Title TK is an eponymous collection featuring ten performance transcripts from the conceptual band, Title TK. Band members Cory Arcangel, Howie Chen, and Alan Licht engage in unscripted conversations about music, the music industry, and popular culture, rather than perform music. Drawing inspiration from David Antin’s improvised “talk poems,” Title TK elevates on-stage banter to an art form, creating work that exists at the intersection of performance art, improvisation, and stand-up comedy.

This volume charts the group’s development from 2010 to 2014 as they perform at a range of venues, from small clubs like Lit Lounge in New York to music festivals such as POP Montréal and museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art. With occasional help from guest performers, including music mogul Danny Goldberg and performance artist Michael Smith, Title TK’s performances offer wry, spontaneous perspectives on a myriad of cultural and musical figures and phenomena, including American Idol, Armand Schaubroeck, B.C. Rich Warlock guitars, CanCon, Dan Flavin, the Grateful Dead’s Dick’s Picks, Fugazi, Guns N’ Roses, Lil Wayne, Musician’s Friend, Seth Price, Don Rickles, Joan Rivers, Sacred Harp singers, the Situationist International, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and much more.

Title TK is a guitar trio formed in 2010 by Cory Arcangel, Howie Chen, and Alan Licht. Cory Arcangel is an artist based in New York and Stavanger, Norway. Howie Chen is a curator and co-founder of New Humans, a collaborative performance group, with Mika Tajima. Alan Licht is a composer, experimental guitarist, and writer who has performed with many bands including The Blue Humans, Love Child, Run On, and Text of Light. In 2013, Title TK’s first LP, Rock$, was released by New Images Limited.

6.5 x 8.5 inches
242 pages
Paperback
January 2017
ISBN: 9780991558506

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Editor: Miriam Katzeff