About The Project:
The Project is comprised of two distinct and established Jazz and Electronica producers: Percussionist/Producer Robert Bond and Experimental Division Nashville executive director Dustin Michael. Together, they build on each other's experience and insight to create and push the envelope of how music is composed and constructed. The main focus of The Project is the experimentation and evolution of music through varied improvisational and production techniques. Using the essence of Jazz as the foundation, The Project pushes forward by incorporating countless other compositional styles and elements into their intense productions.
About The Album:
With nearly a full calendar year in production, performed by 15 professional and seasoned musicians, producers, composers, and artists from all over the world, recorded in London, New York, Nashville and beyond, the breathtaking and otherworldly artistic opus known as The Project, now breathes life. Embodying the restless spirit that vivaciously thrives within us all, The Project is able to span the vast cultures and ages of humanity in the search for the one truth to which we all seek throughout our short and beautiful lives.
Through 17 individual compositions progressing via a triad of phases, the album's movements cycle complimentary to both the spiritual and secular, only to traverse, explore, and find themselves at the pinnacle of the conception of the cycle again. Much like the world around us, compositions are formed, destroyed, and reformed many times within each movement. The music belongs to no specific classification of any known style or genre, yet it is influenced by all of them; it is wholly experimental, utilizing a variety of instrumentation brought to life by the artists themselves.
About The Artists:
Robert Bond and Dustin Michael perform all Drums, Percussion, Tabla, Vocals, Flutes, Horns, Bansuri, Bombard, Shehnai, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Basses, Bells, Electric Piano, Synths, Strings, and beyond...
Featuring:
Joy Askew - Vocals, Pianos, Basses, Synths
(Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Joe Jackson, etc.)
JoyAskew.com
Rahsaan Barber - Tenor Saxophone
(New York, Nashville)
TheBarberBrothers.com
Audra Coldiron - Vocals
(Audra and the Antidote)
TheAntidote.net
Moe Denham - Hammond B3, Vocals
(Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Caravan of Stars, Tony Joe White, etc.)
MoeDenham.com
Chico Freeman - Soprano Saxophone
(The Leaders, The Young Lions, Roots, Memphis Slim, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Eurythmics, etc.)
ChicoFreeman.com
Mike Headrick - Steel Guitar
(Louise Mandrell, Jerry Lee Lewis, European Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, etc.)
CountryDiscovery.com
Peter Hyrka - Violin
(Gypsy Hombres, Sixpence None the Richer, Willie Nelson, etc.)
GypsyHombres.com
Holmes Ives - Piano
(Oko Tek / Memnon - Bedrock, Yoshitoshi, Caffeine, etc.)
OvaRecords.com
Emeline Lavender - Percussion, Vocals
(Nashville, Los Angeles)
Charlie Louvin - Vocals
(The Louvin Brothers, Country Music Hall of Fame, Grand Ole Opry, etc.)
CharlieLouvinBros.com
Les McCann - Pianos, Strings, Synths
(Les McCann/Eddie Harris, Roberta Flack, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Jackson, etc.)
LesMcCann.com
Jan Pulsford - Pianos, Rhodes, Synths, Strings
(Thompson Twins, Cyndi Lauper, etc.)
JanPulsford.com
Nigel Pulsford - Guitars
(Bush, Steve Albini, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley, etc.)
Bush-Music.com
Media:
Breaking News: The Project entered the WFSK charts for Radio & Records Magazine in the #3 slot. - January 2005
"This CD belongs in your Library." - Mark Vail: Keyboard Magazine
"...there is a lot of FIREPOWER here." - Sony Pictures / Acidplanet.com
"This is the NEW Nashville sound!" - Lewis Davidson / Director of Label Relations: The Record Pool / PCDJ
"The Project hasn't left my personal CD player! - Chris Nochowicz: WFSK
"...Downtempo Soul Gravy..." - John Brassil: WRVU, About.com, :scene:
"It takes you many different places..." - Les McCann
Rumors of The Project have been circulating throughout various circles of the inner-industry since the album's conception in early 2004. The first unreleased "single" from The Project entitled "The Truth" was featured in a remix contest for Sony Pictures' massive media website Acidplanet.com with additional audio presented by electronica guru Holmes Ives (Bedrock, Yoshitoshi). The contest's sponsors are noted as being PGA Music, PlanetXusa.com, Sony/Acid, the Experimental Division, and Tommy Silverman's PCDJ and The Record Pool. With over 450 "The Truth" remixes submitted during the contest from all over the world, and remixes still being created to this day, the contest was an unquestionable success for both The Project and the sponsors involved.
During the construction of The Project's full length debut album, two more remix contests were scheduled for release.
The Project was featured in the October, November, and December issues of Remix Magazine for the "Remix Magazine presents: DJ Dan vs. The Project "Phone Minutes" exclusive global remix contest", and hosted online at SceneRemix.com through the massive :scene: Network. Sponsors for the contest are noted as being Remix Magazine, Sony/Acid, Cycling 74 software, CDbaby.com, 4templates.com, PlanetXusa.com, Experimental Division, PGA Music, :scene: Networks, and PCDJ & The Record Pool. Promotional advertisements regarding the contest were featured on over 80 international media websites boasting a collective average of 10 million hits a week, as well as over 180,000 print magazines and media CDRoms during the contest's 3 month duration.
The Project was featured again on Sony Pictures' ever-popular ACIDplanet.com media website for a remix contest spotlighting their work with country music legend Charlie Louvin and his performance on The Project's unreleased single "Yesterdays King". Sponsors for the contest are Sony/Acid, Istanbul Cymbals, Experimental Division, Cycling 74 software, and Electronic Musician Magazine.
The Project is presently receiving vigorous airplay through FM, Cable, and online radio stations, and the roster continues to steadily grow as more broadcasters are finding out about the unconventional sound of The Project.
One of the main sources of artistic exposure for The Project has always been online. Media websites such as the global :scene: Network have featured The Project and their art on over 40 URLs, their remixed music has topped the charts of TheRecordPool.com, and Dustin Michael's bio resides between Tiesto and Fat Boy Slim on the massive information website About.com; The Project can also be found within the artistic ranks of Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, Bjork and more at the colossal online shrine of Trip-Hop: Tripofagia.com.
With active support from major international media entities such as Primedia Business (Remix Magazine, Electronic Musician) and Sony Pictures (ACIDplanet.com, Madison Media), and sponsorship from companies like Istanbul Cymbals, Cycling 74, PCDJ, and more, The Project and its media are being supported resolutely and unfalteringly.
The artists are currently now preparing for their upcoming live international performances, and the evolution of their art as a whole.
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