NOVELIST profile picture

NOVELIST

About Me



NOVELIST is the free improvising guitar & drums duo of Chase Middaugh and Ryan McMullen.

they have shared the stage with Kayo Dot, Circle, Gregor Samsa, The Psychic Paramount, Unearthly Trance, Neptune, Rhys Chatham, and the Plotkin/Wyskida improvisational duo (ex-Khanate) among others.

Related acts include: Teeth So Sharp , mutus liber & Golden Dawn Trio.

full-length recording in progress. transition time.

RELEASES:
Where No Life Moved (2007) : CD-R of live recording. SOLD OUT.
Full Up Of Empty Spaces (2009) : digital download of rehearsals. FREE.
upcoming full-length (2009) : details TBA.

contact us at info[at]nvlst.com

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/01/2005
Band Website: http://www.nvlst.com
Band Members: Chase Middaugh
Ryan McMullen

Influences: Fred Frith
Derek Bailey
Miles Davis
Supersilent
Sonny Sharrock
Marc Ribot
AMM
Ornette Coleman
Masayuki Takayanagi
SWANS
Ennio Morricone
Tatsuya Yoshida
John Zorn
Can
This Heat
Black Sabbath
Steve Reich
Earth

Sounds Like: CAVEMAN JAZZ

"the 'Novelist' that we may have thought we'd known in the past has turned into a seriously intense and powerful avant/jazz force to reckon with."

-Carl Pace (a.k.a. Beta Cloud)

less-than-relevant these days- but here are some nice things people have said about us in the past:

"...the duo of Chase Middaugh and Ryan McMullen wrench a full band’s worth of heavy rock atmospherics from Novelist’s relatively sparse drums and guitar format. With an all instrumental sound that falls somewhere between The Who’s long-form feedback jams, Glenn Branca’s art-rock symphonies and Sunn O)))’s drone metal soundscapes, Novelist maximize their minimal attack. "

-ARTVOICE v5n51

"...a duo of guitar and drums called Novelist, consisting of guitarist Chase Middaugh and drummer Ryan McMullen. Novelist combines an unusual mix of drone metal and power chords, evolving into sparse complex structures involving an intricate interaction between the drummer and the guitarist."

-Rhys Chatham

"On the CD Where No Life Moved, Novelist combines avant-garde composition with metallic improvisation, traveling from sparse drum ruffles and icy fragments of melody to molten, doom-drenched dirges."

-Aaron Jentzen, Pittsburgh City Paper

"Duo Chase Middaugh and Ryan McMullen compose ambient, otherworldly soundscapes - installations fit to adapt to any space. Their minimalistic approach lends itself well to the moods they capture on record, with sparse drones drifting across a sonic sea, occasionally crashing into the jagged shores. Novelist fits stylistically somewhere between Ennio Morricone and the Southern Lord Records catalogue."

-Alison Zero, Buffalo Rising
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

FULL UP OF EMPTY SPACES (FREE EP DOWNLOAD)

full up of empty spaces is a collection of recordings we made in our rehearsal space in the fall of 2008.  these are improvised rehearsal recordings, so they're a little on the rough side, but we fee...
Posted by on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:06:00 GMT

"the new thing."

it's been a while since we posted anything for you to listen to /ignore.we have posted two edits from a recent live show.these excerpts of "that miserable sound that [we] fail to play" are more indica...
Posted by on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:23:00 GMT

"TOUR" DATES

super-mini tourmicroscopic tourstretching our road legs a wee bita weekend out of town to (hopefully) slightly warmer temperatureshowever you want to look at it- NOVELIST will be playing our first sho...
Posted by on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:08:00 GMT

NOVEMBER 2007 UPDATE

what's a few more months between friends?looks like "DROSERA" will now be out in March of 2008.  that should be pretty final.we've finally secured a new and definitive rehearsal space so that we ...
Posted by on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 07:29:00 GMT

APRIL 2007 UPDATE

we have posted a 3rd sample from our forthcoming release "Drosera"like the others, this is an edit of a longer piece, and unmastered."Catch The Drift (sample)" is up now on our player.check it out."DR...
Posted by on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:49:00 GMT

stream "Teeth So Sharp" for a limited time

http://www.last.fm/music/Teeth+So+SharpTeeth So Sharp is the guitar trio of Bill Abdale (formerly of Black Centipede), Ryan McMullen and Chase Middaugh (of Novelist). we have a self-titled record com...
Posted by on Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:57:00 GMT

JANUARY 2007 UPDATE

a few things to mention:+ we have a show coming up on February 1st that we are very excited about. we will be opening for Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio All-Stars, in which Chase will also be performing....
Posted by on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:38:00 GMT

Novelist Shirts For Sale!

Available sizes: S, M, L, XLto order send $11.00 (Shipping Included- US only) to [email protected] paypal. be sure to include the size you want and your address!thanks!UPDATE: here's what's left siz...
Posted by on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:46:00 GMT

Solo guitar pieces from Chase.

Finished recording some solo guitar improv pieces yesterday. Enjoy.Materials used: guitar, transistor radio, triangle.Chase Middaugh- "Improv 120706"01. One02. Two03. Threeor download all three piece...
Posted by on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:18:00 GMT

OCTOBER 2006 UPDATE (AUDIO NOW ONLINE!!)

after an entire year- we finally have something new to share with everyone.we have posted 2 edits from our forthcoming full-length "DROSERA.""Palindromes" : this 4 minute edit was created from 3 sect...
Posted by on Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:44:00 GMT