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29-409: The Music Tapes started life as a creative outlet for the 16-year-old Koster, who would create tapes of songs and stories, as means of escapism, which he would share with his friends, culminating in 'The American Phoam Rubber Co. Symphony Orchestra Proudly Presents the 2nd Silly Putty Symphony for Edison Wax Cylinder', which was essentially tape collages. In 1989, Koster formed the band Chocolate U.S.A. ,

58-577: A folkloric evil spirit, with a charged and ambiguous relationship to racial stereotypes . In 2003, Dewan created an installation at the Pierogi 2000 Gallery in Brooklyn which transformed the appearance of the gallery into that of an American classroom from an indeterminate bygone era, perhaps from the 1940s. He presented his filmstrips regularly during the course of the month-long exhibition, to audience members seated in old schooldesks. Dewan has created

87-631: A home-built electric zither, outfitted with eight humbucker pickups and 88 strings, sometimes piped through a leslie cabinet or guitar effects pedals. He also plays a variety of other instruments, including autoharp , koto , organ, and accordion . His electronic music, either solo or in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan , tends to be more sprawling and free-form, often evoking the dissonance of early analog electronic music. Dewan has worked with They Might Be Giants , Sesame Street , Flaming Fire , Jed Davis , The Music Tapes , Loser's Lounge , The Shondes and The Musical Stones of Skiddaw . He

116-625: A more conventional indie pop band, which also included Bill Doss and Eric Harris, later (along with Koster, though somewhat unofficially) members of The Olivia Tremor Control . The band released two full albums, All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today and Smoke Machine , before splitting in 1994, after which Koster chose to focus his creative efforts on the Music Tapes once more. To date, the Music Tapes have released three proper full albums. The first, 1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad came out in 1999. A partial concept record, among its themes are

145-413: A series of what he terms "shrines", constructed of wood and other materials, such as light bulbs, clocks, photographs and bottles. Perhaps the best known shrine is the one appearing on the cover of They Might Be Giants' album Lincoln . The shrines range from about one to six feet tall and often evoke New England church architecture with their lean geometrical spires. While the word "shrine" might connote

174-520: A short history of the Organ , Biblical stories have all served as conceits for the filmstrips. The strips tend to take many free-associative liberties and are by turns satirical and surreal, often whimsical and sometimes touching on serious themes. "Before the White Man Came" seems as though it might be about colonialism or racism, but the "White Man" of the filmstrip starts to seem more likely to be

203-521: A site created for devotion to a spiritual entity, Dewan's shrines seem to exist not as a conduit for worship, but as playful aesthetic objects. Dewan created a number of shrines for New Year's Eve parties and performances, and those shrines often have some sort of illumination which could be turned on at midnight. At least one had a drink-dispenser built into it. The cabinetry he built for his recent series of electronic instruments, created in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan , often continue some of

232-663: A song for the original soundtrack CD for the "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" television series, though this track was commissioned for the CD and never used in any other context. Brian Dewan's series of I Can See filmstrips use the technology of the educational filmstrips from the mid-twentieth century as a point of departure for imaginative personal invention. Each panel features one of Dewan's fanciful drawings, usually skillfully rendered in magic marker or watercolor. The images are accompanied by elaborate soundtracks in which Dewan

261-471: A split 7-inch entitled The Music Tapes and Dad , with Dennis Koster , Julian's father and a renowned flamenco guitarist. The Music Tapes were quiet for a number of years before Music Tapes For Clouds and Tornadoes was released on August 19, 2008, via Merge Records. It contained 14 songs, two with videos. Some of these songs existed back around the time of 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad . The Music Tapes played Athens Popfest 2008 and participated in

290-441: A story album consisting of the story of a boy named Nigh who lives with his grandmother who is blind, was completed in 2001. but not officially released for over a decade. Upon its completion the album was put through two CD-R circulations and played on WNYC's Spinning on Air , but had yet to see an official release until 15 years later. The album features instrumentation by Koster to back the spoken word recording by Brian Dewan . It

319-638: A succession of bassists, they released debut album All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today themselves in 1992 with input and performances from engineer George Harris as well as a long list of guests. It was reissued later in 1992 by Bar/None Records . The lo-fi band released a second album under Bar/None entitled Smoke Machine in 1994, this time with core members Koster, Wakeman, and Block joined by Paul Wells, Alan Edwards, Bill Doss, Eric Harris, and Jesse Rogers, before disbanding for other, ultimately more successful, projects. Their sound can be described as quirky, and containing many different sorts of instrumentation, which

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348-635: Is a member of the Raymond Scott Orchestrette, a group dedicated to reinterpreting Scott's compositions, and appeared on their 2002 album Pushbutton Parfait . He also composes and performs with the Patient Island Singers, a project loosely centered around the topic of Roosevelt Island. He was an original member of the Blue Man Group Tubes house band, for whom he composed musical scores. He later sued

377-469: Is a trait that went with Koster into The Music Tapes and Neutral Milk Hotel ; present in their releases are Guitars, Bass Guitars, Standup Basses, Accordions, Concertinas, Rattles, drums, robot sound effects [specifically on Smoke Machine ], organs, toy pianos, banjos, and numerous other instruments. Member Bill Doss was announced dead on July 31, 2012, with the cause of death being a brain hemmorage. Brian Dewan Brian Dewan (born 14 June 1963)

406-465: Is an American multi-media artist, who produces music, audio-visual performances, decorative painting, furniture, poetry , filmstrips , illustrations , and musical instruments. He has released three albums of songs and performed extensively in clubs and concert halls as a solo artist and as a member of various ensembles. He lives in Catskill, New York . Brian is the brother of artist Ted Dewan and

435-501: Is heard, adopting a deadpan narrator's voice, and playing various musical instruments to create a different miniature soundtrack for each panel of the filmstrip. When it is time for the projectionist to advance the strip to the next panel, Dewan's voice is typically heard singing "boop" in close imitation of the noise traditionally used for this purpose. The themes of the strips often seem as though they could have been taken from actual educational strips - Grimm's Fairy Tales , Civic Pride,

464-422: The "Third Imaginary Symphony", further albums from the series are anticipated. Another long-rumored record is the as-yet-untitled 'singing saw symphony' with Julian's father on flamenco guitar, though this has yet to see the light of day, and is under slow progress. Lastly, though certainly not least, is a film project, for which Julian was working with director John Cameron Mitchell , known for his film Hedwig and

493-536: The Angry Inch . The film was set to be an animation, with music by Koster, which is also about the boy named Nigh, although not many other details are known. All of these projects have been in the works since the late 1990s, and it is currently unknown whether any will be officially released. Mitchell, who has since worked on several other projects, later collaborated with Koster as a cast member on his Orbiting Human Circus narrative podcast. On July 9, 2024, Koster

522-531: The Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour that fall, which was organized by Koster himself. In the winter, Julian Koster performed some Music Tapes songs on a caroling tour (see Julian Koster for more information). Merge also released The Singing Saw at Christmastime on October 7. The album featured 12 Christmas songs performed on singing saw and was released under Julian Koster 's name rather than The Music Tapes. Following Music Tapes For Clouds and Tornadoes ,

551-454: The Story (1993, Bar None Records ) and The Operating Theatre (1998, Instinct Records). His songs often contemplate the nature of submission to authority, often in a storytelling manner. His lyrics are by turns humorous, philosophical, and contemplative. His historical song repertoire often betrays a post-modern irony in the re-telling. In live performance, Dewan accompanies his singing with

580-630: The album was written and recorded in a carnival tent. Koster brought a larger version of said tent, the Traveling Imaginary , on the road for performances beginning in the winter of 2012-2013. The Traveling Imaginary is said to be the first incarnation of a series of larger-scale Music Tapes projects undertaken by the Orbiting Human Circus, a newly official artistic foundation led by Koster as Artistic Director. The band's album The 2nd Imaginary Symphony for Cloudmaking ,

609-717: The band began work on a tripartite "Third Imaginary Symphony", announcing that "Mary's Voice" would be the first of the three albums. The album was preceded in 2011 by Purim's Shadows (The Dark Tours the World) , an EP including the single "Nantasket". The band was chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he curated in March 2012 in Minehead, England. Merge released Mary's Voice on September 4, 2012. According to Koster,

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638-586: The cousin of musical instrument builder/musician Leon Dewan . Dewan has a cross-genre approach to music, although he is predominantly known for his folk-tinged vocal stylings and instrumental electronic music , which on a performance level are generally mutually exclusive. His vocal repertoire references folk music , hymns , popular songs from bygone eras (especially topical songs from the 19th and early 20th centuries), and rock music. He also composes original songs reflecting these influences. These genres permeate his first two full-length albums, Brian Dewan Tells

667-837: The early electronic music. The instruments were exhibited and concertized at the Pierogi 2000 gallery in Brooklyn in December 2005, Pierogi Liepig in Germany in April 2006 and at "Another Year in LA" gallery as well as the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles in August and September 2007. Dewan has created album art for others, such as the cover of David Byrne 's Uh-Oh , They Might Be Giants' Lincoln , Beat Circus' Dreamland , and

696-535: The group for authorship claims, and eventually prevailed in court. Dewan's 2007 album Words Of Wisdom ( Eschatone Records ) was the first in a series of folk archival recordings called the Humanitarium Series. Each record in the series will collect a set of song artifacts by theme: temperance, school songs, hymns, folksongs ancient and modern, institutional music, advertisement and persuasion, ditties, jingles, and popular music. He has also performed

725-649: The power of television, and the death of 1950s actor George Reeves , who played the superhero Superman , who Koster was entranced with as a child. The album took many years to assemble, being recorded in closets and cupboards, and mixing straightforward pop songs with collage and storytelling. Its release was followed by the "House Capsule Tour" in which Julian was joined by fellow Music Tapes members Robbie Cucchiaro and Eric Harris . The Music Tapes also released three 7-inch records during this time- Please Hear Mr. Flight Control , The Television Tells Us (which both pre-date 1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad ), as well as

754-490: The visual ideas behind the shrines. His New Year's Eve shrine ritual involves completing the shrine only moments before midnight. Brian Dewan currently works with his cousin Leon Dewan under the name Dewanatron . Together they have designed and built a series of synthesizers in custom cabinetry, often reminiscent of either New England churches or 1940's school house architecture. The instruments create sounds evocative of

783-401: Was accused by fellow Elephant 6 musician Nesey Gallons of grooming and sexually assaulting them between 2001 and 2005, beginning when Gallons was fifteen years old. Koster would have been twenty-nine years old at the time the allegations began. Gallons alleged that the grooming allegations began via email contact when Gallons was fifteen years old and turned physical in April 2001 when Gallons

812-513: Was eventually released in July 2017 through Koster's podcast The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air) . On November 17, 2023, the album Quartet Plus Two was released by a new band fronted by Koster, also called Orbiting Human Circus. While ostensibly a new project, the album featured heavy contributions from both Cucchiaro and Hughes. As Mary's Voice is said to be the first of three albums comprising

841-881: Was still sixteen. Gallons further alleges that Koster sexually assaulted them twice in the summer of 2005. The band also submitted a version of " All Tomorrow's Parties " to the Victor compilation album Rabid Chords 002: Tribute to the Velvet Underground , released in 2000 Chocolate U.S.A. Chocolate USA was an American indie rock band from Tampa Bay, Florida , formed in 1989 as Miss America . The band featured Julian Koster who went on to form The Music Tapes and join Neutral Milk Hotel . The band formed as Miss America in 1989 with Koster as singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter, Liza Wakeman (violin) and Keith Block (drums). Soon joined by

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