Ui

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Official Ui MySpace
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This page will be up just for one more month.
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minimalism avantgarde post rock
BIOGRAPHY (from Southern website)
Ui began in the summer of 1990 when Sasha Frere-Jones and Clem Waldmann played together for the first time at the now-defunct Dessau Recording Studios on Murray Street in downtown Manhattan. (Cost: $15/hour.) The full band played their first live gig in February of 1991 at the Pyramid Club where people were known to dance on the bar. In July of 1993, Sasha, Clem and then-new member Wilbo Wright entered the then-new Excello Studios in Brooklyn to make a record for the Leeds-based Hemiola label. Wilbo drove in from Trenton with a pickup full of instruments including, but not limited to, a banjo, a synthesizer, a tuba and a timpani. The tuba and timpani never reappeared but the banjo and Korg MS-20 synthesizer became permanent Ui fixtures. The band mixed during the wee hours of the morning at Baby Monster Studios on 14th Street with Stevie McAllister. Of the 13 songs recorded, seven became The 2-Sided EP, released on vinyl that December.
The band futzed about New York for a year or so. In late 1994, a member of Tortoise invited Ui to join them for a brief tour of the East and Midwest in the spring of 1995. Tipped off by Cece Stelljes, representatives from Southern Records attended a show at Chicago Filmmakers somewhere in the middle of that tour. At a Lounge Ax show the next night, Southern honcho Danielle Soto offered Ui a deal. Pens came out and glasses were raised to a future of teeny tiny BMI checks. The band returned to the East Coast and rehearsed regularly at a ciderhouse in Pennsylvania surrounded by very loud frogs. (Cost: $0.) The full-length debut Sidelong, recorded in both 1994 and 1995 by Greg Frey, was released in 1996.
Over the next six years, Ui toured Europe and the US, once as Stereolab's opening act. During a stay in London, Ui and Stereolab recorded the popular (read: contains singing) Uilab EP. After recording Lifelike in 1997 with the long-suffering Frey, the band took off a year.
Refreshed, the band was invited in early 1999 by Roman booking agent Pietro Fuccio to tour Europe. Ui began writing new songs (some of which appear on Answers) and released an EP to prime the pump of commerce in unifyin' old Europe. The tour took up most of November, 1999. Fun as the whole tour was, recording four songs at the BBC Studios for John Peel's show was an unmatched highlight. (Songs recorded: 'John Fitch Way,' 'Get Hot, You Bum,' "Bad Ear' and 'Please Release Me'.) The London show at the Borderline was good, too, except that, minutes after the show ended, the club management swept the audience out and replaced them with dry ice, 'YMCA' and three or four 'dancing' students. It was done very quickly: a Mission Impossible-style transformation.
Back home, songs were written slowly and expensively at Complete Music Services (Big Mike's) in Manhattan. (Cost: $22/hour.) For no good reason, Ui played a show at the Knitting Factory in February of 2000 and recorded some new songs with Greg Frey several days later. In January of 2001, New York musician Erik Sanko (Skeleton Key, Lounge Lizards, Yoko Ono, John Cale) accepted an invitation to join the band. The ruckus was on. Working in a converted thermometer factory in Brooklyn, the band embarked on a satisfying writing jag. (Cost: $0.) After a summer break, the band reconvened in the fall of 2001 and recorded Answers in February of 2002 at a church in Stuyvesant, New York with producer Bryce Goggin (The Amps, Spacehog, Pavement, Ramones). Answers was mixed at the new Trout Studios in Brooklyn, New York and finished in May of 2002.
*****
Clem plays with an instrumental band called The Kustard Kings and as part of the house band for the Blue Man Group's Tubes show. He has played with Miracle Room, Pizzicato Five and Lotion. Clem is originally from Detroit, Michigan and lives now in the East Village.
Wilbo is a tree farmer and a jazz musician. He has toured or played with Yo La Tengo, Chris Harford, Marc Ribot and others. He leads a band called the Tibetan Bowlers, a free improvisation band. Wilbo was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, where he lives with his wife.
Sasha writes and records under his own name, and with the bands Canal and The Sands. He has played with Fine Country Wine, Bad Timing, Dolores, Dustdevils and Figs (not Figgs). He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, two sons and dog.
DISCOGRAPHY
The 2-Sided EP (Hemiola UK, December 1993) 23 minutes, 7 songs.
Unlike: Remixes Volume 1 (Lunamoth CAN, November 1995) Remixes of material from The 2-Sided EP and Sidelong. 49 minutes.
The Sharpie (Soul Static Sound UK, February 1996) 27 minutes, 3 songs.
"Match My Foot" 7" 2 (Soul Static Sound UK, Feb. 1996) D Mix 2 (One Sided Single) Limited Edition)
"Match My Foot" 7" (Soul Static Sound UK, Feb. 1996) "Match My Foot" b/w Darryl Moore remix
Sidelong (Southern, March 1996) 45 minutes.
Dropplike (Southern, August 1996) 3 remixes of songs from Sidelong. 15 minutes or so.
The 2-Sided EP/The Sharpie: 1993-1995 (Southern, CD only, February 1998) CD Reissue of two vinyl only items above.
Uilab Fires (Bingo US; Duophonic UK, February 1998) Ui and Stereolab collaborating on 4 versions of "St Elmo's Fire" plus Ui's "Less Time" and "Impulse Rah!", a collaborative composition. 26 minutes.
Lifelike (Southern, April 1998) 45 minutes.
The Iron Apple (Southern, 12"/CD, November 1999)
Answers (Southern, CD, June 2003)
*** Compilations/Miscellaneous ***
1996: A Luke Vibert mix (entitled "Unknow") of "Say" and a version of Liquid Liquid's "Out" recorded live at WFMU in 1994 are featured on United Mutations (Lo Recordings).
1996: "Drive Towards The Smoke" appears on Jazz Satellites, Vol. 1 Electrification (Virgin UK).
June, 1996: David Linton remix of "The Piano" from Unlike (retitled "The Grand Piano") appears on Monsters, Robots and Bugmen (Virgin UK).
1997: "Life Is Shorter" appears on the State of the Union (Atavistic).
1997: "Young Men and Women Dub", from The 2-Sided EP sessions, appears on Underwood 2 (Sub Rosa).
1997: An Ui remix of material from Microstoria's _snd album entitled "Run? I jolly well won't run. I'll be happy to get you chaps another ball." appears on Reprovisers (Mille Plateaux/Thrill Jockey). The track is also available as a 12-inch single on Thrill Jockey.
1998: Ui's mix of "Deceleration" appears on Techno Animal Versus Reality (City Slang), a collaborative album. Techno Animal exchanged tapes via mail with five different artists - Alec Empire, Porter Ricks, Tortoise, Ui and Spectre - each producing a final mix of the collaboration.