An eclectic, groove-based project spanning funk, West African, and organic electronic music, with a splash of found sounds and ambient soundscapes.

9 MP3 Songs
ELECTRONIC: Funk, ROCK: Funk Rock



Details:
Joe Balestreri walks with one foot in popular music - funk, rock, and jazz - and the other in experimental music - digital musique concrete. He has played in and written for bands performing everything from acid-jazz to New Orleans funk and zydeco to prog-rock and blues to "cinematic death mambo." Over the last 15 years, you might have seen Joe playing trumpet, guitar, and singing with great acts like Hip Grease, Gumbohead, Torque, IBOPA, Futon Torpedo, Cruton Tomato, Yukon Tornado, and Stone Gypsy. He's also composed contemporary classical music for various instrumental ensembles, and penned plenty of good ol' fashioned pop songs.

Joe's interest in musique concrete, or found-sound-based music, began while studying composition with David Vayo at IWU. Being a lover of all sounds, great and small, he's recorded an arsenal of high-quality environmental soundscapes, as well as noises from machines and other random objects. Combining and editing them in the computer yields music that is sometimes ethereal, sometimes intensely rhythmic. When recording, Joe often juxtaposes found sounds with musical instruments... he asks, "Why can't crickets and people make music together?"

Joe's latest CD, MetaMusic, is an collection of loop-based music that skillfully skips between diverse genres... funk alternates with folk, leading into luscious soundscapes and polyrhythmic grooves. After over an hour of synapse-tickling music, the CD rounds out with 10 minutes of soothing waves from the shores of Lake Michigan... great for putting on 'repeat' in your bedroom!