Allen Hulsey
Encyclopedia
Allen Hulsey is a singer, songwriter
, guitarist
and visual artist. He is the founding member of New York City based music duo Muj (band)
. Allen has also pursued musical projects outside of Muj's work, including numerous collaborations with other bands such as Emperor City Motorcade. He is also inclined towards acting, having worked in a 2011 short movie entitled, "I'm So Tall". Allen's paintings have also been exihibited in a number of venues including Flamboyan Theatre.
(February 8, 1985), Allen was attuned to music from early years of childhood, responding intensely to local church bells as an infant and writing his first songs shortly thereafter. Allen moved to Turkey
at the age of 7, at which point he undertook the study of cello
and piano
. He began playing guitar
before attending boarding school in Germany at age 13. At boarding school Allen was introduced to a plethora of more modern music which he incoporated into his vast knowledge of classical musics. He also then started to play bowed guitar in order to incorporate his prior knowledge of cello with his guitar playing. His rendition of Saint Saens “Le Cygne
”, later appeared in “I’m So Tall”, an art film starring Allen and directed by Yael Zeevi, in 2011. Exploring microtonal music and Turkish art/folk music lead him to apply to Berklee College of Music in 2003. Allen studied modern classical music privately, alongside the jazz composition courses he took at Berklee, studying under David Tronzo
, Ken Pulig, Yokob Gubanov, and David Fiuczynski
.
Upon graduating in 2006, Allen moved to New York City, NY. In New York, Allen played with multiple bands, taught and did session work. Allen composed music for modern and traditional dance, performing at the LaMama Moves! Dance festival "World Summit" 2007. For two years Allen played lead guitar for Emperor City Motorcade with whom he performed on WRXP 101.9 hosted by Matt Pinfield. While with this band he also performed at Bowery Ballroom
, Gramercy Theater
, Webster Hall
, and Mercury Lounge. In 2009, Allen formed Muj with Emre Atabay, his Berklee friend. The duo recorded “Muj 2012”, releasing the album in 2010.
, slide guitar
, prepared guitar
. He has been strongly influenced by Erkan Ogur
, Fred Frith
, Dani Rabin of Marbin
, David Tronzo
, Derek Bailey and John Cage
. Allen has also been an admirer of John Lennon
. He participates in and is a founding member of yearly tribute to the life and music of John Lennon. The event is held in Central Park
on the 8th of December, the anniversary of Lennon’s assassination. Performing in the Naumburg Band Shell across from Strawberry Field, hundreds gather each year in the freezing cold to celebrate and remember the music of John Lennon.
, Silvertone 1457, Twelve-string acoustic and Harmony hollowbody guitars. He uses alternative tuning in most of his songs including Open G, Open D and C# Minor tuning. He has solo recordings and has recorded with Geron Hoy, Emperor City Motorcade, Jenn Logue, Ignacio, 6L6, and Muj (band)
. Allen and Emperor City Motorcade composed original music for the movie Rex.
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and visual artist. He is the founding member of New York City based music duo Muj (band)
Muj (band)
Muj is a music duo from New York City formed in 2008, by members Allen Hulsey and Emre Atabay . Muj songs span a wide variety of genres including pop, rock, dance, electronica, trip-hop and acoustic...
. Allen has also pursued musical projects outside of Muj's work, including numerous collaborations with other bands such as Emperor City Motorcade. He is also inclined towards acting, having worked in a 2011 short movie entitled, "I'm So Tall". Allen's paintings have also been exihibited in a number of venues including Flamboyan Theatre.
Early life
Born in Rochester, New YorkRochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
(February 8, 1985), Allen was attuned to music from early years of childhood, responding intensely to local church bells as an infant and writing his first songs shortly thereafter. Allen moved to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
at the age of 7, at which point he undertook the study of cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. He began playing guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
before attending boarding school in Germany at age 13. At boarding school Allen was introduced to a plethora of more modern music which he incoporated into his vast knowledge of classical musics. He also then started to play bowed guitar in order to incorporate his prior knowledge of cello with his guitar playing. His rendition of Saint Saens “Le Cygne
Le Cygne
Le Cygne is a scholarly journal, published once a year, in April, by the International Marie de France Society.It is included in the Modern Language Association International Bibliography database....
”, later appeared in “I’m So Tall”, an art film starring Allen and directed by Yael Zeevi, in 2011. Exploring microtonal music and Turkish art/folk music lead him to apply to Berklee College of Music in 2003. Allen studied modern classical music privately, alongside the jazz composition courses he took at Berklee, studying under David Tronzo
David Tronzo
David Tronzo is an American guitarist, best known for his innovation of pairing the techniques of electric slide guitar to the genres of bebop, modern jazz, rock, downtown music and experimental music...
, Ken Pulig, Yokob Gubanov, and David Fiuczynski
David Fiuczynski
David "Fuze" Fiuczynski is an American guitarist, best known as the leader of the Screaming Headless Torsos and David Fiuczynski's KiF, and as a member of Hasidic New Wave...
.
Upon graduating in 2006, Allen moved to New York City, NY. In New York, Allen played with multiple bands, taught and did session work. Allen composed music for modern and traditional dance, performing at the LaMama Moves! Dance festival "World Summit" 2007. For two years Allen played lead guitar for Emperor City Motorcade with whom he performed on WRXP 101.9 hosted by Matt Pinfield. While with this band he also performed at Bowery Ballroom
Bowery Ballroom
The Bowery Ballroom is a music venue in the Bowery section of New York City. The structure, at 6 Delancey Street, was built just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It stood vacant until the end of WWII, when it became a high-end retail store. The neighborhood subsequently went into decline...
, Gramercy Theater
Gramercy Theater
Gramercy Theatre is a music venue in Manhattan.-History:Built in 1937 and designed by architect Charles A. Sandblom in the Streamline Moderne style, the theatre is located at 127 E...
, Webster Hall
Webster Hall
Webster Hall is a nightclub located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, near Astor Place, in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1886, its current incarnation was opened by the Ballinger Brothers in 1992...
, and Mercury Lounge. In 2009, Allen formed Muj with Emre Atabay, his Berklee friend. The duo recorded “Muj 2012”, releasing the album in 2010.
Styles and Influences
Allen’s styles of guitar playing includes extended guitar techniques such as fretless guitarFretless guitar
A fretless guitar is a guitar without frets. It operates in the same manner as most other stringed instruments and traditional guitars, but does not have any frets to act as the lower end point of the vibrating string...
, slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
, prepared guitar
Prepared guitar
A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques...
. He has been strongly influenced by Erkan Ogur
Erkan Ogur
Erkan Oğur , or Erkan Ogur in the West, is a Turkish musician. A pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976.Martinelli, op. cit.Unfretted, op. cit. A composer, he has influenced many musicians with his compositions combining the sounds of Turkish folk...
, Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, Dani Rabin of Marbin
Marbin
Marbin is a Jazz-Rock group based in Chicago IL.Marbin first started in 2007 as an improvised music duo consisting of Israeli-American guitarist Dani Rabin and Israeli saxophonist Danny Markovitch. Markovitch and Rabin met shortly after Markovitch had completed his military service as an infantry...
, David Tronzo
David Tronzo
David Tronzo is an American guitarist, best known for his innovation of pairing the techniques of electric slide guitar to the genres of bebop, modern jazz, rock, downtown music and experimental music...
, Derek Bailey and John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
. Allen has also been an admirer of John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. He participates in and is a founding member of yearly tribute to the life and music of John Lennon. The event is held in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
on the 8th of December, the anniversary of Lennon’s assassination. Performing in the Naumburg Band Shell across from Strawberry Field, hundreds gather each year in the freezing cold to celebrate and remember the music of John Lennon.
Instruments and Recordings
Allen primarily plays Fender StratocasterFender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
, Silvertone 1457, Twelve-string acoustic and Harmony hollowbody guitars. He uses alternative tuning in most of his songs including Open G, Open D and C# Minor tuning. He has solo recordings and has recorded with Geron Hoy, Emperor City Motorcade, Jenn Logue, Ignacio, 6L6, and Muj (band)
Muj (band)
Muj is a music duo from New York City formed in 2008, by members Allen Hulsey and Emre Atabay . Muj songs span a wide variety of genres including pop, rock, dance, electronica, trip-hop and acoustic...
. Allen and Emperor City Motorcade composed original music for the movie Rex.