bio
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Jay Braun’s job is to put quality things into the world. In the early 2000s his band The Negatones became known for their frenetic, cut-and-paste recordings and performances, receiving repeated critical praise from the music editors of the Village Voice, Time Out New York and Spin magazine. Their ‘busy,’ pastiche-sound gained local interest and Jay’s colorful cutting skills became recruitable: soon he was recording, mixing, and producing other artists, including the Stills, the Fiery Furnaces, May Pang, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Recent recording jobs have included compositions and mixes for British television, remixes for artists ranging from Cat Power to Tandy to Chuck D, soundesign for a Pitchfork collaboration with the National and Dirty Projectors, mixing the lost tracks for JSBX’s ‘Extra Width’ and ‘Orange’ reissues, writing music and lyrics for children’s educational releases, 2 Sean Bones releases (including a duet with Norah Jones), and an album with Dan the Automator and Russell Simins which Jay co-wrote, co-produced, and mixed. When not doing the above, Jay is in the studio working with local and national musical acts attempting to capture their unique sound and convey that sound to the listener. Before all that, when Jay was a wee 24 year-old lad he co-founded the not-for-profit arts organization Flux Factory, lauded by Brit-hipsters Dazed and Confused as the ‘return of the avant garde but with a sense of humor.’ Around this time he also became the youngest member to join the NYC art-rock quintet Band Of Susans, playing guitar on their final US and European tours. When he returned to New York he worked as a graphic designer, playing locally and touring in several ands including neo-garage rock founders the Mooney Suzuki. In the summer of 2009 Jay’s YouTube mashup of The Beastie Boys and Rush was featured in The Huffington Post and called ‘The Best Audio/Visual Mashup Ever’ by some highbrow mensa-types at 3quarksdaily.com and many crazed Beastie Boys/Rush fans in the blogosphere. Who knew that there were so many? In the past few years he has played live on WFMU, at Lincoln Center, and on the Daytrotter Sessions. His own compositions have been featured on NPR, Luxury Broadcast Company, in the Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll, Robert Christgau’s ‘best of’ list, and named in the top 8 albums of 2005 by Time Out New York. He has also enjoyed the honor of having several dishes at restaurants in Brooklyn and Manhattan named after him, most notably the ‘Jay Braun’ consisting of matcha-infused waffles and green tea ice cream. |