In a sea of talented, collaborative Brooklyn musicians in a lot
of bands,
drummer Ryan Sawyer is perhaps the quintessence. To name a few of his
endeavors: Tall Firs (they're playing the Jeff Mangum-curated ATP in
England next year), Lone Wolf and Cub (an act which pairs Sawyer with a
trapeze artist ), Stars Like Fleas, and various trios. He was the only drummer in Rhys
Chatham's 100-guitar Orchestra and also an early drummer for At The
Drive In -- talk about covering the spectrum.
This month, Sawyer curated and performed in five Tuesdays' worth of
mind-bending avant-rock lineups for his residency at Williamsburg's
Union Pool -- a clever show poster listed the lineups on a likeness of
his signature bearded guise. Last night's
bill included
Leverage Models (with a guest appearance by
Light
Asylum/former-
!!! vocalist
Shannon Funchess) and
Soldiers of Fortune
(featuring
Kid Millions of
Oneida and
Yo La Tengo's bass player,
James
McNew). But the main attraction was an experimental noise supergroup of
Sawyer,
Burning Star Core violinist
C. Spencer Yeh, trumpeter
Nate
Wooley, and
Colin Stetson, a virtuoso bass saxophonist
who has made a name for himself in the last few years as an instrumental
soloist (
SPIN named his set one of ATP's "top ten" last month at the Asbury Park fest
. Stetson has also played with the
Arcade Fire,
Bon Iver,
LCD
Soundsystem,
Feist,
the National, and well -- the list goes on). Check out pics from
the quartet's jaw-dropping performance above.