Psiphon Sessions with Desertion Trio

DESERTION TRIO TOUR

I'm hitting the road starting Wednesday, June 8, with Johnny DeBlase and Kevin Shea.

Check us out in one of these places:

DESERTION Trio TOUR
w/Johnny DeBlase on bass and Kevin Shea on drums

June 8th - Hudson, NY - The Spotty Dog w/Slow Collins
June 9th - Toronto, ON - Burn Down The Capital @ Ratio w/Steve Kado and zhang
June 10th - Detroit, MI - Trinosophes w/Ben Miller
June 11th - Chicago, IL - Elastic Arts w/Katherine Young's quartet and Michael Vallera
June 12th - Lafayette, IN - Spot Tavern
June 13th - Columbus, OH - Cara Bar w/Ryan Jewell Quintet, A Beamed Gelling Rose, Faster Island
June 14th - Pittsburgh, PA - City of Asylum 

Here's a great preview from the Chicago Reader:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/nick-millevois-desertion-trio-katie-young-michael-vallera/Event?oid=22340819

Nick Millevoi’s Desertion Trio, Katie Young, Michael Vallera 

When: Sat., June 11, 9 p.m.
Price: $10 suggested donation

On most recordings I’ve heard by Philadephia guitarist Nick Millevoi his playing is unapologetically aggressive and noisy, unleashing jaggedly lacerating outbursts that fit neatly within the general brutal prog milieu (see: his long-running trio Many Arms). Millevoi’s playing is no less furious with free-jazz quartet Haitian Rail or when he teams up with improvisers like Toshimaru Nakamura or Dead Neanderthals. So I was pretty shocked the first time I heard the new Desertion (Shhpuma), an often melodic quartet album that showcases a reserved, atmospheric side of his music. Deftly supported by keyboardist Jamie Saft, drummer Ches Smith, and Many Arms bassist Johnny DeBlase, Millevoi carves out enough space to turn American music into one sprawling cosmic jam, balancing country with a kind of denatured funk. It’s not all chill, as opening cut “Desertion and the Arsonist’s Match” draws upon classic prog gestures, with massive organ swells from Saft, overdriven beats by Smith, and needling, upper-register leads from the guitarist—all before segueing into one of many passages that evoke post-Morriccone renderings of the American southwest. “Just for a Moment, I Stood There in Silence” most surprised me: the tender, twangy waltz features lyric violin fills by guest June Bender and eventually veers into straight Crazy Horse territory with a luxuriantly stomping groove. On “Where They Do Their Capers,” Millevoi hovers within clouds of reverb and texture, waiting for a resolution that never arrives. His touring lineup includes DeBlase and drummer Kevin Shea of Haitian Rail and Mostly Other People Do the Killing.

— Peter Margasak

NYC Taper post

On March 6, Desertion Quartet played its first gig with Johnny DeBlase on bass, Christopher McDonald on Roland Juno, and Kevin Shea on drums. NYC Taper was there to document it.

Stream or download here: http://www.nyctaper.com/2016/03/nick-millevois-desertion-quartet-march-6-2016-palisades/

Then head over here and pre-order Desertion, which comes out May 20: https://nickmillevoi.bandcamp.com/album/desertion

"Desertion and the Arsonist's Match" premiered at NPR Music

Lars Gotrich says, "When Nick Millevoi plays the guitar, it's like a rocket darting skyward between clouds..." in the premiere of my song "Desertion and the Arsonist's Match."

This track features Jamie Saft on Hammond organ, Johnny DeBlase on upright bass, and Ches Smith on drums.

Check it out here:

http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2016/03/11/469936617/vikings-choice-nick-millevoi-desertion-and-the-arsonists-match

Desertion will be released May 20 on Shhpuma.

Pre-order for Desertion is up now at http://nickmillevoi.bandcamp.com

Desertion track premiered at Aquarium Drunkard

I'm happy to announce that in May, Shhpuma, a great part of the Clean Feed label that focuses on releasing music that goes "beyond, below and above the jazz realm," will release my new record, Desertion.

This album features my Many Arms bandmate, Johnny DeBlase, on upright and electric bass, Jamie Saft on Hammond organ and piano, and Ches Smith on drums, masterfully recorded by Saft at Potterville International Sound. Dan Blacksberg contributed a trombone choir and a string arrangement performed by June Bender.

Aquarium Drunkard dropped the first taste today, premiering the track "Just For a Moment, I Stood There in Silence," in a review that also discusses the new Solar Motel record (on which I play), and the new Sunwatchers record.

Check it out here: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2016/03/01/checking-back-into-the-solar-motel-chris-forsyth-the-solar-motel-band-sunwatchers-nick-millevoi/

Hollenberg Millevoi Quartet Feb 22 2016

 

photo by Christopher McDonald

John Zorn's Bagatelles in Philly

SATURDAY NIGHT!

Hollenberg-Millevoi Quartet (w/Johnny DeBlase and Jeff Eber) play the Bagatelles

http://thekey.xpn.org/2016/02/17/john-zorn-johnny-brendas-2/

New track on Wrong Division Complilation

I have a new track on Wrong Division's Summer Solstice 2013 comp, which you can check out here:

http://wrongdivision.bandcamp.com/album/summer-solstice-2013

The comp features a number of friends, and I also play on another track, Johnny DeBlase Quartet's "Composites."

Here's my solo piece, "Bruxing," which was recorded by Zachary James Watkins in Santa Cruz this past April while I was touring alongside Ava Mendoza's Unnatural Ways:

Surface of Last Scattering

Here's a track from last week's Many Arms show at The Stone. This is "Surface of Last Scattering," which is Johnny DeBlase's composition, and will be on our next album:

Words on Sounds list

Scott Scholz's year end list over at Words on Sounds mentions In White Sky, Many Arms, and Johnny DeBlase's Quartet album, with comprehensive links. Check it out over here:

http://wordsonsounds.blogspot.com/2012/12/2012-great-year-for-creative-music.html

End of the year post

As 2013 gets close, I just want to catch anyone who's interested up to date on what I've ben up to.

Last week I went on a short tour with Keir Neuringer around New England. When we stopped in at the Spotty Dog in Hudson, NY, my set was recorded for free103.9. Check it out here:

http://www.wgxc.org/archives/5613

For the tour, I mostly played pieces from my album, In White Sky, but for this set I played a new set that I've been slowly working on. In April, I'll be touring the West Coast playing these two sets of material with Ryan Miller and Ava Mendoza's Unnatural Ways.

This year Many Arms released our self-titled third album on Tzadik (which was just included in SPIN's 20 Best Avant Albums of the Year). Starting on New Year's day, we'll be putting the final touches on a set of music we've collaborated on with Colin Fisher playing tenor sax. We'll perform at the Rotunda in Philly on January 4th and then head into Red Planet Studio with Eric Carbonara to record.

In April, we'll be working on another collaborative project with Toshimaru Nakamura where we'll be creating new music together, which will then be performed and recorded.

Archer Spade recently performed some new music and I'll be uploading some to our new site soon. Check it out if you haven't had a chance:

http://www.archerspademusic.com

While you're there, check out the ASPS page, where you can see the schedule for the Archer Spade Performance Series, a new monthly series that Dan Blacksberg and I are curating at Studio 34 in West Philadelphia (and occasional other venues). We're really happy to be able to put these shows together and have some exciting bills planned.

If you're looking for guitar pedals that are hand made, priced really reasonably, and sound great, be sure to check out TSVG Pedals. The site features videos of me playing each of the TSVG pedals. It was a lot of fun getting to turn up and rock out for these videos.

In April, Haitian Rail, the Millevoi/Ricart Quartet album featuring Travis Laplante and Ches Smith will be released on Gaffer Records. Sometime around then will also see the release of Dan Blacksberg's Hassidic Doom record on Tzadik, which features Dan on trombone, myself and Yoshie Fruchter on guitars, Johnny DeBlase on electric bass, and Eli Litwin on drums.

I'll leave you with my two favorite Christmas jams:





Happy New Year's - see you soon!

End of the year list at Something Else

Many Arms and Johnny DeBlase Quartet are mentioned on the Top Albums for 2012 list on Something Else! in the whack jazz category, as well as a bunch of friends (Superlith!).

Check it out:

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2012/12/07/s-victor-aarons-top-albums-for-2012-part-3-of-4-whack-jazz/

Van Halen is also on this list (different category). Just saying.

Testin'

Many Arms just got back from a short tour up north. When we were in Toronto, our good friend Colin Fisher sat in on tenor sax for our set and destroyed. We're going to be recording in January and we're SO STOKED to rock with Colin this time around.

I received my test copy of In White Sky today and it sounds awesome. No official release date soon, but keep an eye here and at The Flenser for some news.

Also, Haitian Rail, the album I did with Ed Ricart, Travis Laplante, and Ches Smith, will be released in early 2013 on Gaffer Records on LP!

Many Arms got a great review in Dusted by Brad Cohan and Black Figure of a Bird was just reviewed along side the other New Atlantis releases on Terrascope. Johnny DeBlase's Quartet album, Composites, was reviewed over at Something Else!, home of one of my favorite music columns, Steely Dan Sunday.

New music

We're getting closer to the release of the new Many Arms album and now you can listen to a track from the album up at the AV Club's site over here.

We also were reviewed last week by the Philadelphia City Paper.

We're really pumped. If you're in Philly, be sure to come out on March 23 for our record release show!

Here's the sweet flier:

This week, Johnny DeBlase released the digital version of his new quartet album, Composites. I'm really proud of how this recording came out and I think Johnny wrote some really great music, so please check it out. You can download a copy of it for $5 from Johnny's Bandcamp page or get a physical copy from us on the Many Arms tour.

Stream Composites:

After my solo set last week at the Highwire Gallery, I sat in with Flying Sutra on a few really fun improv pieces. George got a great recording and they're up on Soundcloud now:

Year end status update

As the year is coming to a close, I'm coming close to finishing up a lot of projects that I'd like to let everyone know about.

Last week, Many Arms played our last show of the year at Elena's in Philadelphia (a show organized by the wonderful Stephen Buono and promoted by Fire Museum). It was a really great show, and great to play alongside Little Women, Banned Books, and Split Red, who debuted their new singer Justin Duerr.

Many Arms probably won't be playing for a few months as we're getting our upcoming touring schedule together. We'll be touring when our new album is released and hitting a healthy chunk of the US in late March and April and heading to Europe in May. Here's an idea of what to expect:


 


Last week, Electric Simcha recorded our new album with Colin Marston at Menegroth: The Thousand Caves. It sounds amazing! We still have to find a label to release it, so no details yet on when you'll be hearing it.

Next weekend I'll be recording a new solo guitar album with Eric Carbonara. It's going to be quite a bit different from Black Figure of a Bird. I'm really excited to get all the new music (and some that is less new) recorded and my neighbors are really excited that I'll stop practicing so loudly for a while.

In January, Archer Spade will be pretty active. We're heading to California to work with Roscoe Mitchell and our sax-friend Drew Cecatto to work on a piece that Thomas Buckner is commissioning Roscoe Mitchell to write for our trio. While we're out there, we'll be playing a concert with Ken Ueno and Matt Ingalls at CNMAT. When we return, we'll be debuting our new duo piece, So Timid Persons Can Kill Their Own Fowl, at a free show at the Rotunda in Philly. Two days later, we'll be finishing up with our Kickstarter campaign (see the video two posts below!).

In late January, Eh? Records will be releasing Strange Falls, the debut album by the trio of Alban Bailly, Joe Mofett, and myself. I'm looking forward to some shows we'll be playing together in February!

It looks like the debut album by the Johnny DeBlase Quartet will be getting released early in 2011. I'm looking forward to having the details on that ready to share. Soon!

Now check out this great cat:


 


 See you soon!