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Martin Bisi

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Martin Bisi
Background information
Born1961 (age 62–63)
OriginBrooklyn, New York, U.S.
GenresAlternative rock
Punk rock
Psychedelic
Electro funk
Years active1981–present
LabelsNew Alliance / SST
Celluloid
Black Freighter [1]
Bronson Recordings[2]
WebsiteOfficial website

Martin Bisi (born 1961) is an American producer and songwriter.[3] He is known for recording records by Sonic Youth,[4] Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, The Dresden Dolls, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of Light, J.G. Thirlwell, Live Skull, the Art Gray Noizz Quintet, and Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning song "Rockit".

Early life

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Martin Bisi was born in 1961 to Argentinian parents and grew up in Manhattan. His mother was a concert pianist who specialized in Liszt and Chopin and toured extensively, and his father played tango-style piano as a hobby. As a child in the 1960s his parents sent him to a French school, gave him music lessons, and took him to performances by the New York Philharmonic and the opera, all of which he rebelled against.[5]

Career

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In 1981, he started B.C. Studio (initially named OAO, Operation All Out, Studio)[6][7] with Bill Laswell and Brian Eno in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn,[8][9] where he recorded much of the No Wave, avant garde, and hip-hop of the early 1980s including Lydia Lunch, Live Skull, Fred Frith and Afrika Bambaataa. In 1982, he recorded the instruments for the first song Whitney Houston recorded as a lead singer, "Memories" off of Material's One Down LP.
Soon after recording Herbie Hancock's "Rockit", Bisi split from Bill Laswell but continued working from BC Studio till present time, with a specialty in loud, dense, often noisy sound, with a focus on local NYC music such as White Hills (band), Clone and Weeping Icon

In 2021, he worked with the Hypnagogia album of Travis Duo.[10]

Documentary film

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in 2014, Sound & Chaos: The Story Of BC Studio [11] was released, directed by Sara Leavitt and Ryan Douglass. It followed Bisi's path via the recording space itself, and the music scene and changing urban landscape around it

Solo career

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Bisi also recorded his own material

The 35 year anniversary of BC Studio was marked by the release of 2 albums BC35 (2018) and BC35: Volume Two (2019) on Bronson Productions. The material on both was recorded in a weekend of performances at BC Studio for the actual anniversary in 2016 by close to 50 musicians who'd worked there over the decades. These were developed into pieces and songs in the following year, as opposed to being purely live recordings

References

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  1. ^ "Black Freighter". Discogs.
  2. ^ "Bronson Recordings". Bronson Recordings.
  3. ^ "MARTIN BISI – Bronson Recordings". Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  4. ^ Sacher, Andrew (August 9, 2021). "This week on our Ch 66 show: a Sonic Youth deep dive with Lee Ranaldo". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  5. ^ "the Martin Bisi Biography". www.martinbisi.com.
  6. ^ Hubert, Craig (2020-10-23). "Locals Get a Refresher Course, With Few Answers, About the Proposed Gowanus Rezoning". Brownstoner. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  7. ^ "BC Studio". Discogs.
  8. ^ Duggan, Kevin. "New song pays homage to Gowanus Canal's toxic 'Black Mayo' • Brooklyn Paper". www.brooklynpaper.com. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  9. ^ "Martin Bisi". Discogs.
  10. ^ "Trevor Dunn and Jarvis Earnshaw Announce New Album Hypnagogia as Travis Duo for September 2021 Release -". mxdwn Music. 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  11. ^ "Sound & Chaos: The Story Of BC Studio".
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