Artist: Blood Money
Title: Axis of Blood
Label: Killer Pimp
Format: CD
Catalog number: PIMPK003
Release date: August 8, 2006
Track list:
1. Russolo (8.04)
2. Delillo (10.23)
3. April (10.37)
4. Following Thunder (7.55)
5. Jet (21.40)
Extras: CR-ROM track with live videos from May 11, 2006, T.T. the Bear's
Place, Cambridge, Mass., to play on computers and video iPods.
Blood Money is: Ken Ueno - vocalist; Jon Whitney - rhythm composer; Tom
Worster - modulator
Blood Money puts experimental music back into a rock music context where
the onslaught of noise can be expressionist rather than intellectual,
where music can be enjoyed simply as entertainment, and where musicians
are allowed to be rock stars. An award winning composer and vocalist
combines extraordinary extended expression with macho beats and extreme
oscillator abuse. Simultaneously channelling the sprit of Throbbing
Gristle, the mayhem of Pan Sonic, the terror of Diamanda Galas, and the
other-worldly artificiality of Xenakis, Blood Money delivers at the
intersection of metal, noise, electro and experimental. Axis of Blood, a
virtuosic feat of derring-do, will satisfy the most rabid of thirsts.
A former ski patrol and West Point cadet, Ken holds degrees from Berklee
College of Music, Boston University, the Yale School of Music, and a Ph.D.
from Harvard University. He is a co-founder/co-director of the Minimum
Security Composers Collective and is the vocalist in the experimental
improvisation group Onda. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor and the
Director of the Electronic Music Studios at the University of
Massachusetts Dartmouth. As a vocalist, he sings sub-tones, multiphonics
and overtones and practices circular breathing techniques. Awards and
grants that Ken has received include those from the American Academy in
Rome, the Fromm Music Foundation (2), the Aaron Copland House, Meet the
Composer (3), the Belgian-American Education Foundation, Sonic Circuits X,
First Prize in the 25th .Luigi Russolo. competition, and Harvard
University. Current projects include a multimedia theatre work for Kim
Kashkashian and Robyn Schulkowsky (a companion piece to Berio.s Naturale);
and a chamber orchestra work for the Netherlands Youth Orchestra to be
conducted by Stefan Asbury in the summer of 2007.
Ensembles and performers who have played Ken.s music include the Bang on a
Can All-Stars, eighth blackbird, Frances-Marie Uitti, the Boston Modern
Orchestra Project, the American Composers Orchestra (Whitaker Reading
Session), the New York New Music Ensemble, the Prism Saxophone Quartet,
Relâche, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Pro Arte
Chamber Orchestra, Dogs of Desire, the Orkest de Ereprijs, and the So
Percussion Ensemble.
Jon Whitney has played various instruments in various bands since his
teenage years but is far too embarrassed to own up to being in any of
them. He's more known for being a DJ, VJ, web developer, video documentor,
aspiring screenwriter, festival curator, teacher, professional driver, and
founder of Brainwashed.com. He has infrequently performed in New England
and Canada as R since 2000.
Tom Worster's first solo experimental music performance took place in
1984, the same year he first heard the Arditti Quartet perform Xenakis and
one year before he bought his first Derek Bailey record (Notes, Incus).
After that gig he kept his music under wraps until 1997, when he began
performing and recording as the fsb. He is also hosts a weekly radio
program in Boston called New Adventures, rides bicycles a lot, and holds
both ambitions for the 2006 Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200k Randonnée and a
day job as communications system architect.
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