David Grubbs
Encyclopedia
David Grubbs guitarist
, pianist
, and vocalist, was a founding member of Squirrel Bait
, Bastro
, and Gastr del Sol
. He has also played in Codeine
, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet
and The Wingdale Community Singers.
Squirrel Bait
was a 1980s Louisville, Kentucky
punk rock
group that released a 12" EP and an album on Homestead Records. Grubbs's next group was Bastro
, which released two albums on Homestead. In 1991 Bastro morphed into the more avant-garde Gastr del Sol
. This project soon became essentially a partnership between Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke
after the band's first album. The albums released by the duo include Crookt, Crackt, or Fly
, Upgrade & Afterlife
, and Camoufleur
. In this period, Grubbs also contributed to other projects, including guitar for two tracks on Codeine
's 1994 album The White Birch
.
Since the breakup of Gastr del Sol
in 1997, Grubbs has released numerous solo and collaborative records, mostly on the Drag City
label, for which he ran the Moikai sub-label. In 2000, his album The Spectrum Between was named “Album of the Year” in the Sunday Times. He operates his own label, Blue Chopsticks, which has released both new and archival recordings from Luc Ferrari
, Derek Bailey and Noël Akchoté
, Workshop, Van Oehlen, and Mats Gustafsson
. He has appeared on recordings by Tony Conrad
, Matmos
, Palace Music, Pauline Oliveros
, and many more. Grubbs is also known for his collaborations with writers Susan Howe
, Rick Moody
, and Kenneth Goldsmith
as well as with visual artists including Anthony McCall
, Angela Bulloch
, Stephen Prina
, and Cosima von Bonin.
Grubbs's soundtrack work includes music with Matmos
for Thierry Jousse’s feature film Les Invisibles. He has composed the soundtracks for Angela Bulloch
’s installations Z Point and Horizontal Technicolour, and Hybrid Song Box.4, and his music appears in two installations by Doug Aitken
. Grubbs’s sound installation “Between a Raven and a Writing Desk” was included in the 1999 group exhibition “Elysian Fields” at the Centre Pompidou. Grubbs has also contributed music to the Red Krayola
’s soundtrack to Norman and Bruce Yonemoto’s film Japan in Paris in LA as well as to Augusto Contento's film Strade Trasparenti, Braden King and Laura Moya’s film Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks its Back, and John Boskovich’s film North. Music by Gastr del Sol appears in the P.B.S. television series The United States of Poetry, Hal Hartley
’s film The Book of Life, and Doug Aitken
’s film The Diamond Sea
. Grubbs composed music for Karl Bruckmaier’s radio adaptation of Peter Weiss
’s Die Ästhetik des Widerstands, which was named “Hoerbuch des Jahres 2007” (Audio Book of the Year) by Hessischer Rundfunk.
From 1997-99, David Grubbs was a part-time instructor in the Liberal Arts and Sound departments at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is presently an Associate Professor in the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College
, CUNY, director of Brooklyn College’s graduate programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts
(PIMA), and a member of the faculty of the Brooklyn College Center for Computer Music (BC-CCM)
.
Grubbs received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago
. His criticism has appeared in Conjunctions, Bookforum, Texte zur Kunst, and Purple, and from 1999-2007 he regularly contributed music criticism to the Munich newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. In 2006 he was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.
David participated as drummer 23 in the Boredoms 77 Boadrum
performance which occurred on July 7th, 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
in Brooklyn
, New York
.
Grubbs lives in Brooklyn
with his wife, Cathy Bowman, and their son Emmett Bowman-Grubbs.
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...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, and vocalist, was a founding member of Squirrel Bait
Squirrel Bait
Squirrel Bait was an American punk band from Louisville, Kentucky. They were in existence from 1983 to 1988. Squirrel Bait's dense, moody, melodic hardcore sound, featuring pronounced tempo shifts, foreshadowed the grunge sound of the late 1980s as well as math rock...
, Bastro
Bastro
Bastro was an American post-hardcore band in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's main line-up consisted of David Grubbs on guitar, Clark Johnson on bass guitar, and John McEntire on drums.-History:...
, and Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol was a Chicago band consisting, for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they put out seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète....
. He has also played in Codeine
Codeine (band)
Codeine was an American indie rock/slowcore band formed in 1989. They released two full-length albums — Frigid Stars in 1990 and The White Birch in 1994.-History:...
, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet
Bitch Magnet
Bitch Magnet was a post-hardcore band during the late 1980s and early 1990s who formed at Oberlin College in Ohio and later moved to North Carolina. They released their first record in 1988. All of the band's full-length albums were released on Communion Records in the US; they were also signed to...
and The Wingdale Community Singers.
Squirrel Bait
Squirrel Bait
Squirrel Bait was an American punk band from Louisville, Kentucky. They were in existence from 1983 to 1988. Squirrel Bait's dense, moody, melodic hardcore sound, featuring pronounced tempo shifts, foreshadowed the grunge sound of the late 1980s as well as math rock...
was a 1980s Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
group that released a 12" EP and an album on Homestead Records. Grubbs's next group was Bastro
Bastro
Bastro was an American post-hardcore band in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's main line-up consisted of David Grubbs on guitar, Clark Johnson on bass guitar, and John McEntire on drums.-History:...
, which released two albums on Homestead. In 1991 Bastro morphed into the more avant-garde Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol was a Chicago band consisting, for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they put out seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète....
. This project soon became essentially a partnership between Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (musician)
Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...
after the band's first album. The albums released by the duo include Crookt, Crackt, or Fly
Crookt, Crackt, or Fly
Crookt, Crackt, or Fly is a 1994 album by Gastr del Sol released on Drag City. The album was written and performed by David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke, with John McEntire , Steve Butters and Gene Coleman also contributing...
, Upgrade & Afterlife
Upgrade & Afterlife
Upgrade & Afterlife is a 1996 album by Gastr del Sol.The album cover is Wasserstiefel by Swiss artist Roman Signer.-Track listing:# "Our Exquisite Replica of "Eternity":" –8:26# "Rebecca Sylvester" – 3:53...
, and Camoufleur
Camoufleur
Camoufleur is a 1998 album by Gastr del Sol released on Drag City. The album was written and performed by David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke and Markus Popp, with an array of other musicians including John McEntire , Rob Mazurek and Darin Gray...
. In this period, Grubbs also contributed to other projects, including guitar for two tracks on Codeine
Codeine (band)
Codeine was an American indie rock/slowcore band formed in 1989. They released two full-length albums — Frigid Stars in 1990 and The White Birch in 1994.-History:...
's 1994 album The White Birch
The White Birch
The White Birch is the second and final album by the New York band Codeine. Released in April 1994, the album is considered to be the band's best album and a clear influence on Low, among other bands.-Background:...
.
Since the breakup of Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol was a Chicago band consisting, for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they put out seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète....
in 1997, Grubbs has released numerous solo and collaborative records, mostly on the Drag City
Drag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
label, for which he ran the Moikai sub-label. In 2000, his album The Spectrum Between was named “Album of the Year” in the Sunday Times. He operates his own label, Blue Chopsticks, which has released both new and archival recordings from Luc Ferrari
Luc Ferrari
Luc Ferrari was of an Italian heritage but French born composer, particularly noted for his tape music.-Biography:...
, Derek Bailey and Noël Akchoté
Noël Akchoté
Noël Akchoté is a French guitarist mainly active in the free improvisation, experimental music and free jazz.-Biography:Trained from the age of eight he debuted as a guitarist in 1990...
, Workshop, Van Oehlen, and Mats Gustafsson
Mats Gustafsson
Mats Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish saxophone player and a stalwart on the Scandinavian free jazz scene. He is known for his tonal belligerence and intensity when improvising....
. He has appeared on recordings by Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer...
, Matmos
Matmos
Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore signed to the Matador Records label. M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances, including...
, Palace Music, Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....
, and many more. Grubbs is also known for his collaborations with writers Susan Howe
Susan Howe
Susan Howe is a American poet, scholar, essayist and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among others poetry movements. Her work is often classified as Postmodern because it expands traditional notions of genre...
, Rick Moody
Rick Moody
Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...
, and Kenneth Goldsmith
Kenneth Goldsmith
Kenneth Goldsmith is an American poet. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb, teaches Poetics and Poetic Practice at the University of Pennsylvania and is Senior Editor of PennSound. He hosted a weekly radio show at WFMU from 1995 until June 2010...
as well as with visual artists including Anthony McCall
Anthony McCall
Anthony McCall is a British-born American Avant-Garde artist, specializing in cinema/projected film.thumb|Anthony McCall at Gallery Zander , Cologne...
, Angela Bulloch
Angela Bulloch
Angela Bulloch , is an artist who often works with sound and installation; she is recognised as one of the Young British Artists.-Life and career:...
, Stephen Prina
Stephen Prina
Stephen Prina is an American artist. His work has been categorized as "post-conceptualism." Prina is a professor at the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University...
, and Cosima von Bonin.
Grubbs's soundtrack work includes music with Matmos
Matmos
Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore signed to the Matador Records label. M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances, including...
for Thierry Jousse’s feature film Les Invisibles. He has composed the soundtracks for Angela Bulloch
Angela Bulloch
Angela Bulloch , is an artist who often works with sound and installation; she is recognised as one of the Young British Artists.-Life and career:...
’s installations Z Point and Horizontal Technicolour, and Hybrid Song Box.4, and his music appears in two installations by Doug Aitken
Doug Aitken
-Early life and career:Doug Aitken was born in Redondo Beach, California in 1968. In 1987, he initially studied magazine illustration with Philip Hays at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena before graduating in Fine Arts in 1991. He moved to New York in 1994 where he had his first solo...
. Grubbs’s sound installation “Between a Raven and a Writing Desk” was included in the 1999 group exhibition “Elysian Fields” at the Centre Pompidou. Grubbs has also contributed music to the Red Krayola
Red Krayola
Red Krayola was a psychedelic, avant-garde rock band from Houston, Texas, formed by art students at the University of St. Thomas in 1966. The band was led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson, along with drummer Frederick Barthelme and Steve Cunningham...
’s soundtrack to Norman and Bruce Yonemoto’s film Japan in Paris in LA as well as to Augusto Contento's film Strade Trasparenti, Braden King and Laura Moya’s film Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks its Back, and John Boskovich’s film North. Music by Gastr del Sol appears in the P.B.S. television series The United States of Poetry, Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer composer, who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and 1990s...
’s film The Book of Life, and Doug Aitken
Doug Aitken
-Early life and career:Doug Aitken was born in Redondo Beach, California in 1968. In 1987, he initially studied magazine illustration with Philip Hays at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena before graduating in Fine Arts in 1991. He moved to New York in 1994 where he had his first solo...
’s film The Diamond Sea
The Diamond Sea
"The Diamond Sea" is a song by Sonic Youth, released as the first single from their 1995 album Washing Machine. The song has also been covered by Yeah Yeah Yeahs and can be found on their iTunes Session EP.-Tracklisting:...
. Grubbs composed music for Karl Bruckmaier’s radio adaptation of Peter Weiss
Peter Weiss
Peter Ulrich Weiss was a German writer, painter, and artist of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance....
’s Die Ästhetik des Widerstands, which was named “Hoerbuch des Jahres 2007” (Audio Book of the Year) by Hessischer Rundfunk.
From 1997-99, David Grubbs was a part-time instructor in the Liberal Arts and Sound departments at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is presently an Associate Professor in the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
, CUNY, director of Brooklyn College’s graduate programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts
Performance and Interactive Media Arts
Brooklyn College offers two graduate programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts, also known as "PIMA" or "Interactive Arts."The M.F.A...
(PIMA), and a member of the faculty of the Brooklyn College Center for Computer Music (BC-CCM)
Brooklyn College Center for Computer Music (BC-CCM)
The Brooklyn College Center for Computer Music located at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York was one of the first computer music centers at a public university in the United States...
.
Grubbs received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. His criticism has appeared in Conjunctions, Bookforum, Texte zur Kunst, and Purple, and from 1999-2007 he regularly contributed music criticism to the Munich newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. In 2006 he was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.
David participated as drummer 23 in the Boredoms 77 Boadrum
77 Boadrum
77 Boa Drum was a concert held on July 7, 2007 at 7:07 PM consisting of 77 drummers. The concert was organized by Boredoms. The title of the concert was a portmanteau of "Boredoms", "boa", "drum", and "77"...
performance which occurred on July 7th, 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
Empire–Fulton Ferry Park, formerly Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, is a park in Brooklyn, New York, United States. The park is located next to the East River, extending north and south of the Brooklyn Bridge...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Grubbs lives in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
with his wife, Cathy Bowman, and their son Emmett Bowman-Grubbs.
Solo discography
- An Optimist Notes the Dusk CD/LP (Drag CityDrag City (record label)Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
, P-Vine, 2008) - Two Soundtracks for Angela BullochTwo Soundtracks For Angela BullochTwo Soundtracks for Angela Bulloch is an EP by the American musician David Grubbs which was written to accompany the artwork of Angela Bulloch....
CD (Semishigure 2005) - "Yellow Sky" split 12” picture disc with Åke HodellÅke HodellÅke Hodell was a Swedish fighter pilot, poet, author, text-sound composer, and artist. Son of author Björn Hodell and brother of actor Ulla Hodell....
(Kning Disk/Håll Tjäften, 2005) - A Guess at the Riddle CD/LP (Drag CityDrag City (record label)Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
/FatCat/P-Vine 2004) - Comic Structure LP with artist's edition by David ShrigleyDavid Shrigley-Life and career:Shrigley was born in Macclesfield on 17 September 1968, the younger of two children born to Rita and Joseph Shrigley. Shrigley grew up in Oadby, Leicestershire, England...
(En/Of, 2003) - Crumbling Land split 12" with Avey TareAvey TareAvey Tare is a musician and founding member of Animal Collective. Portner lives in Brooklyn, NY.-Animal Collective:...
(Fat Cat RecordsFat Cat RecordsFat Cat Records is an independent label based in Brighton on England’s South Coast. Their output includes electronica, post rock, indie, downtempo, minimal techno, noise and punk-pop...
, 2003) - Rickets & Scurvy LP/CD (Drag CityDrag City (record label)Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
/FatCat/P-Vine, 2002) - Act Five, Scene One (Blue Chopsticks/P-Vine, 2002)
- Thirty-Minute Raven CD (Rectangle/P-Vine, 2000)
- The Spectrum Between CD/LP (Drag CityDrag City (record label)Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
/P-Vine, 2000) - “Aux Noctambules” 3” CD (Rectangle, 2000)
- The Coxcomb LP/picture disc (Rectangle, 1999)
- The Thicket CD/LP (Drag CityDrag City (record label)Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
, 1998) - Banana Cabbage, Potato Lettuce, Onion Orange CD (Table of the ElementsTable of the ElementsTable of the Elements is an American record label. It concentrates on re-released and specially recorded experimental music, including many of the great avant garde musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries — John Cale, Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, for instance — as well as...
, 1997)
Collaborations
- Back to the Plants (Music for Drawings) with F.S.Blumm 7" (Ahornfelder, 2009)
- Souls of the Labadie Tract with Susan HoweSusan HoweSusan Howe is a American poet, scholar, essayist and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among others poetry movements. Her work is often classified as Postmodern because it expands traditional notions of genre...
CD (Blue Chopsticks, 2006) - The Harmless Dust with Nikos Veliotis CD (HeadzHeadzHeadz is a compilation released by the record label Mo'Wax. It was released as a 2 CD set with artwork by 3D from Massive Attack. It was one of the first albums to popularise the term Trip Hop even tough it described itself as "Abstract Hip Hop". It featured early tracks by artists such as DJ...
, 2005) - ThiefthThiefthThiefth is an album by the American musician David Grubbs and the poet Susan Howe....
with Susan HoweSusan HoweSusan Howe is a American poet, scholar, essayist and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among others poetry movements. Her work is often classified as Postmodern because it expands traditional notions of genre...
CD (Blue Chopsticks, 2005) - Off-Road with Mats GustafssonMats GustafssonMats Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish saxophone player and a stalwart on the Scandinavian free jazz scene. He is known for his tonal belligerence and intensity when improvising....
CD (Blue Chopsticks, 2003) - Arbovitae with Loren Connors CD (HapnaHäpnaHäpna is a Swedish record label. It has released records by Toshiya Tsunoda, Sagor & Swing, Eric Malmberg, Hans Appelqvist and Tape.-External links:***...
, 2003) - Apertura with Mats GustafssonMats GustafssonMats Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish saxophone player and a stalwart on the Scandinavian free jazz scene. He is known for his tonal belligerence and intensity when improvising....
CD (Blue Chopsticks, 1999)
External links
- Drag City Page
- MP3s at UbuWeb
- 77 Boadrum Site Profile Viva Radio, Sep 2007. (FlashAdobe FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
) - David Grubbs interview on Ràdio Web MACBA - Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
- Brooklyn College Center for Computer Music