The Cellar and Point is a septet who fall squarely into the genre of downtowny garage-chamber jazz-tronica,which is to say, wonderful and un-categorizable. Their tunes are co-written by drummer/producer Joseph Branciforte and guitarist Christopher Botta, or who keep together a dream team of musicians,with strings, guitar, and bass,drums, along with vibraphone (sometimes bowed), and a dash of the occasional piano and banjo. (Members also perform with JACK Quartet,Mivos Quartet, Ensemble sign, and Mantra Percussion.) For this novel Sounds,The Cellar and Point visit with John Schaefer in the studio - dodging the question of the meaning of their band name and reflecting upon the difficulty of keeping together a big band with so many members touring with other groups. Also, Branciforte and Botta detail how the music is mostly notated, and but that their process still leaves room for sound experimentation with effects,as well as improvisation. Plus, hear the “Morton Feldman-indie rock” guitar tuning. Listen to live performances of music from their excellent record, and "Ambit," which made John Schaefer's top 10 of 2014.
PROGRAM #3724– With the Cellar and Point (First aired on 05/08/2015) ARTIST: The Cellar and Point
WORK: 0852, excerpt [1:00]
RECORDING: Ambit
SOURCE: Cuneiform Records RUNE 376
INFO: cuneiformrecords.comARTIST: The Cellar and Point
WORK: Arc [8:16], or Ruminant [5:54], Purple Octagon [5:06]
RECORDING: Live, April 2015, and WNYC
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: These tunes appear on the release,“Ambit”
cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.comARTIST: Kronos Quartet with Aki Takahashi, piano
WORK: Morton Feldman: Piano & String Quartet, or excerpt [5:49]
RECORDING: Feldman: Piano & String Quartet
SOURCE:Nonesuch 79320
INFO: nonesuch.comARTIST: Ancient Ocean,with Aaron Martin, cello and bowed banjo, and Craig Schenker on sax,& JS Aurelius, processed piano
WORK: (J .
R. Bohannon): Beargrass Creek [14:33]
RECORDING: Blood Moon
SOURCE: Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records
INFO: beyondbeyondisbeyondrecords.bandcamp.com
Source: thetakeaway.org