from the scriptures, the song of songs and other jewish-related sources. I had worked with her on Zorn’s vocal masada recorded Mycale (an accappella quartet also feat Ayelet Rose, Sophia Rei and Malika Zarra -the four of them just toured Israel until two days ago) and so I knew she had a very characteristic and beautiful vocal style. Supported by a killer band including Shanir Blumenkranz on bass, Yuval Lion on drums, Mathias Kunzli on percussions, Meg Okura on violin, a flute player, a guitar player and a keyboard player (had seen some of them with Roberto Rodriguez before but never met them before so don’t remember their names by heart like I do remember the names ofthe others, because I worked with all of them in the studio).
    They all played beautifully and presented a vast material drawing including originals and non. The band was great and Basya sang and played well, in spite of the fact she was probably super jetlegged.
    I’d recommend this group highly to anyone who wants to take an authentic and gorgeous musical trip through time and space, transcending political and religious beliefs, in search of the greater good through beautiful music (and tasty macaroons offered by the band in occasion of Passover). Sababa, shalom to ya’all!

  • Pillow Fight and Zero Emission phantom cars? Only in NY

    NYC is extraordinary and out of the ordinary.
    Need further proof?
    These are two things I randomnly run into today within minutes and within 14 blocks.
    No idea what either of them try to accomplish and whose idea they were, but I think they qualify for an “only in NY” kinda moment. No?

  • Yarn covered knitted bike in front of ABC No Rio

    Amazingly creative! I hadn’t walked down this block in a long time and was glad to see ABC No Rio was still around and making music (and art!). This bike is completely covered in yard and not just wrapped around but knitted around every part of the bike! Amazing!

  • Yarn covered knitted bike in front of ABC No Rio

    Amazingly creative! I hadn’t walked down this block in a long time and was glad to see ABC No Rio was still around and making music (and art!). This bike is completely covered in yard and not just wrapped around but knitted around every part of the bike! Amazing!

  • Online Digital Distribution & Aggregators options & comparison

    Before the music ends up free on torrent websites and p2p networks like LimeWire, we all have tried to find the best option to get our music distributed online. There are a ton of options for artists wanting to sell tracks, and everyone wants to be on iTunes, and Amazon mp3 is becoming increasingly important to be on.

    I have been considering creating a comparison table for them. So far online I’ve only found one such table (by Moses Avalon, whose interesting book I did read) but it is by no mean comprehensive and misses one of the biggest movers and shakers in the industry.

    I was wondering what you guys use and what your favorite is…

    Here are some of the major players:

    SongCast

    TuneCore

    Reverb Nation

    CD Baby (acquired by Disc Makers)

    And here are some articles with other options:

    7 Ways to Sell Your Music on iTunes on Garage Spin

    Digital Music Distributors Redux by Steve Wilde

    Choosing a Digital Music Distributor by Jamille Luney

    Exploring the Digital Music Distribution ‘Jungle’ on Buzzsonic.com

  • SXSW here I come!

    After a few days in sunny LA for a benefit gig at the Red Cat with Laurie Anderson, I’m off to (hopefully) sunny Austin for 4 days of music and networking craziness and an interview on South By’s own SX Studio radio station.
    It’s gonna be wild!

  • SXSW interview with Jamie Berk

    SXSW

    I’ll be at SXSW this year again and Jamie Berg of the The Dartmouth Independent will be interviewing me for Studio SX radio on Saturday March 20th at 2pm.

    More info here: SXSW: Marc Urselli & Jamie Berk

  • it’s snowman’s land!

    I love snow. Maybe because it reminds me of my native Switzerland.
    After the 15″ overnight snowfall, here’s a picture I just took this morning of a fellow NYer excited about snow: he’s cross-country skiing (or more like cross-neighborhood skiing) through Brooklyn!
    I would do the same with my snowboard if I had a friend towing me with an SUV butmy buddy Roman is kitesurfing in the carribeans and so I decided to head to the alps… if planes are taking off that is… Cross country… I mean, cross fingers!