Wharton Tiers Ensemble at Bar 13 NYC June 27
Show starts at 8 pm with special guest: FAITH. WTE to follow at 8:45. Admission 10 bucks. 21 and over.
Free download: "Final Rain Forest" by Superduperlooper
On June 25, 2013, Fun City NYC Recordings will release Superduperlooper, a mindbending journey into noise, drone, musique concrète and field recordings by Wharton Tiers. Enjoy this free download of “Final Rain Forest” — please feel free to share it widely!
Wharton Tiers Ensemble at Silent Barn - "Border Patrol"
February 23, 2013. Video by Mark Richards.
New video: Freedom Now! by Wharton Tiers Ensemble
You’ll definitely want to go full-screen for this one:
“Freedom Now!” is the title track of the new LP by Wharton Tiers Ensemble, released March 2013 on Fun City Recordings. Listen to the album here and please consider purchasing it:
New video by Wharton Tiers Ensemble
Watch “The Randomness Of Insects,” the first music video from the Ensemble’s new LP, Freedom Now!:
Download “The Randomness Of Insects”:
Listen to Freedom Now!:
Wharton Tiers launches new label: Fun City NYC
Wharton Tiers, multi-instrumentalist member of the No Wave groups Theoretical Girls, A Band and Glorious Strangers; and producer/engineer of seminal recordings by Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Helmet, Dinosaur Jr, White Zombie, Biohazard and Quicksand; has started a new record label, Fun City NYC, to release his extensive catalog of recordings made at his legendary Fun City Studio in New York City, as well as new material currently being produced.
The inaugural Fun City releases are Tiers first new recordings in 14 years.
FREEDOM NOW! by Wharton Tiers Ensemble is the first new album from the instrumental, massed-guitars group since Twilight Of The Computer Age (1999). Recorded to analog tape at Fun City Studio, the LP’s nine songs are true to the Ensemble’s signature symphonic-surf sound of hard bop saxophone, a guitar army, and Wharton’s hard-hitting drums.
The first single from Freedom Now!, “The Randomness Of Insects,” is now available as a free download from Bandcamp.
Listen to Freedom Now!
MAYAN NOCTURNES, an album of solo piano works, reveals a new facet to Tiers’ creativity. Inspired by diverse sources, including French impressionist Erik Satie, the great Romantic composer Frederic Chopin and jazz/classical pioneer Keith Jarrett, the album’s nine tracks were recorded at Tiers’ Pocono Mountains retreat in Pennsylvania.
A free download of “Perpetual Storm” is now available from Bandcamp.
Listen to Mayan Nocturnes:
Freedom Now! and Mayan Nocturnes are available from all major online retailers, including iTunes, Amazon MP3 and eMusic, as well as streaming services including Spotify, Rdio and Last.fm.
Both albums can also be purchased directly from Wharton’s Bandcamp page.
Review copies are available upon request.
More about Wharton Tiers Ensemble
Wharton Tiers discography at AllMusic
Wharton Tiers Ensemble on Facebook
Mayan Nocturnes released: solo works for piano
Fun City NYC Recordings has just released Mayan Nocturnes, an album of solo works for piano by Wharton Tiers. Inspired by diverse sources, including French impressionist Erik Satie, the great Romantic composer Frederic Chopin and jazz/classical pioneer Keith Jarrett, the album’s nine tracks were recorded at Tiers’ Pocono Mountains retreat in Pennsylvania.
Listen:
A free download of “Perpetual Storm” is now available from Bandcamp.
Mayan Nocturnes is available from all major online retailers, including iTunes, Amazon MP3 and eMusic, as well as streaming services including Spotify, Rdio and Rhapsody.
The album can also be purchased directly from Wharton’s Bandcamp page
Free download: The Randomness Of Insects
Download the first single from the new Wharton Tiers Ensemble album, Freedom Now!
Freedom Now! On sale now!
Freedom Now!, the first Wharton Tiers Ensemble LP since 1999’s Twilight Of The Computer Age, was released today, March 5, 2013, on Fun City! Digital downloads of the album can be had at our Bandcamp store or from iTunes.
Listen:
Wharton Tiers Ensemble at the new Silent Barn February 23.
Wharton Tiers Ensemble play XPO929 Tuesday October 16
WTE at Goodbye Blue Monday
Wharton Tiers Ensemble return to Shea Stadium May 10
Wharton Tiers Ensemble returns to Shea Stadium (Brooklyn) November 3
Marathon Man
Here’s a clip of Wharton Tiers performing the closing movement of “Ascension: The Sequel” with the Glenn Branca Ensemble during last Sunday’s Bang On A Can Marathon in New York City:
Wharton Tiers Ensemble LIVE at Shea Stadium (Brooklyn) June 24
Wharton Tiers music featured in No Wave documentary
Directed by French newcomer Céline Danhier, Blank City is an oral history of the “No Wave Cinema” and “Cinema of Transgression” movements, featuring acclaimed directors Jim Jarmusch and John Waters, actor-writer-director Steve Buscemi, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Hip Hop legend Fab 5 Freddy, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and photographer Richard Kern, among many others.
The soundtrack includes Patti Smith, Television, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Contortions, The Bush Tetras, Sonic Youth — and Wharton Tiers. True! Featured in the new documentary are two Wharton Tiers songs: “Move It Time” by Glorious Strangers and “No Love” by A Band.
NO-CORE reviews Wharton Tiers Ensemble at Silent Barn
“A totally classic NYC-flavored experience, part Branca/Live Skull/Sonic Youth, part Television/New York Dolls.” Read more at NO-CORE (Photo © NO-CORE)
New York Times review of Glenn Branca's Symphony # 15
“[Branca’s] symphony No. 15 for 12 musicians, performed for the first time on Saturday night at Le Poisson Rouge and subtitled “Running Through the World Like an Open Razor,” ran about two-thirds along familiar lines and one-third off the wall. It signaled a difference from the start; as it moved along, it grew weirdly wide, showing a completely different side of his musical imagination, if only to make you prefer the one you already knew.” Read more at the New York Times
Wharton Tiers Ensemble at Passout Record Shop, Williamsburg
On April 16, 2010, the Wharton Tiers Ensemble performed at a party commemorating the closing of Passout Record Shop and the birthday of Passout proprietor and Ensemble member Perry “PeeWee” Masco. Thanks to Mark Richards for capturing this video of WTE performing “Border Patrol.”
Wharton Tiers Ensemble with J. Mascis, "Hi Lo" (Smith College 1997)
The Wharton Tiers Ensemble performs “Hi Lo” with guest guitarist J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1997.
Photos and video of last night's Knitting Factory show
The Ensemble performed last night at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, sharing the bill with RICE, the Marc Edwards/Weasel Walter Group and headliners An Albatross.
Thanks to Mark Richards for sharing these photos and video of the event. Higher resolution versions of these photos can be seen on his Flickr photostream.
WTE at Knitting Factory
Wharton Tiers at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Wharton, who played drums for Glenn Branca’s seminal No Wave band, Theoretical Girls, was among the many artists featured in The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from April 21–August 2, 2009.
Educated in the self-reflexive and critical principles of Minimal and Conceptual art, this tightly knit group of artists brought those lessons to bear on a return to recognizable imagery, exploring how images shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world. Featured were 160 works in all media by thirty artists.
View images from the exhibition
Listen to a preview of the exhibition’s online audio guide