The Psychic Paramount is an American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

group from

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 ...

that was formed in 2002.

History

The band was formed by

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist Drew St. Ivany and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

ist

Ben Armstrong Beep Beep is a rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, on Saddle Creek Records. The band was formed in July 2001 by Eric Bemberger and Chris Hughes, formerly of Saddle Creek group Gabardine. Former member Joel Petersen plays bass in The Faint and also ...

after the dissolution of

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

band

Laddio Bolocko Laddio Bolocko was a noise rock band from New York City, formed in 1996 by members of Panicsville and the Dazzling Killmen. Their sound has drawn comparisons to experimental rock groups such as This Heat and Can and free jazz musicians like Albe ...

. Beginning with solo acoustic recordings by St. Ivany, they soon booked a European tour with a very short time to find a drummer. Finding Tatsuya Nakatani, the band had less than a week to practice before setting out for multiple shows in France and Italy. From this tour came the CD ''Live 2002: The Franco-Italian Tour'', featuring recordings at locations throughout the tour, as well as a Super 8 video shot by New York filmmaker

Aran Tharp New York filmmaker Aran Tharp was born in 1977, and raised in Edwardsville, IL. He is best known as a "fourth member" of the avant-garde music group The Psychic Paramount. Tharp tours with the band, doing filming, photography, and lighting effects ...

. Nakatani left the band soon thereafter, but a new drummer was found in

Sabers A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as the ...

drummer Jeff Conaway. The band went into the studio this time to record 2005's ''Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural'', released by

No Quarter Records No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles: English language * ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses) * A determiner in noun phrases Alphanumeric symbols * No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script * No symbol, displayed � ...

. In the spring of 2007, they toured the US with

Trans Am Trans Am may refer to: * Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, an automobile model * Trans Am (band), an American post-rock band ** ''Trans Am'' (album), their 1996 debut album *** ''Trans Am'' (1996 song), their eponymous song from the eponymous album, see ...

and Zombi. In February 2011, the band released their long awaited second album, simply entitled "II" on No Quarter Records, to positive reviews. The Psychic Paramount have a raw, loud and harshly distorted sound to their music, often compared to the likes of

Acid Mothers Temple Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., commonly shortened to Acid Mothers Temple or AMT, is a Japanese psychedelic rock band, the core of which formed in 1995. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career feat ...

, Lightning Bolt,

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan’s noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

and High Rise. The band have been chosen by

Battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curate in December 2011 in Minehead, England.ATP Nightmare Before Christmas
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Discography

*''Origins and Primitives Vol. 1'' CD, Bewilderment and Illumination Records *''Live 2002: The Franco-Italian Tour'' CD, Bewilderment and Illumination Records/Public Guilt Records *''Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural'' CD, No Quarter Records (2005) *''Origins and Primitives Vol. 1 & 2'' 2XCD/LP, No Quarter Records (2006) *''II'' (February 22, 2011)

References

External links

The Psychic Paramount HomepageReview of Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural
{{DEFAULTSORT:Psychic Paramount, The American experimental musical groups 2002 establishments in New York City