Earphonious Swamphony

BLOB is an electric instrumental ensemble experience that focuses on performing and recording its spontaneously created theme-based journeys that embrace a multiplicity of genres, taking their burgeoning legion of followers to exciting energy- and spirit-driven spaces with each foray. 

BLOB is all about the moment, and those moments are eclectic, honest, and heart pounding. It is full-out instrumental playing, utilizing live electronics, within a stream of consciousness mindset that speaks to a world in desperate need of this level of immediate expressionism. As bassist John Lindberg says, “We go into this no-holds-barred rubber room—the BLOBosphere--and experiment. Every time we play, it goes somewhere interesting.” 

“Blob”? A bubbly globule of liquid sound that has no distinct shape or definition, replete with daubs, as of color, mixed into a soft, amorphous mass. Viscous enough to hold together despite tugging and squelching in different directions. 

“Earphonious”? Harvey Sorgen’s father once remarked to him, while he was still a burgeoning drummer practicing incessantly at home, “Son, your music just isn’t earphonious, it’s really not.” So that explains that part. 

A BLOBinition of swamphony: A wet, spongy place, having growth of certain types and an effective combination of colors, but unfit for cultivation. Take your malaria shots and keep your sense on high alert. 

Woodstock-based journalist Peter Aaron simply commented, “Great gooey gobs of sound. Wonderfully freakish, ever-unfolding excursions.” 

John Lindberg has been a seminal figure as a composer/bassist in the world of creative music for well over thirty years, having toured worldwide performing his own work leading a variety of ensembles, with the String Trio of New York, and as featured bassist with the Human Arts Ensemble, Anthony Braxton, Kevin Norton and Wadada Leo Smith. His vast and diverse discography includes solo bass works, multiple small mixed ensembles, string quintets, large chamber ensembles, JazzHopRevolution (his recent collaboration with hip-hop emcee Rahman Jamaal), and beyond. 

Ted Orr is a renowned guitar virtuoso and an innovator in the arena of MIDI guitar performance. He has recorded and/or performed with a wide span of artists including Sly Stone, George Clinton & P-Funk, Karl Berger, and Nana Vasconcelos. 

Harvey Sorgen has developed a unique and broad-based drumming vocabulary that has added vitality to the works of artists ranging from Hot Tuna, Dave Douglas, David Torn, Bill Frisell, Greg Allman, and Garth Hudson, amongst many others. He maintains an active presence as an international touring and recording artist in high demand.