{"id":11989,"date":"2014-07-22T19:42:22","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T00:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bostonsurvivalguide.net\/wordpress\/?p=11989"},"modified":"2014-07-25T07:23:56","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T12:23:56","slug":"musician-and-producer-martin-bisi-in-boston-this-weekend-with-documentary-and-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bostonsurvivalguide.net\/wordpress\/2014\/07\/musician-and-producer-martin-bisi-in-boston-this-weekend-with-documentary-and-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Musician and producer Martin Bisi in Boston this weekend with documentary and performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"photo

photo by Elizabeth Graham for Creative Loafing, Atlanta<\/p><\/div>\n

Saturday July 26th
\nSound and Chaos: The Story of BC Studio
\nA new documentary about Martin and his Brooklyn studio – Boston premiere<\/em>
\nBrattle Theatre<\/a>, 40 Brattle St. (Harvard Square), Cambridge
\n2pm show, doors at 1:30pm | Q&A with Martin Bisi and filmmakers follows
\nrunning time of film: 72 minutes | $8<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday July 26th
\nMartin Bisi (10:30 pm set) with Black Fortress of Opium (11:30 pm set)
\nat Lilypad<\/a>, 1353 Cambridge St (Inman Square), Cambridge
\nall ages, 10 pm doors | $7<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Martin Bisi<\/a><\/strong> has an impressive musical resume<\/a><\/strong>. That’s putting it mildly. As a New York-based musician, producer, engineer and studio mastermind since 1981, he has recorded an illustrious collection of artists that include Sonic Youth (Bad Moon Rising, 1985 and EVOL, 1986), Swans (The Burning World, 1989, Love of Live, 1992 and The Great Annihilator, 1994), Angels of Light, Afrika Bambaata, Iggy Pop (Instinct, 1988), John Zorn, Alice Donut, Fab Five Freddy, Lydia Lunch, Foetus, EMF, Bill Laswell, Material, Serena Maneesh, US Maple, Jon Spencer’s Boss Hog, Helmet, Live Skull, Unsane, Ginger Baker, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie (Make Them Die Slowly, 1989), Boredoms and Herbie Hancock’s Grammy Award winning song Rockit. He recorded The Dresden Dolls’<\/a><\/strong> highly acclaimed debut album in 2002 and more recent bands Pop. 1280<\/a><\/strong>, Rude Mechanical Orchestra<\/a><\/strong> and Cinema Cinema<\/a><\/strong>. He’s worked with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, and with painter Jean-Michel Basquiat<\/a><\/strong> and performance artist Michael Holman’s<\/a><\/strong> industrial band, Gray<\/a><\/strong>. Bisi has been a vital part of New York’s underground music scene throughout the 1980s, 1990s and beyond. <\/p>\n

\"©

© 2014 Nicole Capobianco<\/p><\/div>\n

B.C. Studio<\/h4>\n

In 1979, with the help of musician and producer Bill Laswell<\/a><\/strong> and artistic luminary Brian Eno<\/a><\/strong>, Bisi created B.C. Studio<\/strong> (formerly OAO Studio) in the once forlorn and industrial (but now up-and-coming yuppie) Gowanus section of Brooklyn<\/a><\/strong>. As studio owner and engineer, he created a vibrant recording complex and underground community in a converted warehouse that became legendary. It was a warm, welcoming environment tucked inside a foreboding part of town, where some of the most creative minds of the city let their muses run wild. There was the birth of the New York hip-hop scene, the heyday of the city’s punk scene and CBGB<\/a><\/strong>, the zenith of the No Wave, noise, indie rock, cabaret rock and experimental music scenes, all the way up to and including the Occupy Wall Street Movement — all of these vital artistic (and social) movements passed through B.C. Studio’s industrial doors. The famed studio continues to this day, though the pressures of development and the all-too-familiar process of gentrification and the destruction of vital artistic communities and affordable living space has begun to take its toll.<\/p>\n

\"B.C.

B.C. Studio - photo by Navid Baraty for Gothamist<\/p><\/div>\n

Additional photos of B.C. Studio<\/a><\/strong> at Gothamist.com.<\/p>\n

Sound and Chaos: The Story of B.C. Studio<\/h4>\n

The history of Martin’s fabled studio has now been lovingly told in a stunning documentary, Sound and Chaos: The Story of B.C. Studio<\/a><\/strong>, that was produced and directed by Ryan Douglass and Sara Leavitt. This humble little film is so huge in what it encompasses, I barely know where to begin. In a mere 72 minutes, they cover the owner’s feisty foray as a wild-eyed, ridiculously ambitious 17-year-old into the world of sound engineering, which started in Manhattan clubs for noise and no-wave bands and quickly moved on to remarkable (and amusingly told) recording sessions with the legendary Brian Eno for his On Land ambient album. They talk about his fateful meeting and long-term collaboration with Bill Laswell, the purchase and development of B.C. Studio and Eno’s crucial patronage. Through a New York City underground who’s who cast of colorful commentators, they examine B.C.’s vital role in the city’s emerging hip-hop culture, which included Afrika Bambaata’s brokered musical truce among the city’s rival gangs. There’s a behind-the-scenes accounting of Bisi’s involvement with the punk and experimental bands of the time. We’re given inside looks at the formation of Bill Laswell’s band\/production company Material and the recording of seminal albums by Sonic Youth, Swans and The Dresden Dolls. They talk about Bisi’s collaboration with Bill Laswell and Material to record Herbie Hancock’s award-winning “Rockit,” the first mainstream song to feature a DJ ‘scratching’ with a turntable. There are Bisi’s in-depth explanations about his recording aesthetics and techniques, and anecdotal tales of the craziness that ensued during the parade of revered musicians who passed through on their way to greatness.<\/p>\n