Braille Stars
Braille Stars was founded in 1998 in Portland, Oregon by Gilly Ann Hanner and Stef River Darensbourg. Their expansive style combines experimental improvisation with melodic themes equally influenced by their guitar punk roots and ambient dream core.
Formed from the ashes of their heavy pop band Semisweet, they employed surrealist automatic writing methods to create compositions later honed in the studio. Their full-length Golden Dream was released in 2000, recorded with Larry Crane and Daniel Eccles at Jackpot Recording in Portland, Or. Stef River went on hiatus periodically, and in the interim the band included drummers Joshua Waggener and Joe Hanson
as well as bassists Jennifer Shumway, Joanna Bolme and Brian Wilcher, and keyboardist Nicholas Corso.
Gilly Ann and Stef River are joined by James Boulton in their newest incarnation performing instrumental pieces that rely on intuition, invention and responsiveness as the trio collaboratively generates compositions in real time. In late 2023 and 2024 the band commenced a series of new streaming releases that are performed, composed and recorded in real time (Automatic Transmissions). The band performs live rarely, and only in unconventional venues, including a recent improv performance showing artist/band member James Boulton's new drawings at Archer Gallery/Clark College.
Formed from the ashes of their heavy pop band Semisweet, they employed surrealist automatic writing methods to create compositions later honed in the studio. Their full-length Golden Dream was released in 2000, recorded with Larry Crane and Daniel Eccles at Jackpot Recording in Portland, Or. Stef River went on hiatus periodically, and in the interim the band included drummers Joshua Waggener and Joe Hanson
as well as bassists Jennifer Shumway, Joanna Bolme and Brian Wilcher, and keyboardist Nicholas Corso.
Gilly Ann and Stef River are joined by James Boulton in their newest incarnation performing instrumental pieces that rely on intuition, invention and responsiveness as the trio collaboratively generates compositions in real time. In late 2023 and 2024 the band commenced a series of new streaming releases that are performed, composed and recorded in real time (Automatic Transmissions). The band performs live rarely, and only in unconventional venues, including a recent improv performance showing artist/band member James Boulton's new drawings at Archer Gallery/Clark College.
Piledriver: August 19, 2024
Gilly Ann Hanner: Guitar, Loops
James Boulton: Guitar
Stef River Darensbourg: Drums
engineered and mixed in Portland, OR by Gilly Ann Hanner
Performed/composed/recorded live on March 9, 2024
another banger from the instrumental automatic minds of Braille Stars!
...this is the beat of a pile driver, the sound of wrestlers doing piledriver dance moves like machines;
move yr bodies!.
...this is the beat of a pile driver, the sound of wrestlers doing piledriver dance moves like machines;
move yr bodies!.
Memento Mori : July 1, 2024
Automatic remembrance: vivre déjà morir. (3/10/24 #4)
Performed/composed/recorded live in Pdx on March 10, 2024
Dreaming in Reverse: June 6, 2024
New soundtrack exploring dreamworlds, mechanical forests and astral projecting.
Performed/Composed/Recorded live in Pdx 2/3/24 & 3/9 &10/24.
GIRL GENIUS: New music from Braille Stars. May 2024.
Instrumental dis track in response to short and sweet trends = long and heavy.
Recorded in Pdx 2/3/24. In Real Time. IRL.
Atmospheric River: new release by BrailleStars. Nov. 2023.
Hey ho! Fresh Pacific Northwest Psychedelia just released on Bandcamp - check it out!
100% improvisational jams recorded on a phone in a small practice space in Portland Oregon.
Raw, intuitive, emotive and spacious. This release consists of 3 tracks loosely arranged around
a theme of water as a pervasive, elemental force.
Catharsis 2023 Live: First BrailleStars release in 23 years! Sept 2023.
New Live performance collab from the original Braille Stars lineup
Gilly and River with James Boulton(of Desír).
Lo-fi recording. OLD SKOOL NOISE. Aug. 13, 2023.
First in a new series of live transmissions from the stars.
Golden Dream: 2000. Original studio album recorded in 1999/2000
with Larry Crane at Jackpot! Recording Studio.
DESÍR
Desír is PDX musician Gilly Ann Hanner (Of seminal punk band Calamity Jane, post pop rockers No.2, & improv duo Braille Stars) and LA artist James Boulton. They formed in 2020 as a long-distance sound collaboration. A modern love story with a post-punk soundtrack: they started writing songs before they met in person, sending sonic missives from PDX to LA and back. Meeting in the dead quiet of lockdown in LA, then during the riotous racial justice protests of PDX, they recorded a single “Pugilist/Search & Destroy”(2020)in a practice space. Their music is a shrewd combination of heavy guitars, skilled rhythms, sci-fi punk dreamscapes and powerful vocals. In 2021, they recruited drummer Wes Garcia and recorded at Jackpot Recording (Portland,OR) with longtime collaborator producer/engineer Larry Crane. Their handful of live shows include their Record Release at Mississippi Studios on 3/17/22. Their debut album “DESÍR”(2022) is out now on CD/streaming and vinyl.
No.2
No. 2 emerged in the Pacific Northwest from the indie rock explosion of the late 1990’s. Formed by ex Heatmiser guitarist Neil Gust, ex Calamity Jane founder Gilly Ann Hanner and drummer Paul Pulvirenti, their music chased the fuzzy hooks of T-Rex, the heart-cracking harmonies of X, and the pole vaulting riffs and queer subtext of The B-52’s. (Previous incarnations include Jim Talstra, Sam Coomes, John Moen and Elliott Smith.)
No.2 started miraculously making music together again as of 2019. Powered by Neil Gust's gorgeous songwriting stylings, Gilly Ann Hanner has resumed bass/backup vocals duty with Pauli Pulvirenti on drums, re-igniting the rhythm section .
Album NO MEMORY was released on Chainsaw in 1999, then reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day in 2015, and 2nd album WHAT DOES GOOD LUCK BRING? was released in 2002 then reissued on vinyl on Jealous Butcher for Record Store Day 2017.
7"record released by Jealous Butcher in June 2020, with a full length released September 2022.
Calamity Jane.
The seminal punk band Calamity Jane formed in 1988 in Olympia, Washington.
The original lineup included Gilly Ann on guitar/vocals, Lisa Koenig on drums, and Megan Hanner on bass. They recorded a demo at YO YO Studios with Pat Maley, and played many shows in Olympia and Seattle. The band relocated to Portland in 1989/90, touring the U.S. and recording at Idful, Chicago and Reciprocal Recording, Seattle with Brad Wood and releasing a string of singles and a full-length album (Martha Jane Cannary- SMR Records UK). Later lineup of the band included Marceo Martinez on drums and Joanna Bolme on second guitar. After extensive touring and recording a single and material for another album, they disbanded in 1992 following a brutal stadium show supporting Nirvana in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They performed a small number of reunion shows in 2010 and 2016.
The original lineup included Gilly Ann on guitar/vocals, Lisa Koenig on drums, and Megan Hanner on bass. They recorded a demo at YO YO Studios with Pat Maley, and played many shows in Olympia and Seattle. The band relocated to Portland in 1989/90, touring the U.S. and recording at Idful, Chicago and Reciprocal Recording, Seattle with Brad Wood and releasing a string of singles and a full-length album (Martha Jane Cannary- SMR Records UK). Later lineup of the band included Marceo Martinez on drums and Joanna Bolme on second guitar. After extensive touring and recording a single and material for another album, they disbanded in 1992 following a brutal stadium show supporting Nirvana in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They performed a small number of reunion shows in 2010 and 2016.
Starpower
Starpower formed as a side project of the various bands that practiced/lived in a house in Northeast Portland starting in 1990 combining members from Calamity Jane, Crackerbash, God and Bultaco. They rotated instruments and members, playing parties and 4th of July shows for a few years before recording a single(Kill Rock Stars) and album(Orbital Sander-Sympathy for the Record). The touring and recording Lineup included Gilly Ann on Bass/Guitar/Vocals, Scott Fox on Guitar/Bass/Vocals, Brian Ruff on Guitar/Bass, Arik Ohlson on Drums/Vocals. Other members: Megan Hanner, Jayson Thoming, Amanda Kill, Dwayne Hedstrom.
