Carlo Costa
Earth Tongues
Bios
Dan Peck is an experimental musician/tubist currently living in New York City. He is active as a sideman working regularly with projects led by Peter Evans, Tony Malaby, Anthony Braxton, Ingrid Laubrok, Nate Wooley, etc. He also performs contemporary music as a member of ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble) and leads the doom jazz trio The Gate (w/ bassist Tom Blancarte and drummer Brian Osborne) as well as a solo tuba project. Since 2011 Dan has been a member of the improvising trio Earth Tongues. In 2012 Dan founded the record label Tubapede on which he released his debut solo recording Solo Lp. Since 2017 Dan is the principal tubist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra.
New York-based trumpeter, improviser, and composer Joe Moffett approaches his work with a keen interest in unconventional sounds and forms, collective composition, and the intersection of words and music. His current projects include Earth Tongues and the Kaplan/Merega/Moffett Trio, which released its debut, Crows and Motives, in 2014 on Underwolf Records. Moffett’s explorations into text and music are evident in his work with the experimental art song duo Twins of El Dorado, with vocalist Kristin Slipp. The duo released two albums on Prom Night Records. His solo trumpet project has been featured at the 2015 Festival of New Trumpet Music (Font) in New York City and has been documented on two studio releases: More of It and Closer (Tubapede Records) and Stress Positions (Neither/Nor Records)
Percussionist and composer Carlo Costa was born and grew up in Rome, Italy. Since 2005 he has been based in New York City. In the past several years he has been making music which is largely improvised and/or experimental in nature. Through the use of a variety of unusual techniques and added objects Carlo has meticulously developed a distinctive and wide-ranging sonic palette. His long standing projects are Natura Morta (with Frantz Loriot and Sean Ali), Earth Tongues (with Dan Peck and Joe Moffett) and Moritz/Ali/Costa (with Jonathan Moritz and Sean Ali). Newer projects include a duo with contrabass clarinetist John McCowen and the quartet Diaphane (with Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Raphael Loher and Frantz Loriot). Carlo additionally performs solo concerts and has released two solo albums to date. Over the years Carlo has had the opportunity to perform throughout Europe, Canada, the US and Japan.
Releases
Atem, Neither/Nor Records (2019)
Ohio, Neither/Nor Records (2016)
Rune, Neither/Nor Records (2015)
About Earth Tongues
Earth Tongues is a collective improvising trio which was founded in 2011 in New York City. The band, which comprises Joe Moffet on trumpet, Dan Peck on tuba and Carlo Costa on percussion, has released three studio albums to date on Neither/Nor Records. In their performances the trio creates immersive sound environments which weave through drones, layered textures, spacious minimalism and quiet. Earth Tongues performs both standard-length concerts in venues as well site specific extended performances which last several hours.
In 2015 Earth Tongues recorded it’s second album Ohio during an artist residency at the artist residency 8550 Ohio in Chestrfield, OH. It’s third album, Atem, was recorded during a residency at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY in 2018. In 2019 Earth Tongues presented the piece “Fluorescent Earth” in partnership with the estate of artist Dan Flavin at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, NJ.
Press quotes
“No sound seems superfluous, no sound is wasted, every sound has value, every sound has beauty, and when resonating with other sounds and silence, even more so. You could qualify the sound as low-density/high-intensity. It is austere at times, disconcerting at others, yet it always has a magnificent purity.” – Free Jazz Blog
“Earth Tongues doesn’t just improvise in the standard terms; they’ve developed their own intuitive rule system and “language.” Texture, color, and interplay are usually the key components in freely-improvised music, but this slow-moving beast of a combo goes heavier and deeper than surface aesthetics. Together, they create harrowing environments where sounds emerge from silence—colliding, disintegrating, and wriggling in unexpected directions.” – Bandcamp Daily
Joe Moffett - trumpet
Dan Peck - tuba
Carlo Costa - percussion
photo by Brooke Herr