(Photo: ugotsoul on Flickr).
Brian Chase isn’t just the Jonathan Safran Foer doppelganger who drums in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs: whether he’s sidelining with a supergroup or helping pay tribute to Lou Reed and Bowie, the guy is somewhat of a renaissance man. Unbeknownst to 99.99999% of people who have “Maps” in their iTunes library, he regularly sits in at John Zorn’s East Village venue The Stone, and has also appeared on some recordings released by Zorn’s record label, Tzadik. So it’s no surprise The Stone has tapped him to be an artist in residence in October.
If, like Karen O, you’ve got a date with the night that month, you might want to cancel it and hit one of these shows instead. In addition to performing his old pet project, “drums and drones” (an exploration of just intonation inspired by the work of minimalist master La Monte Young), he’ll be playing with Alan Licht, the guitarist who interviewed Young last year at the Red Bull Music Academy Festival. On another night he’ll play with Lee Ranaldo, the Sonic Youth guitarist who has also collaborated with Licht in the past. (Did we mention the world of avant-garde music is a very small one?) For the hardcore drum nerds, he’ll team up with another versatile and well-traveled percussionist, Susie Ibarra (both with Ranaldo and without).
Chase will also be appearing with a couple of the bands he moonlights in: he’s in Pale Horse with cellist Chris Hoffman and clarinetist and Zorn protege Jeremiah Cymerman; he’s in Collapsable Shoulder with Japanese noise fixture Kato Hideki and ex-Curlew guitarist Chris Cochrane (they’re described as “a mostly-instrumental quartet that plays taut, high-tension post-everything rock”).
Here’s the full schedule.
BRIAN CHASE
OCT 18–23
10/18 Tuesday (HM)
8 pm
Catherine Sikora and Brian Chase
Catherine Sikora (tenor and soprano saxes) Brian Chase (drums)
10 pm
Robbie Lee, James Ilgenfritz and Brian Chase
Robbie Lee (flutes, electronics) James Ilgenfritz (acoustic bass) Brian Chase (tuned snare drum, electronics)
10/19 Wednesday (AI)
8 pm
Andrea Parkins and Brian Chase
Andrea Parkins (accordion, computer, electronics) Brian Chase (drums, electronics)
10 pm
PALE HORSE
Jeremiah Cymerman (clarinet, electronics) Chris Hoffman (cello) Brian Chase (drums)
10/20 Thursday (AI)
8 pm
Alan Licht and Brian Chase
Alan Licht (guitar) Brian Chase (drums)
10 pm
Peter Aaron and Brian Chase
Peter Aaron (guitar) Brian Chase (drums, electronics)
10/21 Friday (HM)
8 pm
Susie Ibarra and Brian Chase
Susie Ibarra, Brian Chase (drums)
10 pm
Lee Ranaldo, Susie Ibarra and Brian Chase
Lee Ranaldo (guitar) Susie Ibarra, Brian Chase (drums)
10/22 Saturday
8 pm
Anthony Coleman and Brian Chase
Anthony Coleman (piano) Brian Chase (drums)
10 pm
COLLAPSIBLE SHOULDER
Chris Cochrane (guitar) Kevin Bud Jones (synth, sampler) Kato Hideki (bass) Brian Chase (drums)
10/23 Sunday
8 pm
DRUMS AND DRONES
Brian Chase (tuned snare drum, computer, electronics)
10 pm
Samita Sinha and Brian Chase
Samita Sinha (voice, electronics) Brian Chase (drums)