State Shirt
| State Shirt | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ethan Tufts |
| Born |
9 June 1976 Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.A. |
| Instruments | Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Synths, Drums |
| Years active | 2001 - present |
| Labels | Los Fucking Angeles |
| Website | www.stateshirt.com |
State Shirt is Ethan Tufts, an American songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist from Easthampton, Massachusetts. He is known for his hand-crafted, diverse and often unpredictable indietronic style, integrating live looping in both his recordings and live performances. All of his songs are open source and licensed via Creative Commons, providing raw materials for the hundreds of remix artists that have created new works based on his source tracks. Tufts currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
He released his debut EP Don't Die in 2004, and his second album This Is Old in 2008. The first single from This is Old is "Fell Out of the Sky," a song inspired by the black box data recordings recovered from the crash of Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182, September 25, 1978.[1] His most recent album, Let's Get Bloody was released in December 2011.
He is currently working on an open source collaboration project, using only fan-submitted audio samples and his voice. The album will feature audio by Dan Friel (Parts & Labor), Chris Fudurich (producer, Nada Surf), Jamie Kime (Zappa Plays Zappa), Tim Godwin (Air Supply), among others.[2]
Discography
Albums
- Let's Get Bloody (Dec, 2011)
- This Is Old (Nov, 2008)
- Don't Die (Jun, 2004)
- New Planet (Jun, 2002)
Interviews
- Charles Wood, "State Shirt embraces digital world – you can steal his tunes but you’ll probably pay up", Music Missionary, February 29, 2012
- Andrew Shaw, "Speed Date: Talking Tacos, Heroes & Spending Unhealthy Amounts of Time in the Studio", Buzzine, December 20, 2011
- Heather Rush, "An Interview with State Shirt - Ethan Tufts", HiddenTrack (Blog), masslive.com, February 16, 2009
- "The Guitar Hero Series: State Shirt", Interview, JemSite, jemsite.com
Reviews
- Jay Gary, "State Shirt goes beyond stereotype", Central Michigan Life, January 24, 2012
- Andrew Shaw, "Something For The Weekend: A Free Album of Indie-Pop Drive & Dreamlike Ambition", Buzzine, December 16, 2011
- Paul Zimmerman, "This Is An Old State Shirt", FirstCoastNews, firstcoastnews.com, November 19, 2008
- "State Shirt - Don't Die 'Whisperin' And Hollerin', Review
- Indieville "Don't Die", Review, indieville.com,
- "Editor's Pick", Review, Smother.net
- "State Shirt - Don't Die", Review, Plug-In Music.com