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I WAS REAL

by 75 Dollar Bill

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Deluxe double (2xLP) record in cloth bound, foil stamped, heavy tip on jacket. 180 gram vinyl. Thin Wrist (US) pressing.

    *If you are looking for the digital album, please visit our label, Thin Wrist, here:
    thinwrist.bandcamp.com/album/i-was-real

    **Or if you are in Europe, the Glitterbeat edition of the LP (w/ different artwork), CD and digital formats are available here:
    75-dollar-bill.bandcamp.com/album/i-was-real

    Includes unlimited streaming of I WAS REAL via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $30 USD or more 

     

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I Was Real 16:55
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WZN#4 04:05
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WZN#3 08:23

about

Our third long player (this time a double!) and second on Thin Wrist / Black Editions. From our label:

75 Dollar Bill is one of the essential groups at the heart of NYC's underground. Centered on the telepathic union of Che Chen's microtonal electric guitar and Rick Brown's odd metered percussion, their long-form sound is unmistakable and compelling. Their second album, 2016's Wood Metal Plastic Pattern Rhythm Rock (Thin Wrist), presented the essence of their sound with vivid clarity. Since then the group have travelled and performed extensively, bringing their music to a wider audience and performing everywhere from bustling sidewalks and intimate clubs to large concert halls and overseas festivals.

The countless miles and performances of the last few years have resulted in their expansive new double album I WAS REAL. Over four sides the group expands in bold new directions, embracing brilliant fuller orchestrations, joyous rockers and entrancing new textures. The record is enhanced by the presence of eight additional players over its nine tracks while also showing off the duo's strength when stripped down to its core. Requiring a variety of approaches, the album was recorded over a four year period, in four different studios in a range of different ensemble configurations. The album also features several “studio as instrument” constructions that harken back to the collage-experiments of the band’s early cassette tapes, while at the same time pointing to new territories altogether. The players involved highlight the “social” aspect of the band and the eight guests that appear on the record are some of the band’s closest friends and collaborators. While Che Chen and Rick Brown are always at the core of 75 Dollar Bill, the band is much like an extended family, changing shape for different music and different situations. Some pieces were conceived in the band's very early days and others are much newer, but the music is unmistakably 75 Dollar Bill. As Steve Gunn has written on their work: “Strings come in underneath Che Chen's supreme guitar tone. Rick Brown's trance percussion offers a guiding support with bass, strings, and horns supporting the melody. They have gathered all the moving parts perfectly.”

I WAS REAL is a monumental signature work capturing the group at the peak of their powers.

credits

released June 29, 2019

75 Dollar Bill is:
Rick Brown: plywood crate, hand and foot percussion, crude horns
Che Chen: 6 & 12-string and quarter-tone electric guitars, amplified violin, misc. percussion
with
Sue Garner: electric guitar and bass guitar
Cheryl Kingan: alto and baritone saxophones
Andrew Lafkas: contrabass
Karen Waltuch: amplified viola
Jim Pugliese: percussion
Barry Weisblat: signal processing, casio sk-1
Steve Maing: quarter-tone electric guitar
Carey Balch: hi-hat

“Every Last Coffee or Tea”, “Tetuzi Akiyama”, “I Was Real” recorded by Tony Maimone at Studio G, Brooklyn, NY on December 3, 2017.

Jim’s overdubs on “WZN#3 (verso)” recorded by Tony Maimone at Studio G, Brooklyn, NY on March 17, 2018.

“WZN#3 (verso)”, “WZN#4”, “The Worm / Like Laundry” and overdubs on “Every Last Coffee or Tea” recorded by Rick Brown at Mule Yard, Brooklyn, NY December 2017 - March 2018.

“C or T (verso)” realized by Rick Brown and Che Chen at Mule Yard, July 2018

“There’s No Such Thing as a King Bee” Recorded by Scott Minor and Carey Balch at Wild Chorus, Knoxville, TN on May 4, 2015.

“WZN#3” and “New New” Recorded by Brendon Anderegg at Telescope Audio, Brooklyn, NY on May 22 & 23, 2015.

All tracks mixed by Tony Maimone at Studio G, Brooklyn, NY between February and August 2018, except “C or T (verso)” mixed by Rick Brown at Mule Yard, July 2018

Artwork: Che Chen
Additional Design: Rob Carmichael, SEEN Studio

Thank You: The Musicianers and Listeners, Chen Family, Talice Lee, Jeich ould Chigaly, Tetuzi Akiyama, Dov Electronics, Brooklyn Lutherie, Tony Maimone and all at Studio G, Johnny’s Muffler Service, Leonard Brown, Friends & Neighbors.

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about

75 Dollar Bill New York, New York

75 Dollar Bill was formed in 2012 in NYC by Rick Brown and Che Chen. Played on a deeply resonant plywood crate, Brown’s elemental rhythms are the foundation and foil for Chen’s ecstatic, modal guitar style. While Brown and Chen are always at the band’s core, they frequently draw on an extended family of players live and on record, from trios to “little big band” to 25-piece marching band. ... more

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