People Of The North
Started by Kid Millions and Bobby Matador of Oneida, People of the North is an ongoing but sporadic outgrowth of that restlessly experimental Brooklyn assemblage. Since the first tour in early 2003, POTn has served as another language emanating from the screaming mouth of the O. It has always included Kid and Bobby, and usually other members of Oneida as well. The entirety of Oneida has performed together under the POTn label at venues including the Frying Pan and the Mercury Lounge.
People of the North has provided compositions that have worked their way into Oneida's most cherished repertoire, including "Up with People" (from Happy New Year) and "Lavender" (from The Wedding).
While there are no clearly defined boundaries separating POTn from Oneida, it might be fair to say that the music tends to be more staunchly devoted to minimalism, repetition, improvisation, and sternness than the wide-ranging efforts of the big brother band.
Deep Tissue was recorded at the Ocropolis in early 2009, with the participation of much of the O. The sessions were deep, and the skies were gray.
There is no specific or overt "influence" that particularly defines the music on Deep Tissue, but there's kind of a 70's Germany/80's Chicago/90's Japan/00's Iran thing with People of the North, so maybe that's there?
Some additional helpful reference points (beyond Oneida) could include Bo Hansson, Larry Young, Suicide, Silver Apples, Cluster, Wipers, The Heads, but it's probably cooler if you listen and come up with your own touchstones, since who knows if you can hear any of this – at the end of it all, it's just a list of sweet music.
The last thought – Showtime (member of the O, who plays on all of Deep Tissue) described Tehran to me once as "the smell of flowers and diesel exhaust" – and that seems like an excellent description of this album, although Deep Tissue is probably colder than Tehran.
