Ken Butler

Music:

Member Since: 9/24/2006
Band Website: mindspring.com/~kbhybrid/
Band Members: Ken Butler’s Voices of Anxious Objects, various members (since 1990):Reeds: Matt Darriau, (clarinet, alto, gaida, kaval, flutes, etc.)Fretless Bass/5-string Cello: Stomu Takeishi, Rufus Cappadocia, Percussion: Seido Salifoski, Matt Kilmer, Bill Buchen, Satoshi Takeishi, Raquy Danziger, Hearn GadboisGuitar: John JB ButlerVarious Vocalists: Dina Emerson, Marie Afonso, Sepideh Vahidi, Steve Sandberg, Tim Hill, Lisa Karrer, Judith Ren-Lay, Julia Heyward, Haale, Vlada Tomova
Influences: Short list of musical influences, in no particular order - Miles, Hendrix, Coltrane, Mahalia Jackson, Bulgarian Women's Choir, Monk, Captain Beefheart, Dolphy, James Brown, Bartok, Debussy, Taraf de Haidouks, Ravel, McLaughlin, Harry Partch, Aretha, Paco, Manitas de Plata, Ivo Papasov, Dylan, Parissa and Dastan Ensemble, Buddy Guy, Okay Temiz, O.V. Wright, Odetta, Tin Hat, Djivan Gasparian, Jeff Beck, Bobby McFerrin, Cream, Dimi Mint Abba, Sam Cooke, Roland Kirk, Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan, Chopin, Fred Neil, Steve Coleman, Elvin Jones, King Sunny Ade, Zappa, Django, Don Cherry, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughn, Fela, Jaco, Iva Bittova, Penderecki, Otis Redding, Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Radio Tarifa, Paganini, Devo, Ornette, Eliot Carter, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Clifford Brown, Oliver Nelson, Nina Simone, Ellington, Stravinsky, Masada, Zakir, Mingus, Chick Corea, Messiaen, Cannonball, Ayler, Parween Sultana, Piazolla, Harvey Mandel, Jobim, Eno, L. Subramanian, Carmen Linares, Beatles, Who, Zep, Andy Bey, Huun Huur Tu, Paradox Trio, Luiz Bonfa, Stevie Wonder, Milton Nascimiento, Prince, Sly Stone, Wilson Pickett, Fairfield Four, Joni Mitchell, Satie, Enescu, Albert, B.B.,Freddy King, Doors, Denilo Perez, Cesaria Evora, Yasmin Levy, Debashish Bhattacharya, ONB, Clarence Carter, Ramones, Anouar Brahem, Frissel, Tristano, Shadjarian, Oum Kalthoum, Kurt Elling, Glen Velez, Bismillah Khan, The Bluesbreakers, Otis Rush, Rom Narayan, Richard Bona, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, David Van Tieghem, Aphex Twin, Horowitz, Sandy Bull, Ken Nordine, Lord Buckley, Baez, Ian and Sylvia, Portishead, Bert Jansch, John Rebourn, The Residents, Cheb Khaled, Houria Aichi, The Allmann Brothers, Simon Shaheen, Teremeto de Herez, Percy Sledge, Cecil Taylor, The Yardbirds, Moby Grape, Bernard Hermann, Stan Getz,Short list of visual arts influences in no particular order -Duchamp, Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Schwitters, Braque, Picasso, Muybridge, DiChirico, Picabia, Marinetti, Russolo, Schlemmer, Ball, Tatlin, Rodchenko, Malevich, Hoch, Haussmann, Heartfield, Leger, Tanguy, Magritte, Tinguely,Tim Hawkinson, Bill Woodrow, David Hammons, David Mach, Rebecca Horn, Sarah Sze, Tom Sachs, Laurie Anderson, Allan Wexler, Donald Lipski, Panamarenko, Nari Ward, Toland Grinnel, Tom Friedman, Nancy Rubins, The Art Guys, Jason Rhoades, Arman, Haim Steinbach, Christian Marclay, Judy Pfaff, Burden, Beuys, Nauman, Acconci, Oppenheim, Tony Cragg, Terry Adkins, Peter Shelton, Alice Aycock, Keinholz, Robert Therrien, Jessica Stockholder, Gabriel Orozco, Fischli and Weiss, Michael Snow, Martin Puryear, Jon Kessler, Andrea Zittel, Robert Gober, Annette Messager, Robert Cummings, Maurizio Cattelan, Rauschenberg, Chamberlin, Nevelson, Oldenburg, O'Keefe, James Thierree, Brian Jungen, Chris Larson, Roger Welch, Theo Jansen,
Sounds Like: Ken Butler performs mesmerizing world textures and driving melodic gypsy grooves with passion and purpose on an amazing arsenal of amplified hybrid string instruments made from household objects and tools. Duchampian Dada meets Hybrid Hindu Hendrix as function and form collide in an environment of hyperactive hardware.Musical influences include Indian Raga, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern folk and classical music, Tango, Flamenco, and Roma Gypsy music mixed with a noisy "downtown" improv aesthetic all held together by a strong dose of African-American jazz, rock, funk, and blues. Virtually indescribable and unclassifiable, Butler mixes high and low technology and audio-visual antics to create an ancient/future music that forms a provoking cultural portrait of human / machine adaptation and transformation.Assemblages of hammers, hockey sticks, tennis rackets, golf clubs, and brooms become (when amplified) violin, guitar, and cello-like instruments with multiple playing surfaces and a diverse range of percussive (and assorted odd) sounds as well as those produced by the strings. A performance may also include interactive hybrid audio-visual keyboards powered by motorized strummers which control lights, slide animation, motion, and video projections.“One of music’s most ingenious and eccentric personalities.” John Zorn, Tzadik records, 10/97“..a crazy instrument builder who can get virtuoso riffs from anything.” Kyle Gann, The Village Voice, 12/29/92“Ken Butler is a truly unique and forward-looking artist/madman/explorer of sonic possibilities. By making instruments out of every imaginable common-use item, he actually makes them sound great and has something to say on them.” Bob Margolis, The Woodstock Times, 11/17/05“Ken Butler’s work is enormously interesting, particularly his idea of recycling and giving voice to found objects.” Laurence Libin, curator of musical instruments at The Metropolitan Museum, The New York Times, 6/12/94“It’s not just that Ken Butler knows how to bow stringed parade rifles, play dental dams like trumpets, and construct keyboards from aluminum crutches, it’s that he knows how to play them well.” Neil Strauss, The Village Voice, 5/14/91
Record Label: Tzadik, Hybrid Visions Music
Type of Label: Indie