Artist description This is the tale of a solitary traveler. Listen: it sounds like wandering alone along fog-smothered docks; like being lost beyond the edges of civilization, your only map the moss-covered trestles of an old railroad track beneath your feet; like wandering down streets late in the verdant afternoons, and hearing the sounds of laughter and music from porches as you pass. Brian Siskind writes soundtracks for the modern wanderer, the aimless traveler who has a journey in front of him, but not necessarily a destination. His albums are instrumental collectives that are built out of the echoes which resonate in empty spaces and the lonesome call of the next mile marker. Siskind began collecting sounds and rhythms while he was working with Michael Shrieve (original Santana drummer) in Seattle, and the lure of space drew him into other facets of musical creation-as a producer, arranger, engineer, sound designer-allowing him to build complete environments instead of just songs. Famed ambient/electronic music pioneer Brian Eno calls Siskind's work "original." "It has an immediate-to me-seductive quality," he says, "I want to listen to what's going to happen." The journey is just as important as the destination. Siskind weaves drums, bass, analog synth, hammered dulcimer, pedal steel guitar, flute and other woodwind instruments, radio transmissions, and location recordings into his arrangements. On his first record, Urban Passer, Siskind captures the rain-drenched pavements of Seattle, Washington. For Beat Hollow, his second record, he encapsulates the bare streets and neglected parks of Nashville, Tennessee. These aren't tourist travelogues; you won't visit the glittering downtown strips or the fashionable hotels with these records. You'll wander the lost streets, hear the sounds of the cities as they sleep and wake; you find yourself on street corners where the pavement is uneven and cracked, unruly grass fighting back against the invasion of civilization. Siskind isn't simply a musician, he is a craftsman. He works with his hands-cutting, pasting, bending, warping, molding, processing-to build compositions within compositions. He has also dabbled in video collage work for Slang and other artists. His musical contribution on the Slang record was licensed for use in an American Express TV commercial featuring Tiger Woods in 2001. Siskind records under the name "Fognode"-a late-night summarization from one musician to another over the course of several beers in an old tavern. It was a gift bestowed with a laugh, meant to be alive for one short moment and then to vanish, but the name has persisted because it has an underlying permanence. The juxtaposition of the two root words of his name-"fog" and "node"-begs of an oxymoronic state-a obscuring mist and a particular point on a geometric wave-yet, taken together, they speak of a place unrealized and unattained. The traveler's destination. written by Mark Teppo

Music Style organic electronic - experimental - ambient - dub - post rock

Musical Influences miles davis, bill laswell, king tubby, talk talk, joni mitchell, firehose, pink floyd, yo la tengo, the shins, mick harris

Similar Artists tortoise, dj shadow, bill laswell, scorn, pink floyd, dj spooky, pan american, aphex twin, material, tristeza, air

Group Members Brian Siskind with guests Mark Fauver, Dave Dawson, Corporal Blossom, Vard Penguin, Daniel Tashian, Charlotte Avant, Sarah Siskind, Millard Powers,Ed Petry, Scott Barnes, Al Goll and more...

Instruments acoustic drums (live and looped), analog synth, sounds, field recordings, pedal steel, hammered dulcimer, guitars, etc.

Albums Urban Passer (1999), Beat Hollow (2001)

Press Reviews "...a wide-ranging collection of dark illbient soundscapes,shuddering grooves, and unclassifiable instrumental explorations..."The Tentacle "Music for stargazing at 3 A.M. Fognode's sound brings vocal samples, lush keyboards, down-tempo breakbeats, and live steel guitar together in woozy yet spacious textures." LISTEN.COM "...a very original sound scape. It has an immediate - to me - seductive quality, I want to listen to what's going to happen. It's not ruined by some pathetic song." - Brian Eno Producer/Musician

Additional Info There does not exist complete protection against infrasound.

Location Nashville, TN - USA

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