Cock ESP
Cock E.S.P. is a Twin Cities-based experimental music and performance art ensemble founded by Emil Hagstrom in 1993. The group draws on the most transgressive and absurdist elements of both popular and experimental Twentieth Century music and performance art, realizing a diverse and energetic palette of abstract electronic music influenced by such styles as Japanese Noise, free jazz, punk rock, death metal and hardcore industrial. Rare among the group’s boundary-pushing peers, Cock E.S.P.’s canon includes a high degree of self-effacing humor, satire and unfiltered emotion; not only making the group more accessible to a general audience, but also directly challenging the antisocial “shock value” norms and elitist conformism common in underground music.
The group’s concerts are brief and chaotic vignettes which push their absurdist concept to an extreme level. Concentrating on the performance aspect itself rather than on the sound, the group follows such arts movements as Fluxus by causing the audience to question the basic expectation of live recital itself. A modern experimental composer might explore a certain set of atonal sounds over the course of an hour-long work. A hardcore punk band might play a dozen standard three-chord songs before ending their set by knocking over their equipment in a frenzy of feedback. Cock E.S.P., however, attempts to condense such action into a short, cathartic episode which is simultaniously confusing, amusing and intellectually confrontational.
Cock E.S.P.’s recorded output has been incredibly prolific, beginning with distorted lo-fi experimentation and evolving over the years into a powerful yet intricate assemblage of cheap and/or broken electronics, sheet metal, distorted vocals and the occassional traditional instrument. The group’s ever-tightening focus and attention to detail can be seen over the course of the group’s 17 albums, 12 singles and hundreds of videos, compilation appearances and cassette tapes
Since 1994 the group has given more than 220 live performances throughout the US and Europe, playing various rock and jazz clubs, punk houses, theatres, festival stages, art galleries, record stores and warehouse spaces including: 1000fryd (Ålborg), ABC No Rio (New York), AZ-Conni (Dresden), Bedlam Theatre (Minneapolis), Blå (Oslo), The Church (Minneapolis), Churchill’s (Miami), Dodorama (Rotterdam), Empty Bottle (Chicago), First Avenue (Minneapolis), Knitting Factory (New York), L’usine (Geneva), Maine College of Art (Portland), Missouri University (Columbia), MIT (Cambridge), Room 710 (Austin), Samfundet (Trondheim), School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Soap Factory (Minneapolis), University of Chicago (Chicago), and the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis). In addition, they have appeared on live bills with such artists as Acid Mothers Temple, Anal Cunt, Black Dice, Bloodyminded, Borbetomagus, Boredoms, Rhys Chatham, Dresden Dolls, Roky Erickson, The Flying Luttenbachers, Gang Wizard, Goodiepal, Hair Police, Harry Pussy, Impaler, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Edward Ka-Spel (Legendary Pink Dots), Steve Mackay (The Stooges), Melt-Banana, Melvins, Nihilist Spasm Band, Nine Inch Nails, Ovo, Sissy Wish, Stereolab, Steven Stapleton (Nurse with Wound), Sudden Infant, Thighpaulsandra, Tool, Wasteoid, Wolf Eyes and Z’ev (Psychic TV).
Cock E.S.P. has collaborated on recordings with such noted underground noise artists as Aube, Costes, Lasse Marhaug, Merzbow, K.K. Null, Smell & Quim, To Live & Shave In LA, V/Vm and Violent Onsen Geisha. The group has also appeared on compilations alongside such diverse artists as Andrew W.K., Derek Bailey, Coil, Current 93, Jad Fair, Bruce Gilbert, Hijo Kaidan, His Name is Alive, The Locust, Masonna, Thurston Moore, John Oswald, Sockeye, Throbbing Gristle and Today is the Day.
Current members include Hagstrom, Jason Wade (FAGGOT, Attitude Problem), and Nicole Rode (Rape Door) as well as frequent appearances by Matt Bacon, Paige Flash, John Vance, Scott Burns, Tim Carroll, C. Lavender, Jaime Carrera and others.
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