
It was me, Michael Gira and Andy (Hawkins) from Blind Idiot God and we were the three roommates here at the studio. There was a whole period here-and Laswell thought it was fucking hilarious-he thought we should do a fucking sitcom. You must have had tons of people crashing here over the years. My dad died when I was 17 and my mom died at 12. How long have you actually lived here at B.C. So there’s a lot of these details that fall into, in a weird way, a message that you need a space to do this stuff in.
Bc studio brooklyn gowanus driver#
With Ryan, he’s the driver behind a lot of the detailed questions and how we mike drums and stuff like that. They were aware of a lot of the stuff but a lot of the local stuff they weren’t aware of but they immediately developed affection for a lot of the music and a lot of the bands themselves, personally.

One of the filmmakers, that’s what primarily grabbed her. Not like any old space but this was a space that was isolated and was hard to get to. You have Afrika Bambaata juxtaposed with Sonic Youth’s guitars…Zulu Nation in the same space. But what really seemed to hit home for people who cared about the documentary is these things have happened in the same space. People do respond to the different types of variety. It’s not that the discography doesn’t matter-the discography matters-but the discography in the context of that space means a lot more. It’s also really transformed my perception about the value of the space and also from people’s responses. But with this-and what is really remarkable, fun and interesting for me-is that the documentary wouldn’t have happened if I was bouncing around different studios. And now I’m 53 or 54 and I was aware of that but I never thought of a book. Not that I ever cared about it, but in the back of my mind, I thought the age that people-or where it’s viable to write a book in some way-is fifty. Martin Bisi: Well, definitely not my idea. Noisey: How did the idea for “Sound and Chaos” crystallize?

We caught up with Bisi to talk “Sound & Chaos” and some of the influential records he’s produced. This coming Sunday, July 12, Bisi and a host of his cohorts including, ex-Sonic Youth/Pussy Galore and current Lydia Lunch Retrovirus drummer Bob Bert, psych-rockers White Hills and Algis Kizys (Swans) will celebrate “Sound & Chaos” with a screening and free-improv jams in the producer’s Gowanus ‘hood at nearby Littlefield (info here). Just a couple of years later, Bisi recorded Herbie Hancock’s mid-80’s monster hit “Rockit”. al) on the upper east side, his discovery of avant-garde music to finding the Gowanus studio where he, get this, welcomed in a pre-superstar Whitney Houston to lend her voice to a cover of Robert Wyatt’s “Memories” from Laswell’s pioneering avant-funk group, Material (he recalls Houston as “already diva-esque.”). Sound and Chaos: The Story of BC Studio, is the ultimate tell-all, tracing Bisi’s NYC born and bred lineage from essentially being an orphan (he lost both his parents at a very young age), his teenage years rooming with fellow producer-to-be Michael Beinhorn (Hole, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, et. Now, Bisi’s story has hit the big screen. There’s John Zorn, Fab Five Freddy, Afrika Bambaata, Sonic Youth, Swans, Live Skull, Rat At Rat R, Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, Dresden Dolls, and Helmet while more recent action includes White Hills, EULA, Cinema Cinema, Needle Driver, and Violent Femmes. A glance at his stunning, across-the-genre-board discography results in minds blown. In the Brooklyn deathtrap studio he’s called home, literally, since the late 70s, Bisi has presided over recordings that defined seminal scenes counting downtown NYC’s avant-garde jazz scene, 80s art-rock and 90s Bowery scum-rock.
Bc studio brooklyn gowanus download#
Thumb through your ol’ vinyl, cassette, CD, or download collection and chances are it has Bisi’s stamp.
