DIY is nothing new, but local duo 75 Dollar Bill is a band unusually committed to thrift. Percussionist Rick Brown (formerly of NYC staples Run On and Fish & Roses) bangs out rhythmic backbeats on a plywood crate he found on the street, while guitar ace Che Chen coaxes world-music riffs from his bargain-basement Japanese ax. After connecting on MySpace in 2004, the pair formed 75 Dollar Bill eight years later, self-releasing a pair of lo-fi, mostly instrumental slabs of mind-altering minimalism (2013’s Cassette and 2014’s Olives in the Ears), thick with North African–flavored trance-rock jams. The recordings’ rough sonics reflect the tandem’s appetite for spontaneous sidewalk gigs, including a memorable 2013 busking session under the Manhattan Bridge.
Yet now 75 Dollar Bill is headed to the bigs—kind of. Brown and Chen have inked a deal with Other Music Recording Co., and this week, they celebrate their third full-length, Wooden Bag. The album’s seven gyrating, hypnotic dances feature maracas, shakers and homemade-horn–accented guitarscapes; imagine Yo La Tengo but with Indian music rather than the Velvets as prime inspiration.
“So far, none of our released material, including Wooden Bag, has been recorded in a ‘real’ studio, just in our rehearsal place or live at gigs,” Brown explains. For these local sonic scavengers, the DIY approach is more than rich enough.—Brad Cohan