...cause I can't really do all of that stuff and play guitar at the same time...
...ok well can you keep it for a while and talk to me about your dreams?...
...your 5 dreams since you met...
"What is it like to be a bat?"
—A question posed by anti-Cartesian linguist Thomas Nagel
Reflected by composer Erik Satie:
"We cannot doubt that animals both love and practice music.
That is evident. But it seems their musical system is different from ours…"
Performer/composers Kitty Brazelton and Dafna Naphtali collaborate on a montage of extremes: textures hard/soft, noises white/red, harmony rooted/disembodied, silence. Both women sing with startling multi-octave ranges*. Both women play electric guitar / bass. Both women compose hard-core computer music. All this is woven, spliced, patched, threaded, then drummed together by BAT’s third member: Danny Tunick. Their eponymous CD was released 2003 on Tzadik label. The band remained active 1996-2006, on hiatus now, with a new track “Stabat Mom” still unreleased.
BONUS: Album purchase includes album art/liner notes scanned from the original CD booklet.
credits
released June 24, 2003
Kitty Brazelton: voice, computer soundtracks, electric bass, sampler
Dafna Naphtali: voice, live audio processing, max/msp, electric guitar
Danny Tunick: drums, octapad (11-18), voice (11-18), electric bass (14, 15), sampler (2), soprano recorder (7)
Paul Geluso: filtering (13-18), voice (13-18)
all compositions by Kitty Brazelton and Dafna Naphtali
produced by What is it Like to Be a Bat?
executive producer: John Zorn
associate producer: Kazunori Sugiyama
recorded by Tom Mark and Paul Geluso at Make Believe Ballroom, West Shokan, NY, November 30 to December 2, 2000
mixing and editing by Paul Geluso, Dafna Naphtali and Kitty Brazelton at Harvestworks/Studio Pass and 189 Waverly Place NYC, 2001 to 2002
final mixes by Jamie Saft at Frank Booth, Brooklyn, NY, February 2003
additional pre-recorded elements recorded by Greg Shakar at New York University Music Technology, NYC, 1997
field recordings made and processed by Kitty Brazelton at Columbia University Computer Music Centre, NYC, 1997 to 2000
mastered by Scott Hull at Hit Factory Mastering, NYC
cover and inlay photos: Jill Peltzman
all other photos: Marc Pokempner
design: Chippy (Heung-Heung Chin)
5 Dreams; Marriage commissioned by Harvestworks/Studio Pass with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts
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