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Joshua Abrams (musician)

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Joshua Abrams
Joshua Abrams in Aarhus, Denmark, 2018
Joshua Abrams in Aarhus, Denmark, 2018
Background information
BornPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
GenresAvant-garde jazz, minimalism
OccupationMusician
Instrument(s)Double bass, Guimbri
Years active1990–present
Member ofNatural Information Society
Formerly ofThe Roots, Town & Country

Joshua Abrams is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the double bass and guimbri.[1][2]

Career

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While living in Philadelphia in the late 1980s, Abrams was a member of Square Roots, a street music group that developed into The Roots. He moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1991, and played in Chicago house bands for several years before forming Town & Country in 1998 with Ben Vida, Liz Payne, and Jim Dorling. Abrams was the house bass player at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge and for several years he played a weekly club date with Tortoise's John Herndon and Jeff Parker.[3] He was a member of Mike Reed's Loose Assembly and Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble.[4][5] In 2003, he played bass on Godspeed You! Black Emperor's album Yanqui U.X.O..[6] He has worked as a studio musician on recordings made in Chicago, such as Jandek's Chicago Wednesday; Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Beware and albums from Chicago musicians such as Joan of Arc, David Grubbs, and Sam Prekop.[7][8][9]

In the early 00's, Delmark released his acoustic quartet album Cipher and Lucky Kitchen released his solo soundscape albums.[3] He recorded albums under the name "Reminder" for Prefuse 73's Eastern Developments label and Easel.[3][10] In 2010, Abrams started the band Natural Information Society releasing albums by Eremite Records.[11][3] In 2018 he received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award.[7]

As a film composer, Abrams has written music for director Steve James and for Life Itself, The Interrupters, The Trials of Muhammad Ali, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, and the documentary series America to Me.[1][12][13] He performed and composed music for the play At Twilight by Simon Starling, with Theaster Gates at Documenta 13, and in exhibitions by Lisa Alvarado.[7][14][11]

Discography

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As leader or co-leader

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  • Terminal 4 with Terminal 4 (Truckstop/Atavistic, 2001)
  • Busride Interview (Lucky Kitchen, 2002)
  • Sticks and Stones with Sticks and Stones (482 Music, 2002)
  • Cipher (Delmark, 2003)
  • After (Lucky Kitchen, 2003)
  • Shed Grace with Sticks and Stones (Thrill Jockey, 2004)
  • Continuum (Eastern Developments, 2006) as Reminder
  • Bright Blue Galilee with DRMWPN (Captcha, 2008)
  • Bird Show Band with Bird Show Band (Amish, 2010)
  • Twyxt Wyrd with the Cairo Gang (Blackest Rainbow, 2010)
  • Stars Have Shapes with Exploding Star Orchestra (Delmark, 2010)
  • Natural Information (Eremite, 2010)
  • Represencing (Eremite, 2012)
  • New Myth/Old Science with Living by Lanterns (Cuneiform, 2012)
  • Unknown Known (RogueArt, 2013)
  • Goes Missing with the Cairo Gang (God? 2015)
  • Magnetoception with Natural Information Society (Eremite, 2015)
  • Automaginary with Natural Information Society (Drag City, 2015)
  • Simultonality with Natural Information Society (Eremite, 2017)
  • We Have Always Been Here with Galactic Unity Ensemble (JMY, 2017)
  • Excavations 1 (Feeding Tube, 2018)
  • Ithra (Aerophonic, 2018) with Dave Rempis and Tomeka Reid
  • Mandatory Reality with Natural Information Society (Eremite, 2019)
  • Cloud Script (Rogueart, 2020)
  • Sometimes There Were Four (self-released, 2020) with Forbes Graham, Ava Mendoza, and Tyler Damon
  • Music for Life Itself & The Interrupters (Eremite, 2020)
  • descension (Out of Our Constrictions) with Natural Information Society and Evan Parker (Eremite, 2021)
  • Mind Maintenance (Drag City, 2021) with Chad Taylor
  • Since Time Is Gravity with Natural Information Society and Ari Brown (Eremite, 2023)

With Town & Country

  • Town and Country (BOXmedia, 1998)
  • Decoration Day (Thrill Jockey, 2000)
  • It All Has to Do With It (Thrill Jockey, 2000)
  • Up Above (Thrill Jockey, 2006)

As sideman

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With Joan of Arc

  • Orchard Vale (Record Label, 2007)
  • Boo! Human (Polyvinyl, 2008)
  • Flowers (Polyvinyl, 2009)

With Nicole Mitchell

With Mike Reed

With Dave Rempis

  • Aphelion (Aerophonic, 2014)
  • Perihelion (Aerophonic, 2016)
  • Apsis (Aerophonic, 2019)

With others

References

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  1. ^ a b Schube, Will (16 May 2017). "Joshua Abrams is a Focused Force in Jazz and Film Scoring". Band Camp.
  2. ^ Masters, Marc. "Joshua Abrams: Natural Information Society Simultonality". Pitchfork.
  3. ^ a b c d Broomer, Stuart (Fall 2015). "Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society: By Way of the Guimbri". Music Works Magazine. No. 123.
  4. ^ Russonello, Giovanni (10 January 2018). "Nicole Mitchell, an Innovative Flutist With an Afrofuturist Vision". New York Times.
  5. ^ Adler, David R. (25 April 2019). "Mike Reed: Doubled Up". Jazz Times Magazine.
  6. ^ Khanna, Vish. "Godspeed You! Black Emperor: There's Only Hope". Exclaim.
  7. ^ a b c "Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2018: Joshua Abrams". Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2018 Booklet.
  8. ^ Hughes, Josiah. "Joan of Arc Celebrate Their Collaborators with Don't Mind Control". Exclaim.
  9. ^ Downing, Andy (21 October 2005). "For Sam Prekop, going solo means enlisting old friends". Chicago Tribune.
  10. ^ Preski, Kenneth (19 February 2014). "Lunch with Joshua: Abrams on New Releases from Natural Information Society in 2014". New City Chicago.
  11. ^ a b Russonello, Giovanni (April 20, 2017). "Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society". The New York Times.
  12. ^ Leitko, Aaron. "Joshua Abrams: Music for Life Itself & The Interrupters". Pitchfork.
  13. ^ Tobias, Scott (23 January 2018). "Oscars 2018: Where to Stream the Nominated Movies". New York Times.
  14. ^ Sharratt, Chris (14 September 2016). "Live: Simon Starling". Frieze (183).
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