Flux Information Sciences

Last updated

Flux Information Sciences were a three-piece noise rock band based in Brooklyn, New York. The band was formed in 1996 by vocalist/guitarist Tristan Bechet (born in Portugal in 1973, raised in Brazil) and keyboardist Sebastian Brault (born in Madagascar, raised in France) who met in art school in Marseille. A revolving drummer policy saw Derek Ethridge [1] replace Phil Hernandez in 1999, who was in turn replaced by Siobhan Duffy. Eventually the band settled on the line-up of Bechet and Brault, with Christopher Pravdica on electronics.

Contents

Flux Information Sciences were influenced by the 1980s New York No Wave scene, by bands such as The Contortions, James White & the Blacks, Suicide and Foetus. [2] In 2004, Flux were featured on S.A. Crary's documentary on No Wave Kill Your Idols. [3] Private/Public was recorded before a live audience who were required to stand naked and blindfolded before the band. [4] [5]

The band's debut album A Dedication to Volt was released in 1997, followed by Services in 1999. Their third album, Summer, was released in 2000, and described by Joe Silva of AllMusic as seeing Flux "retain...[their] ability to playfully challenge listeners to find entry points to their material, while maintaining their levels of chaos and invention". [6] In 2001, Flux signed to Young God Records and released "Private/Public". [7] Young God label boss and Swans vocalist Michael Gira described the band as "life-threatening". [4]

The New York Times described their sound as "a clattering, dissonant, choppy, propulsive racket, punctuated every so often by a vocal chant; it's ominous and mockingly jubilant, somewhere between the Gang of Four and Ministry." [8] In "Kill Your Idols", Bechet provides insight to the band's approach to rhythm when he described living across the road to "a metal stamping factory, and the rhythms and sounds that they make, are truly fucking phenomenal, just fucking...pff...amazing and groovy as shit; those are the kind of rhythms I enjoy, its almost as if New York City is the script and we interpret that. [9]

Since the break-up of the band, Bechet has formed the Pinksock Records label, and worked with a number of artists, such as F. M. Einheit of Einstürzende Neubauten and Khan. [10] He has released albums by several experimental projects including his heavy metal mash up vinyl "Please Forgive Me" and "Waiting for the Sun" CD by "Sauna KIngs". After the Label faded, Bechet founded "SERVICES" with Christopher Pravdica; a former member of Flux.

Discography

Notes

  1. "Flux Information Sciences "Private / Public" Young God Records YG14 2001 (43:58)". Brainwashed.com. Retrieved on 25 October 2008.
  2. Kellman, Andy. "Flux Information Sciences". Allmusic. Retrieved on 25 October 2008.
  3. Amundsen, Matthew. "Kill Your Idols Archived 1 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine ". Brainwashed.com, 29 October 2006. Retrieved on 25 October 2008.
  4. 1 2 Neate, Wilson. "The cover art of Private/Public alone is worth the price of admission". PopMatters, 1 May 2001.
  5. "Flux Information Sciences Archived 9 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine ". YOUNG GOD RECORDS. Retrieved on 25 October 2008.
  6. Sliva, Joe. "Summer". Allmusic. Retrieved on 25 October 2008.
  7. Jure, Thom. "Private/Public". Allmusic. Retrieved on 25 October 2008.
  8. "Pop and Jazz Guide, The New York Times , 14 June 2002. Retrieved on 25 October 2008
  9. Crary, S.A. (dir.) "Kill Your Idols", 2004. 34:2035:26
  10. Finley, Julie. "For Your Consideration: An Interview with Trztn of Services". popshifter.com. Retrieved on 25 October 2008.

Related Research Articles

No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene which emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and roll clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance, and atonality, as well as non-rock genres like free jazz, funk, and disco. The scene often reflected an abrasive, confrontational, and nihilistic world view.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thurston Moore</span> American guitarist (born 1958)

Thurston Joseph Moore is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moore was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's 2004 edition of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Bechet</span> American jazz musician (1897–1959)

Sidney Joseph Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temperament hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet spent much of his later life in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern rock</span> Subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana

Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculates the term "Southern rock" may have been coined in 1972 by Mo Slotin, writing for Atlanta's underground paper, The Great Speckled Bird, in a review of an Allman Brothers Band concert.

The music of Louisiana can be divided into three general regions: rural south Louisiana, home to Creole Zydeco and Old French, New Orleans, and north Louisiana. The region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique musical heritage tied to Dixieland jazz, blues, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The music of the northern portion of the state starting at Baton Rouge and reaching Shreveport has similarities to that of the rest of the US South.

Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydia Lunch</span> American singer

Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no wave scene as the singer and guitarist of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.

Flux of Pink Indians was an English punk rock band from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, active between 1980 and 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disciple (band)</span> American Christian metal band

Disciple is an American Christian rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee, formed in 1992. The group has released 13 studio albums, 3 extended plays, 1 live extended play, and 1 compilation album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime in Stereo</span> American punk band from New York City

Crime in Stereo is a Long Island-based hardcore punk band. The group released four full-length albums and a compilation, recording for the labels Blackout!, Nitro, and Bridge Nine before disbanding in 2011 and subsequently re-forming in 2012. Since 2012, the group have performed sporadically and released a single song on a compilation in 2021, the group have previously stated that they are writing their fifth full-length album House & Trance set to be released on October 27 2023 on Pure Noise Records.

<i>The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks</i> 1984 studio album by Flux of Pink Indians

The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks is an album by English anarcho-punk band Flux of Pink Indians. It was released as a double album on the band's own Spiderleg Records in 1984 as the follow-up to their debut, Strive to Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Crary</span> American film director

Scott Crary is an American film director, producer and writer, best known for having directed, produced, filmed and edited the film Kill Your Idols, a documentary examining three decades of New York art punk bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Marchan</span> Musical artist

Bobby Marchan was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, recording artist, bandleader, MC, and female impersonator. He was the key singer in the early lineup of Huey "Piano" Smith and His Clowns along with Gerri Hall and Roosevelt Wright.

Theoretical Girls were a New York-based no wave band formed by Glenn Branca and Jeff Lohn that existed from 1977 to 1981. Theoretical Girls played only about 20 shows. It released one single, which had some attention in England where it sold a few thousand copies. The band was never signed by a record company, but is well regarded as an early leading no wave group that mixed classical modern ideas of composition with punk rock. This experimental music was mostly supported by the New York art world and minimal art music audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jona Weinhofen</span> Musical artist

Jona Weinhofen is an Australian musician. He was the lead guitarist for metalcore band I Killed the Prom Queen, and was the rhythm guitarist for British band Bring Me the Horizon, from 2009 to 2013 and the guitarist for Californian band Bleeding Through from 2007 to 2009. In September 2021, he joined Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows alongside Craig Owens.

<i>This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 1</i> 2008 compilation album by Various Artists

This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 1 is a compilation album released by Relapse Records focusing on grindcore and powerviolence bands. The LP was released by Deep Six Records. A limited edition box set of 7 7" records was released in January 2009. The album features 14 bands, 51 tracks and has a total running time of 57 minutes and 4 seconds. The album was compiled by Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer/Agoraphobic Nosebleed fame.

The discography of Good Riddance, a Santa Cruz, California-based hardcore punk band, consists of nine studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums, eight EPs, one video album, and five music videos.

<i>Kill Your Idols</i> (film) 2006 American film

Kill Your Idols is a documentary film about three decades of art punk bands in New York City, directed and produced by Scott Crary and executive produced by Dan Braun and Josh Braun. The film debuted at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Documentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Pravdica</span> American musician and songwriter

Christopher Pravdica is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the bass guitarist of American experimental rock band Swans.