Spotlight: 75 Dollar Bill
75 Dollar Bill’s sound is built on the core aspects of droning repetition, ample space, complex patterns and unexpected permutations. The New York City-based duo develops music through extended in-person playing, something they haven’t been able to do for much of the year. And, as many musicians in the COVID-19 era have discovered, there isn’t a virtual-world substitute for the live sonic embroidery that guitarist Che Chen and percussionist Rick Brown achieve onstage or in a studio.
“Our whole process is just about getting together and playing,” Chen says, calling from his home deep into the quarantine. “Just being in a practice space and hashing things out has been central to how we’ve worked.”
After touring extensively following the release of their excellent 2019 album, I Was Real, 75 Dollar Bill dropped a few live recordings on Bandcamp earlier this year, including recent ones from late 2019 (Live at Cafe OTO) and February 2020 (Live at Tubby’s). The latter set fleshes out their hypnotic music with a mix of brass, viola and other accompaniments. Their more subdued side comes through on the Cafe OTO recording, which boasts the addition of an upright bass.
The band’s catalog showcases their textural shapes and transfixing sonic vistas; I Was Real’s title track clocks in at 17 mind-bending minutes. On “Every Last Coffee or Tea,” Chen’s guitar summons a recurring melodic fragment from the atmospheric haze, while Brown snaps into place with a sturdy kinetic drive and triplet pulsation.
“I don’t really play guitar in any other context,” Chen says. “There are some people that become masters of one instrument, and they’re really instrumentalists. I’ve always been very curious about different instruments, and a lot of the work that I’ve done outside of the band has actually not involved guitar playing. But I think, for what Rick and I are doing, it’s the right tool for the job.”
Both members of the group have long earned their New York City underground bonafides. Chen performed with True Primes while Brown was a member of V-Effect and Curlew. (The guitarist also clocked in time working at the now sadly shuttered record haven Other Music—75 Dollar Bill were part of the store’s official sendoff.) And their gigs with the members of Yo La Tengo, including as part of their famed Hanukkah celebrations, have helped introduce them to the indie elite.
75 Dollar Bill’s music conjures many connections— from country-blues to classical minimalism, West African guitar traditions, krautrock, modal jazz and ecstatic ritual sounds. Adding another twist, Chen’s playing is partially informed by his musical studies in Mauritania.
“We can do these odd meters and complicated patterns and still make it sound natural and appealing,” Brown says.
The duo named their 2016 studio debut Wood/Metal/ Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock, a title that also serves as an apt descriptor for 75 Dollar Bill’s sonic materials and overall aesthetic. Chen and Brown have found their extended durations and repetitions to be especially key while working on new music.
“Some of these [compositions] are really designed to unfold over a very long period of time,” Chen adds.
At a moment when most fans can only listen to music at home, bands like 75 Dollar Bill, who reward a deep listen, feel tailor-made for the times.
“Although we have some pieces of music that use odd and complicated rhythms, they’re complicated only in the sense that they’re not 4/4,” Brown clarifies. “In my trajectory as a musician, the first thing I wanted to do was play 5/4. And I only knew how to play it slow. There was something about playing odd rhythms that appealed to me from the beginning, but I’ve always done it simply. In our group, what I generally try to do is play one thing and stick to it, though I do have these slight variations that I put in. I try to use the sound of my music to vary patterns. Pattern is space.”
