Jonathan Segel
Jonathan Segel started playing guitar when he was about 7 years old. At about 10 he had a crush on a girl who played violin, so he thought he'd try that too.
Unfortunately he sucked at it.
That did not stop him, however, from later playing the violin in rock bands when everybody else played guitar. Sometime around 1983, while carrying a violin across the quad at Porter College (College V) at UC Santa Cruz, he was approached by some kids who had moved their band up from Redlands, CA. This turned out to be Camper Van Beethoven and the Border Patrol.
Well, what we didn't know then is that this association was for life, as Camper Van Beethoven has now made records/CDs for the past ~35 or so years, and is still playing.
Through all the ups and downs of that band, Jonathan has continued to make his own records (../CDs/tapes/whatever... seems like a million of them so far) in a variety of genres ranging from guitar-based rock music to way-avant-garde electronic music and many other places in between...
Some press:
Esthetic Lens on Creative Quarantine
Pavement PR "Postive Press Rolls in For Jonathan Segel's "All Attractions"
Interview podcast "Nakedly Examined Music" 2017
Interview StarTrip Japan 2017
Rocktimes Germany review of Superfluity 2017
About
Jonathan Segel is a composer, performer and multi-instrumentalist.
He plays guitar, violin, computer, keyboards, electric bass and sings.
Born in Marseilles, France, grew up in Davis, California (with a year's side trip to Tucson, AZ.), went to college at the University of California at Santa Cruz (BA 1985), studying music with Gordon Mumma and Peter Elsea, and myth and language with Norman O. Brown.
In Santa Cruz he hooked up with Camper Van Beethoven, apparently for life. He moved up to San Francisco in 1989, then to Los Angeles in 1997 to work for Dane Davis at Danetracks, a film sound post production facility, then back to Oakland in 2001, where received a Master's Degree in Music Composition at Mills College (MA 2003), studying with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran, and Joelle Leandre.
While in Santa Cruz in the 1980s, he played with Camper Van Beethoven, Eugene Chadbourne and various other semi-musical projects, while in San Francisco in the 1990s with Sideways, Virginia Dare, Granfaloon Bus, Dieselhed and his own band Hieronymus Firebrain, which dissolved and reformed as Jack & Jill, which later led to various records of rock music under his own name in the 2000s.
While in Los Angeles, besides playing and recording with Eugene Chadbourne, he played with Clyde Wrenn (as Clyde Wrenn and the Container), with Mike Marrt's Beaumont, occaisonal shows with Mark Goodman's group, Magnet, and spent a great deal of time touring the globe with Mark Linkous' group, Sparklehorse.
Returning to the Bay Area in 2001, Jonathan began playing rock shows with his own eponymous band, as well as a newly reformed and revitalized Camper Van Beethoven. He has made several guitar-centric rock music CDs since then and has performed this music in scattered California shows, including opening slots for such acts as Built To Spill (he has also sat in with Built To Spill and Yo La Tengo onstage as a violinist!) and occasional solo acoustic shows .
In 2004 Camper Van Beethoven recorded a new studio album, "New Roman Times", their first in 15 years, and a then put out a Greatest Hits package in 2009 ("Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty"), both followed by much touring in the United States and Europe, which continues to this day. A new CD of Camper Van Beethoven music arrived in early 2013, "La Costa Perdida" and its companion CD, "El Camino Real" in 2014. Camper van Beethoven continues to tour, usually with David Lowery's other band, Cracker.
In addition to all of this, leaving Los Angeles and the film and music industries and studying at Mills College led Jonathan back to the world of improvisation and electronic music, and he has been performing improvised music for instruments and computer around the world, including shows in the SF Bay Area, New York, Europe and Japan.
2003 saw the CD release of several improv collaborations with notable artists such as Fred Frith and Joelle Leandre, and with Shoko Hikage, and the first of many electronic music CDs. In 2004, after various shows as both a rock and an improvising duo with Dina Emerson, Chaos Butterfly formed and began recording and touring. Several CDs have been produced worldwide, as well as performances in the US and Europe with many collaborators. Chaos Butterfly is now a moniker for Jonathan performing electronic or otherwise avant-garde improv with a host of other potential musicians.
In 2012 Jonathan relocated to Stockholm, Sweden with his family, where he currently resides. Here he has been sitting in with bands such as The Plastic Pals, and even Gösta Berlings Saga, working on recording his own albums and with others, including Sista Maj, an improvised rock ensemble, as well as recording, mixing and performing with the Øresund Space Collective from Copenhagen, and ongoing projects with Mattias Olsson of Roth Händle Studios and Hasse Horrigmoe of Norway's Tangle Edge
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Jonathan has composed music for the Cid Pearlman/Nesting Dolls Dance Company since 1992, including many film projects, and has composed music for Curt Haworth's Dance Company, Deborah Slater Dance Theater and Maxine Moerman Dance Theater.
He has scored several films, both feature length and shorts.
Material Press in Germany are the publishers of Jonathan's Chamber Music scores, available in PDF form.
(common name misspellings include: Jonathan Segal, Jonathan Siegel, Johnathan Segel, Jonathon etc. You know, Willem Shaxepeere's name wasn't solidified 'til years later either... Sometimes, several different spellings appear even in the same article! You can pronounce it as you like. Jonathan's dad, Irwin Segel, says it rhymes with "bagel", but he's from New York.)
Also see: www.magneticmotorworks.com home of the independent record label Magnetic, run by Jonathan and Victor Krummenacher from 1993-2011
Much of the above-mentioned music can be found at music.jsegel.com
On YouTube, Jonathan's Channel has many performances in different configurations.
His blog is at jsegel.wordpress.com
Jonathan E. Segel Discography:
Solo or as Hieronymus Firebrain or Jack & Jill
playing guitar, singing, violin, etc
1988 Jonathan Segel Storytelling
Pitch A Tent Records
1990 track on the Acoustic Music Project benefit for Open Hand with David Immergluck
Alias Records
1991 Hieronymus Firebrain Hieronymus Firebrain
Delta Records
1993 Dr. Firebrain's Plane Crash Tape, Vol.1
Magnetic
1994 Hieronymus Firebrain There
Magnetic
1994 Hieronymus Firebrain Here
Magnetic
1994 track on Pushing the Norton -- the Ace Cafe Compilation with Fifth Business
Heyday Records
1995 Jack & Jill Chill and Shrill
Magnetic
1997 Jack & Jill Fancy Birdhouse
Magnetic
2000 Jonathan Segel Scissors and Paper
Magnetic
2003 Jonathan Segel Edgy Not Antsy
Magnetic/Pitch-A-Tent
2008 Jonathan Segel Honey
Magnetic
2012 Jonathan Segel All Attractions/Apricot Jam
Magnetic
2014 Jonathan Segel Shine Out
(demagnetized)
2017 Jonathan Segel Superfluity
Floating World UK
2020 Jonathan Segel Here Comes Sunshine (single)
Bandcamp
2020 Jonathan Segel Outside Inside
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel Shitty Nuggets
Bandcamp
other electronic/electro-acoustic:
2003 Jonathan Segel Non-Linear Accelerator
Magnetic/Pitch-A-Tent
2005 Jonathan Segel Rauk
Magnetic
2005 Jonathan Segel Amnesia/Glass Box
Magnetic
2006 Jonathan Segel Summerleaf
Magnetic
2007 Jonathan Segel Underwater Tigers
Magnetic
2018 Jonathan Segel Artificial Relics
Bandcamp
2018 Jonathan Segel machines
Bandcamp
2019 Jonathan Segel Moving Through Loneliness
Bandcamp
2022 Jonathan Segel Superposition of States
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel Current Motion
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel Downstream Motion
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel Spaceman with a Suntan (Stockholm EMS Series Vol. 1)
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel Super Music Simulator (Stockholm EMS Series Vol. 2)
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel They Got the Beets (Stockholm EMS Series Vol. 3)
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel And Then... (Stockholm EMS Series Vol. 4)
Bandcamp
2023 Jonathan Segel Reality Plus Condiments (Stockholm EMS Series Vol. 5)
Bandcamp
2015 Sista Maj The Last of May
Bandcamp
2016 Sista Maj Series of Nested Universes
Space Rock Productions
2018 Sista Maj Localized Pockets of Negative Entropy
Adansonia Records DE
2019 Sista Maj The Extreme Limit
Bandcamp
+ several digital-only releases at music.jsegel.com
with Camper Van Beethoven
playing violin, guitar, keyboards, singing, etc...
1985 Telephone Free Landslide Victory
Independent Project Records
1986 II & III
Pitch A Tent Records
1986 Camper Van Beethoven
Pitch A Tent Records
1987 Vampire Can Mating Oven
Pitch A Tent Records
1988 Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
Virgin Records
2000 Camper Van Beethoven is Dead, Long Live Camper Van Beethoven
Pitch-A-Tent Records
2002 Cigarettes and Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years
Pitch-A-Tent Records
2003 Tusk
Pitch-A-Tent Records
2004 New Roman Times
Pitch-A-Tent Records/Vanguard
2008 Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty
Cooking Vinyl
2013 La Costa Perdida
429 Records/Savoy Label Group
2014 El Camino Real
429 Records/Savoy Label Group
2015 Sharknado 3 "Oh Hell No" soundtrack
Lakeshore Records
with Eugene Chadbourne
playing violin, mandolin, slide guitar, keyboards, toys...
1987 Camper Van Chadbourne
Fundamental Records
1988 Eddie Chatterbox Double Trio Love Album
Fundamental Records
1991 Eugene Van Beethoven's 69th Sin-Funny
Fundamental Records
1999 Used Record Pile
Knitting Factory Records
1999 Revenge of Camper Van Chadbourne
Knitting Factory Records
2001 PsyCHADelidoowop
Magnetic
as Chaos Butterfly
2005 Live at Studio Fabriken, Gothenburg, SE - with Dina Emerson and Biggi Vinkeloe
Eld Records
2005 threelivingthings with Dina Emerson
Magnetic/Pitch-A-Tent
2005 Radio with Dina Emerson
Magnetic
2012 Unforeseen Events with Kiku Day, Helena Espvall
Bandcamp
2023 Trapped Light with Andrea Axelsson
Bandcamp
2024 Bent Space with Hasse Horrigmoe
Bandcamp
2015 Øresund Space Collective Different Creatures
Space Rock Productions
2016 Øresund Space Collective Ode to a Black Hole
Space Rock Productions
2016 Øresund Space Collective Live in Karlsruhe
Bandcamp
2016 Øresund Space Collective Live in Nuremburg
Bandcamp
2016 Øresund Space Collective Visions Of...
Space Rock Productions
2017 Øresund Space Collective Live at the Little Devil, Tilburg, NL
Bandcamp
2017 Maat Lander/Øresund Space Collective split LP
Clostridium Records
2017 Øresund Space Collective Hallucinations Inside the Oracle
Space Rock Productions
2018 Øresund Space Collective Live in Berlin 2018
Bandcamp
2018 Øresund Space Collective Kybalion
Space Rock Production
2019 Øresund Space Collective Live from Tampere 2018
Bandcamp
2019 Øresund Space Collective and Black Moon Circle Freak Out in the Fjord
Space Rock Productions
2019 Øresund Space Collective Live at Kuudes Linja
Bandcamp
2019 Øresund Space Collective Live in Liepaja Latvia
Bandcamp
2020 Øresund Space Collective Experiments in the Subconscious
Space Rock Productions
2020 Øresund Space Collective Live in Warsaw 2019
Bandcamp
2020 Øresund Space Collective Vastavirta
Bandcamp
2020 Øresund Space Collective Four Riders Take Space Mountain
Space Rock Productions
2021 Øresund Space Collective Relaxing in the Himalayas
Space Rock Productions
2022 Øresund Space Collective Live in Dresden
Space Rock Productions
2022 Øresund Space Collective Berlin Freakout 2019
Space Rock Productions
2023 Øresund Space Collective Høstsabbat 2021
Space Rock Productions
2023 Øresund Space Collective Everyone Is Evil
Space Rock Productions
2023 Øresund Space Collective Live in Helsingor (DVD)
Space Rock Productions
2023 Øresund Space Collective Carnival in Portugal
Space Rock Productions
2023 Øresund Space Collective The Linguini Sessions (from 2016 sessions)
Space Rock Productions
see ØresundSpaceCollective.bandcamp.com
2020 Astral Magic Inside the Space Cabin
Darksun
2020 Astral Magic In Orbit
Darksun
2021 Astral Magic Electronic Vol. 4
Darksun
2021 Astral Magic The Chosen Ones
Darksun
2021 Astral Magic The Mists of Orion
Darksun
2021 Astral Magic A Trip to Alpha Centauri
Darksun
2022 Astral Magic Cosmic Debris
Darksun
2022 Astral Magic A Peak Into the Future
Darksun
2022 Astral Magic Inner Journey
Darksun
2022 Astral Magic Meetings with the Universal Mind
Spurious Transients
2022 Astral Magic The Mental Universe
Darksun
2022 Astral Magic In a Haze
Darksun
2022 Astral Magic (with Shane Beck) Apparition's Breath
Darksun
2023 Astral Magic We Are Stardust
Bandcamp
2023 Astral Magic The Last Survivors
Bandcamp
2023 Astral Magic (with Shane Beck) Mystic Dreams Reversed
Bandcamp
2023 Astral Magic (with Shane Beck) Vortex of Eternal Light
Bandcamp
2023 Astral Magic Experiences in Hyperspace
Bandcamp
2023 Astral Magic Different Dimensions (remixes)
Bandcamp
2023 Astral Magic (with Shane Beck) Balance of Oblivion
Bandcamp
2023 Astral Magic Virtual Fixtures (7" single)
Bandcamp
2024 Astral Magic End of Time
Bandcamp
2024 Astral Magic (with Paul Roland) Mind Melt Machine
Bandcamp
see: https://astralmagic.bandcamp.com
with Big City Orchestra
1998 Greatest Hits and Test Tones
2007 Villanella
2007 Musical Box
2007 Love Film Greats
+many others, you'll have to figure it out yourselves
with John Kruth
1996 Toast by the Electric Chairmen (John Kruth)
Weasel Disc
1999 MoonDog Girl by the Noodle Shop
John Kruth, Elliot Sharp, Atilla Engin and Jonathan Segel
Sparkling Beatnik Records
2008 Splitsville by John Kruth
Smiling Fez Records
2015 The Drunken Wind of Life
Smiling Fez Records
with Clyde Wrenn
1998 The Container by The Container
Subliminal Records
1999 Clyde Wrenn Long Day's Journey into Night
Surprise Truck Records
2001 Clyde Wrenn The Blue Cliff Record
Blue Jacket Records
with Tom Shad
2016 Shale Current
Bandcamp
improvised music collaborations:
2003 Fred Frith/Joelle Leandre/Jonathan Segel Tempted to Smile
Spool
2003 Jonathan Segel/Shoko Hikage Gen
Spool
2006 Moe! Staiano's Moe!Kestra An Inescapable Siren Within Earshot...
Amanita Records/Rastascan Records
2006 various artists/Jon Raskin + Myles Boisen Music + One
Rastascan Records
2009 Lucio Menegon Sonic Demons
Edgetone Records
2010 Emergency String (X)tet and Rent Romus Emergency Rental
Edgetone Records
2012 T.D. Skatchit & Company Skatch Surveillance
Edgetone Records
2017 Jonathan Segel Band Live at Camp-Out XIII
Bandcamp
2019 Jonathan Segel Band Live at Camp-Out XV
Bandcamp
2020 Transatlantic Space Connection (with Bryan Howard and Carlton Owens)
Bandcamp
other projects, session work, studio collaborations:
playing violin, guitar, mandolin, etc.
1986 Yo Once in a Blue Moon
Deadbeat Records
1987 Frontier Wives Rockinghorse Violins
Petroleum By Products
1987 Spot 1019 This World Owes me a Buzz
Pitch a Tent, later on Frontier Records
1987 Young Fresh Fellows The Men Who Loved Music
Pop-Llama
1988 Walkabouts Cataract
Sub Pop
1991 Overwhelming Colorfast Overwhelming Colorfast
Relativity
1992 Granfaloon Bus A Love Restrained
1998 Loud Family Days for Days
Alias Records
1999 Magnet Sharkbait
PC Music
1999 Sparklehorse Distorted Ghost EP
Capitol/Parlaphone
2000 Alison Faith Levy My World View
Magnetic
2000 Victor Krummenacher Bittersweet
Magnetic
2000 Mike Levy Fireflies
Parasol Records
2005 Patrick Phelan Cost
Jagjaguar
2006 ld beghtol and the New Criticism Tragic Realism
Darla Records
2007 Mossyrock I know I'm Not Wrong EP
2008 Victor Krummenacher Patriarch's Blues
Magnetic
2016 Björn Brunnander Galler
Poolhall Records
2016 West, Space & Love Vol. II
Space Rock Productions
2016 Spirits Burning and Clearlight The Roadmap in Your Head
Gonzo Productions
2016 Lowlands (and Friends) Play Townes Van Zandt's Last Set
Route 61 Music
2017 Spirits Burning and Daevid Allen The Roadmap in Your Heart 7" single
Gonzo Multimedia
2017 Game Theory Supercalifragile
KCM Records
2018 XFR 4TA Funny You Should Ask
Capsaicin Records
2018 Buck AE Down All the Way Down
All The Way Down
2018 Del Toro Sound I Hate Balloons
2018 Black Moon Circle Psychedelic Spacelord
Crispin Glover Records
2018 Spirits Burning and Michael Moorcock An Alien Heat
Gonzo Multimedia
2018 The Plastic Pals Psychic Reader
Polythene Records
2019 Dark Bottle Pimee Pullo
Concorde Music Company
2019 Problem Stick Baby Cowboy's Basement Tape
2019 My Little Hum Pioneer
Mlm
2019 Michael Moorcock and the Deep Fix Live at Terminal Cafe
Purple Pyramid
2019 IntoDeepWater Hour of the Wolf
2020 Armand Gutheim & the Feel Harmonic Rockestra Mother Earth
Mother Earth Artists
2020 Taperecorder North Country
Haggard Bastard Records
2020 Taperecorder Leaving Astoria
Haggard Bastard Records
2020 Spirits Burning and Michael Moorcock The Hollow Lands
Cleopatra Records
2021 Songs From the Fans: Chris Cacavas 60
Polythene Records
2021 Spirits Burning Evolution Ritual
Noh Poetry Records
2021 The Echo People Patience Tester
Bandcamp
2022 Superluminous Summer's Almost Gone
Bandcamp
2022 Armand Gutheim & the Feel Harmonic Rockestra Dreams of Beyond
Mother Earth Artists
2022 Armand Gutheim & the Feel Harmonic Rockestra Peace of Mind
Mother Earth Artists
2022 Brenneman 'Marcos
Bandcamp
2023 Hanna Francis Mustard Seed
SelfHelpSongwriter Records
2023 The Echo People Patience Tester
Bandcamp
2023 Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock The End of All Songs Part 1
Purple Pyramid
Film Soundtracks:
1999 The Invisibles, feature directed by Noah Stern
released on video 2001 Vision Box Pictures
2000 Bunny, feature directed by Mia Trachinger
2001 Kickin' Chicken, short directed by Joy Phillips
2001 100% Human Hair, short directed by Ann Kaneko
2002 Love Will Travel, feature directed by Teddi Bennett
2004 Bill's Run, documentary for POV/PBS directed by Richard Kassebaum
2019 Moving Through Loneliness, for Cid Pearlman Dance, presented as museum pieces
2022 (home)Body for Cid Pearlman Dance, presented as museum pieces at Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History