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» member profile:
brothermartin
» location:
martin holsinger
» label: unsigned
» for fans of: Captain Beefheart, Grateful Dead, Kate Wolf, Holy Modal Rounders
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brother martin and the intangibles
NEWS
STAY TUNED FOR A WHOLE NEW APPROACH!! SEE "A MOMENT OF TRUTH" BELOW!
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» go to the music page for more
great openess (reggae version)
found in a mist
Da Daka Dakini Dance
bag of skin demo
eye paint the body electric
The Lake Isle of Innisfree (solo version)
The Lake Isle of Innisfree (piano version)
goin' thru the motions
echoes of a vaster era
terrorists in the heartland
check all 40 songs on the music page
A MOMENT OF TRUTH
A friend of mine who is a professional musician recently did me the favor of giving me an honest appraisal of my work.
"You're a fantastic songwriter," she said, "and you're a good, distinctive singer and piano player, and you play saxophone pretty well. But you're a lousy one-man band, and you don't know jacks--t about being a recording engineer. The 'band' recordings you make turn people off on your songs. Just do solo recordings of them, and get yourself a drummer, a bass player, and a recording engineer." She gave me some good leads, and I will soon be following up on them. Applications from you, my internet public, are also welcome. It's time for "the Intangibles" to become tangible, and time for me to move my music into the American mind at a much more active level, in a much more effective way. I will be forming a publishing company and looking for established artists who appreciate my peculiar genius and enjoy singing my songs. Me, I got no taste for touring.
Soon, I will be replacing most of what is here (she liked my space music) with solo recordings, supplemented soon with well-done group versions. If there's any of this that you have admired for its earnest, amateur klutziness, download it now, while it's still available.
It's a tremendous relief, really. I have always known that, all too often, I was taking a really cool piano/keyboard rendition of a song and diminishing it, rather than augmenting it, with the extra parts I added. Here's to a brighter, simpler future!
A friend of mine who is a professional musician recently did me the favor of giving me an honest appraisal of my work.
"You're a fantastic songwriter," she said, "and you're a good, distinctive singer and piano player, and you play saxophone pretty well. But you're a lousy one-man band, and you don't know jacks--t about being a recording engineer. The 'band' recordings you make turn people off on your songs. Just do solo recordings of them, and get yourself a drummer, a bass player, and a recording engineer." She gave me some good leads, and I will soon be following up on them. Applications from you, my internet public, are also welcome. It's time for "the Intangibles" to become tangible, and time for me to move my music into the American mind at a much more active level, in a much more effective way. I will be forming a publishing company and looking for established artists who appreciate my peculiar genius and enjoy singing my songs. Me, I got no taste for touring.
Soon, I will be replacing most of what is here (she liked my space music) with solo recordings, supplemented soon with well-done group versions. If there's any of this that you have admired for its earnest, amateur klutziness, download it now, while it's still available.
It's a tremendous relief, really. I have always known that, all too often, I was taking a really cool piano/keyboard rendition of a song and diminishing it, rather than augmenting it, with the extra parts I added. Here's to a brighter, simpler future!
Why this name?
This band is called "Brother Martin and the Intangibles" because I, Brother Martin, am the only tangible member of the band--I play all instruments, altho I do sometimes make use of a drum machine to help get the timing right and all that.....perhaps someday more musicians will materialize--that would be great, but I'm not sure how I would play saxophone and piano and sing at the same time...something would have to give!
Do you play live?
I play at Ragweed Festival on the Farm once a year. As I don't like being around people who are smoking tobacco and drinking, and few coffeehouses have acoustic pianos (my solo instrument of choice), I make little attempt to "play out." If there were Amsterdam-style cafes in this country, I would be more inclined to seek gigs. If you got one, get in touch!
How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
It really levels the playing field. It's great. We can all get out there--I just hope the internet stays as open as it has traditionally been.
Would you sign a record contract with a major label?
Since I am sixty years old and labels mostly won't sign anyone over thirty, the question is pretty academic. I would like to see other people pick up on my songs and get them around, however--I think songwriting is my real strength.
Band History:
I have been playing piano ever since I was tall enough to reach the keys, largely by ear--got theory training as a teenager and started playing songs on piano. Moved to Nashville by accident seven years ago and got infected with Nashvirus--got a 4-track, then a 12-track, and been learning how to use them ever since. I view music making as an art form akin to painting. People don't gather in cafes to watch painters do their thing. I'm quite happy working in my studio and presenting finished products to the internet public.
Your influences?
Imagine the Grateful Dead as a jazz quintet--bass, drums, keyboard, piano, sax, and vocals...my inspiration as a piano player comes from Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Keith Jarrett, and Jerry Lee Lewis. My sax playing is influenced by Jerry Garcia, Ornette Coleman, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, and Ludwig von Beethoven. As a songwriter, I like Hunter-Garcia, Leonard Cohen, Richard Thompson, and Robin Williamson.
I view style as subservient to message. Some of my songs are very folk-rocky, others jazzy, others feature the keyboard equivalent of howling guitars, others a string quartet or symphony orchestra or spooky electronics. Variety is the spice of life.
I view style as subservient to message. Some of my songs are very folk-rocky, others jazzy, others feature the keyboard equivalent of howling guitars, others a string quartet or symphony orchestra or spooky electronics. Variety is the spice of life.
Favorite spot?
I do not like cities. My favorite spot is Dog Canyon, near Alamagordo, New Mexico
Equipment used:
I have a baldwin spinet piano, a martin indiana sax that dates from the twenties, an offbrand bari sax i'm hoping to replace soon, an ashiko and a set of tablas, and a Roland Juno D keyboard, and a Korg D12 12 track recorder
Anything else...?
African proverb: "if you can walk, you can dance; if you can talk, you can sing"
I am firmly in favor of amateur music--it's more fun to enjoy yourself being creative than sitting around absorbing somebody else's creativitiy. I think it is important to break down the audience-performer dualism and make music participatory as a political/spiritual/psychological revolutionary act.
I am firmly in favor of amateur music--it's more fun to enjoy yourself being creative than sitting around absorbing somebody else's creativitiy. I think it is important to break down the audience-performer dualism and make music participatory as a political/spiritual/psychological revolutionary act.