The Bellwether

The Hard Quartet is a band. But what is a band? A band, perhaps, can be thought of as a body, a corpus, in which physically discrete lifeforms comprise a chimera that shrieks with one voice. In this particular band, which is one of millions in the world today, four players selflessly merge, become musical, and emit rock ‘n’ roll that is familiar but new, warm but icy, melodic but Sphinx-like in its seductive and subtle riddles… essentially, The Hard Quartet has leveled, cultivated, and made lush an entirely new steppe in the ecosystem of guitar-bass-drums-voice agriculture.

But we should now introduce the men of the HQ because after that, since you know your shit, you’ll be all: “Him? Him too? And, oh my god, him? Wait, not just them but also him?” and you’ll, rightfully, expect an album that musos and casuals alike will proclaim a “landmark.” So, check it out: Let’s do this alphabetically according to last name, which is the most democratic method.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Hard Quartet is:

Emmett Kelly, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work in The Cairo Gang as well as in the company of artists such as Will Oldham, Ty Segall, Azita, and many more.

Stephen Malkmus, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work with Pavement, the Jicks, Silver Jews, Straw Dogs, and eponymously.

Matt Sweeney, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work with Chavez, Superwolf, Super- wolves, and in the company of a panoply of artists from Guided by Voices and Cat Power to Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond.

Jim White, a drummer and songwriter best known for his work with Dirty Three, Xylouris White, eponymous- ly, and with such stalwarts as PJ Harvey, Smog, and Venom P. Stinger.

Do you see? Four Titans, basically. And here they are, now, today, starting a band—a band which they’ve gone ahead and named The Hard Quartet, for Christ’s sake—which is a bulletproof, effortless amalgam of their completely distinct and completely broken-mold utterances.

Victoria Shen is a sound artist, experimental music performer, and instrument-maker based in San Francisco.

Shen’s sound practice is concerned with the spatiality/physicality of sound and its relationship to the human body. Her music features analog modular synthesizers, vinyl/resin records, and self- built electronics. Eschewing conventions in harmony and rhythm in favor of extreme textures and gestural tones, Shen uses what she calls “chaotic sound” to oppose signal and information, eluding traditionally embedded meaning.

For recent performances, she pioneered the use of Needle Nails, acrylic nails with embedded turntable styluses, which allow her to play up to 5 tracks of a record at once. Needle Nails, Levitating speaker, and her Noise Combs are some of the objects created by her as part of an extensive repertoire of innovations in the design of sound augmentation. These sculptural elements invite the viewer to unpack one’s relationship with the material possibilities for creating sound.