Martin had to let me in the building and we began the tour. No advertising, no people on that side of the street… nothing but spook town. At first glance you would never know there is such an infamous studio hidden in the massive brown-bricked building across from a randomly placed Whole Foods. All acts were assembled by Genevieve Fernworthy.įlash forward to my tour of BC Studio and interview with the luminary underground producer and engineer himself, Martin Bisi. Musicians who performed on the album are vast and from the likes of: Sonic Youth, Swans, White Hills, Foetus, Cop Shoot Cop, Live Skull, Pop 1280, Violent Femmes, The Dresden Dolls, Alice Donut, Lubricated Goat, LAUDS, Shilpa Ray, Insect Ark, Laura Ortman, Cinema Cinema, and Art Gray Noizz Quintet among others.Įntitled BC35, these 2-day recordings contain not only improvised pieces but sees the reunion of bands who have not played together in years (such as Live Skull) and also tracks made only for this anniversary album.Ī live audience was also present during recording. Over one weekend in January of 2018, a myriad of artists who have recorded at BC over the years came together to play mostly improvised pieces in honor of the unconventional aesthetic Martin and BC has offered up the past 35 years. Thus, it was only a matter of time before a celebration of BC and Martin Bisi conceptualized. With so many years of honing his talent, many bands and artists have come to work with him, marvel in his unique crafting style, and be amazed by wild acoustics found in the depths of BC. If you are to dive deep into Martin’s professional influence since he began producing and mixing, the list is unimaginably long and impressive, helping make major waves in genres such as no wave, hip hop, and alternative rock. Throughout Martin’s career he has worked with bands such as Sonic Youth, Cop Shoot Cop, Helmet, John Zorn, White Zombie, Unsane, AND one of my favorite bands ever… Swans. Laswell and Bisi worked together for years before Laswell moved elsewhere, making Martin the only one to have been at BC since its founding over 30 years ago. Thanks to Brian Eno they were able to afford this place, who wanted to have a studio in Brooklyn.īrian Eno recorded a few sessions at BC before leaving it up to Laswell and Bisi to take over. First rented for insanely cheap back in 1979 by 17 year old Martin Bisi and Bill Laswell, they converted the dingy abandoned basement into a dingy recording studio in the booming avant garde music scene. BC Studio is hidden in the basement of an old canning factory (as in used to can sodas) in the once desolate Gowanus area of Brooklyn, NY. I won’t bore you with the details, just understand my life is weird AF. You can learn more tomorrow night at the premiere of Sound and Chaos: The Story Of BC Studio at Anthology Film Archives.Somehow or another I happened upon the chance to meet famed New York producer Martin Bisi at his home studio in Brooklyn back in April. Martin still runs BC Studios, which he founded with Bill Laswell and Brian Eno way back when "there were wild packs of dogs running around" the area. We've visited a lot of recording studios, and this one delivers on the aesthetic we'd expect, right down to the old couch you don't really want to sit on! Every studio worth its weight in gold records has got one of those. We dropped by this week as owner and producer Martin Bisi prepares for a documentary about his place to hit the big screen, and you can click through for a look inside. The studio has been there since 1979, and bands like Sonic Youth, Dresden Dolls, Afrika Bambaata, and Fab Five Freddy have all recorded in the now-legendary space. There is a recording studio under the streets of Gowanus, complete with a staircase that leads down to some murky waters detached from the Superfund site, part of a pond that lives underneath the neighborhood.
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