For some reason, all of the press that’s ever written about Martin Bisi surrounds his “overlooked” status as a pioneering engineer and producer. Which is a surprise to me, because Bisi’s name was one of the first I noticed in album sleeves when I was first discovering underground music, and his career, spanning over three decades, includes seminal releases in an incredible variety of genres, including rock, early hip hop, hardcore, avant-garde, jazz, and many more.
Bisi’s credits include belt-notches by John Zorn, Sonic Youth, Swans, Afrika Bambaataa, and Herbie Hancock, alongside more underground New York hardcore bands like Mind over Matter, so it is exciting that Sound and Chaos: The Story of BC Studio, a documentary chronicling of Bisi’s career, is finally available. The music and Gowanus studio legends are one thing, but Bisi’s life itself is a fascinating story of ambition, tragedy, and ultimately, of a successful carving out of his own little place in New York’s music history.
Stream the film online here, and check out a trailer below:
