Hubble tech specs
In case you missed it: Hubble and Diamond Terrifier reviewed in the NY Times
Guitar and Sax, Each in Exploration
- Ben Ratliff
via Impose
Hubble had an excellent year. Associated projects aside, this year Hubble released a stellar cassette, Hubble Linger, on NNA Tapes and a remarkable LP, Hubble Drums, on Northern Spy Records. Additionally, he debuted “Superposition”, a piece written for quadrophonic electric guitar (photos), and he scored NASA footage from the telescope of his namesake. His style of solo guitar has confounded many to believe he uses loop stations; however, those who have seen him live know it’s all muscle, and like a responsible shredder he stretches before he plays. Ben Greenberg, Hubble’s sole proprietor (also mem. Zs and Pygmy Shrews), plans on keeping the momentum and closing 2011 strong with two year-end shows in his hometown of New York City. The first is December 20th at Zebulon in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — it’s free, and Hubble shares the bill with Diamond Terrifier, the solo saxophone project of Zs bandmate Sam Hillmer. The second is at John Zorn’s Alphabet City spot, the Stone, on December 28th. Per Stone policy, the bill has been set by a weekly guest curator, and in this case David Byrne’s world music label Luaka Bop.
Listen to an excerpt from Linger and a song from Hubble Drums, and watch the “Hubble’s Hubble” video here.
NPR: First Watch: Hubble Soundtracks Hubble Telescope Images
NPR premieres new video from Hubble, talks with Ben Greenberg.
Images: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Video: Sheena Callage, Tiffany Borders (STScI)
Music: Hubble - Hubble’s Hubble (from Hubble Drums LP/CD Northern Spy Records 2011)
Saturday November 19th, 2011
Come celebrate the release of Hubble’s new record, Hubble Drums
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188925131190751
Hubble
Psychic Ills
Man Forever
Driphouse
also:
DJ Tim Dewit, Oracle DJs, DJ Marty McSorely
Planned since Hubble’s first live performance in September of 2010, Hubble Drums is an inspired record of new guitar music. Equal parts shred-fi, cyber-dread and fried psychedelia, Hubble Drums marks Ben Greenberg (of Zs and Pygmy Shrews)’s first full-length recording and debut for Northern Spy. Recorded at Python Patrol and lovingly mastered at Bonati Mastering, the CD and 150g LP features original artwork by Michael Yaniro and Ben Greenberg.
http://missionhubble.blogspot.com
http://northern-spy.com
http://psychicills.com/
http://soundcloud.com/hubble
https://www.facebook.com/285kentave
http://soundcloud.com/cocosounds/man-forever
http://soundcloud.com/nnatapes/driphouse-heavy-white
The Men / Pygmy Shrews - November 2011 Tour
11.09.11 - Purchase, NY - SUNY Purchase w/Vaz, Weird Korea, Travis Laplante
11.10.11 - Cleveland, OH - Now That’s Class w/Pterodactyl, Pleasure Leftists
11.11.11 - Chicago, IL - 1800 S Peoria St. w/Den, Divine Right
11.12.11 - Louisville, KY - CROPPED OUT w/tons of awesome bands
11.13.11 - Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College
HUBBLE Announces Northeast Tour Dates In Support of Upcoming Debut Album “Hubble Drums”
Out November 8th on Northern Spy Records
Upcoming Video Project Made in Collaboration w/ Tiffany Borders of NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Oct 15 - Toronto, ON @ The Music Gallery’s “X AVANT New Music Festival”
Oct 16 - Toronto, ON @ Double Double Land
Oct 17 - Montreal, QC @ La Brique *
Oct 18 - Burlington, VT @ BCA Center *
Oct 19 - Purchase, NY @ Whitson’s, SUNY Purchase ^
* = w/ Golden Retriever, Harmonizer
^ = w/ Memoryhouse
Category: Unchillwave.
“My goal was to just blow out my voice, just to take a toll on myself,” says bassist/vocalist Chris Hansell, who screeches “I am nothing” on the full-contact “My War”-dosed poetry-slam of “L.A.D.O.C.H.” (The acronym, Hansell confesses, stands for “The Life And Death Of Chris Hansell.”) “I didn’t really write any lyrics for that. I just kind of improvised what I was saying. I probably couldn’t tell you what I actually said, but it definitely was a ball of emotions coming out. I did the vocals at 12 at night in pitch black… My voice was probably blown out in the first minute of me singing. I didn’t want people to like it necessarily. I almost wanted to make people a little angry. ‘What is this, the same riff for six minutes?’”
“L.A.D.O.C.H.” was recorded in an empty cement classroom in the basement of a former Catholic school that until recently housed Python Patrol Recording Studio, inhabited by Pygmy Shrews frontman (and friend of this writer) Ben Greenberg. Greenberg also recorded the most recent releases by Pop. 1280 and White Suns, and his abrasive yet ultimately comprehensible style unites the genre in a way. “Between those bands, we developed a common aesthetic of making things dirty and loud, but I try to keep a clarity and a power,” Greenberg says. “Everyone’s so into the lo-fi thing, and it’s so easy. There’s a lot of people being really lazy about what they let a label press into wax.”
via @alteredzones :
Zs and Pygmy Shrews guitarist Ben Greenberg has broken free from the tethers of his bands to anxiously float above our atmosphere with his solo project as Hubble. Greenberg’s brand of ambient, sci-fi psychedelia— dubbed “cyber-dread”— creatively stretches the limits of conventional guitar technique, tone, and composition in a way that showcases the instrument’s formidable capability to fly solo.
— – Christopher R. Weingarten
