Inconvenient Music (Mark Howell and Rick Brown)

About Me

Mark Howell and Rick Brown - inconvenient music
We are two North American would-be non-conformists with some things in common (born in the Fifties to mothers from the state of Mississippi and musician fathers) and some clear differences (Mark is a well- and long-trained musician who now holds a Ph.D. while Rick has never been formally taught anything about music yet is a High School graduate...)
Our collaboration dates back to the late 80's when we began performing free improvisations as a side-line activity to our more formal groups of the time. The musical relationship has taken a number of turns including performances as a trio with John Zorn, song-writing with bassist Faye Hunter as well as recording and touring with the experimental rock band Timber (a trio with Jenny Wade). Timber's album Parts and Labor (Rift Records, US and Rough Trade, Europe), which was very favorably reviewed, includes early intimations of Mark and Rick's current directions.
Rick Brown - electronics, percussion, vocal, funnel
Ongoing duo with Sue Garner (album Still - Thrill Jockey), member of the bands Run On (with Sue and Alan Licht), Fish & Roses, Les Batteries (with Guigou Chenevier), and V-Effect. Various work with Curlew, Tara Key/Antietam, Tortoise, God Is My Co-Pilot, Elliott Sharp and others. Solo myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/rbrownout
Mark Howell - guitar, trumpet, percussion
Co-founder with Bruno Meillier of "mutated group" Zero Pop. Played and/or recorded with Fred Frith's Guitar Quartet, Cassandra Wilson, Curlew, The Mad Scene, Better Than Death and various other folk. Lately he's been doing ethnomusicology research on Pre-Columbian musics. Mark's composition work is available from Frog Peak Music ( http://www.frogpeak.org/fpartists/fphowell.html ).

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/29/2006
Band Members: Mark, Rick
Influences: wind, sand and stars
Sounds Like: inconvenient music, as we call our current incarnation, while still incorporating a wide range of influences and tendencies, focuses primarily on long-form soundscapes, drones and repetitive, slowly evolving, rhythmic motifs. Some pieces are composed, while others are structured improvisations and we have assayed a few select re-imaginings of tunes associated with the American cultural icons Miles Davis, Bob Dylan and Son House. The stuff is still developing, as evidenced by the recent addition of some vocal elements.

translation of description from Inoui Musique's program:
"Rick Brown and Mark Howell are two of the most creative and atypical musicians of the New York musical scene, no matter how rich it may be in rowdy characters of all stripes. Since the early 80s, they've played with some of New York's most daring rock'n'roll groups (V-Effect, Fish & Roses, Timber etc) and had multiple involvements with musicians as important as Tortoise, Fred Frith, Sonic Youth and John Zorn. At ease like fish in water in the New York megalopolis, Rick Brown and Mark Howell propose, with this new duet, a surprisingly calm musical universe. One breathes there the air of great spaces of the West and not the exploded asphalt of Manhattan. The influences of the Delta Blues are here too, fully taken on in spite of some residual urban shrieking. It is nap time. All is slow. The fingers move gently on the guitars fretboard. A few tumbleweeds blow away in the overheated air of the brush..."
Type of Label: None

My Blog

we will seem to be hibernating...

As you may already know, Mark has taken a job in Mississippi. He's excited about the new position and I'm happy for him, but it means that we will be much less active than either of us would lik...
Posted by Inconvenient Music (Mark Howell and Rick Brown) on Mon, 09 Oct 2006 10:27:00 PST