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Xenat-Ra

Monk Metz: words, fx, samples

Matt Calkins: tenor sax, fx, percussion, wood flute

Mark France: guitars

Joel Hirsch: congas, dumbek, percussion

Dave Trenkel: Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Minimoog, laptop, modular synthesizer

JD Monroe: drums, turntables, samples, fx, wood flute

While many bands claim to be eclectic, Xenat-Ra truly lives it. Based in Corvallis, OR, Xenat-Ra is the result of years of shared musical experiences and a rich sonic vocabulary. Xenat-Ra owes allegiance to no particular genre, borrowing sounds from the fringes of hip hop, jazz, progressive rock, dub, metal and any other style that crosses their path. The sound can be spacious or dense, freely improvised or strictly composed, deeply funky or aggressively atonal, all topped by Monk Metz’ rapid-fire, often surreal, poetry.

Science for the Soundman is their debut studio recording. It features seven collectively composed and arranged original tracks, one live-in-the-studio free improvisation, and two cover tunes, one by John Zorn and one by Sun Ra. John Zorn gave his personal permission to record his composition, and considers Xenat-Ra's version “Fabulous.” Science for the Soundman is available as a deluxe, 150 gram double LP, or on CD. Both formats include a digital download of the full album, with bonus tracks, in your choice of formats.

Dave, Mark and Matt first met in the OSU Music Department’s jazz ensembles, studying with trumpeter Rob Blakeslee. Through the mid-1990′s, Mark and Dave, along with drummer Henry Franzoni, played in the jazz/metal trio Minus, eventually releasing 2 CD’s. At the same time, Matt and JD were ripping up the local clubs in the ferociously funky Huzzah. JD began experimenting with turntables and continues to perform as The Turntable Enabler. Meanwhile, Monk Metz and Chris Kennedy were producing and performing alternative hip hop under the name Future Sunz, a collaboration that continues to this day. In the early 2000′s Dave, Matt and JD did several improvised shows together under the name Top Dead Center, while also performing in the Eugene-based jazz-funk sextet Eleven Eyes. In the fall of 2007, Top Dead Center, now with Metz added as a rapper/poet, performed at a benefit for a friend/fan’s medical bills and collectively decided to continue as a band. Finding that a number of other bands shared the TDC name, they settled on the obscure and nearly unpronounceable Xenat-Ra. After playing a number of shows as a quartet, Mark France joined in 2008. In the spring of 2010, Xenat-Ra released Live, a compilation of live tracks recorded at a number shows from the two previous years. Proceeds from sales of the live album, both physical copies and digital downloads, were used to fund sessions for a studio album. Percussionist Joel Hirsch was added to the band as they began work on the album.

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Xenat-Ra Releases Debut Studio Album, Science For The Soundman

Xenat-Ra Releases Debut Studio Album, Science For The Soundman

Source: Dave Trenkel

Jazz/hip-hop/progressive rock collective Xenat-Ra are pleased to announce the release of their debut studio album Science for the Soundman. While many bands claim to be eclectic, Xenat-Ra truly lives it. Based in Corvallis, OR, Xenat-Ra is the result of years of shared musical experiences and a rich sonic vocabulary. Xenat-Ra owes allegiance to no particular genre, borrowing sounds from the fringes of hip hop, jazz, progressive rock, dub, metal and any other style that crosses their path. The sound can ...

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Recording

Singer/Songwriter Spencer Day Releases “A Better Way” a Free MP3 Highlighting the Importance of the Upcoming Election

Singer/Songwriter Spencer Day Releases “A Better Way” a Free MP3 Highlighting the Importance of the Upcoming Election

Source: Jim Goyjer Associates

Uniquely American singer/songwriter Spencer Day has just released a free single “A Better Way” to highlight the importance of the upcoming election in two weeks. A free mp3 download is available on his website. Spencer Day said, “Election Day is approaching very quickly, and I feel very passionately about the future of our country. The politics of fear and distrust is eroding our sense of a shared future and a common good. In the current climate it is more critical ...

It thuds the medulla square in the joint where the better, cultured you resides. If ingested correctly, it traverses the swerve of sound and space, a wicked chug of color twisting jazz and rock and hip-hop and prose and whatever sweet pieces and sonic tech hurricanes blow through the breadth of its universe. Anything can happen here. Dig it? Cool. Do not? Your loss. - Cory Frye, The Corvallis Gazette-Times Entertainer

Brilliantly off-kilter, completely unquantifiable, Xenat-Ra is, at any given moment, the best prog/free jazz/hip hop/metal band you’ve never heard of. - Nick DeRiso

Xenat-Ra’s new album, Science For The Soundman, finds a relatively decent balance between rock, jazz, and hip hop

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Science For The...

New & Improv Music
2012

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