Amy X Neuburg

Amy is a composer and performer of works for voice, electronics and chamber ensembles.

  • About
    • Biography
    • NEUs & Blog
    • Compositions
    • Tek Tawk & Rider
  • Projects
    • They will have been so beautiful
    • Cello ChiXtet
    • Fill as Desired
    • Teaching / Other
  • Shows
    • Upcoming
    • Performance history
    • Avant-Cake house concerts
  • Listen
    • Sampler
    • CD Recordings
    • Chamber/Vocal
    • Dance/Media
  • Look
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Press
    • Quotes
    • Recent press
    • Archives
  • Contact
    • Contact & Mailing List
    • Donate!
October 23, 2012 by Helen

UTECHMA

“Neuburg makes music whose dizzy mix of complexity, accessibility, and intensity are matched by few… The Men ace her arrangements with humor and discipline.” — Musician Magazine

Buy: CDBaby, amazon, itunes

1995. Amy and her Men are finding their “sound” in this first release, and the result is enjoyably eclectic, with songs ranging from artsy to intimate to world-beat. The Men pipe in with quirky vocals and the occasional short improv.

This review in Musician Magazine sums it up nicely:

“Though little known outside of San Francisco, Neuburg makes music whose dizzy mix of complexity, accessibility, and intensity are matched by few. For frame of reference, begin with Frank Zappa: Neuburg shares his fondness for percussive ostinati (the multiple marimbas of “Delirium”), and a willingness to segue from polyrhythmic snarls to straight-ahead riffing. She can bait a tune on the kind of hook that sinks and settles: “Into That Hole,” with its synth peeps and drones, waterfalling guitars, and hypnotic whispered vocals, is a Cocteau Twins flashback, while the album’s opening cut, “Chinatown,” is a 9/8 tangle, with rhythms twining and loosening around dissonant guitars that blare like car horns in a traffic jam. On the title track, Amy rocks the rafters with a weird mix of Celtic pipe music, Nigerian pop, and film noir. Laurie Anderson would be proud…

“All this may seem a little pretentious, but Neuburg pulls it off with virtuosic aplomb. The Men ace her arrangements with humor and discipline, while Amy darts from synth to drums and lays down vocals which betray a theatrical sensibility. Now and then the band erupts in spasmodic improvisations called “Man Jams,” which seem to function as catharses for those who find Neuburg’s charts too confining. But the music works best when she holds the reins and challenges the listener to hang on.” [Robert L. Doerschuk]

Released 1995 on Racer Records.

  • Words and music by AMY X NEUBURG, Man Jams by MEN
  • Arrangements by Amy X Neuburg & Men: HERB HEINZ (guitar), TIM ROOT (keyboards), JOEL DAVEL (MIDI mallets)
  • Produced by AMY X NEUBURG
  • Recorded and mixed by AMY X NEUBURG with HERB HEINZ
  • Mastered by PAUL STUBBLEBINE
  • Artwork by AMY X NEUBURG
  • Photography by L.W. SCHERMERHORN, Neon photo by MIKE GREENBLATT
Posted in Amy-centric, CD Recordings. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Songs 91 to 85
Sports! Chips! Booty! »

Overheard....

“Emotionally, her music is as complex as real life. Neuburg’s mix of despair, sex, joy, ennui and high energy are viewed through an observant eye of someone who’s decided that, all things considered, the world is more comedy than tragedy.”

— Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
.
Utechma in the press
.
Addicted to Noise: "A multi-course feast with an intriguing blend of electronic, vaudeville, avant-garde, punk, world beat, pop, and marching band… Touching, humorous, sad, and enlightening... Neuburg clearly draws from an intellectualized, cutting, yet humanistic voice… a severely enhanced ability to work with new sounds in new ways."
.
East Bay Express: "Oakland`s own Amy X Neuburg & Men serve up an hour-long aural buffet that could easily be the soundtrack to an as-yet-unmade movie from the next millennium... Describing them as eclectic would be an understatement... UTECHMA will leave you anything but bored."
.
Keyboard Magazine: "Strange enough to leave you wondering, but by no means devoid of hooks. More! More!."
.
Electronic Musician: " Neuburg embraces the infinite possibilities of electronic music but with a knowing nod to the past... The Men are a microcosm of her artistic bent for combining new technology with old roots... A great job of creating an interesting interplay of music, technology, and humor."
.
  • SOLup72
  • artcard11
  • fenceNYC
  • orgy
  • artcard12
  • crazy5
  • get11
  • lynx.anim
  • picture2
  • music
  • Picture 13 text
  • crazy1
  • alabama
  • you2
  • get16
  • mygodimage
  • redwall300
  • green4
  • green8
  • 6arts.4×2
  • naked3
  • get6
  • wave
  • 6arts3.sm
  • naked4

About

AMY X NEUBURG is a composer, vocalist and live electronics performer who has developed a unique career bridging the boundaries between classical, experimental and popular musics. MORE

Donate

Please help support Amy's ongoing projects through your tax-deductible donations.

Mailing list

Join Amy's mailing list!

Follow

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on MySpaceFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on E-mail

.
Amy X Neuburg

©2025 by Amy X Neuburg. Website by PerformSites. Log In