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Artist
Charles the Osprey
12+ albums
math rockinstrumentalno ideaexperimentalgrand rapids
about
Charles the Osprey's moment of infamy was brief and bittersweet. After a show early into the band's tenure as kings of instrumental math-rock in their hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, they found a note on a bar table written by a woman who “really enjoyed your obvious LACK of musical talent” (her emphasis). “It also really helps to play your bad music really, really loud. Give me a call sometime.” The document was featured on the popular Web site passiveaggressivenotes.com and later in a book published by the site's creators. The woman was right about one thing – they are loud, often intimidatingly so to uninitiated ears. To describe Charles the Osprey as an anomaly within its music scene does insufficient justice to the band's brilliant weirdness. The drum-and-guitar duo's methodical execution of brain-melting instrumental spazz-rock is likely without peer anywhere. In 2007, Derek Lancioni – a prolific drummer who has performed in bands such as Just For Kicks, Go Josephine and Winnie Cooper – teamed with studio-rat guitarist Rafael Ohli to form Charles the Osprey. The duo, Charles to friends, began as a theoretical exercise: If two immensely gifted musicians attempt to perpetually challenge each other on a technical level, can substantial art be created in the process? Lancioni and Ohli's songs employ nonfancy guitar and drum sounds, but cover impressive dynamic territory as they weave through thickets of changes in time and tempo, some fluid, some jarring, all compellin
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