Matthew Welch - composer, bagpipes, soprano saxophone, vocals (canntaireachd), conductor/// Blarvuster is the home of a few various ensembles dedicated performing Welch's music. Members include: Lisa Komara - mezzo-soprano / Leah Paul - flutes / Karen Waltuch - viola / Mary Halvorson - electric guitar / Matt Hough - electric guitar / Emily Manzo - piano / Jason Cady - synthesizers / Ian Riggs - electric bass / Tim Dahl - electric bass / Ches Smith - drums, percussion / Mike Pride - drums, percussion / Brian Chase - drums, percussion
Influences
Bagpipe music, Balinese Gamelan, Minimalism, The Smiths, South East Asian Pop
Labyrinthine and florid melodies streaming over alien funk counterpoint make the ecstatic music of Blarvuster, the latest brainchild of critically acclaimed bagpiper/composer Matthew Welch. Inspired equally by Celtic lines and South East Asian ensemble textures as well as avant-garde rock and minimalism, Blarvuster's line-up of some of the brightest young stars in the New York experimental scene ardently evoke a seamless hybrid of musical languages that issues forth its own fictional tradition.
"The Brooklyn-based composer leaps vast geographical distances, imagining statistically implausible musical melting pots that sound utterly natural...a composer possessed of both rich imagination and the skill to bring his fancies to life." - TimeOut NY
this works are actually recorded in the nice tourist town Dresden where Jan lived for 4 years and on several places in germany/thuringia and denmark/sjaeland +++ Jan recorded all with an old 4-track, one old minidisc-recorder, two old guitars and some old pedals and a brand new notebook+++Enrico Wuttke aka Flim helped him out with some Fieldrecordings and beautiful Piano Pieces+++ new tracks are growing every day on his minidisc-walkman he records woods, highways/autobahnen, shopping centers, farms, children rooms, camping sites, rehearsel rooms and roofgardens ...etc and himself and his friends and familys+++ since spring 2007 he lives on a farm in thuringia, germany+++to be continued +++
I love your stuff, man, and when it's perfect for a day like today and I need it to communicate that perfect thought to my other friends (many Celtic-obsessed and musicians) and I forget and I click "add" and I call you (affectionately) a fucking shithead because I can't...agh!!! Please, please, please make it where your work can be the theme of my week on this weird space called myspace. please, I beg. I'll buy it soon and tell all my friends to buy it so we can dance to it and I'll come see your shows in nyc when I finally get there. Please. please.
