"SOUND AND CHAOS: THE STORY OF BC STUDIO", the documentary celebrating Martin Bisi's legendary Gowanus recording studio, makes its U.S. premiere on July 17, 2014 at NYC's Anthology Film Archives.
BC Studio in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood has a rich history. Founded by Martin Bisi, a New York indie rock performer and record producer who has been at a crossroads of indie, punk, avant garde, noire/cabaret rock, and electronic music since the early 80's, for over thirty years, he has worked with many influential musicians there, including Sonic Youth, Swans, Dresden Dolls, Cop Shoot Cop, John Zorn, Africa Bambaataa, Material/Bill Laswell, Boredoms, Herbie Hancock, Angels of Light, John Zorn, Foetus, Helmet, Unsane, Serena Maneesh, US Maple, Jon Spencer's Boss Hog, among others. From its early beginnings in the early '80s, when Bisi founded BC Studio with Bill Laswell, with money from Brian Eno, who subsequently worked on the album "On Land" there, to working with Laswell and the band Material, to recording Herbie Hancock's hit "Rockit", (the studio's first mainstream success, and the first popular song to feature a DJ and a turntable, utilizing "scratching"), Bisi has recorded across many genres, from experimental music, to hip hop and indie rock in the old factory building by the contaminated Gowanus Canal.
Now, to celebrate the iconic studio, filmmakers Sara Leavitt and Ryan C. Douglass are proud to announce the US premiere, after numerous international screenings, of their debut feature film, "Sound and Chaos: The Story of BC Studio" on July 17th at NYC's Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Avenue). There will be two screenings for the documentary, 7PM and 9PM. Here's a link for the screenings: http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/calendar?view=list&month=7&year=2014#showing-42844.
"Sound and Chaos: The Story of BC Studio" captures the history of the studio and the heralded works that were created there and includes interviews with musicians such as Michael Gira of Swans, Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls, Bob Bert, who played on Sonic Youth's Bad Moon Rising, Bill Laswell of Material, JG Thirlwell aka Foetus, Michael Holman of Gray (with Jean-Michel Basquiat) and creator of famed 1984 hip-hop TV pilot "Graffiti Rock". On a serious note, it also contemplates the future of the recording studio as it is squeezed in by the encroaching gentrification of the neighborhood and Bisi's fears that increasing property values will push out long-time renters and artists like himself.
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