Producer Martin Bisi celebrates 45 years of B.C. Studio with anniversary concert
There’s a pretty good chance that your favorite record (or records) is stamped with the name Martin Bisi. An undisputed legend in the producer and recording chair, Bisi has presided over classics in just about every category since he began twiddling and turning the knobs and pressing buttons at his studio in a building in the Gowanus part of Brooklyn, New York going all the way back to 1981.
Bisi first teamed with bassist Bill Laswell and Brian Eno before going it alone. He christened the space B.C. Studio and over the subsequent near-five decades has produced, co-produced, recorded and mixed hundreds of touchstones in the noise-rock, no wave, experimental music, avant-garde jazz and hip-hop realms. From John Zorn and Naked City, Material, Sonic Youth and Ciccone Youth, Unsane, SWANS, Foetus, White Hills and Helmet, to most famously, Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock featuring the timeless smash hit “Rockit,” Bisi’s indelible mark is etched in the music history books (check out his long list of credits here).
Now, Bisi is celebrating 45 years of B.C. Studio with an anniversary show at New York’s TV Eye. He’s also an activist, musician and songwriter in his own right, with tons of albums under his own name. He’ll also be performing on the massive bill this happening Thursday, February 19th at the Ridgewood venue.
“The show on the 19th represents a good moment for the studio, and live music in general. You can see that with the interest in Voyeur and Weeping Icon. It wasn’t clear in the wake of the pandemic if there’d be an interest in bands, as so many were forced to break up or were displaced, Bisi says via email. “There’s also vitality in the NYC culture of forceful sound and chaos, as Laswell says in the documentary, Sound & Chaos, which ended up naming the documentary.”
Bisi is referring to “Sound and Chaos: The Story of B.C. Studio,” the all-encompassing documentary released in 2014 directed by Sara Leavitt and Ryan Douglass that told of Bisi’s groundbreaking and scene-defining trajectory (you can watch it here for free).
“The show on Thursday will also be a backdrop for an update to the B.C. Studio documentary. It was actually the idea of the directors, Sara Leavitt and Ryan Douglass, to do a show that could be the setting for the update. The original documentary missed Live Skull, so that’s why two of their members (Mark C and Bloody Rich Hutchins) are playing in an improvised Collective that will close the night.”
Bisi is particularly stoked on the lineup he’s assembled and how it reflects his aesthetic. “MV Carbon opening the night is a good representation of adventurous, some might say experimental music, that has been a mainstay of B.C. Studio since Eno’s On Land and John Zorn’s ARCHERY, both (released) in 1981, though the studio was called OAO then (Operation All Out). Genre Is Death in particular captures the No Wave of the late ’70s. They would have fit right in at the Mudd Club. It’s gratifying that none of this feels Retro. It’s really a special moment.”
As for what Bisi is working on now, he has a new record with Diego Ferri and Oliver Rivera-Drew titled Dancing On The Power Lines which is expected to be released toward the end of 2026. As far as production goes, he’s hard at work on the new album from up-and-coming Brooklyn art-skronk-pop/no wave eccentrics OOF.
The 45th anniversary celebration of B.C. Studio is this Thursday, Feb 19th at TV Eye. Click this link to purchase tickets. The lineup features Voyeur, Weeping Icon, Genre Is Death, MV Carbon and Martin Bisi Collective with members of Live Skull and Woodhead plus DJ Skeleton Boy
