PAK is an American,

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 ...

based, band. They are signed to

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...

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. PAK was originally formed by Ron Anderson in 2000, after he spent some time with The Molecules. The original line-up consisted of Anderson,

Jesse Krakow Jesse Krakow (born April 12, 1977) is an American musician, bassist, producer, and composer based in New York City. Career Krakow has toured with Shudder to Think, playing bass on their 2009 live album ''Live From Home''. He collaborated with ...

Will Redmond Will E. Redmond (born December 28, 1993) is an American football safety who is a free agent. He played college football at Mississippi State, and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He has also played ...

, and Race Age. This line-up released the album ''100% Human Hair''. In 2003, Race Age was replaced by Kim Abrams, Redmond left the group, and that version released

Motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

, which was well received. This version of the group also performed at the Bowery Poetry Club with

Jac Berrocal Jacques "Jac" Berrocal (born 22 October 1946, Saint-Jean d'Angély) is a French trumpeter, singer and composer. He has been active since the 1970s in the independent and avant-garde music scene, and has released many albums. He also founded and p ...

. In 2007, Anderson reconfigured the group, switching from guitar to bass, and recruiting Tim Byrnes on various instruments. This version of the group toured Europe (as a duo, with Abrams and Anderson along with occasional guest musicians), and is currently working on their next release. The band played shows in 2012 with Nonoko Yoshida.

Reviews

Norwegian publication ''Tarkus Magazine'' described PAK as a combination of

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...

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and

The Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

. Glenn Astaria of ''Jazz Review'' described ''Motel'' as a "tangled web of complexities complete with off-kilter ostinatos, driving bass lines and peppery horns".

Alex Lozupone Alex Lozupone is a New York City–based jazz and rock musician and film director. As a musician, he is a member of Marc Edwards & Slipstream Time Travel, and has played with Percy Jones and Stephen Moses. As a director and cinematographer, he sh ...

described a 2008 show at The Stone as "varying amounts of frantic, synchronized playing ... more ambient noise pieces ... some nice established grooves ... chess references, keyboard sounds that brought back memories of Mr Bungle's first album, some synchronized sax and trumpet playing, a nigh-hardcore song in Spanish, an amazing drum solo in a time signature that felt like it might be 29/16 or 31/16, and equipment emitting an interesting plastic smoky smell (that) made for a memorable night.".

Discography

* 2003 - ''100% Human Hair'' * 2005 - ''

'' * 2009 - '' The Ashfield Sessions'' * 2011 - ''

Secret Curve ''Secret Curve'' is a 2011 album by Ron Anderson's PAK. It was released on John Zorn's Tzadik label as part of the composer series. Track listing #"Overture" #"Let Me Tell You Something" #"Caffeine Static Rendezvous" #"No Future" #" Caro-Kann" ...

Line-ups

*Version 1 - Ron Anderson, Jesse Krakow, Will Redmond, Race Age (2000-2002) *Version 2 - Ron Anderson, Jesse Krakow, Race Age (2002) *Version 3 - Ron Anderson, Jesse Krakow, Kim Abrams (2003 to 2006) *Version 4 - Ron Anderson, Keith Abrams, Tim Byrnes (2007 to present)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups from New York City