06/09 @ 8:00pm - Talibam! featuring Artist-in-Residence Matt Mottel

Hailing from New York, Talibam! has been making their presence felt since 2003 through numerous live gigs, self-released cdr’s and label releases. Talibam! has toured Europe ten times since 2006 and released 18 records during this period.

They have releases on ESP Disk, Roaratorio, Azul Discografica, Evolving Ear, Pendu Sounds, Wallace Records, Holiday Records, Thors Rubber Hammer, Ecstatic Peace, Gaffer Records, Blackest Rainbow, and others.

Talibam! Is one of the most potent and fascinating bands in contemporary music. The six plus years of interplay between Mottel and Shea has created one of the most unique and exciting live shows and some of the most powerfully recorded documents of any era. At a time when most culture sticks to conservative niche opportunities, Talibam! is interested in expansion and exploration; They manage to part the sea by not sticking to genre, aesthetic predisposition or the usual norms of what being a ‘band’ is. More inclined to put on a show that any and all will like, and not be stymied by ‘avant’ type casting, they have won over both unsuspecting and in the ‘know’ audiences worldwide. The energy of Kevin Shea’s full steam drumming is not to be missed, nor is the primal tone of Mottel’s synth run through a Marshall Half Stack.

TALIBAM! is collaborating with some of the most accomplished musicians working today. On their past two studio albums, they have been joined by Cooper-Moore, Jon Irabagon (Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxaphone Award Winner 2008), Peter Evans and countless others monster players. Working with both jazz and rock musicians, Talibam!’s former collaborators are in BATTLES, TV ON THE RADIO, GRIZZLY BEAR, WOODS, AKRON FAMILY, and more.

Matt Mottel’s visage should be familiar to anyone who’s been going to shows in NYC in the past ten years. He’s been hanging around NYC clubs since he was like 16, and dropping electric mind bombs with his synthesizer in those clubs nearly as long with folks like Awesome Color, Akron/Family, Jeffrey Lewis, Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear), Kenny Wollesen, Chris Corsano, Ras Moshe, Cooper-Moore, Sean Meehan, and his new band Shadow Maps.

Kevin Shea’s drumming and stage gymnastics have been gazed at with wide wonder through his membership in bands like Storm & Stress (Touch & Go), Coptic Light (No Quarter), People (I and Ear), Peter Evans Quartet (Firehouse 12), Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio), Tyondai Braxton (Battles) Sexy Thoughts (rcarchives.com), Mostly Other People Do The Killing (Hot Cup), etc.

www.myspace.com/talibam

ISSUE’s Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, through generous support from the Jerome Foundation and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.