ITSNOTYOUITSME . . . . .
My warmest recommendations for these two guys:
- "ITSNOTYOUITSME was formed in Harlem, NYC in 2003. Members Grey Mcmurray and Caleb Burhans met while attending the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. They played in various musical settings together while in school, including a large improvising group called Dialects, heavily influenced by ambient, free-jazz and post-rock musics. Grey and Caleb moved to New York soon after and formed itsnotyouitsme as a means of continuing the aesthetic and objectives of Dialects. In order to create a large sound with the new stripped-down instrumentation, they began using looping devices, which play a significant role in performance as well as in the compositional process. Along with their own material, itsnotyouitsme has since performed works by composers ranging from J.S. Bach to Philip Glass.
Grey Mcmurray is a guitar player and singer and that has been based in Brooklyn since 2004. Since that time, he has toured the US and europe and performed or recorded with diverse group of musicians including Tyondai Braxton, Shara Worden, Gil-Scott Heron, Chromeo, So Percussion, Nicole Atkins, The BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gabriel Kahane and Arooj Aftab among many others. He is a member of The Wordless Music Orchestra and is a co-leader of the triumphant soul band, Knights On Earth.
Caleb Burhans is a composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist at the forefront of New Yorks new-music scene. In addition to itsnotyouitsme, Caleb is a founding member of Alarm Will Sound and Newspeak and sings in the Trinity Wall Street Choir. Currently in residence at Dickinson College, Caleb holds a degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied violin, viola, voice and composition. His composition teachers include David Liptak, Bob Morris, Joseph Schwantner and Augusta Read Thomas. Caleb has premiered numerous pieces and has worked closely with composers La Monte Young, Lou Harrison, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Meredith Monk, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Jacob Ter Veldhuis, Poul Ruders, Per Norgard, Roger Reynolds, George Crumb, Brian Ferneyhough, Martin Bresnick, David Liptak, Brad Lubman, Augusta Read Thomas and Bernard Rands. He has been commissioned by various new-music ensembles including the Albany Symphony, Tarab Cello Ensemble, Janus, and Eastmans Musica Nova Ensemble.
The duo has released two acclaimed albums on New Amsterdam, walled gardens (2008) and fallen monuments (2010). The duo has been called gently mesmerizing (Time Out New York), and lush and evocative (The Very Short List). walled gardens was listed as one of the best CDs of 2008 and regarded as meltingly beautiful by Allan Kozinn of The New York Times. itsnotyouitsme has performed at venues including Zebulon in Brooklyn, NY, Le Poisson Rouge in New York, and West Hall Auditorium at RPI in Troy, NY."
New Amsterdam Records
Itsnotyouitsme - Everbody's Pain Is Magnificent[/size]
Caleb Burhans - electric violin, casio sk-1, resonator guitar, effects, voice
Grey McMurray - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, oud, fender rhodes, effects, voice
- - "Following itsnotyouitsmes first two critically acclaimed albums is everybodys pain is magnificent, an 88 minute double-disc album that serves as a mature and well-honed artistic statement. Like the duos first two albums walled gardens and fallen monuments which were lauded by critics for their idiosyncratic ambient sound worlds generated by copious melodic looping, everybodys pain is magnificent enraptures the listener with its dense textural landscapes. The emphasis on slowly shifting harmonies and polished timbres represents a marked departure away from the groups earlier Philip Glass-inspired additive process minimalism and toward a more abstracted soundworld of flowing textures."
- New Amsterdam Records - music
- "ITSNOTYOUITSME was formed in Harlem, NYC in 2003. Members Grey Mcmurray and Caleb Burhans met while attending the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. They played in various musical settings together while in school, including a large improvising group called Dialects, heavily influenced by ambient, free-jazz and post-rock musics. Grey and Caleb moved to New York soon after and formed itsnotyouitsme as a means of continuing the aesthetic and objectives of Dialects. In order to create a large sound with the new stripped-down instrumentation, they began using looping devices, which play a significant role in performance as well as in the compositional process. Along with their own material, itsnotyouitsme has since performed works by composers ranging from J.S. Bach to Philip Glass.Grey Mcmurray is a guitar player and singer and that has been based in Brooklyn since 2004. Since that time, he has toured the US and europe and performed or recorded with diverse group of musicians including Tyondai Braxton, Shara Worden, Gil-Scott Heron, Chromeo, So Percussion, Nicole Atkins, The BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gabriel Kahane and Arooj Aftab among many others. He is a member of The Wordless Music Orchestra and is a co-leader of the triumphant soul band, Knights On Earth.
Caleb Burhans is a composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist at the forefront of New Yorks new-music scene. In addition to itsnotyouitsme, Caleb is a founding member of Alarm Will Sound and Newspeak and sings in the Trinity Wall Street Choir. Currently in residence at Dickinson College, Caleb holds a degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied violin, viola, voice and composition. His composition teachers include David Liptak, Bob Morris, Joseph Schwantner and Augusta Read Thomas. Caleb has premiered numerous pieces and has worked closely with composers La Monte Young, Lou Harrison, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Meredith Monk, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Jacob Ter Veldhuis, Poul Ruders, Per Norgard, Roger Reynolds, George Crumb, Brian Ferneyhough, Martin Bresnick, David Liptak, Brad Lubman, Augusta Read Thomas and Bernard Rands. He has been commissioned by various new-music ensembles including the Albany Symphony, Tarab Cello Ensemble, Janus, and Eastmans Musica Nova Ensemble.
The duo has released two acclaimed albums on New Amsterdam, walled gardens (2008) and fallen monuments (2010). The duo has been called gently mesmerizing (Time Out New York), and lush and evocative (The Very Short List). walled gardens was listed as one of the best CDs of 2008 and regarded as meltingly beautiful by Allan Kozinn of The New York Times. itsnotyouitsme has performed at venues including Zebulon in Brooklyn, NY, Le Poisson Rouge in New York, and West Hall Auditorium at RPI in Troy, NY."
New Amsterdam Records
Itsnotyouitsme - Everbody's Pain Is Magnificent[/size]
Caleb Burhans - electric violin, casio sk-1, resonator guitar, effects, voice
Grey McMurray - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, oud, fender rhodes, effects, voice
- - "Following itsnotyouitsmes first two critically acclaimed albums is everybodys pain is magnificent, an 88 minute double-disc album that serves as a mature and well-honed artistic statement. Like the duos first two albums walled gardens and fallen monuments which were lauded by critics for their idiosyncratic ambient sound worlds generated by copious melodic looping, everybodys pain is magnificent enraptures the listener with its dense textural landscapes. The emphasis on slowly shifting harmonies and polished timbres represents a marked departure away from the groups earlier Philip Glass-inspired additive process minimalism and toward a more abstracted soundworld of flowing textures."
- New Amsterdam Records - music
Comments
itsnotyouitsme is:
Caleb Burhans (violin)
Grey McMurray (guitar)
Featuring: Theo Bleckmann (voice) & Skúli Sverrisson (bass)
"This I is the fourth recording from itsnotyouitsme, the duo of the two prolific and highly regarded New York musicians guitarist Grey Mcmurray and violinist/composer Caleb Burhans. In the midst of successful solo careers, Burhans and Mcmurray began playing together in 2003 under this moniker, blending and distilling their mutual love of everything from Brian Eno to J.S. Bach and Pink Floyd. Since then, the pair has carved out a unique niche in the musical scene with their ambient, post-rock, jazz-tinged and genre-defying instrumental soundscapes.
Like the duo's first three albums on New Amsterdam Records walled gardens, fallen monuments, and everybody's pain is magnificent This I continues itsnotyouitsmes exploration of ambient sound worlds, but for the first time, creative voices outside the Mcmurray/Burhans mind meld are welcomed into the fold. The duo welcomes two highly influential and widely admired artists, bassist Skúli Sverrisson and vocalist Theo Bleckmann, to expand itsnotyouitsme's sonic horizons and breathe new life into their compositional process.
Culled from one continuous performance, This I shows itnsotyouitsme pushing its signature flowing textural landscapes, slowly shifting harmonies, and polished timbres into a new world, adding in layers of poised but powerful intensity that showcase the gifts of the album's guests. The result is a multidimensional work that moves from light to dark and back again, using harmonic blending and vocal layering to explore and contemplate the ample space in between. Whether delicate or forceful, each moment meditates on the power of restraint to create an enveloping and otherworldly emotional experience. As Mcmurray himself explains, "We are a small band that makes wide music. We expel our selves slowly so that we can smile with our sadness strongly."
- New Amsterdam Records - music - More Caleb Burhans @ Emusers