Thirsty Ear
Encyclopedia
Thirsty Ear Recordings is an American
independent record label
. It was founded in the late 70s as a marketing
company and expanded to issue its own records in 1990
.
Thirsty Ear pioneered the concept of specialized marketing to the yet-unnamed alternative music world in the U.S. As such, Thirsty Ear was hired to implement campaigns in this new area for virtually every major label, working with such now-legendary artists as David Bowie, The Talking Heads and The Police, among many others.
In the mid 80s, Thirsty Ear partnered with English labels 4AD and Beggars Banquet and established their US operations out of Thirsty Ear's offices. The Beggars Banquet alliance proved fruitful and continued for ten years, firmly establishing them as one of the premier English independent labels in America. In 1990, Thirsty Ear made its emergence as a record label of its own, quickly accelerating its position and becoming one of the top alternative independent labels within the U.S. music industry.
Thirsty Ear came to prominence in the mid-90s thanks to its series of CD reissues of classic early industrial
albums by pioneers such as Foetus
, Einstürzende Neubauten
, Marc Almond
, Swans
, and Test Dept
. The label also released new albums by alternative rock
bands such as Baby Ray, Madder Rose
, and The Church.
A unique partnership with 2.13.61 Records, the label founded by punk legend Henry Rollins, led unexpectedly to Thirsty Ear's relationship with jazz iconoclast Matthew Shipp. Shipp would go on to become the Artistic Director of a new line of recordings named the Blue Series. The concept of the Blue Series was born from Thirsty Ear's desire to marry jazz's many languages into a cogent new one and perhaps shake up what was, and to a certain extent still is, a stagnant musical climate.
Since its beginning in 2000, the story of the Blue Series has been one of focused, organic evolution. From free jazz masters, legends in their own time, to some of the most innovative producers working in the world of modern hip-hop and electronic music, the Blue Series has come to encompass some of the most exciting developments in creative music since the turn of the new millennium. Featuring present-day jazz legends such as William Parker, Tim Berne, Charlie Hunter, David S. Ware and Matthew Shipp, and augmented by DJ Spooky, Dave Lombardo
, Meat Beat Manifesto
, U.K. electronica titans Spring Heel Jack, and hip-hop innovators El-P and Antipop Consortium (to name just a few,) the Blue Series acknowledges jazz's luminescent past without allowing it to smother its artists' desires to pave new ground. Thirsty Ear continues to work with the most forward thinking artists and earns tremendous praise for projects with the likes of Mary Halvorson, Jessica Pavone, Scanner, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Nils Petter Molvaer. The label enlisted indie rock's best for the benefit album "Rock the Net: Musicians for Net Neutrality," and earned a Grammy nomination for Sex Mob's "Sexotica."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
. It was founded in the late 70s as a marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
company and expanded to issue its own records in 1990
1990 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1990.-Events:*January 21 – MTV's Unplugged premieres on cable television with British band Squeeze...
.
Thirsty Ear pioneered the concept of specialized marketing to the yet-unnamed alternative music world in the U.S. As such, Thirsty Ear was hired to implement campaigns in this new area for virtually every major label, working with such now-legendary artists as David Bowie, The Talking Heads and The Police, among many others.
In the mid 80s, Thirsty Ear partnered with English labels 4AD and Beggars Banquet and established their US operations out of Thirsty Ear's offices. The Beggars Banquet alliance proved fruitful and continued for ten years, firmly establishing them as one of the premier English independent labels in America. In 1990, Thirsty Ear made its emergence as a record label of its own, quickly accelerating its position and becoming one of the top alternative independent labels within the U.S. music industry.
Thirsty Ear came to prominence in the mid-90s thanks to its series of CD reissues of classic early industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
albums by pioneers such as Foetus
Foetus (band)
Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...
, Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
, Marc Almond
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
, Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
, and Test Dept
Test Dept
Test Dept were an industrial music group from London, one of the most important and influential early industrial music acts. Their approach was marked by a strong commitment to radical socialist politics.-History:...
. The label also released new albums by alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
bands such as Baby Ray, Madder Rose
Madder Rose
Madder Rose was a New York City-based alternative rock band who recorded in the 1990s. The band was fronted by Mary Lorson, who shared songwriting duties with guitarist Billy Coté. The two singer/songwriters continued their collaboration, Cote as guest producer on Lorson's three discs with Saint...
, and The Church.
A unique partnership with 2.13.61 Records, the label founded by punk legend Henry Rollins, led unexpectedly to Thirsty Ear's relationship with jazz iconoclast Matthew Shipp. Shipp would go on to become the Artistic Director of a new line of recordings named the Blue Series. The concept of the Blue Series was born from Thirsty Ear's desire to marry jazz's many languages into a cogent new one and perhaps shake up what was, and to a certain extent still is, a stagnant musical climate.
Since its beginning in 2000, the story of the Blue Series has been one of focused, organic evolution. From free jazz masters, legends in their own time, to some of the most innovative producers working in the world of modern hip-hop and electronic music, the Blue Series has come to encompass some of the most exciting developments in creative music since the turn of the new millennium. Featuring present-day jazz legends such as William Parker, Tim Berne, Charlie Hunter, David S. Ware and Matthew Shipp, and augmented by DJ Spooky, Dave Lombardo
Dave Lombardo
Dave Lombardo is a Cuban American heavy metal drummer best known for his work with American thrash metal band Slayer. He has performed with Slayer on seven albums, including their groundbreaking 1986 release Reign In Blood and their 2006 release Christ Illusion, for which he received critical praise...
, Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened to Meat Beat or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens formed in 1987 in Swindon, UK...
, U.K. electronica titans Spring Heel Jack, and hip-hop innovators El-P and Antipop Consortium (to name just a few,) the Blue Series acknowledges jazz's luminescent past without allowing it to smother its artists' desires to pave new ground. Thirsty Ear continues to work with the most forward thinking artists and earns tremendous praise for projects with the likes of Mary Halvorson, Jessica Pavone, Scanner, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Nils Petter Molvaer. The label enlisted indie rock's best for the benefit album "Rock the Net: Musicians for Net Neutrality," and earned a Grammy nomination for Sex Mob's "Sexotica."
Artists
- Artists on the Thirsty Ear label include:
- Antipop ConsortiumAntipop ConsortiumAntipop Consortium are an American alternative hip hop group. The group formed in 1997, when Beans, High Priest, M. Sayyid and producer Earl Blaize met at a poetry slam in New York City...
- The Blue Series Continuum
- The Blue Series Sampler
- Beans
- Tim BerneTim BerneTim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...
- Big SatanBig SatanBig Satan is a musical side project headed by saxophonist Tim Berne.Tom Rainey and Marc Ducret , both regular collaborators with Berne, comprise the remainder of the band's line up.- History :...
- blink.
- Guillermo E. BrownGuillermo E. BrownGuillermo E. Brown is a free jazz drummer who has performed or recorded with Matthew Shipp, David S. Ware, George Lewis and others. In 2008 his work "Electro Prayer 5.0" was included on the compilation album Crosstalk: American Speech Music produced by Mendi & Keith Obadike.- References :...
- Roy CampbellRoy Campbell, Jr.Roy Campbell, Jr. is versatile trumpeter frequently linked to free jazz, though he has also performed rhythm and blues, bebop and funk at times during his career. Born in Los Angeles, California in 1952, Campbell was raised in New York. At age fifteen Campbell began learning to play trumpet and...
- DJ SpookyDJ SpookyPaul D. Miller , known by his stage name DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics or his fans as "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, a producer, a philosopher, and an author...
- DJ Spooky and Dave Lombardo
- DJ Wally
- Mark EitzelMark EitzelMark Eitzel is a musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club.-History:Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohio and the United Kingdom. He moved to America in 1979.He started making music while he was...
- EL-P
- free form funky freqs
- The Free Zen Society
- The Gang Font
- Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone
- Charlie Hunter and Bobby Previte as Groundtruther
- Albert KingAlbert KingAlbert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...
- KTUKTU (band)KTU is a progressive/experimental musical supergroup. In 2004 Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto started collaborating with Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen, forming KTU out of their respective duos TU and Kluster.-History:...
- Mike LaddMike LaddMike Ladd is a hip-hop MC and producer. As an MC, he practices spoken-word and is known for his poetic lyrics. As a producer, he is known as the owner of the Likemadd label.-Biography:...
- Mat ManeriMat ManeriMat Maneri, born on October 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York is an American composer, improviser and jazz violin and viola player, specifically derivatives such as the five-string viola, the electric six-string violin, and the baritone violin...
- Meat Beat ManifestoMeat Beat ManifestoMeat Beat Manifesto, often shortened to Meat Beat or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens formed in 1987 in Swindon, UK...
- Nils Petter Molvaer
- Ben NeillBen NeillBen Neill is a composer and trumpeter who has studied with La Monte Young. His music has been recorded on the Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, Verve, and Six Degrees labels. Neill spent seven years as the music curator for The Kitchen in New York. He has collaborated with DJ Spooky, David Wojnarowicz...
- William ParkerWilliam Parker (musician)William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist, poet and composer.-Biography:Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco...
- Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
- Carl Hancock RuxCarl Hancock RuxCarl Hancock Rux is an award winning writer and performer; former Head of the MFA Writing for Performance Program at the California Institute of the Arts and has taught or been in residence at University of California–San Diego, Stanford University, University of Massachusetts Amherst,...
- Scanner with The Post Modern Jazz Quartet
- Sex Mob
- Matthew ShippMatthew ShippMatthew Shipp is an American pianist, composer and bandleader.Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and began playing piano at six years old. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown....
- Sigmatropic
- Spring Heel JackSpring Heel JackSpring Heel Jack is an English electronic music group consisting of John Coxon and Ashley Wales.Formed in 1993 in London, England, Spring Heel Jack began their career exploring drum and bass and jungle, but have since branched out into free improvisation and jazz, collaborating with many acclaimed...
- Craig TabornCraig TabornCraig Taborn is an American keyboardist and composer. Playing piano, organ, and Moog synthesizer, Taborn has worked mostly in jazz, although he also does dark ambient and techno music....
- VisionfestVisionfestVisionfest showcases creations of U.S. filmmakers and by production entities that are based solely in the U.S. Visionfest provides an exhibition forum for the American amateur that is specialized and focused; one that does not dilute the presence of U.S. films within a sea of international product...
- David S. WareDavid S. WareDavid Spencer Ware , is an American jazz saxophonist.Ware grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey and graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. He attended the Berklee College of Music and worked in New York City as a cab driver for 14 years, later returning to Scotch Plains to live...
- Pete Wyer
- Vernon Reid and DJ Logic are the Yohimbe Brothers
- Weasel Walter - Mary Halvorson - Peter Evans
- Eri Yamamoto
Discography
- 2008: Musicians for Net Neutrality by Various Musicians
- 2008: The Epidemic of Ideasby blink.
- 2009: Thin Air by Mary HalvorsonMary HalvorsonMary Halvorson is a guitarist from Boston, Massachusetts, currently living in Brooklyn, NY. She is a 2002 graduate of Wesleyan University. She has performed with many artists, including Anthony Braxton, Jessica Pavone, Taylor Ho Bynum and Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant. As of 2008, she leads a trio...
& Jessica Pavone - 2009: Sex Mob Meets Medeski: Live in Willisau by Sex Mob
- 2009: Night Science by Ben NeillBen NeillBen Neill is a composer and trumpeter who has studied with La Monte Young. His music has been recorded on the Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, Verve, and Six Degrees labels. Neill spent seven years as the music curator for The Kitchen in New York. He has collaborated with DJ Spooky, David Wojnarowicz...
- 2009: The Secret Song by DJ SpookyDJ SpookyPaul D. Miller , known by his stage name DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics or his fans as "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, a producer, a philosopher, and an author...
- 2010: 4D by Matthew ShippMatthew ShippMatthew Shipp is an American pianist, composer and bandleader.Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and began playing piano at six years old. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown....
- 2010: Woodbox Beats and Balladry by Daniel Bernard RoumainDaniel Bernard RoumainDaniel Bernard Roumain is a classically trained composer, performer, violinist, and band-leader noted for blending funk, rock, hip-hop and classical music into an energetic and experiential sonic form. DBR is of Haitian-American heritage and he attended Dillard Center for the Arts in Fort...
- 2010: HamadaHamadaA hamada is a type of desert landscape consisting of largely barren, hard, rocky plateaus, with very little sand. A hamada may sometimes also be called a reg , though this more properly refers to a stony plain rather than a highland.Hamadas exist in contrast to ergs, which are large areas of...
by Nils Petter Molvaer - 2010: Blink of an Eye by Scanner with The Post Modern Jazz Quartet
- 2011: Electric Fruit by Weasel Walter - Mary Halvorson - Peter Evans
- 2011: Art of the Improviser by Matthew ShippMatthew ShippMatthew Shipp is an American pianist, composer and bandleader.Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and began playing piano at six years old. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown....
- 2011: Knives From Heaven by Matthew Shipp - William Parker - Beans - HPrizm
External links
- Official site
- Thirsty Ear Discography at discogs.com