IAN BRENNAN: Home
"Music and other forms of art are by far the most effective kind of social-work that exists. A single, nameless one-hit wonder brings more comfort to the world than almost any single psychologist can hope to in a lifetime." --Ian Brennan
Ian Brennan has produced three GRAMMY-nominated records (Best World Music- 2011, Best Traditional Folk-2006 and 2007). His most recent project was traveling to southeast Algeria to record with Touareg rock legends, Tinariwen, for the August 30, 2011 release "Tassili" on the Anti- label.
He also recently produced, Rain Machine, the solo debut of Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) which was named "one of the 30 best records of the year so far" by SPIN magazine, and Rwandan folk-trio, The Good Ones, who received 4 out of 5 stars in MOJO magazine. In the studio, he has worked with the likes of Flea, Lucinda Williams, David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Nels Cline (Wilco), DJ Bonebrake and John Doe (X, the Knitters), Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Bill Frisell, Jonathan Richman, Richard Thompson, and more.
As a live-promoter he has presented artists as diverse as Green Day, Fugazi, Merle Haggard, film-maker John Waters, Kris Kristofferson, Tammy Faye, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Peaches, and the Vienna Boys Choir. These and related activities have raised over $100,000 for local charities and political causes.
"Nepotism and academia both are both antithetical to major pop-culture revolutions. Innovation has almost without fail risen culturally from the bottom-to-the top, not from the aristocracy that now rules much of misnomered indie rock. Be it James Brown, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Louis Armstrong, Grandmaster Flash, Johnny Rotten, Woody Guthrie, Kurt Cobain, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Django Reinhardt or Eminem, many of the most important artists historically have originated from less than auspicious circumstances." --Ian Brennan