Preston Lea "Trey" Spruance III is an American composer, producer, and musician who co-founded the experimental rock band Mr. Bungle. He is also leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3. Originally a guitarist and trumpeter, in the early 90s Spruance began playing vintage electronic organs, analog synthesizers, saz, santur, electric sitar, tar, and various other string and percussion instruments. In the mid 90s he founded Forking Paths Studio where his production techniques were applied to Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3 records among many others. Since 2007 Spruance's Secret Chiefs 3 has been a very active live entity, performing well over 500 shows in more than 50 countries.
Faun Fables is an American band based in Oakland, California. Faun Fables is a concept and vehicle for Dawn McCarthy, who was inspired to write the original material while traveling after leaving the New York City music scene in 1997. Faun Fables also covers 20th century compositions by other songwriters and traditional folk songs. The music on the first album is entirely by McCarthy, as are all lyrics and most of the music on Mother Twilight. All albums except for the first are collaborations with Nils Frykdahl, inspired by McCarthy's previous work and "Dawn the Faun" stage persona.
Carla Kihlstedt is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod.
Idiot Flesh was an American experimental rock band formed in Oakland, California, in 1985, initially working under the name Acid Rain. Their work was characterized by its "rock against rock" slogan, and defied classification with its incorporation of marching band routines, puppet shows, and the playing of household items as tuned instruments.
The Immersion Composition Society (ICS) is an underground network of composers, organized into independent groups, called lodges, who periodically spend one or more days composing unusually large volumes of music for the purpose of creating raw material for their new projects. There are several dozen publicized lodges in the U.S, Canada, Europe, and South America. The book The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook details the ICS approach to creative songwriting.
Charming Hostess is a band that grew out of the avant-rock scene of Oakland, California in the mid-1990s.
Waxworks is a 1924 German silent anthology film directed by Paul Leni. Its stories are linked by a plot thread about a writer who accepts a job from a waxworks proprietor to write a series of stories about the exhibits of Caliph of Baghdad, Ivan the Terrible and Jack the Ripper in order to boost business.
Jewlia Eisenberg was an American singer, composer, bassist, educator, and cantor. As founder and bandleader of Charming Hostess she coined the term "Nerdy-Sexy-Commie-Girly" to describe her genre of music which spans an eclectic range of styles.
Stolen Babies are a United States experimental rock band consisting of vocalist/accordionist Dominique Lenore Persi, bassist/guitarist Rani Sharone, and drummer Gil Sharone.
Grand Opening and Closing is the debut album by the American avant-garde metal group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. It was recorded at Polymorph Recording, Oakland, CA, and was recorded, mixed, mastered by bassist Dan Rathbun. The album was produced by Dan Rathbun and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
Of Natural History is the second studio album by avant-rock/metal group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. It was recorded and mixed at Polymorph Recording in Oakland, California during the years 2003 and 2004. Whereas on the first album, Grand Opening and Closing, Dan Rathbun handled the mastering, on Of Natural History the mastering duties are handled by Justin Weis, who mastered the album at Trakworx, San Francisco.
In Glorious Times is the third studio album by avant-rock/metal band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. The album was released on May 29, 2007.
Cosa Brava is an experimental rock and free improvisation group formed in March 2008 in Oakland, California, by multi-instrumentalist and composer Fred Frith. The band comprises Frith on guitar, Zeena Parkins on keyboards and accordion, Carla Kihlstedt on violin, Matthias Bossi on drums, and The Norman Conquest on sound manipulation. All About Jazz described their music as "somewhere between folk, Celtic, modern chamber, Latin, funk, Eastern, and prog-rock".
Nils Frykdahl is an American musician, most known for his work with the bands Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Idiot Flesh. He is also a member of the bands Free Salamander Exhibit, Faun Fables, and Darling Freakhead, and used to be a member of Charming Hostess. Along with bandmates Carla Kihlstedt and Dan Rathbun, Frykdahl is active with the performance company Ink Boat.
Species Being is an improvisational progressive rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area. They are considered one of the forefathers of improv progressive music. The band originally operated from 1997 to 2002, but took a fifteen-year hiatus, before signing with Rhubarb Palace Music.
IDMEN is the second full-length album by the Polish rock band Indukti.
The Book of Knots is an American experimental art rock band consisting of the members Matthias Bossi, Joel Hamilton, Carla Kihlstedt and Tony Maimone.
MoeTar is an American, Bay Area, California-based rock group, founded by singer Moorea Dickason ("Moe") and bassist Tarik Ragab ("Tar"). Moorea and Tarik previously worked together in the more politically charged funk/pop band No Origin.
miRthkon was an American avant-rock group based in Oakland, California founded by guitarist/vocalist/composer Wally Scharold. In addition to several album releases, they have also had a song featured in the video game Tap Tap Revenge. Their song "QXP-13 Space Modulator" was recreated in Guitar Hero Van Halen using the in-game song editor, GHTracks.
Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition is a 2012 feature-length documentary film about the Rock in Opposition movement of the late 1970s, the music genre it spawned, and the influence it has on experimental groups across the world. The film was written and directed by Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder, and was released in the United States by Zeitgeist Media. It premiered in Washington, D.C., on September 28, 2012. The film was generally well received by critics, with a reviewer at AllMusic saying that it "covers all the points an aficionado could possibly want".
