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John Fekner City Squad

John Fekner City Squad

John Fekner City Squad has been played on NTS shows including Confusing Mix w/ Josh Da Costa, with Travelogue The 80's first played on 14 December 2018.

A multi-disciplinary artist, John Fekner formed his own band City Squad in 1983. City Squad was comprised of musicians and non-musicians as an extension of Queensites, teenagers from Jackson Heights who assisted with Fekner's outdoor stencil work. Fekner released his first rap/rock 12" EP on his own Vinyl Gridlock record label.

The A-side, "2 4 5 7 9 11" had Kwame Monroe, aka Bear 167, a South Bronx graffiti artist as the guest rapper; and the B-side had Dave Santaniello on rock vocals on "Rock Steady". Fekner began incoporating computer technology into his art work in 1981. By 1983, Fekner experimented with the Apple II and speech synthesis programs, Votrax and SAM-Software Automatic Mouth as vocal tracks on "2 4 5 7 9 11" and on his Idioblast album in 1984. In addition to playing keyboards, electronic drums and vocals, Fekner wrote the music and lyrics for the eight songs on Idioblast which featured extensive sampling and tape loops of tv, radio, Native American voices, phone and airport transmissions over rock/rap/hip hop beats.

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John Fekner City Squad

John Fekner City Squad has been played on NTS shows including Confusing Mix w/ Josh Da Costa, with Travelogue The 80's first played on 14 December 2018.

A multi-disciplinary artist, John Fekner formed his own band City Squad in 1983. City Squad was comprised of musicians and non-musicians as an extension of Queensites, teenagers from Jackson Heights who assisted with Fekner's outdoor stencil work. Fekner released his first rap/rock 12" EP on his own Vinyl Gridlock record label.

The A-side, "2 4 5 7 9 11" had Kwame Monroe, aka Bear 167, a South Bronx graffiti artist as the guest rapper; and the B-side had Dave Santaniello on rock vocals on "Rock Steady". Fekner began incoporating computer technology into his art work in 1981. By 1983, Fekner experimented with the Apple II and speech synthesis programs, Votrax and SAM-Software Automatic Mouth as vocal tracks on "2 4 5 7 9 11" and on his Idioblast album in 1984. In addition to playing keyboards, electronic drums and vocals, Fekner wrote the music and lyrics for the eight songs on Idioblast which featured extensive sampling and tape loops of tv, radio, Native American voices, phone and airport transmissions over rock/rap/hip hop beats.

Original source: Last.fm

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I Get Paid To Clap
John Fekner City Squad
Vinyl Gridlock Records1985
Travelogue The 80's
John Fekner City Squad
Vinyl Gridlock Records1984