The Flying Luttenbachers is an American

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

unit led by

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

improviser Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

/ producer

Weasel Walter Weasel Walter (born Christopher Todd Walter, May 18, 1972) is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Av ...

. The Flying Luttenbachers have created a body of work focused on musical extremity and dissonance. Over the course of the band, the personnel has shifted numerous times around the artistic leadership of Walter. The music ranges from intense, all-acoustic free improvisation, to complex, modernistic rock composition; electronic noise to punk-inspired

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. Walter has been quoted as drawing inspiration from the fields of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

, and no wave. Walter moved to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in 2003, where he reformed The Flying Luttenbachers with the addition of bassist Mike Green, guitarist Ed Rodriguez, and later

Mick Barr Krallice is an American black metal band formed by New York City musicians Colin Marston, Mick Barr, Nick McMaster and Lev Weinstein. They play an experimental, highly technical style of black metal. The band has released twelve studio albums a ...

. The Flying Luttenbachers officially disbanded in 2007. In 2017, after a ten-year hiatus, an incarnation of The Flying Luttenbachers with Walter on drums, joined by guitarist Chris Welcome and bassist Tim Dahl, played several shows in France. In 2019, a quartet arrangement of the band released ''Shattered Dimension'', with Walter, on drums, joined by saxophonist Matt Nelson, and bassist

Tim Dahl Tim Dahl is a professional electric and double bass player, vocalist, keyboardist and composer living in New York City. He is best known as the bass player of the noise-rock band Child Abuse and Lydia Lunch Retrovirus. He also writes and perform ...

. Over the next several years, the varying lineup also included bassist Evan Lipson, guitarist Brandon Seabrook, guitarist

Henry Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. Prior to World War II, Kaiser was involved in the construction industry; his company was one of ...

, guitarist Wendy Eisenberg, guitarist Katie Battistoni, guitarist

Alex Ward Alexander Ward (born 30 April 1990) is a retired British tennis player. Early life Ward was born on 30 April 1990 in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. He was educated at Northampton School for Boys. Tennis career Ward has a career high ...

, and drummer Sam Ospovat.

History

The Flying Luttenbachers formed in December

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

as a

punk jazz Punk jazz is a genre of music that combines elements of jazz, especially improvisation, with the instrumentation and performance style of punk rock. The term was first used to describe James Chance and the Contortions' 1979 album ''Buy''. Punk ...

trio, with

Hal Russell Hal Russell (born Harold Russell Luttenbacher, August 28, 1926 – September 5, 1992) was an American free jazz composer, band leader and multi-instrumentalist who performed mainly on saxophone and drums but occasionally on trumpet or vibrapho ...

(tenor and soprano saxes, trumpet, vibraphone, drums, co founder), Chad Organ (tenor sax, moog synthesizer, baritone sax) and

(drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, woodwinds, electronics, main composer). The band derived their moniker from Russell's birthname, Harold Luttenbacher. Russell left the band in June 1992, and was soon replaced by

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composi ...

for the recording of The Flying Luttenbachers' first 7″ record. The band has since featured a frequently shifting cast of free jazz and experimental rock musicians, including

Fred Lonberg-Holm Fred Lonberg-Holm (born 1 October 1962) is an American cellist based in Chicago. He moved from New York City to Chicago in 1995. Lonberg-Holm is most identified with playing free improvisation and free jazz. He is also a composer of concert wor ...

, Kurt Johnson,

Jeb Bishop Jeb Bishop (born 1962) is an American jazz trombone player. He grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and attended Jesse O. Sanderson High School. He has studied music (classical trombone performance) at Northwestern University, engineering and ...

, Alex Perkolup,

, Ed Rodriguez, Mike Green and Jonathan Hischke. The Flying Luttenbachers have toured Europe and the US extensively with bands like

The Locust The Locust was an American hardcore punk band from San Diego, California, known for their mix of grindcore aggression and new wave experimentation. The band has been noted for their use of insect costumes when performing live. History Prio ...

Arab On Radar Arab on Radar was a Providence, Rhode Island-based noise rock band founded in 1994. They went on hiatus in 2002. Members of the band went on to form or join the bands including The Chinese Stars, Athletic Automaton, Made in Mexico, and Doomsday ...

, Lightning Bolt, U.S. Maple,

Erase Errata Erase Errata was a band from San Francisco, California. The group favored improvisation as a compositional tool and each of their performances were a unique manifestation of established songs. History Erase Errata formed in Oakland, California ...

Bobby Conn Jeffrey Stafford (born June 13, 1967), known professionally as Bobby Conn, is an American musician based in Chicago, Illinois. He often collaborates with other artists and film-maker Usama Alshaibi. Career Conn was born as Jeffrey Stafford in ...

, and

Wolf Eyes __NOTOC__ Wolf Eyes is an American experimental music group from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 1996 by Nate Young. Currently a duo, Wolf Eyes are a prominent act within contemporary noise music. They have collaborated with a variety of artists from ...

. Walter moved from Chicago to

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in 2003, beginning yet another incarnation of the group. The live band played their final concert in November 2006. The Flying Luttenbachers project officially ceased operation in November 2007 upon the release of a final studio album (recorded solo by Walter). In 2017 the band reformed for a tour in France invited by the

Sonic Protest Sonic Protest is a yearly music festival in France focused on left field music genres like experimental rock, electroacoustic music, improvised music, noise and avant garde music. The first edition of Sonic Protest took place in 2003. The editions ...

festival. The newest incarnation of the group appeared opening three shows for

Oh Sees Osees are an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1997, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band currently consists of primary songwriter and core member John Dwyer (vocals, guitar), Tim Hellman (bass), Dan Rincon (dr ...

at Warsaw in Brooklyn, NY on October 17–19.

Conceptual continuity

Since 1996’s ''Revenge'' album, the Flying Luttenbachers’ musical output has been underlined by a gradually unravelling storyline concerning the self-obliteration of the planet Earth and the resulting aftermath. The 2006 album ''Cataclysm'' concerns an interstellar battle between two monolithic entities: The Void (a dark, silent spectre detailed on 2004’s album of the same name) and The Iridescent Behemoth (a massive planetoid being whose tale was told on 2003’s complex ''Systems Emerge From Complete Disorder'' album). The music energetically utilizes deliberate harmonic dissonance and the material operates on a principle of intelligent transformation of concise amounts of interrelated themes.

Discography

Singles

* "546 Seconds Of Noise" 7″ (Quinnah/ugEXPLODE, 1992, Quinnah 01/ug003) * "1389 Seconds Of Noise" 7″ (Quinnah/ugEXPLODE, 1993, Quinnah 02/ug004)

Albums

* '' Destructo Noise Explosion!: Live at WNUR 2-6-92'' cassette/LP/CD (ugEXPLODE/Coat-tail, 1992) * '' Constructive Destruction'' LP/CD (ugEXPLODE/Quinnah, 1994) * '' Destroy All Music'' LP/CD (Chimp/ugEXPLODE/Skin Graft, 1995) * ''

Revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

'' LP/CD (ugEXPLODE/Skin Graft, 1996) * ''Live in the Middle East'' cassette (Bourgeois/Elevated Chimp, 1996) * '' Gods of Chaos'' CD (ugEXPLODE/Skin Graft, 1998) * ''Retrospektiw III'' CD (ugEXPLODE/Quinnah, 1998) * ''"...The Truth Is a Fucking Lie..."'' LP/CD (ugEXPLODE/Skin Graft, 1999) * ''Alptraum'' CD (ugEXPLODE/Pandemonium, 2000) * ''Trauma'' 2XLP (ugEXPLODE, 2001) * ''Infection and Decline'' LP/CD (ugEXPLODE/Troubleman Unlimited, 2002) * ''Retrospektiw IV'' CD (ugEXPLODE/MNTCIA, 2002) * ''Systems Emerge from Complete Disorder'' LP/CD (ugEXPLODE/Troubleman Unlimited, 2003) * ''The Void'' LP/CD (ugEXPLODE/Troubleman Unlimited, 2004) * ''Spectral Warrior Mythos Volume 1'' CD (ugEXPLODE, 2005) * ''Cataclysm'' CD (ugEXPLODE, 2006) * ''Incarceration by Abstraction'' CD (ugEXPLODE, 2007) * ''Shattered Dimension'' CD (ugEXPLODE, 2019) * ''Imminent Death'' CD (ugEXPLODE, 2019) * ''Negative Infinity'' CD (ugEXPLODE, 2021) * ''Terror Iridescence'' CD (unEXPLODE, 2022)

Compilations

* ''Camp Skingraft 33 Hits! Now Wave Volumes 1-3'' CD (Skin Graft Records, 1997, GR50) * ''Hayfever EP No. 4'' 7″ (Hayfever Magazine, 1997, No. 4) * ''Knormalities'' 7″ (Dephine Knormal Musik, 1998, DKM 03) * ''Troubleman Mix-Tape'' 2xCD (Troubleman Unlimited, 2001, TMU-050) * ''Troubleman 2003 Sampler'' CD (Troubleman Unlimited, 2003, TMU-109)Grunnen Rocks Flying Luttenbachers Discography http://www.grunnenrocks.nl/bands/f/flyingluttenbachersthe.htm

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Luttenbachers, The American instrumental musical groups American artist groups and collectives American noise rock music groups Musical groups from Chicago