Ben Miller / degeneration

Miller's solo performance explores the "prepared guitar" as a form of auditory degeneration. His self-modified mulitphonic instrument has 2 humbucker pickups panned hard L hard R (nut/bridge) and 2 contact pickups (headstock/body). Additionally, Miller uses a Hexaphonic pickup outputting each string separately. The guitar is placed on its back with its six strings usually strung far below standard tuning with intonation more often arbitrary. The strings are excited by metal slides, springs, combs, chains, violin bows, eBow, etc. and "prepared" with binder clips, bolts, screws, and other found objects. String-sounds also occur below the bridge, above the nut, and from the guitar body itself. A guitar pick and the traditional means of a "guitar neck with frets" is rarely implemented. Retaining a mulitphonic output, Miller adds a score of analog and digital electronics, a Casio SK1, analog tape decks, mis-channeled radio, and the liberal use of a Bixby tailpiece.

Anticipated 2012 releases are as follows; "Empty": vinyl release on Floating Tube Records, various CDR and cassette releases on Living Records, and a DVD release of live shows over the past 10+ years. Here is a live performance snippet at Highwire Gallery in Philly, 2010.

First altered in 1982, "The Zoo" (a deconstructed Gibson Kalamazoo) was one of many oddities integral to the sound of Ann Arbor's God Knows Who. GKW started as a 7-piece garage art band with two rhythm sections. Mutating over more than ten years, the group's sound was mostly known for its minimalist peformance-based material. GKW has been on hiatus since 1994 occaisionally on the threat of reuniting and releasing loads of past material.

From 1997-2000, Miller honed his approach with Chicago's Dirty Old Man River. He can be heard playing on "The Saddest Movie Screen" and "Ageless" - still available on Radial Records.

Since the turn of the century as "degeneration", The Zoo has evolved from a staggering, lopsided incorrection to a deep ambiance with implied subliminal messaging (so claims Mr. Miller). Approaches to the instrument extend from subtle atmospheres to violent sonic outbursts resulting in a textured, layered, multiphonic soundscape.

Intercom Living Records 2001
"If new expressionists closed their eyes and painted what they saw then Ben Miller must be taping shut his ears and playing what he hears; blood thrashing through arteries, nerves popping, synapses burning,..doors knocking, feet bounding up echoed stairways...Formerly a part of the 'anti-rock band' Destroy All Monsters, Miller takes the 'anti' idea a step further."
Melissa Giannini, DETROIT METRO TIMES 2001

In 2002, Miller expanded to a quartet with Pete Ayars on laptop, Kotaro Seki on upright bass and viola, and Steve Hess on percussion. "Regeneration" performed the Chicago area with an unusual final performance opening up for Mission of Burma at The Metro.

Since leaving Chicago to the NYC-metro area in 2003, Miller has released 3 more CDRs on Living Records; OVER AND OUT, LAYER, and SIRENS OF PHOBOS. (see Living Records)

2010 Releases:
Polar Shifts cassette - Obsolete Units
"Five distinct pieces of prepared guitar from this veteran erupt impulsively...each digging out its own medium in ranges from subliminally minimal silence and susatainment to off-kilter songs comparable to the more entracingly sparse and industrial venutures of This Heat..." - Paul Haney (Obsolete Units)

Eyelands Under Eyelid CD - Gulcher Records

"layers of spooky intelligence and a kind of raw elegance"
Anne Carson, 2010

"...Closer to neurons firing inside the brain than harmonic referenced sounds, this music is both industrial and hyper-organic...that often sounds more like it was pre-composed, and makes you wonder if all the sounds in the world might also be music." - Roger Miller

"The best way to describe this album would probably be Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music-lite. While it's nowhere near the aural assault of MMM--quite the opposite, in fact--it seems to be a kindred spirit, a quiet cousin of sorts. By using an SK1 sampler, various electronics, radio sounds, tape loops, and his self-modified "multi-phonic" guitar, Miller ...weaves sonic tapestries of unsettling thoughts, sparse, eerie soundscapes that draw the listener into a world of sound, darkness, and pure energy. There's also a symphonic element, almost Glenn Branca, amid the churning static. This is what noise should be: well thought-out constructions with a clear direction in mind, not aimless distortion and chaos."
The Big Takeover, NY

Live Performances and Radio Broadcasts CDR - Tigerasylum Records
"...Miller leaves no stone unturned in his investigations into what sounds his instrument can be coaxed, seduced or pummelled into making...a snowstorm of sound...like an airliner coming in for a landing...a tree being dismembered by a gang of chainsaws...think robot Gort's eye opening menacingly in The Day the Earth Stood Still...Unlike most free improvisers, Miller's ryhthmic vocabulary isn't restricted to combinations of fewer than five attacks; he can extend passages with no apparent repetition of grouping and no underlying, constant pulse...This is challenging, rewarding work. - Glenn Hall, Exclaim Magazine

Post-Out , also released in 2010, is a live trio set by Miller on prepared guitar, brother Roger on prepared bass, and percussionist Matt Weston @ The Outpost, Cambridge, MA.

Miller's second 2012 tour will occur mid-June; NY, CT, MA and Maine along with Graphic Score & Found Sound Workshops.

BEN MILLER / DEGENERATION MySpace

Contact Ben Miller at info@benmiller.info

Website by Orin Buck