These Are Powers
While These Are Powers were on tour
in the Netherlands in the fall of 2008, I approached Pat about making him a
custom one-of-a kind electric guitar. We agreed upon a bass-guitar combination
instrument, which will be modeled on an Asian-oriented 10-TET system, the Burner Bass QS. Some notes in this scale
are not present in Western musical instrument. The instrument will be
comparable in sound to a bass, guitar, piano, kalimba, and sitar. IÕm currently
working on this instrument for him.
Check this band if they are playing
in your neighbourhood. Besides PatÕs off the road instrument set up also their
drummer Brenmar has a weird drum set, combining acoustic drums with drum pads.
Most of the time these dull looking plates remind me of Nena and Ultravox, so
IÕm always a bit reserved when I see them on stage, but Brenmar is the only
drummer I know who is capable to use the digital pads in a way it makes sense.
Pat Noecker
Pat Noecker (born Nebraska 1972) is a
New York musician and bass player for the experimental American band These Are
Powers, a past member of Liars, nO things,
Opium Taylor, Urethra Franklin and has performed with Connor Oberst.
Noecker performs with a uniquely
prepared bass guitar (with a wooden dowel put under the strings which functions
as an additional 3rd Bridge),
electronics, and a two amplifier system. He is endorsed by Gallien-Krueger.
Last.FM Description
These Are Powers are known for the
dissonance of their early recordings, a cacophony of rhythms and
industrial/electronic experiments that recalled Throbbing Gristle one moment,
DNA the next. Once rule-breakers, the band is now rewriting those rules with a
newfound focus: behold All Aboard Future, their new album for 2009.
Exotic, abstract, hand-crafted
sounds-made, found and electronically born. Some wail from Pat Noecker's
prepared bass; others stem from the idiosyncratic vocal and guitar style of
Anna Barie. The two trade off vocal duties, and in the process dissonant sounds
become melodies held together and torn apart in fits by Bill Salas'
electro-acoustic beats. At first listen, much of Salas' rhythmic contribution
sounds as if it could be pre-programmed, but these abstract rhythms are all
performed live, interspersing nods to Timbaland with an appreciation for a car
crash's metal-on-metal grind.
Allmusic Biography
Consisting of energetic
frontwoman/guitarist Anna Barie (Knife Skills, Fxxxing Lion), bassist Pat
Noecker (n0 things, Liars), and drummer Bill Salas (Brenmar), Brooklyn noise
dance trio These Are Powers blend eerie and ramshackle sounds into a post-no
wave genre that they have deemed "ghost punk." Sometimes moaning,
other times shrieking, Barie's antics of rolling and writhing in the crowd at
TAP's live shows had already earned the band blog accolades by the time its first
EP, Taro Tarot,
was released. After touring the U.S. extensively in 2007, the trio scored a
deal with Hoss Records and moved out to Chicago to record its full-length
debut, Terrific Seasons.
Discography
Terrific Seasons, (2007) Hoss Records, (re-released 2008) Dead Oceans
Records
Taro Tarot, (2008) Hoss Records, (re-released 2008) Dead Oceans Records
All Aboard Future, (2009) Dead Oceans
External links
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