Over the cacophany of exploding pyrotechnics and the noxious smell of sulfur, we managed to pry the following intel from The Aviation Orange, MusicZeitgeist.com’s August 2009 Indie Artist of the Month.

Tags: August 2009, electroclash, Indie artist of the month, James Iha, Rethinkpopmusic, Smashing Pumpkins, The Ambassadors, The Aviation Orange, The Pixies, The Smiths, The Vanguard

Say what you will about indie-pop trumping the rock establishment, but you’re not likely to see that anytime soon on a Monday night at Spaceland. It remains to be seen if The Smashing Pumpkins v2.0 will achieve any of the relevance of their predecessor, but in the meantime, they’re making it safe for kids everywhere taking music lessons.

Tags: American Idol, Billy Corgan, creation story, D'Arcy Wretzky, Ginger Reyes, Gish, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Harmonix, James Iha, Jazz Odyssey, Jeff Schroeder, Jimmy Chamberin, Kings of Leon, live review, Los Angeles, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, Music Zeitgeist, phenomenon, Siamese Dream, Smashing Pumpkins, Smashing Pumpkins live, Spaceland, the Lot, The White Stripes, Theremin, Truffle Jones, U2, Zeitgeist

Artist Profile: Joseph A. Peragine

Music Zeitgeist recently discovered the music of Ohio artist Joseph A. Peragine. The self-produced multi-instrumentalist creates gorgeous and urgent evolving songs that summon up the best that the first wave of early 90’s independent alternative music had to offer. This is not a slight – it was a golden age for musical experimentation and the music landscape would do well to remember the undercurrents that have slowly become annexed by the bands that claimed the game prize.

His angelic and beautifully rendered vocals aside, Peragine evokes everything from Jesus Lizard, His Name Is Alive and King Crimson to Smashing Pumpkins and Fred Frith. But it isn’t limited to post-prog innovators; his track “Perspectives of Then and Now Saved… Metamorphosis Engraved/Rewind” from his album The Acoustic Diaries is a holographic dream of amazing sampling, tape-playback, acoustic/vocal singing and songwriting that instantly bypasses all your defense mechanisms and leaves you staring a thousand yards beyond the twilight out the grimy window of whatever little box you live in and contemplating those seemingly significant moments of your life that you can still manage to surrender from fading memory.

Music Zeitgeist had an opportunity to ask the artist some personal questions:

Music Zeitgeist: Who?
My name Is Joseph A. Peragine

What?
I am an Indie/Experimental Solo artist who writes my music about my personal struggles with paranoid Schizophrenia.

Why?
I want to eliminate all of the negative stigmas associated with my illness and show the world that there is recovery.

Until when?
As long as I am mentally and physically able to create music and spread my positive message I will do so.

And then?
Hopefully I can leave some type of positive impact in the world of music and mental health.

Instrumentation
Joseph A. Peragine: Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Sampling

Discography
“The Acoustic Diaries” (Oct. 2004)
“Self Medication…Poems of Alienation” (Nov. 2006)

http://www.josephaperagine.com

Tags: alternative, alternative music downloads, artist profile, defense mechanisms, drums percussion, Fred Frith, His Name Is Alive, indie album, Joseph A. Peragine, King Crimson, memory music, music landscape, musical experimentation, negative stigmas, Ohio, ohio artist, paranoid schizophrenia, personal questions, personal struggles, prog, rock, Smashing Pumpkins, solo artist, tape playback, The Jesus Lizard, vocal singing, world of music, Zeitgeist