David First
David First (born David Hirsch, 1953) is an American composer and guitarist. He studied guitar and jazz theory with Dennis Sandole and audited synthesis classes at Princeton University. He began in the Philadelphia no wave band the Notekillers (1977-81, reformed 2004), moved to New York in 1984, and has since worked with drones, interference beats and minimalism. His works include the opera The Manhattan Book of the Dead, made with Patricia Smith, and he received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant in 2001. Revolutions on Mode is written for his ensemble The Western Enisphere.
Trust Patterns
The Dave's Waves House Band is the ultimate outgrowth of an installation project David First created in 2003 entitled Dave's Waves - A Sonic Restaurant. In 2018, after numerous iterations in various European cities, he began presenting it at the Sunv…
Revolutions
A long-form drone piece by David First built on the 16th to 32nd harmonics of G, performed by the twelve-member ensemble The Western Enisphere, with liner notes by Sarah Hennies.
The Consummation of Right and Wrong
David First likes to use the phrase "the virtuosity of slowness" to describe his musical philosophy. In The Consummation of Right and Wrong, he and his eight-piece ensemble, The Western Enisphere, practice this virtuosity to great effect in closely e…
Same Animal, Different Cages Vol. 4: Sitar Music of North Brooklyn
**2020 stock** Sitar Music of North Brooklyn, the fourth volume in American composer David First’s “Same Animal, Different Cages” series, is perhaps one of his strongest musical statements since he radically re-invented how to approach the acoustic g…
Same Animal, Different Cages Vol. 3: Civil War Songs
"In the third volume of the Same Animal, Different Cages series, American composer David First does a 180 from the purely sound-for-sound's sake explorations of the first two volumes and gives eleven emotional outpourings performed exclusively on …
The Complete Gramavision Session (1989)
Pogus Productions is proud to release The Complete Gramavision Session by The World Casio Quartet, composer David First’s 1980s microtonal group. The members of the group were David First, Esther Sandrof, and Brian Charles, all playing Casio CZ-1000’…
Same Animal, Different Cages Vol. 2: Solomonos for Analog Synthe
Yellow vinyl edition of 100 with download card. Fabrica Records announces the second volume in the Same Animal, Different Cages series by American composer and improviser David First. On this second installment in the Same Animal, Different Cages ser…
Dave's Waves
2003 release ** The first ANTS international production comes with the new project by David First, one of the champions of the US experimental scene. It's a set of four long pieces, generated by the coupling of frequencies, pulsating drones designed …
Same Animal, Different Cages Vol. 1: Etudes For Acoustic Guitar
Fabrica Records announces the first volume in the Same Animal, Different Cages series by American composer and improviser David First. On Études for Acoustic Guitar, First twists and bends notes from his steel-string acoustic guitar, an instrument …
Privacy Issues (droneworks 1996 - 2009)
Long overdue overview of composer David First's drone works. This special and specially priced set (3 CDs for the price of 2) is comprised of nine works composed between 1996 and 2009. Featuring Chris McIntyre and Peter Zummo, trombones; 'Blue' Gene …