Devoted to what he terms "The Liberation of the Lute," his compositions for the instrument have involved a dynamic mix of conceptual, minimalist, classical and improvisational strategies. Over the last two decades, he has used cut-and-paste tactics, created palindromic compositions by playing pieces forwards and then backwards and used field recordings and free improvisation to create a sound world that is at once meditative and surprising, new and arcane. He composes mirror image melodies that step up and then back down seemingly without end His music therefore does not have a traditional linear progression, nor leads to a climax, it rather stays on the same level of intensity. It doesn't demand concentrated listening, as it will bring the listener in a state of concentrated listening. His work is uncluttered and direct, with a viscerally hypnotic and emotional impact, and delivered with an ascetic intensity reflected both in his Biblical titles and his No Wave influences.Van Wissem is able to bridge the language of 17th century music with that of the 21st century without compromising the timbre and resonance of traditional lute playing techniques. An incessantly touring musician, van Wissem's hypnotic live shows have taken him all over the world. He has records out on Important Records and his own Incunabulum label and has collaborated with James Blackshaw, Keiji Haino and Jim Jarmusch amongst others. Van Wissem studied lute in New york with Pat O'Brien and released a classical lute CD " A Rose By Any Other Name" consisting of anonymous lute pieces. He lectures on 'the liberation of the lute' ( At Harvard, Wesleyan University, Mills College amongst others) and was commissioned by the National Gallery of London to compose a sound piece to Hans Holbein's painting "The Ambassadors". The work is featured more and more in documentaries and feature films and so on. He also composed 12 pieces for lute and voice for the new Sims Medieval video game.

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Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.
IMDb Mini Biography By: J. Pae

Mini Biography

Jarmusch came to New York City from Akron, Ohio to study at Columbia and NYU's film school. He would also study film at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. He worked as an assistant on Lightning Over Water (1980), a film by Nicholas Ray and Wim Wenders, before making his first film, _Permanent Vacation (1982)_, made for roughly $15,000. After much hustling, he found a German producer by the name of Otto Grokenberger, who stayed out of his way and provided him with complete artistic control. The result was the highly stimulating Stranger Than Paradise (1984), a film he structured around Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song, "I Put A Spell On You", and which would go on to win the Camera D'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Ari Grief

Trade Mark

Stationary camera (deadpan). His films often involve travlers as well as life after midnight. Shows and views the American landscape from a non-commercial viewpoint (e.g. the tavern were everybody knows your name instead of franchised stripmalls)

Often casts musicians as actors in his films.


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Matteah Baim is a folk musician from New York, United States. She began writing music with Sierra Casady in 2005 for Metallic Falcons. After the band disbanded, she continued with a solo career in 2006, releasing her first solo album Death of the Sun in 2007.

Matteah's music is described as disparate, haunted folk that roll over your senses like desert clouds. With the help of a few friends Jana Hunter, Devendra Banhart, and Rob Doran she has taken her palate of lonesome inky textures and blown it dry with a wanderer's spirit. Her songs ring with a wounded sense of femininity and mournful charm that further the tones of her past work.

Her first solo album Death of the Sun is, with the exception of an oddly chosen cover of Michael Row Your Boat Ashore, an album of subdued night shades and hot summer winds; a young songwriter carving a hopeful sadness from the scraps of the past.


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Sophia Knapp is the leader of Brooklyn-based psych-rock outfit Cliffie Swan. She released her first single, "Nothing to Lose," replete with a B-side remix by Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, on Drag City in 2011. It was followed by her debut solo LP, Into the Waves, in 2012. The album featured two duets with her beau, Bill Callahan.

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