One Ring Zero
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One Ring Zero is a modern music group led by Joshua Camp and
Michael Hearst Michael Marcus Hearst (born December 27, 1972) is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, writer, and producer. He is best known for his solo albums ''Songs For Ice Cream Trucks'', ''Songs For Unusual Creatures'', ''Songs For Fearful Flyers'', ''Songs ...
that melds many genres and sounds to create a unique type of music.


Instruments

Hearst plays the
theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...
and guitar, and Camp plays the
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
and piano. They both play the claviola and prove to be extremely versatile musicians, often switching instruments for each song. Other instruments include a toy piano, a
melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...
, a
metallophone A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), such as tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, usual ...
, jones-O-phone,
cajón A cajón ( ; "box, crate, drawer") is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces (generally thin plywood) with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, or st ...
and a series of everyday sounds looped and altered to create textures and rhythms. Using all these instruments (or noises) together One Ring Zero creates a sound that defies genre. There is an undeniable
klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...
influence throughout their music but also a modern rock or indie influence. The band has been denoted " Lit Rock" by the media but they seem to defy any singular name. Both Hearst and Camp sing, Hearst bass and Camp tenor. They often perform as a five-piece band, including
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
,
drum kit A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one p ...
, and
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
.


Appearances

One Ring Zero on NPR's "
Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...
" (2004

One Ring Zero on A&E Television's " Breakfast with the Arts" (2007). One Ring Zero's on NPR's "
Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...
" (2007

One Ring Zero has also performed at music venues and cultural institutions including the Whitney Museum of Art, Central Park SummerStage, The Kennedy Center, Toronto's Harbourfront Centre, Spring Scream in Taiwan, Era in Tokyo, New Morning in Paris, The Chicago World Music Festival, and the Fundación Príncipe de Asturias in Spain.


''As Smart As We Are'' (aka The Author Project)

On their critically acclaimed album ''As Smart As We Are'', published authors and writers wrote lyrics on request, which Hearst and Camp then set to music. Some writers wrote basic chord progressions or requested a certain genre for their song to fall under but for the most part Michael and Joshua wrote their own music for the lyrics. Track list and contributing author. *1. "Introduction" *2. "Natty Man Blues" - lyrics by
Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (February 3, 1947 – April 30, 2024) was an American writer, novelist, memoirist, poet, and filmmaker. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), ' ...
*3. "Radio" - lyrics by
Daniel Handler Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970) is an American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is best known for his children's book series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' and '' All the Wrong Question ...
*4. "We Both Have A Feeling You Still Want Me" - lyrics by Darin Strauss *5. "Kiss Me, You Brat" - lyrics by Rick Moody - vocals by Allyssa Lamb *6. "Deposition Disposition" - lyrics by Lawrence Krauser *7. "Half And Half" - lyrics by Clay McLeod Chapman - vocals by Hanna Cheek *8. "The Ghost Of Rita Gonzolo" - lyrics by
Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. His 2000 memoir, '' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'', became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is a ...
*9. "Frankenstein Monster Song" - lyrics by
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...
*10. "Honku" - lyrics by Aaron Naparstek *11. "Blessing" - lyrics by
Denis Johnson Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is perhaps best known for his debut short story collection, ''Jesus' Son (short story collection), Jesus' Son'' (1992). His most succes ...
*12. "On The Wall" - lyrics by
Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
*13. "All About House Plants" - lyrics by Amy Fusselman *14. "Golem" - lyrics by Myla Goldberg - vocals by Syd Straw *15. "Snow" - lyrics by A.M. Homes *16. "Nothing Else Is Happening" - lyrics by Ben Greenman - vocals by F.A. Blasco *17. "The Story Of The Hairy Call" - lyrics by Jonathan Ames *18. "Water" - lyrics by
Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His Debut novel, first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, ...


''Planets''

For One Ring Zero's 2010 release, ''Planets'', the band composed thirteen new songs to represent the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
and beyond. Tracks on the album include "An Introduction To Planets," "Mercury," "Venus," "Earth," "Mars Part I," "Mars Part II," "Jupiter," "63 Moons," "Saturn," "Uranus," "Neptune," "Pluto," and "Exoplanets." The concept was inspired by
Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
's nearly century-old orchestral suite "
The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
." As Hearst and Camp put it, "Seemed like maybe it was time to revisit our solar system with some new tunes.”


The Recipe Project

The Recipe Project is a CD-book combo released in 2011 that was the result of a collaboration between One Ring Zero and celebrity chefs including David Chang, Isa Chandra Moskowitz,
Chris Cosentino Chris Cosentino is an American celebrity chef and reality television personality known as the winner of ''Top Chef Masters'', a competitor on '' The Next Iron Chef'' and for his appearances on ''Iron Chef America''. He is known for his haute cuis ...
, and Tom Colicchio, among others. The recipes are sung word for word, as song lyrics, and as an added bonus, the band asked each chef what kind of genre of music they would prefer their recipe be sung as. Edible Brooklyn called the CD "A feast for the ears." Time (magazine) wrote "Every once in a while you come across a project and think, I can't believe no one has done this before."


Discography


Albums

* ''One Ring Zero "Tranz Party”'' (1999) (Planetary Records) * ''One Ring Zero "Alice”'' (2001) (Urban Geek Records) * ''One Ring Zero "Interludes and Out-takes from The Pumpkin Pie Show”'' (2001) (Urban Geek Records) * ''One Ring Zero "Memorandum”'' (2002) (Urban Geek Records) * ''One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are”'' (2004) (Soft Skull Press) * ''One Ring Zero and Rick Moody'' (2004) (Isota Records) * ''One Ring Zero "New York Spleen” French Edition'' (2005) (Naïve Records) * ''Sophie Auster'' (2005) (Actes Sud / Naïve Records) * ''One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are” Deluxe Edition with DVD'' (2006) (Barbes Records) * ''One Ring Zero "Wake Them Up”'' (2006) (Barbes Records) * ''One Ring Zero "Wake Them Up" Japanese Edition'' (2007) (MoorWorks) * ''One Ring Zero "Live at Barbes"'' (2008) (Barbes Records) * ''One Ring Zero “Ten Years Of Extra Stuff”'' (2009) (Urban Geek Records) * ''One Ring Zero "Planets"'' (2010) (Urban Geek Records) * ''One Ring Zero "Planets" Japanese Edition'' (2010) (MoorWorks) * ''One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are" Japanese Edition'' (2010) (MoorWorks) * ''One Ring Zero "The Recipe Project"'' (2011) (Black Balloon)


EPs

* ''One Ring Zero “The Sirens of Red Hot”'' (2004) (Isota Records) * ''One Ring Zero and Rick Moody'' (2004) (Isota Records)


Video

* ''One Ring Zero “Addendum”'' (2005) (Urban Geek Records) * As the subject of ''“As Smart As They Are - The Author Project”'' (2007)


Notes and references

A documentary called ''As Smart As They Are: The Author Project'' was made about the duo. Directed by Joe Pacheco it shows the evolution of the album "As Smart As We Are". The song "Radio" from the album ''As Smart As We Are'' was featured in an episode of the show ''
Suburgatory ''Suburgatory'' is an American television sitcom created by Emily Kapnek that aired on ABC from September 28, 2011, to May 14, 2014. The series originally aired on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following '' The Middle''. The title is a ...
''. In the episode, titled "Sweet Sixteen." the band is depicted by a fictitious group called Average Shelflif


External links


One Ring Zero Band Homepage
{{Authority control American experimental musical groups