Abacus released it’s debut self-titled album in April, 2010. I based the album cover design on the columns of beads on an actual abacus. The blind impressions on the front cover on bright white paper give a sense of sterility that fits with the music and the lab coats worn by the band at live performances.

The cover was letterpressed by Mark Herschede at Haven Press Studios in Brooklyn, NY. Albums are for sale for $15. Send us an email at abacus@abacusabacus.com and we’ll send one your way. You may also purchase a digital version of the album at abacus.bandcamp.com for $5.

Buy My Book is a sextet that performs Christopher Tordini and my original compositions. Pieces vary from simple to complex; some songs feature open sections for improvisation and others are through-composed. Peter Matthews of Feast of Music called our compositions “spatial” and “occasionally ecstatic.”

Jeff Davis, drums
Alex Hills, piano, accordion, compostions
Greg Ruggiero, guitar
Becca Stevens, voice
Christopher Tordini, bass, compostions
Masahiro Yamamoto, saxophone

Audio

Recording of our full show at the Bowery Poetry Club – 8.4.2009
(Tommy Crane, drums)

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Photographs

Launch site »

I created this site for guitarist JP Gilbert’s “country” band, JP & the Gilberts. The aesthetic concept is based on 19th-century newspaper mastheads set with wood type or engraved blocks. Using this as the anchoring thematic element, the rest of the site is clean and simple. Typefaces used include League Gothic (The League of Moveable Type) for the headlines, Museo Slab for the main body text, and Museo Sans for sub-headers (both by Jos Buivenga).

I built the site on WordPress and used both TypeKit and @font-face for font rendering. The audio player is a customized version of Opentape.

Launch site »

Abacus’s music is harsh, mathematical, and in-your-face. The website design reflects these characteristics on two levels: Aesthetically, the site is stripped-down, but pushy, using bold text and oversized images. Structurally, all of the information is presented upfront on one page. The single page design also allows visitors to stream the band’s music without interruption as they browse the site. The design’s sterility reflects the band’s precise compositions and plays with its laboratory-inspired wardrobe during performances.

This design is coordinated with the album cover for Abacus’s upcoming LP.

Abacusabacus.com was built on WordPress and features a Franklin Gothic Medium, Helvetica, Arial font-stack. The audio player is a customized version of Opentape.

Brooklyn-based thrash/jazz/chamber/prog band Abacus independently released its debut album on April 29, 2010. Available on vinyl and as a digital download, the album includes ten songs composed by Michael Kammers and recorded by Trevor Williams (Datus, Pep Rally) at the Rad Pad in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

“I formed Abacus to give voice to a music that is a confluence of certain paradigms, techniques and textures that are typically prohibitive, and that consists of as few compromises as possible for the performer and listener,” said Kammers.

As the band name suggests, the music is mathematical, employing serialism and overlaying complex polyrhythms. The band playfully extends this thematic influence in performance, donning lab coats and goggles and exuding a focus more common to a surgical theater than to a rock show.

Led by Kammers, who also plays saxophone and keyboards, Abacus features Greg Chudzik, bass (David Crowell Ensemble, Signal Ensemble), JP Gilbert, guitar (J.A.C.K., JP and the Gilberts), Alex Hills, keyboards (Buy My Book, JP and the Gilberts), and Tim Monaghan, drums (J.A.C.K., Golem).

Abacus is currently playing shows in support of the record release.

www.abacusabacus.com

Audio