Artanker Convoy is an American

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

group formed in 2000 and was one of the first bands to sign to the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

experimental music label,

The Social Registry The Social Registry is a record label based in Brooklyn, New York that was started in 2003. It was voted "Best New Record label" in The Village Voice's Best of New York issue in 2004. Artists Artanker Convoy, Blood Lines, Blood on the Wall, C ...

History

Drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Artanker and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Joe Fiorentino played with James Murphy in the short lived Jinx Clambake Explosion in 1992, and then went on to form the 90s acid bubblegum group Stratotanker. Artanker assembled the Convoy when the controversial Brazilian

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

Maura Baiocchi contacted Artanker about composing music for

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

pieces. Artanker brought Stratotanker members Joe Fiorentino and Chris Seeds back together, and recruited Art Lavis from Princess Superstar, Jake Oas (a.k.a. "Koozie") from the Low Down Dirty D.A.W.G.S. and

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

player Jon Warren. In 2012, the Convoy was dealt a devastating blow when founding member and bass player Joe Fiorentino died in his sleep due to a congenital heart condition on the verge of a new album release. Convoy remained on hiatus through early 2014, when longtime musician friend Cezhan Ambrose (Spalding Rockwell/Princess Superstar/Black Jack & the Maniacs) assumed bass responsibilities.

Early work

The Convoy created several compositions for Taanteatro and performed with the company at the Mercosur Theater Festival in Cordoba, Argentina as well as at

Chashama ChaShaMa is a non-profit arts organization based in New York City. ChaShaMa nurtures artists by transforming unused property into affordable work and presentation space. __NOTOC__ Description Since being founded in 1995 by Anita Durst, daughter ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Artanker then formed the interdisciplinary performance art company MUX with experimental video producers Andrew Personette, Bruna De Araujo, and Gene Trotsky, and

modern dancer and choreographer Nicole Wolcott. Artanker Convoy appeared exclusively with MUX for most of 2005–2007.

Releases

released Convoy's debut 12” “Artanker Convoy Presents Ocean Parkway,” in 2004 and the LP “Mature Fantasy” the following year.

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...

was the first to compare the releases to 1970s era Miles Davis, and these comparisons grew more frequent with release of the next LP, “Cozy Endings,” in 2007. After the release of Cozy Endings, reviewers also began to compare Convoy to Can and

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the A ...

Performances and other activities

Due to the large scale of Convoy's performances, which came to include multiple video projectionists and modern dancers, Convoy rarely performs outside of New York. However, in early 2008 the band toured the UK. Convoy has also composed and recorded soundtracks for animated short films, including one for

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

, and the unreleased

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Christopher Walken on stage and screen, His work on stage and screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Christopher Walken, accolades includin ...

Amanda Peet Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television before making her feature film debut in ''Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in ''The Whole Nine Yards (film), Th ...

Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress and film producer. Known for primarily playing femmes fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the ...

film “

Five Dollars a Day ''Five Dollars a Day'' (also spelled as ''$5 a Day'') is a 2008 American comedy-drama film directed by Nigel Cole, produced by Capitol Films and starring Christopher Walken, Alessandro Nivola, Amanda Peet, and Sharon Stone. Plot Richie Fly ...

.”

References

* * * * *{{cite web , url=http://www.3hive.com/2007/07/artanker_convoy.php , title=Artanker Convoy , author=Sean , publisher=3hive , date=July 29, 2007 , access-date=December 25, 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227105938/http://www.3hive.com/2007/07/artanker_convoy.php , archive-date=December 27, 2011 , url-status=dead

External links

* http://thesocialregistry.com/index2.html * http://www.myspace.com/artankerconvoy American psychedelic rock music groups