Sir Richard Bishop, Ben Chasny, Chris Cors
Randga is the epically shreddy trio comprised of equal parts Sir Richard Bishop, Ben Chasny, and Chris Corsano. “Together they specialize in the communion between ecstatic free improvisation and psychedelic groove.” (Nate Chinen, New York Times). Newfangled and shrouded by ancestral awakenings, Rangda’s lean n’ child-eating-machine approach to songs bore deep into the layers of consciousness to divine meeting. Their 2012 sophomore record, Formerly Extinct (Drag City), is described by Consequence of Sound’s Steven Arroyo, as working “the polar ends of tone and tempo throughout. […It’s] finest moments come when they flex their math rock muscle and spin themselves into controlled chaos.”
Sir Richard Bishop is a founding member (along with brother Alan Bishop) of experimental ethnic-improv pioneers and underground tricksters Sun City Girls. Bishop’s first solo record, Salvador Kali, was released by John Fahey’s Revenant label in 1998 under the moniker Sir Richard Bishop (the name stuck). Bishop is also a co-founder of the Sublime Frequencies label (with Alan Bishop and Hisham Mayet). The label, whose mission is dedicated to acquiring and releasing obscure sights and sounds from Africa, India, S.E. Asia and beyond, began in 2003 and currently has over 65 releases to its credit.
Ben Chasny formed Six Organs of Admittance in 1998 in Northern California. Chasny and friends provided a vinyl-only soundtrack for Joseph Mattson’s novel Empty the Sun, from Barnacle in a limited edition that also included the book. Chasny’s (primarily acoustic) SOOA album, Asleep on the Floodplain, was issued in 2011 on Drag City. The band returned in the summer of 2012 with the decidedly more rocking Ascent.
Chris Corsano has been called “…seriously one of the most exciting drummers on the planet.” (Adam Richards, indieworkshop.com) Corsano has developed an expanded solo music all his own, incorporating sax reeds, violin strings and bows, pot lids, and other everyday household items into his drum kit. He spent 2007 and ’08 as the drummer on Bjork’s Volta world tour. In addition to the those mentioned above, he’s also worked with, among others: Jim O’Rourke & Akira Sakata (Drag City/Family Vineyard), Nels Cline (Strange Attractors), and Jandek (Corwood). In 2012, he released the solo album Cut (Hot Cars Warp Records).
Blues Control is Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse, a piano/guitar/tapes new age duo from the East Coast. An enthralling live band with an extensive catalog, Blues Control have been called “one of the most intriguingly unclassifiable outfits in contemporary music, putting forth music that is clear and refined while also being absolutely incomparable.”(Tiny Mix Tape) The band’s Drag City debut album, Valley Tangents, was released last June to a huge amount of buzz, garnering praise from Pitchfork, SPIN and others; and appearing on Billboard’s New Age charts. Since then, the duo has toured steadily–performing in all corners of the world, before coming to perform live for you.
LA-based songwriter Crooked Cowboy specializes in “an experimental aesthetic straight out of a Western flick gone wrong, from post-punk-infused cavalcades of frantic country music to psychedelic orchestral alt-folk filled with droning vocals and eerie noises fuzzing through wide open sonic spaces. Delectably bizarre.” (Deli Magazine). An LA fixture since the mid- 90’s, his influences can be traced back to unsavory L.A. nights befitting his noir-ish tone. Once united in 2006, Crooked Cowboy and the Freshwater Indians became a live orchestral tour-de-force. The ensemble ranges from 6-12 while playing live, showcasing a psychedelic whirlwind tinged with an unattainable nostalgia for a western era we can only long to re-experience.
