James F. Coleman is an American musician who plays

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

and sampler. He was a member of the 1990s

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extre ...

band

Cop Shoot Cop Cop Shoot Cop was a noise rock group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed: having a distinctive instrumental l ...

, and afterwards worked as a solo musician specializing in instrumental electronic music and film scores.

Biography

He was a founding member of New York's

, and performed under a variety of stage names: Cripple Jim (he toured on crutches due to a broken leg), and usually as Filer. For most of their existence the band had two bassists and no guitar, leaving Coleman's keyboards to occupy much of the middle-frequency range normally filled by a guitarist in a rock band. Coleman's use of

found sound Found objects are sometimes used in music, often to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of nat ...

s and other unusual noises was described as "inventive" by critics Art Black David Sprague of

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

. On ''

Release Release may refer to: * Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song * Legal release, a legal instrument * News release, a communication directed at the news media * Release (ISUP), a code to iden ...

'' (1994), Cop Shoot Cop's final album, Coleman relied more on conventional

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

playing rather than his early sample-based approach. He has recorded solo albums as Phylr and the closely related project Here (with

Teho Teardo Teho Teardo is an Italian musician and composer. He is a founding member of the rock band Meathead. In the 1990s he collaborated with Mick Harris, Jim Coleman and Lydia Lunch. With Scott McCloud (Girls Against Boys) he started a new project ca ...

) and collaborates with

JG Thirlwell James George Thirlwell (born 29 January 1960), also known as Clint Ruin, Frank Want, and Foetus, among other names, is an Australian musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for juxtaposing a variety of different musical styles. ...

as Baby Zizanie. Most recently, Coleman has released the ambient album ''Trees'' (2012) under his own name. He has been doing sporadic live shows of this material in Europe and the US. Additionally, Coleman has scored a good number of indie films and TV series. Indie features emerging in 2014 are "Exposed" by Beth B and "Stay Then Go" by Shelli Ainsworth. He has worked with directors such as

Todd Phillips Todd Phillips (né Bunzl, born December 20, 1970) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip (film), Road Trip'', ''Old School (film), Old School'', ...

Hal Hartley Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable Tr ...

Richard Kern Richard Kern (born 1954) is an American underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to prominence as part of the cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films like ...

and Danny Leitner. Coleman is currently working on a number of music tracks that are based on recordings of people's near death experiences. In 2018-2019, Coleman co-formed a new group called Human Impact.

References

External links

www.jimcolemanmusic.comInvisibleRecords.com: Phylr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Jim American keyboardists Cop Shoot Cop members Place of birth missing (living people) Noise rock musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Human Impact members