BRIAN J. BEATRICE

Europa – Sunday April 17th in Greenpoint with Locrian, Martial Canterel and Blacklist. $10, 7pm. Sunday show. Our set should be 9pm. This show is hosted and promoted by Stereogum, Pitchfork, Slate etc contributor Brandon “Show No Mercy” Stosuy.

The Studio at Webster Hall – Saturday April 23rd with Kayo Dot & Retro Grave (featuring original Trouble drummer Oly Olson) $10, 8pm show and Webster Hall clears by 10:30 so that people can get their dance on afterwards. Be there on time.
http://www.websterhall.com/events/show_event_sub.php?id=1334&size=small&cdate=2011-04-23

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Gnaw is an experimental drone / noise band from New York City, New York, United States formed in 2006 by Alan Dubin. Gnaw is the sawblade-wrapped-in-razorwire brainchild of Alan Dubin (Khanate, OLD), Carter Thornton (Enos Slaughter), Jun Mizumachi (Ike Yard), and Jamie Sykes (Thorr’s Hammer, Burning Witch). Their 2009 debut for Conspiracy Records “This Face” was further infected and finally delivered by engineer Brian Beatrice before being wrought for stage deployment with additional drummer Eric Neuser.

Locrian is an experimental / drone three-piece band from Chicago, Illinois, United States formed in late 2005. The band’s music was described by Allmusic as an “eclectic mixture of black metal, electronics, drone, and noise rock”. Allmusic writer Ned Raggett also identified progressive rock influences on The Crystal World. The band have identified krautrock and 1990s death metal as influences.

In 2006, Olson formed Retro Grave while still playing drums for Trouble. The debut, self-titled EP was released on June 5, 2007 and was written, recorded, and performed in its entirety by Olson with lyricist Paull Goodchild. The following year Mike Schermuly and J Cortes were recruited by Olson to participate in the debut full length, “Again”. The album was initially released in December 2008 as a digital release only via the band’s website.

Kayo Dot is an avant-garde group originally from Boston, Massachusetts, United States (now based in Brooklyn, New York) that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the disband of maudlin of the Well. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn’s Tzadik label that year.

Bought some contact cleaner and got this all cleaned up nice. No more crackles and I finally got the goo off the face plate. Someone had marked positions with tape and sharpie. Not sure why you would have to do that with a 5 knob amp. The pots are stamped “Made in the UK 96″, so was finally able to date the amp.

The HIWATT SA210, 2×10″, 20 watt combo – Serial Number AB0520, purchased at 30^th Street Guitars on December 30^th, 2010.

I had my eye on this combo in the shop since I bought my Les Paul Custom in June. I kept to the idea that if it was still in the shop in the new year, it was meant to be. Ok, so I fell a couple days short, but had to have it for the weekend.

It is difficult to date this combo. It was manufactured by Audio Brothers, as noted by the “AB” in the serial number, during the mid-nineties. It is the only model amplifier that Audio Brothers added to HIWATT line.

From a post, a fellow SA210 owner says: It differs from the current reissues in retaining the GZ34 valve rectifier stage, and only putting out 13.5W rather than 20W. Very, very solidly put together, ultra-neat wiring, sounds fantastic. No idea how rare these specific models are these days. The Audio Bros stuff doesn’t seem to surface on the secondhand market much these days…but then again, owning one myself, I can fully understand why!

From the Gear Pages :

The Audio Brothers amps are generally regarded as the best of the HIWATT reissues.

Apparently the amp was made in 94′ by a company called Audio Brothers in England. Fernandes owned Hiwatt at the time (after the 80′s when Hiwatt went through some weird changes in owners and build quality) and Fernandes wasn’t tooled to build these so during the mid 90′s they contracted Audio Brothers to make them to the EXACT spec of the original Hylight era Hiwatts; same manufacturers of the materials, and the same military build quality that it was lacking in the 80′s. The people at the Hiwatt forum at the Plexi Palace say that these are perfect clones as far as quality and sound as the 70′s hylight’s but in some ways are a better deal because the caps aren’t 30 years old and won’t need changing for a good while.

From hiwatt.org:

HIWATT – THE AUDIO BROTHERS YEARS

The U.K. Firm THE AUDIO BROTHERS which was headed up by Steve Gibbs and Richard Senior, was contracted by Fernandes Guitars and Biacrown to make reissue versions of several classic models of 70s era HIWATTS from 1992 to 1998.

Using schematics from early 70s models,Gibbs and Senior faithfully reproduced the hand-wired chassis and robust cabinetry that had marked HIWATTS glory years under Hylight Electronics. Sourcing the original suppliers of parts helped produce what was to be the closest likeness to the original HIWATTS that had been achieved since the demise of Hylight Electronics in 1982.

Original reproductions included the DR103 and DR504 AP amplifiers,the SE4123 speaker enclosure and SA112 combination amplifier.The Audio Brothers also brought their own entries into the HIWATT legacy by re-designing the configuration of the original SA212 combo,giving it a vertical cabinet construction, and by introducing two new pieces; the brilliant SA210 combo,and a 4 X 10 speaker enclosure. When they were still in business, Audio Brothers provided paper schematics for their customers, and they looked very much like the ones on hiwatt.com.

More and better pictures will follow, especially if I open up to view the much lauded point to point wiring etc. Sound clips will also invariably follow at some point.

I have yet to sort through things and get a year end list together, but based simply on my recent listening, no other record knocked me over like this one.

Deathspell Omega – Paracletus

I can not stop listening to this CD. It gets better with each listen. I continually listen to it front to back on my commute and in just 3 weeks it is creeping among the most played on my ipod.  I’ve really liked a few of their other CD’s, especially the split with S.V.E.S.T.,  but this is just a master work. It retains all the elements of their previous stuff and yet, despite its epic conception, it is more concise and driving. I can’t get enough of these discordant harmonies, the guitar layers, the lyrical themes, the insanely furious drumming…  Record of the year? At least I can say that it has been a while since something grabbed me and it took this record to drag me kicking and screaming from my recent early Maiden obsession.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathspell_Omega

NATURE’s award winning “Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom” premieres Sunday, November 14 at 8pm on WNET/Thirteen.

Produced and written by Gianna Savoie. Original Sound Design and Sound Edit by Brian Beatrice at Bionic, mixed by Ed Campbell at Thirteen.

From the Thirteen website:

Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom
Introduction

With the exception of the Blackout Effectors Musket Fuzz, this is my current working setup. It is a “Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 plus” powered Pedal Train 1. Signal flow is as follows;

Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200> Analogman Bi-Comprossor > Analogman Sunface, modded with new old stock Red Dot NKT275 Germanium transistors, sun dial and On/Off pot, NO Power or LED > Devi Ever Soda Meiser > MXR Phase 90 > Line 6 DL4 > Boss FV-500L Volume Pedal > Line 6 Verbzilla. Also on the board is the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier channel switcher.

Live with Gnaw, I omit the Bi-Comp. The Bi-Comp is not ideal with the Les Paul through the Mesa Boogie. I’m in no need of added sustain (!) and the comp really raises the noise floor quite significantly at huge gain levels. In this photo, the MXR Phase 90 is not actively in the chain, as I did not bring it along on the European tour. The Volume pedal exists post DL4 because I actively use the guitar’s pot for volume adjustments and this allows me to silently build loops live, then bring them in after several layers are constructed.

The Pedal Train 1 is a tad small in surface area, but for me, the best solution in size vs. weight vs. cost. While it’s nice to have access to my pedal collection all in one place, I never need them all at the same time and the PT2 would not have afforded me that anyway. The Pedal Train 2 is arguably a slightly better alternative but realistically only has 2 addition inches of surface area on the board. So, the added weight and added cost aren’t really justifiable for me.  The PT2 Hard Case is far superior and a much more substantial flight case, however at 17 lbs vs. the 9 lb. PT1 case, you really pay for it in weight. The hard case for the PT1 is not too well constructed, yet far lighter. While in transit, I strap a durable luggage strap through the handle and around it for added security, as well as some added foam inside to ensure that nothing in that case will budge. On paper it sounds like a ridiculous compromise when discussing some of my hand built pedals, but I’m completely satisfied with this solution. With airlines currently charging you for every pound, it would cost me an additional $50 (each way!) to check the PT2 on a plane. I am able to stow the PT1 inside my luggage for no extra cost. Some day, “the label” will pay for overages (yeah right) and then I’ll upgrade.

Moving forward; I think ideally, with proper time and resources, I would get the DL4 space hog off this board, put the volume pedal earlier in the chain and add the Musket Fuzz and a RMC2 Wah. Then perhaps create another board with an additional volume pedal, the DL4 and an additional looping pedal. Just a thought, though.

Gnaw embarks on their first European tour on October 13th, 2010. After being invited to this year’s Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, UK, Gnaw decide to tack on 2 weeks of European dates to precede it. The specifics are still in the works and everything is subject to change, but it’s looking something like this:

October 13 Antwerp
October 14 Brussels
October 15 Bielefeld
October 16 Paris
October 17 Lausanne
October 18 Karlruhe
October 19 TBD
October 20 Lyon
October 21 Milan
October 23 UK Birmingham Supersonic Festival

1981 LP Custom > Blackout Effectors Musket > Line6 POD, Tube Preamp Setting, No Drive

MUSKET_01

It took too many years of searching and deliberating, but I finally pulled the trigger and couldn’t be more pissed that I didn’t do it sooner. This thing is a beast. Nicknamed by its previous owner “Ronson” after the late under-acclaimed guitarist  and collaborator of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust years (among other things) because of the natural wood finish, this guitar is a 1981 Les Paul Custom. All stock except the professional refret job by the Gibson custom shop in Nashville. Sick.

Mick Ronson in 1973 as one of the “Spiders from Mars” with his similar Les Paul Custom:

Status: In Transit – On Time
Scheduled Delivery Date: 05/26/2010
Shipped To: NEW YORK, NY, US
Shipped On: 05/24/2010
Type: Package
Service: GROUND
Weight: 28.00 Lbs Read the rest of this entry »