 |
Kristian Hoffman | |
|---|---|
 Kristian Hoffman | |
| Background information | |
| Genres | Punk rock, rock, baroque pop [1] |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, keyboardist |
Kristian Hoffman is an American musician.
| |
Kristian Hoffman | |
|---|---|
| Kristian Hoffman | |
| Background information | |
| Genres | Punk rock, rock, baroque pop [1] |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, keyboardist |
Kristian Hoffman is an American musician.
Kristian Hoffman came into public consciousness as the best friend of Lance Loud in the PBS series An American Family. [2] His sister is the writer Nina Kiriki Hoffman. During the mid 1970s, Hoffman emerged as songwriter and keyboardist for New York City based band Mumps, and was also an active figure in the No Wave, performing alongside the likes of Lydia Lunch and the Contortions, and playing keys and singing on the James White and the Blacks LP Off White . [3] As a member of Bleaker St. Incident, with Ann Magnuson and Robert Mache, he spearheaded the "anti-folk" movement. Concurrently he was in the lounge rock band The Swinging Madisons, [4] and was the original musical director for Klaus Nomi, writing many of Nomi's best known songs. [5] [6]
Hoffman later played in Kid Congo Powers' group Congo Norvell. [7] By the 1990s, Hoffman was performing regularly as a solo artist; in 1993, he issued his debut I Don't Love My Guru Anymore, followed four years later by Earthquake Weather. For the remainder of the decade, Hoffman worked with Dave Davies and El Vez on various projects and also served as music director for Ann Magnuson and Rufus Wainwright. In 2002, he and producer Earle Mankey crafted a third album of duets, &. [8]
& included collaborations such as "Get It Right This Time" with that dog.'s Anna Waronker, "Scarecrow" with Rufus Wainwright, [9] and "Devil May Care" with Russell Mael of Sparks. "Revert to Type" featured string arrangements from Van Dyke Parks. "Madison Avenue" is a duet with El Vez, "The Mexican Elvis." There is also a guest appearance from Pee Wee Herman AKA Paul Reubens. There are team-ups with the Three O'Clock's Michael Quercio, Maria McKee of Lone Justice, Lydia Lunch, and Ann Magnuson. [10]
Hoffman is also an artist who has designed album cover art for such musicians as The Voltaires, Andrew, and X, and for releases such as eggBERT Records' Hollies tribute Sing Hollies In Reverse, as well as his own "He Means Well" limited-edition 45 cover. Hoffman's art was also highlighted in the books Two Blocks East of Vine by Iris Berry, [11] and Incriminating Evidence by Lydia Lunch. [12] His most famous art composition to date probably remains the notorious "Bendover Girl" from an insert in the original edition of the New York Dolls' first album, [13] [14] since reproduced on tee shirts, tattoos and drum heads all over the world.
In 2005, Hoffman was featured in two separate one-man art shows in Los Angeles galleries — the first an extensive retrospective of thirty years of illustrative work, and the other a showing of several new larger format works. He also designed the poster for the Green Day Documentary Heart Like a Hand Grenade .
In late 2005, a documentary on Klaus Nomi, The Nomi Song, directed by Andrew Horn, was released and received wide critical praise and several awards. The documentary has since come out on DVD (a Palm Pictures Release). It features extensive interviews with Hoffman and many of Nomi's other key collaborators, as well as footage of many rare concert and television appearances by Nomi. Four of Hoffman's compositions for Nomi are featured in the film, as well as some original incidental music and some clips of Mumps songs. The DVD extras include an extended interview with Hoffman wherein he details the thoughts behind each song he composed for Nomi.
Also released in 2005 was How I Saved the World, a newly remastered Mumps compilation, with all the tracks on the original 1995 eggBERT release plus ten extra unreleased tracks, all composed by Hoffman. The compilation also includes a full color 24 page booklet and a companion DVD of vintage Mumps performances at CBGBs and other venues, with optional commentary by Hoffman. This double-disc compilation was released by Sympathy For The Record Industry Records. [15] [16]
Hoffman spent much of the first half of 2006 producing a new full-length CD for long-time collaborator Ann Magnuson, called Pretty Songs and Ugly Stories. Besides playing on the album with his band The Rock Gods, Hoffman also co-wrote ten of the songs with Magnuson. Rufus Wainwright added a one-man chorale to the CD's "Whatever Happened To New York." Other songs on the CD feature performances by the Chapin Sisters, Jonathan Lea of the Jigsaw Seen, DJ Bonebrake of X, and Heather Lockie of Listing Ship. The album was released December 2006. The record release party in the Disney Concert Hall's Redcat Theater was sold out, necessitating the addition of a second show. Guest artists for the shows included Candypants' Lisa Jenio, as well as Prince Poppycock. Two sold out shows at L.A.'s Steve Allen Theater followed quickly thereafter. [17]
Throughout 2007, Hoffman continued to be Ann Magnuson's musical director as she played select dates around the country to promote Pretty Songs.
Hoffman has also served as a regular member of the Mink Stole band, the Abby Travis band, the Carolyn Edwards band, and the Jane Wiedlin lounge combo Downtown Sensation. In addition, he has appeared as a session musician on albums by Andrew, the Jigsaw Seen, Carolyn Edwards, Blow Up (with Deborah Harry), and El Vez.
For over three years, Hoffman was the keyboard player for the popular Velvet Hammer Burlesque house band, led by the Millionaire (of Combustible Edison fame). The Velvet Hammer Burlesque ran monthly at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles until director/producer Michelle Carr relocated to Germany. The band occasionally played original Hoffman compositions. Hoffman's original compositions were also featured in the film documentary The Velvet Hammer Burlesque, by filmmaker Augusta. Other regular solo and duet appearances by Hoffman included a series at Hollywood's late Parlour Club, hosted by performance artist Vaginal Creme Davis.
Hoffman reported on his official website, as well as his Myspace and Facebook pages, that he had finished recording his new 17 song album, Fop, in late 2008; that it was being mixed by Earle Mankey; and that its release was expected in mid-2009. [18] [19] [20] It released in October 2010. On July 27, 2010, the classical-crossover act Timur and the Dime Museum released their album, The Collection: Songs from the Operatic Underground, [21] containing five cover songs by Kristian Hoffman, with Kristian Hoffman playing the piano on Total Eclipse. [22] [23] LA Weekly compared Kristian Hoffman's lyrics in the song "Lite of the World", as "dark lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on a Thom Yorke album". [24]
Hoffman has also served as a DJ on Internet radio station LuxuriaMusic.com. [25]
Hoffman is openly gay and was reported by The Advocate in 2005 to have a partner, playwright Justin Tanner. [26] [27]
Compilations:
Other projects:
Klaus Sperber, known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona.
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.
James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.
Mark Ramos Nishita, known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011.
Congo Norvell was a band led by Kid Congo Powers and Sally Norvell. Congo Norvell formed in 1990 after Powers and Norvell met at the deathbed of a friend in Los Angeles. They embarked on a series of gigs meant to benefit friends dying of AIDS, and were noticed and signed to a record deal. They went on to record 3 studio albums and multiple EPs and compilations. After having been based in LA for a few years, they relocated to New York City in 1994 and played the NYC & East Coast circuit frequently. They toured Europe and the North America, often opening for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.
Mark Kramer known professionally as Kramer, is a musician, composer, record producer and founder of the New York City record label Shimmy-Disc. He was a full-time member of the bands New York Gong, Shockabilly, Bongwater and Dogbowl & Kramer, has played on tour with bands such as Butthole Surfers, B.A.L.L., Ween, Half Japanese and The Fugs, and has also performed regularly with John Zorn and other improvising musicians of New York City's so-called "downtown scene" of the 1980s.
Ann Magnuson is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by The New York Times in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as Lily Tomlin does".
Klaus Nomi is the debut album by German countertenor Klaus Nomi, released in 1981 by RCA. The album combines his technique as an opera singer with rock influences.
Simple Man is the second album by German countertenor Klaus Nomi, released on 23 November 1982 by RCA. It was also the last album of original material to be released during Nomi's lifetime.
"Only in Dreams" is a song by American rock band Weezer. It is the tenth and final track on their 1994 self-titled debut album. At slightly under eight minutes, it is to date Weezer's longest song. It is most noteworthy for its three-minute crescendo of the two guitars, bass, and drums, in which the dynamics gradually increase and the timbre builds up layers until the climaxing guitar solo at the end.
The Nomi Song is a 2004 Documentary film about the life of singer Klaus Nomi, written and directed by Andrew Horn. The film debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2004, where it won a Teddy Award for "Best Documentary Film."
Earle Mankey is an American musician, record producer and audio engineer. He was a founding member and guitarist for the band Halfnelson, later called Sparks. He became a record producer, predominantly for Los Angeles area bands like The Pop, 20/20, The Runaways, Concrete Blonde, Jumpin' Jimes, The Long Ryders, The Three O'Clock, The Tearaways, The Conditionz, Adicts, Durango 95, Leslie Pereira and The Lazy Heroes, and Kristian Hoffman. He is the brother of Concrete Blonde guitarist James Mankey.
The Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group is an American experimental rock band, and the main side project of Omar Rodríguez-López. Featuring an ever-changing lineup of musicians alongside Rodriguez-Lopez, the group is most often a live entity to perform the various outlets of his solo music aside from the Mars Volta. After the dissolution of the Mars Volta in 2012, Omar completed a few more solo records until 2013 before deciding to pursue only collaborative efforts with groups At the Drive-In, Bosnian Rainbows, Antemasque, and Crystal Fairy.
"Total Eclipse" / "Die schwarze Witwe" is a double A-side single released in 2001 by German pop duo Rosenstolz, featuring guest singers Marc Almond and Nina Hagen. The single reached No. 22 in the German singles chart.
John Andrew Quale is an American singer, songwriter, and performer best known by the stage name and persona of Prince Poppycock. Quale, who specializes in musical theater and opera, describes Prince Poppycock on his website as a "roguish operatic dandy."
Drunk on the Pope's Blood/The Agony Is the Ecstacy is a split compilation EP by the post-punk acts The Birthday Party and Lydia Lunch, released on February 18, 1982, through 4AD. It contains live material from a show performed on November 26, 1981, at The Venue in London. Three of the four Birthday Party tracks were included on their Live 1981-82 CD. Their version of the song "Loose" and the Lydia Lunch piece have never been officially reissued on CD. The Lydia Lunch side is a single track recorded up to the run-out groove, causing the song to play endlessly on manual turntables.
In Limbo is an EP by American rock musician Lydia Lunch, released in 1984 on Doublevision. It is largely a collaboration with Thurston Moore.
Kassengift is the seventh studio album by German pop duo Rosenstolz, released in 2000 by Polydor Records. The album was the first Rosenstolz album to reach No. 1 in the German albums chart and includes "Amo Vitam", a song sung entirely in Latin that reached the top 20 of the German singles chart.
Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home is the debut studio album by American alternative country band the Geraldine Fibbers. It was released on July 18, 1995 on Virgin Records. "Dragon Lady" was released as a promotional music video and single in June 1995.
Mumps were an American punk band fronted by Lance Loud. The mainstays of the band were Loud and keyboardist and primary songwriter Kristian Hoffman, and guitarist Rob Duprey. The initial rhythm section was Jay Dee Daugherty and Aaron Kiley on drums and bass respectively. Kiley and Daugherty were replaced with Kevin Kiely and John Earl (JED) Dennis. Shortly thereafter, Dennis was replaced by Paul Rutner, which completed the "classic" Mumps lineup. Joe Katz, also of The Student Teachers, replaced Kiely late on in the original run of the band.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
