Joshua Fried

Joshua Fried threw tape-loops on the floor at legendary punk venue CBGB, put headphones on some of Downtown NYC’s most mercurial stars of the 1990s and 2000s, collaborated with pop stars They Might Be Giants, and sometimes performs on a Buick steering wheel, four old shoes played with sticks, boombox, and computer. His work has been performed globally, both by himself and groups like the Bang on a Can All-Stars. He signed with Atlantic Records as a dance artist in the 1980s and became the youngest composer featured in Schirmer Books’ American Music in the 20th Century. Fried has performed solo at Lincoln Center, The Kitchen, La MaMa, BAM, Danceteria, Mudd Club, Joe’s Pub, and le Poisson Rouge (all NYC), in LA, Miami, Tokyo, Berlin, Milan, Paris, and across Europe. As a producer, he’s worked with They Might Be Giants, Chaka Khan, Ofra Haza, and avant drone-master David First among others. Fried’s honors include two New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowships, a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship, and residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo and Bellagio. American Composers Forum awarded him two major commissions: for Douglas Dunn & Dancers, and for New York’s League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR). Fried’s music appears on the free103point9, Trace, clang, Tellus and Atlantic Records recording labels.

Hattie’s Dance
In his latest work, NYC’s celebrated musical trickster Joshua Fried evokes the spirit of East Village cultural hub the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge, where he performed and worked on staff from 1981 to 1984. Hattie’s Dance channels Pyramid punk-drag absurdism through polyrhythmic House grooves and mid-tech wireless controllers. 

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