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