biography
San Francisco-based Thomas Dimuzio is one of those unsung artistic figures whose influence and abilities have substantially outstripped his visibility. Composer, collaborator, experimental electronic musician, multi-instrumentalist, improvisor, sound designer and mastering engineer - Dimuzio has been busy doing his thing(s) since the late 1980's, but is still only known to a small circle of electronic music enthusiasts. A true sonic alchemist who can seemingly create music events out of almost anything. The BBC has described his work as “brilliant and rarely less than entertaining”.
Fueled by a synergy of musician and machine, Dimuzio’s pioneering and innovative use of live sampling and looping becomes evident across his many live recordings. Blurring sampling, synthesis and processing, Dimuzio’s digital musique concrete approach intercepts signal feeds from his collaborators along with wild sources of feedback, modular systems, field recordings, ambient microphones (and more) as they’re recontextualized through Dimuzio’s interactive performance systems.
His music has been released internationally on labels including RéR Megacorp, RRRecords, Asphodel, No Fun Productions, Seeland, Isounderscore, Record Label Records, Yew Recordings, Resipiscent, Odd Size Records, Sonoris, Melon Expander, and through his own label Gench. Studio-based releases include his critically acclaimed debut LP HEADLOCK (All Music Guide Pick), double CD masterwork Sonicism, 2014's double 10” LP Amid Zero Echo "…swells up and into four sides of the most immensely practised drones imaginable." (freq.uk.org) and potent early cassette works detailed on Louden. Slew and Slew Tew are his compilations of compilation tracks “…retrospective collection by an important electro-acoustic pioneer contains some of his most important work.” (Computer Music Journal) His live releases Sutro Transmissions, Mono::Poly, Markoff Process, and Gench Concert Archives aren’t just documents of his countless solo concerts, but a window into how this artist took the tools of the studio to the stage by turning them into playable instruments.
As a collaborator, Dimuzio has worked with numerous artists and ensembles such as Dimmer (with Joseph Hammer), Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Dan Burke/Illusion of Safety, Nick Didkovsky, Negativland, David Lee Myers, Matmos, Wobbly, Poptastic, Alaric, Due Process, 5uu's, Climate Music Project, Tom Cora, Alan Courtis, ISIS, Mickey Hart, Paul Haslinger among many others. Dimuzio’s epic triple CD Balance features collaborations with 48 different artists in duo, trio and combo formations. Additional live collaborative releases are Golden State with Chris Cutler and Fred Frith, Quake and Dust with Chris Cutler, Preacher In Naked Chase Guilty with Chis Cutler and Charles O’Meara (C.W. Vrtacek), Hz and Upcoming Events with Dan Burke, Ice Cream Time with Nick Didkovsky and Arte Saxophone Quartett, and the double LP Remissions from Dimmer. Collaborative studio-based works include Losing Circles with Marcia Bassett, Monk Style Or Scream with Alan Courtis, The Unveiling of Darkness with Voice of Eye, Ascent and The Shining Path by Dimmer, Uncertain Symmetry with David Lee Myers, Thigmotactic with Negativland, Poptastic: The Teen-Pop-Noise Virus with Chris Fitzpatrick, Combine I - XVIII and Combine XXIII - XXXV with Due Process, Hunger’s Teeth and Crisis In Clay with 5uu’s, and Dimuzio’s extended remix of ‘Holy Tears’ by ISIS featured on Temporal and Not In Rivers But In Drops.
Dimuzio has toured North America and Europe featuring performances at New Music Actuelle, Festival International de Music Actuelle de Victoriaville, Ultraschall, Knitting Factory, Tonic, Roulette, The Great American Music Hall, Issue Project Room, The Walker Center for the Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, NorCal NoiseFest, Spring Reverb Festival, Podewil, Kyma International Sound Symposium, High Zero Festival, Ende Tymes Festival of Liberation and Noise, The Garden of Memory, Outsound New Music Summit, Schindler House, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Eventworks, Obscure, The Western Front, Big Sur Experimental Music Festival, Activating the Medium, Mellon Institute, MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Exploratorium, and Whitney Museum of American Art.
As a mastering engineer, Dimuzio has worked with independent artists and labels through his own Gench Studios since the early 1990’s. Included among his numerous clients are Waxwork Records, Matmos, Negativland, Firesign Theatre, ISIS, AMM, clipping., Jonathan Snipes, Doctor Nerve, Psychic TV3, Xiu Xiu, Devin Hoff, GG Allin, KK Null, Joey P, Fred Frith, Nels Cline, Yuka Honda, Wil Blades, Scott Amendola, and many others. Dimuzio has mastered more than one thousand records and continues to work diligently in this field. In his work as a sound designer, Dimuzio has worked with a number of synthesizer and effects processor manufacturers such as Kurzweil, Lexicon, and OSC to create custom presets and sample libraries, and he has collaborated with Fred Frith and Tom Cora, and the Rova Saxophone Quartet to create sound libraries for Rarefaction and Big Fish Audio. Dimuzio has also plays a key role in the development of Avid’s industry-standard Pro Tools recording and mixing environments.
Thomas produced and hosted 42 episodes of Frequency Modulation Radio, a monthly radio program (2016 to 2019) on KPFA-FM Berkeley which showcased live performances and collaborations of fringe musicians and improvisors from the Bay Area and beyond. In recent years Dimuzio has delved deep into working with Buchla modular music systems and has been presenting immersive spatialized concerts at venues such as The Kanbar Forum at The Exploratorium, Gray Area Center for the Arts, Recombinant Media Labs Don Buchla Memorial Concert, and CCRMA at Stanford. As the conductor of an electronic symphonic vessel, his new series Sculpting Electric feeds from electricity as the machines take on lifeforms through complex patching of interconnected systems.
Forthcoming releases include Redwoods Interpretive, an LP with Alan Courtis and Wobbly for Oscarson Records; midREM by Dimmer for Deathbomb Arc; LCM a solo LP featuring live performances at Oakland’s LCM out soon on Erotox Decodings. Other projects include a duo recording project with Phillip Greenlief, and Cracking The Surface, an ensemble with Tom Nunn, David Michalak and Scott Looney. Look for more Sculpting Electric releases on bandcamp.
Contact Thomas Dimuzio: dimuzio at gench.com
portions of the above text by William Tilland, All Music Guide |