A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(February 2024) |
Alec Hanley Bemis is a writer and manager of cultural projects who lives in Brooklyn, New York.
In 2001, Bemis co-founded Brassland [1] with Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner who are known for their prominent role in American independent music (i.e. performing roles in The National and Clogs, and curatorial roles in the Dark Was the Night compilation and MusicNOW Festival). Brassland was initially created as a vehicle to release the debut recordings by The National and Clogs. Today it documents the work of an international community of musicians surrounding The National.[ citation needed ]
The Guardian newspaper called it "the record label at the centre of New York's other music scene" and "a focus for some of the city's most intriguing and creative musicians." [2]
Bemis worked as a manager and consultant with artists including Alexi Murdoch, !!!, Dirty Projectors, and The Barr Brothers, entities such as All Tomorrow's Parties and Cantaloupe Music, and performing arts institutions including Australia's Adelaide Festival, Ireland's National Concert Hall, and Greece's Stavros Niarchos Foundation. He has served on the board of directors for both WYBC and Manhattan New Music Project, [3] a non-profit that sends musicians to teach in New York City schools. He frequently emphasizes the importance of collaboration in creating music and culture, stating that Brassland was created to "foster the growth of the bands and the community around them." [4] [5]
Previous to starting the label, Bemis had an active career as a writer. In the 1990s, he published Jaboni Youth fanzine, focusing on the nascent American independent music scene. In the early 2000s he worked as a journalist for LA Weekly , The New York Times , [6] The New Yorker , [7] and the Los Angeles Times . Since the mid-2000s, his writing has primarily appeared on personal social network sites and occasionally blogs [8] such as Arcade, [9] a humanities site published by Stanford University. From 2012 to 2016, he hosted a radio show [10] webcast by Alanna Heiss's Clocktower Productions. In autumn 2020, an article he wrote for The Creative Independent was widely disseminated on the internet. It was called "19 things I'd tell people contemplating starting a record label (after running one for 19 years)". [11] it was a mix of advice, warnings, and personal history gleaned from almost two decades of operating Brassland. It was followed by an appearance on the Third Story podcast. [12]
Maxim Adam Bemis is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and primary songwriter of the rock band Say Anything. He sang alongside Chris Conley in the supergroup Two Tongues. He plays alongside his wife Sherri Dupree-Bemis under the name Perma, and is a comic book writer, chiefly for Marvel Comics.
Richard Reed Parry is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching between guitar, double bass, drums, celesta, keyboards, and accordion.
The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). Carin Besser, the wife of Matt Berninger, is not a band member but has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband since its 2007 album Boxer.
Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers is the second studio album by indie rock band the National. It was released in 2003 on Brassland Records. This is the first album on which the band worked with Peter Katis, who would produce the band's next albums Alligator and Boxer.
Clogs are a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Padma Newsome. Clogs have released five albums on Brassland Records—Thom's Night Out (2001), Lullaby for Sue (2003), Stick Music (2004), Lantern (2006) and The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton (2010).
Brassland is an independent record label founded in 2001 by Alec Hanley Bemis, Aaron Dessner, and Bryce Dessner.
Baby Dayliner is a musical recording and performing artist from and based out of New York City. He was born and raised in New York City, and went to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, also known as the high school from the 1980 film Fame. He attended St. John's College in Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM. After varying roles in different bands, Marunas decided to take the stage as a solo act. He became deft at synths, samplers, and recording, and began crafting songs that would be performed under the Baby Dayliner name.
Seven New Songs of "Mount Eerie" is the debut EP by Mount Eerie, released on June 1, 2004.
Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. I: Day of Niagara or simply Day of Niagara is a bootleg recording of a 1965 performance by the minimalist music group the Theatre of Eternal Music, a.k.a. the Dream Syndicate. Contributors include future Velvet Underground members John Cale and Angus Maclise, composers La Monte Young and Tony Conrad, and artist Marian Zazeela. It received a release in 2000 by the label Table of the Elements against the wishes of Young.
Thomas Bartlett, also known as Doveman, is an American pianist, producer, and singer. He has released four solo albums as Doveman, four albums as a member of The Gloaming, duo albums with the composer Nico Muhly and the hardanger d’amore player Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, and "Shelter," an album of solo piano compositions.
Bryce David Dessner is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, as well as a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother, Aaron is also a member of the group. Together, they write the music in collaboration with lead singer and lyricist Matt Berninger.
Aaron Brooking Dessner is an American musician. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band The National, with whom he has recorded nine studio albums; a co-founder of the indie rock duo Big Red Machine, teaming with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon; and a collaborator on Taylor Swift's studio albums Folklore and Evermore, both of which contended for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2021 and 2022, respectively, with the former winning the accolade.
MusicNOW is a contemporary music and arts festival founded in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Chamber Music Cincinnati. President Audrey Luna and guitarist and composer Bryce Dessner curated this inaugural season. It was originally held at the Contemporary Arts Center and later moved to Memorial Hall, a small historic theater located in the city's historic Over-the-Rhine district. Festival performers have included contemporary music advocates Bang on a Can All-Stars and Kronos Quartet as well as indie rock groups such as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors and The National. Two annual elements of the festival have been the inclusion of visual art, including installations by Karl Jensen, and new music commissions.
David Spelman is an American, New York-based, record producer and curator working in recordings, films and live events
The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton is an album by Clogs, released in March 2010. This is their first non-instrumental album, featuring several guest singers, including Shara Worden, singer and songwriter of the indie rock band My Brightest Diamond, Matt Berninger, lead singer of Clogs' sister band the National and Sufjan Stevens, a prominent indie folk singer/songwriter.
The Big Ears Festival is an annual music festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, created and produced by AC Entertainment.
This Is the Kit is the alias of British musician Kate Stables, as well as the band she fronts.
Asristir Vieldriox is an EP released by the avantgarde band Orthrelm. It was released by Troubleman Unlimited Records in February 2002. Despite having 99 tracks on it, each one is only 5 to 15 seconds in length, therefore making the entire release only 13 minutes long in total. Due to this it cannot be classed as an album but an EP instead.
Buke and Gase is a New York based musical duo named after the musical instruments invented and built by founders Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez; the buke is a six-string former-baritone ukulele and the gase is a hybrid guitar-bass.
Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy is a 2020 EP by Bartees Strange, covering songs by The National.