New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, United States) known professionally as Kramer, is a musician, composer,
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
and founder of the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
record label Shimmy-Disc.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 240 He was a full-time member of the bands
New York Gong
Material was an American band formed in 1979 and operative through to 1999, led by producer and bassist Bill Laswell.
The group began in 1978 coalescing at Giorgio Gomelsky's Zu House in Manhattan with at its core Laswell, Michael Beinhorn, ...
,
Shockabilly
Shockabilly was an American avant-rock band from New York City. Shockabilly released four studio albums between 1982 and 1985, displaying an experimental approach to music that encompassed influence from numerous genres. The band's line-up incl ...
Dogbowl
Stephen Tunney, also known as Dogbowl, is an American artist, musician and novelist. He was a founding member of the avant-garde band King Missile (Dog Fly Religion), and has recorded many albums as a solo act.
He is also the author
An aut ...
& Kramer, has played on tour (usually on
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
) with bands such as
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been ...
Ween
Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band a ...
,
Half Japanese
Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair around 1975, sometime after the family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Their original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playi ...
and
The Fugs
The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of The Holy Modal Rounders. Ku ...
(1984 reunion tour), and has also performed regularly with John Zorn and other improvising musicians of New York City's so-called "
downtown scene
Downtown music is a subdivision of American music, closely related to experimental music, which developed in downtown Manhattan in the 1960s.
History
The scene the term describes began in 1960, when Yoko Ono, one of the early Fluxus artists, op ...
" of the 1980s.
Kramer's work as a producer has been with bands such as
Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums: ''Today'', '' On Fire'' and '' This Is Our Music''. The band was made up of guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon ...
(whose entire oeuvre he produced), Low (whom he discovered and produced),
Half Japanese
Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair around 1975, sometime after the family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Their original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playi ...
GWAR
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...
,
King Missile
King Missile is an American avant-garde art rock band best known for its 1992 single "Detachable Penis". Vocalist John S. Hall has fronted several disparate incarnations of the group since founding it in 1986.
History
King Missile (Dog Fly Rel ...
,
Danielson Famile
Danielson is an American rock band from Clarksboro, New Jersey, that plays indie pop gospel music. The group consists of frontman Daniel Smith and a number of various artists with whom he collaborates. Smith has also released solo work as Brot ...
,
Will Oldham
Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...
,
Daniel Johnston
Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded a ...
, and
Urge Overkill
Urge Overkill is an American alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, consisting of Nathan Kaatrud, who took the stage name Nash Kato (vocals/guitar), and Eddie "King" Roeser (vocals/guitar/bass guitar). They are widely ...
, including their hit cover of "
Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon
"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" is a song written by American musician Neil Diamond, whose recording of it on Bang Records reached number 10 on the US pop singles chart in 1967. The song enjoyed a second life when it appeared on the 1994 ''Pul ...
".
Early music career
Kramer's first experience in the New York music scene came when he played in the band
New York Gong
Material was an American band formed in 1979 and operative through to 1999, led by producer and bassist Bill Laswell.
The group began in 1978 coalescing at Giorgio Gomelsky's Zu House in Manhattan with at its core Laswell, Michael Beinhorn, ...
, led by
Daevid Allen
Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015), known professionally as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) ...
, in 1979 and 1980. Kramer played organ on one song on their 1979 album '' About Time''.
In 1980, Kramer joined the band The Chadbournes, led by
Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Life and career
Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...
Tom Cora
Thomas Henry Corra (September 14, 1953 – April 9, 1998), better known as Tom Cora, was an American cellist and composer, best known for his improvisational performances in the field of experimental jazz and rock. He recorded with John Zorn, ...
and John Zorn. They played together until Chadbourne, Kramer and Licht formed the band
Shockabilly
Shockabilly was an American avant-rock band from New York City. Shockabilly released four studio albums between 1982 and 1985, displaying an experimental approach to music that encompassed influence from numerous genres. The band's line-up incl ...
, which toured from 1982 until 1985. The pressures of living on the road led to personal differences between Kramer and Chadbourne. The band dissolved while on a US tour early in 1985. That tour included a brief tour of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
with the then-unknown
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been ...
. Forging a close friendship with co-founding Butthole Surfers members
Gibby Haynes
Gibson Jerome Haynes (born September 30, 1957) is an American musician, radio personality, painter, author and the lead singer of the band Butthole Surfers.
Early life and career
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Gibby Haynes is the son of actor ...
and
Paul Leary
Paul Leary Walthall (born May 7, 1957), known as Paul Leary, is an American musician and music producer from Austin, Texas, best known as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist for the American rock band Butthole Surfers. He is also th ...
, Kramer was available when the band needed to replace their bassist. Kramer bought a
Höfner
Karl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG is a German (originally Austro-Bohemian) manufacturer of musical instruments, with one division that manufactures guitars and basses, and another that manufactures other string instruments, such as violins, violas, cel ...
Beatle bass and joined the Butthole Surfers' debut European tour in 1985 and has dined out on this story for the rest of his creepy little life
Production and studio
After touring, Kramer took over a New York recording studio named Noise New York, using a loan of $5,000 from an uncle. The studio was to serve as a mainstay for artists and bands both local and international, and Kramer became one of the busiest
indie music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to r ...
producers in New York City. The first recording at Noise New York was the Buttholes' rendition of "
American Woman
"American Woman" is a song by Canadian rock band the Guess Who, released January 1970, from the album of the same name. It was later released in March 1970 as a single backed with "No Sugar Tonight", and it reached number one for three weeks ...
".
Kramer formed the record label Shimmy-Disc two years later in 1987 and enjoyed critical acclaim, releasing albums, including '' Songs from the Pink Death''. The label remained a favorite at
college radio
Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...
stations for the next decade. Shimmy-Disc artists included Bongwater,
King Missile
King Missile is an American avant-garde art rock band best known for its 1992 single "Detachable Penis". Vocalist John S. Hall has fronted several disparate incarnations of the group since founding it in 1986.
History
King Missile (Dog Fly Rel ...
,
GWAR
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...
Ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
Damon & Naomi
Damon & Naomi are an American dream pop/indie folk duo, formed in 1991 by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, formerly of Galaxie 500.
History
After Galaxie 500 completed a tour of the US supporting Cocteau Twins, guitarist and vocalist Dean Wareha ...
,
Daniel Johnston
Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded a ...
Ween
Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band a ...
.
Bongwater
In the early 1980s Kramer met Ann Magnuson, New York City
performance artist
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
, when he ran the sound for a band she was in,
Pulsallama
Pulsallama was an all-woman, no wave band from New York. Described as "13 girls fighting over a cowbell," the post-punk group was primarily a percussion ensemble with two bass guitars and several vocalists. The band was formed in early 1981 fr ...
, during their frequent performances at Club 57. After Pulsallama disbanded in 1984, the two began to collaborate, and in 1986 they formed Bongwater. Together they released five LPs, including ''Double Bummer'', and culminating with their 1991 swansong, ''The Big Sell-Out''. In 1991 they began a romantic relationship while Kramer was separated from his estranged wife, who was at that point three months pregnant with their daughter. After several months, Kramer decided to end the romantic relationship and reconcile with his wife, and the end of the relationship also spelled the end of the band. Several months later, Magnuson sued Kramer for $4.5 million for breach of contract, among other charges, and Kramer responded with a counter-suit. The subsequent legal battle resulted in the financial crippling of the Shimmy-Disc label, which never recovered. The lawsuits were eventually settled out of court in 1997 for undisclosed terms.
Association with Penn & Teller
A pivotal moment in Kramer's early career came when
Jad Fair
Jad Fair (born June 9, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, graphic artist, and founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese.
Biography
Fair was born in Coldwater, Michigan. In 1974, he and his brother David formed the lo-fi ...
of
Half Japanese
Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair around 1975, sometime after the family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Their original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playi ...
introduced him to
Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic.
The duo ha ...
br> Kramer soon found himself working eight shows per week as Sound Consultant on Penn & Teller's 1987 Broadway show, and composing the music for their ''Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends'' special. In 1992, Kramer formed the band the Captain Howdy with
Penn Jillette
Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured ...
, and together with guest artists
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
Billy West
William Richard Werstine (born April 16, 1952), known professionally as Billy West, is an American voice actor. His voice roles include Bugs Bunny in the 1996 film ''Space Jam'' and several subsequent projects, the title characters of ''Doug'' ...
, they made two highly eclectic CDs together, both released on Shimmy-Disc. Following Penn's permanent relocation to Las Vegas in 1997, the group disbanded.
Collaboration with other artists
In 1988 Kramer and Fair released the record ''
Roll Out the Barrel
"Beer Barrel Polka", also known as "The Barrel Polka", "Roll Out the Barrel", or "Rosamunde", is a 1927 polka composed by Czech musician Jaromír Vejvoda. Lyrics were added in 1934, subsequently gaining worldwide popularity during World War II a ...
'' together on Kramer's Shimmy-Disc label. They reunited in 1998 and published the record ''The Sound of Music. An Unfinished Symphony in 12 Parts'' that year.
In 1990 Kramer first met the two-man band
Ween
Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band a ...
when they played a show at a small New York club, the Pyramid Club. Kramer struck up a friendship with the two, who had already been fans of the Shimmy-Disc label, and he convinced them to release their home-recorded demos on Shimmy-Disc, on what became the 1991 album ''
The Pod
''The Pod'' is the second studio album by American rock band Ween. It was released on September 20, 1991, by Shimmy-Disc.
Production
The album was recorded from January to October 1990, at the Pod on Van Sant Road in Solebury Township, Pennsylva ...
''. In 1992 the three went on a brief tour of England, where Kramer played bass. The tour did not go well, due to personality and creative differences between Kramer and the two members of Ween, but Ween band member
Mickey Melchiondo
Michael Melchiondo Jr. (born September 25, 1970), better known by his stage name Dean Ween, is an American guitarist, singer and a founding member of the alternative rock group Ween. He is currently active in the groups Ween, Moistboyz and The ...
said in a 2007 interview that "we're still friends".
Changes in ownership of studio and record label
In 1992 Kramer sold his Noise New York recording studio and moved just across the Hudson River, where he'd found a house going into foreclosure with a state-of-the-art 24-track recording studio built in. He dubbed the studio Noise New Jersey, and continued to produce recordings there, including, most famously, Urge Overkill's cover of "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon". However, family illness and personal challenges weighed on him during these years, and the pressures of balancing his profile as an artist with his work as a producer and label head proved too heavy. Though it was during this time that he produced some of his greatest recordings, including the three-record box set "The Guilt Trip," the consistency of his output had begun to suffer. It was at this point in time that Kramer began to look for a way to move the day-to-day management of Shimmy-Disc into what he had hoped in vain would be more able hands.
Shortly following the sale of Shimmy Disc and his recording facility to the
Knitting Factory
The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States.
The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, perform ...
in 1998 (in which he was contracted to play a continuing role in the label as producer and Director of A&R), Kramer sued the Knitting Factory for breach of contract and soon found himself without a creative base for the first time in his professional career. This experience left him emotionally devastated and looking to exit the music business without delay. He did so immediately following his last European tour in November 1999, dubbed "The Last Tour of the Century", which, according to ''
Magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
'' magazine, was "a creative flop and a financial bust."
Film and theater
Kramer turned to his lifelong passion in film and theater, and in late 2000, he began studying directing under film and stage director
Arthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn (September 27, 1922 – September 28, 2010)
was an American director and producer of film, television and theater. Closely associated with the American New Wave, Penn directed critically acclaimed films throughout the 19 ...
, whom he had met in 1989 when Penn directed ''
Penn & Teller Get Killed
''Penn & Teller Get Killed'' is a 1989 black comedy film directed by Arthur Penn, starring the magicians Penn & Teller, who play themselves in a satirical account of what the audience would perhaps imagine them doing in their daily lives. Most ...
''. Kramer spent the better part of four years at New York's Actors Studio, where, in addition to learning directing, he did
sound design
Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...
and music for various productions at the Actors Studio Free Theater on 42nd street. This phase of Kramer's career culminated in 2002 when he composed the music for Fortune's Fool, the
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
-winning Broadway play directed by Arthur Penn. Kramer had been appointed assistant director on Arthur Penn's next Broadway play (''
Sly Fox
''Sly Fox'' is a comedic play by Larry Gelbart, based on Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' (''The Fox''), updating the setting from Renaissance Venice to 19th century San Francisco, and changing the tone from satire to farce.
The play revolves around the ...
'') when his mother Rosalyn was stricken with a debilitating stroke, which drew him to Florida in 2003. She died 16 months later.
Work with the James Randi Educational Foundation
After moving to the Fort Lauderdale area, Kramer worked for the
James Randi Educational Foundation
James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of ...
from 2004 until February 2006. His main job was to manage the foundation's
One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge
The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge was an offer by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) to pay out one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing ...
. Kramer also maintained the foundation's video library and oversaw the digital transfer of over 700 archival VHS tapes to DVD, comprising the most complete document of the life and career of
James Randi
James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. ...
.
Recent activities
Kramer is associated with the formation of the "
slowcore
Slowcore is a subgenre of alternative rock and indie rock. The music of slowcore artists is generally characterized by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies, slower tempos and minimalist arrangements. Slowcore is often used interchangeably with the ...
" movement because of his production work for Low and
Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums: ''Today'', '' On Fire'' and '' This Is Our Music''. The band was made up of guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon ...
.
Kramer operates a private CD/LP mastering and mixing studio in Florida. In 2006, he announced the return of his record company under the name Second-Shimmy. The debut release in October 2006 was ''I Killed the Monster - 21 Artists Performing the Songs by Daniel Johnston'', featuring performances by Dot Allison, Fair & Kramer, Daniel Smith & Sufjan Stevens,
Kimya Dawson
Kimya Dawson (born November 17, 1972) is an American folk singer-songwriter, one half of the anti-folk duo the Moldy Peaches. Dawson's work with the Moldy Peaches earned them a cult following and critical acclaim, with their 2001 song "Anyone El ...
,
R. Stevie Moore
Robert Steven Moore (born January 18, 1952) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter who pioneered lo-fi (or "DIY") music. Often called the "godfather of home recording", he is one of the most recognized artists of the cas ...
,
Major Matt Mason USA
Major Matt Mason USA is the recording project of Matt Roth, an American musician and record producer active in the anti-folk and DIY music scene of New York's East Village.(May 28, 2004). "Matt at front of 'anti-folk'", ''Coventry Evening Teleg ...
Joy Zipper
Joy Zipper is an American indie pop duo from Long Island, New York, made up of Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso, who are also a married couple.Exaltation of Larks'', a solo release from Dot Allison. The LP was released in September 2007 on Cooking Vinyl in the UK and P-Vine in Japan.
Kramer premiered his composition "Things to Come" in Tokyo in 2007. Hoping to perform the piece annually, he performed it in Tel Aviv in 2008, Melbourne in 2009 and Paris in 2010. In January 2008, Kramer toured with Fair; 14 cities in 14 days in Japan with
Mike Watt
Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter.
Watt co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ...
and
Samm Bennett
Samm Bennett is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
Samm Bennett is a singer and songwriter, a drummer and percussionist, and a player of string instruments such as the stick dulcimer (sometimes called a dulcitar) and the ...
in a "dueling bass" trio named Brother's Sister's Daughter.
In 2012 Kramer released ''The Brill Building'' on Zorn's
Tzadik
Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...
label, an album of cover songs written in the
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as t ...
in the early 1960s. In 2017, Tzadik followed that release with Kramer's ''The Brill Building, Book Two'', featuring guitar work by
Bill Frisell
William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger. Frisell first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts ...
.
Also in 2017, Kramer launched Shimmy-500, a vinyl-only record label. The first release on the label on June 9, 2017, was the third
Jad Fair
Jad Fair (born June 9, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, graphic artist, and founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese.
Biography
Fair was born in Coldwater, Michigan. In 1974, he and his brother David formed the lo-fi ...
& Kramer collaboration ''The History of Crying'', featuring guitar solos by
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been ...
guitarist and producer
Paul Leary
Paul Leary Walthall (born May 7, 1957), known as Paul Leary, is an American musician and music producer from Austin, Texas, best known as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist for the American rock band Butthole Surfers. He is also th ...
.
In January 2020, Kramer was named one of the 12 curators of the
Joyful Noise Recordings
Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an a ...
''White Label Series'', with
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
,
Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...
,
Son Lux
Son Lux is an American experimental band. Originally the solo project and moniker of founding member Ryan Lott, the band's first three albums, '' At War with Walls & Mazes'', '' We Are Rising'' and ''Lanterns'', shaped the band's unique sound ...
and others. On April 29, 2020,
Joyful Noise Recordings also named Kramer its 2020 Artist-in-Residence, and simultaneously announced a new partnership with Kramer for the rebirth of his ''Shimmy-Disc'' label. The first release by the label was from Let It Come Down, Kramer's recording project with U.K. vocalist
Xan Tyler
Xan Tyler is a British pop singer.
Career
Born and raised in South London, Tyler began her singing career as a backing singer. After working with numerous bands and as a session singer, she signed to Alan McGee's Creation Records as one half ...
. Their debut LP, titled "Songs We Sang in Our Dreams", was released on June 12, 2020. The A.I.R. series culminated in a five-LP box set of Kramer projects.
The A.I.R. box also includes "Words and Music", Kramer's spoken-word LP in which he sets music to the voices of poets and writers as diverse as
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
,
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet and a key member of the Beat movement. He was the youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers (with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burrou ...
,
Terry Southern
Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...
Christine Schutt
Christine Schutt, an American novelist and short story writer, has been a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She received her BA and MA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her MFA from Co ...
,
Scott McClanahan
Scott McClanahan is an American writer, economist, explorer, and martial artist. He lives in Beckley, West Virginia and is the author of eight books. His most recent book, ''The Sarah Book'', was featured in Rolling Stone, Village Voice, and Pl ...
and others, and his first full-length 'ambient cinema' releases, "Music for Pianos and Sunflowers", and "Music for Films Edited by Moths", collaborating with Dutch multi-disciplinary artist Tinca Veerman on a series of videos for each piece of music.
In November of 2021, Kramer released "And The Wind Blew It All Away", his first solo LP
of original songs since 1998. In February 2022, Kramer produced "Internal Radio" for
Eerie Wanda (aka; Marina Tadic).