{"id":12435,"date":"2017-03-14T05:30:38","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T09:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=12435"},"modified":"2017-03-13T08:18:29","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T12:18:29","slug":"sxip-shireys-avant-groove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/14\/sxip-shireys-avant-groove\/","title":{"rendered":"Sxip Shirey’s Avant Groove"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Note: An edited version of this feature appeared previously in<\/em> Brooklyn Paper. — bk<\/p>\n

Described as an \u201celectro-acoustic\u201d artist, Brooklyn-based Sxip Shirey<\/b> is tough to pin down musically. Read about him most places and you’re likely to come away thinking his music is cerebral, experimental and more than a little avant-garde. Actually listen to the music, and you may be surprised to learn that it’s got a groove and is quite melodic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not writing music to be smart,\u201d Shirey insists. While he sees the value in music as a purely intellectual pursuit, that’s not his goal. \u201cI’m a smart fucker,\u201d he laughs, \u201cand I definitely use conceptual techniques for my music, but I’m actually just interested in, ‘Can you write a fucking good song?’\u201d To him, the best music communicates with people. He says that he would welcome a situation in which he’s told, \u201cHey, Sxip, there’s a bunch of plumbers out there, and you have to sell this to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he’s involved in myriad pursuits \u2013 including a compelling walk-through musical work called \u201cThe Gauntlet,\u201d performed in New York and Fredrikstad, Norway \u2013 Shirey’s latest effort is the album A Bottle of Whiskey and a Handful of Bees<\/i>, released January 13. The album’s premiere was celebrated with a show at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

The album features guest vocals by Rhiannon Giddens<\/b> and Xavier<\/b>, both of whom performed at the release show. Shirey first met Giddens when his \u201cklezmer punk\u201d collective Luminescent Orchestrii<\/b> collaborated with the Carolina Chocolate Drops<\/b> on an EP. \u201cWe started as admirers, then collaborators,\u201d Shirey says, \u201cand then it turned into a friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shirey met r&b vocalist Xavier through a mutual friend. Shirey notes that he writes specifically for the singers he uses. \u201cI wrote from a gay perspective on Xavier’s songs. I had these partially-finished songs,\u201d he recalls, \u201cand I had been talking to Xavier a lot about situations he was in. It was really easy to write the rest of the lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m pulling out the stops\u201d for the National Sawdust Show, Shirey says. Minneapolis poet-rapper and NPR Tiny Desk Concerts<\/i> sensation Dessa<\/b> joined Shirey for \u201cI Live in New York City,\u201d and the performance also featured Brooklyn’s 20-piece vocal ensemble, Choral Chameleon<\/b>. The evening also included a controversial piece Shirey debuted at a 2008 TED talk.<\/p>\n

He describes that work: \u201cI breathe in and out of another person’s lungs, internally miking my mouth; they loved the piece at TED.\u201d Commenting on a YouTube posting of that piece, Shirey summed up his work in perhaps the most succinct manner possible: \u201cSome of you will get what I am doing \u2026 and some of you will still think I’m full of shit!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich,\u201d he adds, \u201cis fine!\u201d<\/p>\n

You may also enjoy my review of Shirey’s new album.<\/a><\/p>\n

Aaaand … you may also enjoy a review of Sxip Shirey’s National Sawdust show — the one I previewed here — written by my friend Nick Stubblefield. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: An edited version of this feature appeared previously in Brooklyn Paper. — bk Described as an \u201celectro-acoustic\u201d artist, Brooklyn-based Sxip Shirey is tough to pin down musically. Read about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,41,44,49],"tags":[2979,2978],"class_list":["post-12435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avant-garde","category-interview","category-live-shows","category-new-release","tag-rhiannon-giddens","tag-sxip-shirey","cat-7-id","cat-41-id","cat-44-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12435"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12438,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12435\/revisions\/12438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}