75 Dollar Bill

timely thread, I just picked up Wood/Metal/etc on LP

I posted this on a Pazz & Jop poll thread in 2017:

Interestingly to me, NYC rock band 75 Dollar Bill whose guitarist learned how to play North African style from Mauritanian guitarist Jeiche Ould Chighaly, got 14 album votes, while Chighaly's band with singer Noura Mint Seymali only got 4 votes. I guess those folks who like 75 Dollar Bill don't like North African vocals, just instrumental guitar and drum sounds. The 75 Dollar Bill Band is instrumental and has longtime New Yorker Rick Brown on percussion.

Someone responded that 75 had a better publicist

yeah when i like a band i always make sure to seek out that band's guitarist's guitar teacher's band

Che is just dialed in and has been at it for a while; talented solo musician and visual artist as well

che's style is definitely mauritanian derived but 75DB brings in plenty of other elements — no wave, minimalism, free jazz, probably plenty of other things I don't know about.

My second and third P&J Singles, re 2016 releases:
75 Dollar Bill, "Cummins Falls" (Thin Wrist)
75 Dollar Bill, "I'm Not Trying To Wake Up" (Thin Wrist)
Only gave Seymali's 2016 album Arbina an Hon Mention (not an official P&J option o course, but blogs still come in handy for gratuitous judgments),because I thought her vocals weren't as effective without so much of the dynamic voice-guitar dialects of 2014's Tzenni, which I def did Top Ten.
Judge for yourself: https://noura-mint-seymali.bandcamp.com/album/tzenni
Arbina is still pretty remarkable, maybe I was wrong:
https://noura-mint-seymali.bandcamp.com/album/arbina (but still think the previous alb is more interesting/relevant re guitarrrrrrrheadz)

fucking spectacular band, everything they do is great

Weren't they one of the last bands to play at Other Music? If not the last one, on the last day they were open.

newest one is great, first side retains the fuller band arrangements while adding some subtle and effective production flourishes. second side is more old-school two piece stuff but it rips. probably their best work

yeah mayne

was home alone yesterday and turned the new one way the hell up — really great record. love this band.

heard about 15 mins of their Union Pool free set last weekend and idgi

i'd check this one out and if you still dgi, then you dgi: https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/track/cuttin-out

love this new record, esp. the title track, "trance-inducing" is probably a shopworn term by now but I think it applies

sounds really good loud

yes

just blasting out I Was Real after a few beers - love it!

Live album up on bandcamp today. 7-piece group, 6 tunes, 90+ minutes, great stuff.

Yeah, that Live at Tubby's septet show is so good, I can't get enough of it. Really joyful and life-affirming at times, especially "F. & N.".

can't stop listening to "Live At Cafe OTO", they are so good when they stretch out to the 30-40 minute range

https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-cafe-oto

Thanks for the reminder--posted about it in the What Are You Listening To? thread, but def need to soak it in some more

Coool---gonna park some 75 Dollar Recommends links to related, in case they disappear from bottom of 75's full page:
Rick w Cheryl of Big Band and others:
https://bigfeetnyc.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-troost

Powers/Rolin duo played a lush, spacious set between the two of ours, and here they are (again at Tubby's)! w/ friends Ramble Tamble. 75 Dollar Bill
https://matthewjrolin.bandcamp.com/album/ramble-tamble-w-powers-rolin-duo-live-at-tubbys-8-5-19
And from that page, I was just now experienced by this morning coffee blast:
https://matthewjrolin.bandcamp.com/track/october-2019

I saw these guys open for Bill Callahan. They were pretty neat but a little undercooked or something.

Fair enough--this OTO set's the first time I'm fully onboard, otherwise I'm much more aligned with the likes of Josh Abrams' Natural Information Society in terms of minimalist/tranced-out not-quite-rock-not-quite-jazz

It was a large group fwiw, I do kind of like the vibe of that OTO trio set. I just felt a little like I was watching people poorl approximate Indian music and I'd rather just listen to Indian music. Then again, as legendary poster scott seward once pointed out, a lot of great bands start as poor approximations of something else.

So far (haven't had time yet today for Cafe Oto), I haven't gotten into any of their releases all the way through, but always love some tracks, starting with "Cummins Falls" and "I'm Not Trying To Wake Up," both on my gateway, Wood/Metal/Plastic Pattern/Rhythm/Rock (still need to check earlier stuff).

an embarrassment of riches, I tell ya

https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/album/power-failures

this should be considered a canonical release

https://soundcloud.com/roulette_intermedium/75-dollar-bill-01-july-2019

wow

YSI?

downloadable here: https://roulette.org/event/75-dollar-bill-joshua-abrams-natural-information-society/

I don't see a dl link, maybe they took it down?

Huh--when the Arthur Russell Roulette set was posted, I was able to right-click on that page's player widget and get it to download, but now it isn't cooperating.

Right click > view page source > look for the mp3 address.

Right on--thanks!

thanks Tyler! was listening last night, sounds amazing as usual

yeah, it is soooo good! i never do this kinda thing, but i was considering flying out for this show last summer ... obviously now i realize i should have. :(

Man I'm still absorbing Power Failures, haven't even thought about getting to those Roulette or Cafe Oto sets yet. Definitely an embarrassment of riches, I'd have been happy even if the Little Big Band would have been all we got this year.

imo

Cafe Oto > Roulette > Little Big Band >> Power Failures

but I might bump the Roulette set up after further listening, and there ain't much margin in any of those

I get the low ranking for Power Failures, give the grab bag nature, but that live set at the end with the birds in the background is utterly sublime.

ooh I haven't really dug into that one yet, thanks. I dig the two versions of "15" and I like that Sue Garner is on it.

Sorry for the self-promo quasi-spam, but I think this is actually pertinent to this thread since 75 DB and Josh Abram's NIS are the two acts that come to mind that my own music seems really kindred to (and to an extent influenced by, although I was making stuff in this vein before hearing them), so maybe some of you fellow ILMers might dig this--if anybody likes these tracks I'm aiming to record 10 more by end of August:
https://kunudusuvuntu.bandcamp.com/album/p-a-n-d-e-m-o-s-1-10

(Abrams, whoops)

really cool stuff craig

imo there should be more self-promo quasi-spam on ILM

Ha, cheers

best one yet? the sound on this is so rich and full compared to the MP3 imo

https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-roulette

still deciding how i feel about this tanz mein herz record, but think it's worth a spin for the 75 d.b. / horse lords appreciators of the board:

https://standard-in-fi.bandcamp.com/album/quattro