Welcome to the website of art-funk musician and writer PC Muñoz.
About PC Muñoz
HALF-BREED, the latest multidisciplinary project from San Francisco musician and writer PC Muñoz, explores the grey areas of racial identity and cultural authenticity via spoken-word, electronic soundscapes, and live improvised music.
Originally developed and produced while PC was a 2013 fellow with the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, HALF-BREED will make its California premiere on May 15, 2014, with Emmy-winning composer/multi-instrumentalist Vanessa Van-Anh Vo joining PC for the performance. The California production of HALF-BREED is presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center for their 17th annual "United States of Asian America" festival.
PC Muñoz's genre-defying projects are stylistically broad and deep, revealing a sonic explorer equally at home with electronic funk, all-acoustic hip-hop, percussion-heavy improv, spoken-word, world-music fusion, and contemporary classical. His partnership with composer/cellist/longtime Kronos Quartet member Joan Jeanrenaud has yielded two highly acclaimed projects: the Grammy-nominated Strange Toys and the iTunes-charting cello and beats duo album Pop-Pop. A frequent and enthusiastic collaborator, PC has recorded and/or performed with rock legend Jackson Browne, dream-pop poet/chanteuse Ingrid Chavez, Prince and the Revolution synth wizard Dr. Fink, Kulintang virtuoso Danny Kalanduyan, sonic surrealist Kevin Carnes of Broun Fellinis, woodwinds renegade Kyle Bruckmann, metal/electro-noise vocalist AC Way, vocalist Jennifer Kreisberg of the legendary Native American group Ulali, and countless other musicians and recording artists across a wide range of genres.
PC's notable multidisciplinary collaborations include ongoing iterations of HALF-BREED, 2012's Fall of a Sudden project in Hong Kong, 2008's public art installation Light Haiku with kinetic sculptor Chris Eckert, 2005's award-winning project Twenty Haiku, and ongoing performances with Vadim Puyandaev and Erika Tsimbrovsky of Avy-K Productions, including the December 2012 production Ir-Rational.
PC began his career in the early 90s as an R&B/Gospel drummer and indie producer, while teaching elementary school by day. In 1998 he launched a solo artist/label entrepreneur career, releasing his debut solo disc, The Trouble I'd Bring You on his own label, Beevine Records. Beevine also released 2002's CMJ-charting A Good Deed in a Weary World, 2004's Golden State mash-note California (featuring Jackson Browne on the title track), and 2005's Twenty Haiku. In 2005, PC delved further into production and artist development, co-founding the unique record label/private recording studio entity Talking House Productions with Seagate CEO Steve Luczo and 5 close music industry colleagues. Known as the Bay Area's premiere studio with the only SSL-9000K console in Northern California, the former Talking House facility is now called Studio Trilogy, and hosts everyone from local up-and-comers to pop mega-stars like Lady Gaga and will.i.am.
Born and raised in San José, California, amidst innovation and entrepreneurialism, Muñoz now resides in San Francisco.
UPCOMING PROJECTS AND APPEARANCES
Saturday April 12, 2014
Four Seasons Hotel
San Francisco, CA Private event with the great Francesca Lee
Friday April 25, 2014
MALI Art | Life Forum
The School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Ave
San José, CA 95121
11am
PC will present his workshop Adrenaline, Egos, and Excellence: Managing Successful Creative Collaborations for MALI's first inaugural forum in Silicon Valley. This workshop is FREE and open to the public; click the link above for registration and forum info.
Saturday May 10, 2014
The "Lemme Ask You a Question" show on Radio Valencia.fm
10am-12pm PC will join writer/musician host Delfin Vigil in the Mission District of SF for an entertaining morning of music and dialogue on this very San Franciscan internet radio station.
Thursday May 15, 2014 The California premiere of HALF-BREED
Stage Werx Theatre
446 Valencia St. @ 16th St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
8pm, doors @ 7:30pm
$10 at the door A FREE copy of PC's acclaimed Twenty Haiku CD will be given to every attendee!
After a blockbuster November 2013 debut in Minneapolis, PC is excited to bring his multidisciplinary performance piece HALF-BREED to San Francisco. HALF-BREED examines issues of cultural identity and authenticity from a distinctly multiracial point of view via spoken-word, electronic soundscapes, and live improvised music. The Emmy-winning multi-instrumentalist Van-Anh Vanessa Vo will join PC for the performance. Songstress Erica Benton (who was also on the bill in Minneapolis) and a special guest poet will open the show. The San Francisco iteration of HALF-BREED is presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of the 2014 United States of Asian America Festival, "The Spaces Between".
NOW LISTEN-HEAR!
Selected tracks from various projects:
WORK WITH PC!
PC Muñoz is available for select audio/music projects as producer, sound designer, percussionist, and beatmaker, or as a content creator/project leader for large and small creative initiatives. See contact info below.
LEARN FROM PC!
PC is available as a guest lecturer/workshop presenter, and accepts a limited amount of cajon drum students each year; contact PC directly for next availability.
Visit PC's LinkedIn page here and contact PC directly at the address below for all inquiries.
NEW COLLAB PROJECT COMING: PC is joining forces with Emmy-award winning virtuoso Van-Anh Vanessa Vo for an upcoming music and film project combining traditional Vietnamese music and hip-hop. The project also features PC's "One Voice/One Drum" colleagues DEM ONE and Christopher PaperSon Woon. Stay tuned for details!
TYIA WILSON ALBUM: You can hear PC on the new release by Idaho-based vocalist Tyia Wilson. The epic dance/chant track "Adi Shakti" is featured in the "Now Listen-Hear!" section of this site; check her out!
NEW PHOTO SHOOT: Veteran stage lighting designer and photographer Lucas Krech recently photographed PC for Krech's Artist Portrait series, which focuses on artists in their work environments. Lucas captured PC while working on music at Studio Trilogy. Check out Krech's work here.
FREE NEW DUO ALBUM: PC and madcap avant-garde pianist Ira Kamin, best known for his seminal work with the legendary guitarist Michael Bloomfield, released a drums + piano free-jazz album The Space Between, on October 15th; it is available for FREE exclusively on PC's bandcamp page, right here!
LATEST DRUM! MAGAZINE ARTICLE: PC's next piece for DRUM! Magazine, due in mid-2014, focuses on Bay Area drummer-songwriter Andrew Griffin and his band Felsen. You can read PC's October 2013 article, "Drums in the Key of Wonder", online right here!
FRANCES HA/ NEW JJ/PCM MUSIC: The quirky hit film Frances Ha, starring Greta Gerwig, features one of PC's productions: "Axis", a Joan Jeanrenaud composition from the Grammy-nominated Strange Toys album! The movie is now out on DVD. Also, two stellar new Joan Jeanrenaud compositions featuring PC on drumkit and marimbata are mixed and mastered and being considered for release----stay tuned for more info!
VIDEO GUIDE: 1. PC clears up the misconception that Cher is part of the "HALF-BREED" project 2. "Hell No" lyric video 3. "One Voice/One Drum" by DEM ONE and PCM 4. Sneak-peek video for the "HALF-BREED" project 5. "Panama Canal" by Joan Jeanrenaud and PC featured on So You Think You Can Dance 6. Fall of a Sudden promo video, featuring Hong Kong rehearsal footage and audio collage 7. Teaser vid for drums/piano album with madcap pianist Ira Kamin 8. "Family Matters" music video from the Grab Bag album 9. "Get Up and Get Over" music video 10. Music video for PC's remix of Ingrid Chavez's "By the Water" single, featuring PC on drumkit, synth, and marimbata 11.Music video for "33 1/3" from the album Pop-Pop by Joan Jeanrenaud and PC 12. Music video for "Arietta" by Kev Choice, produced by PC
Press
"Dark, sexual, sensual, confessional, and confrontational--all at the same time...a poet." Performing Songwriter
"3.5 Stars (for Pop-Pop). This cello-and-percussion team moves through 10 tracks that are alternately tantalizing, mesmerizing, even somber at times." DownBeat
"(PC Muñoz) is truly a modern musician, equally at home with a live band, playing the most organic of instruments...or hunched over a computer, making beats and working magic with ProTools..." Tom Chandler, East Bay Express
"Muñoz's tasteful electronics, effortlessly balancing hard-hitting syncussion with bouncy basslines and buttery synth washes, are the perfect counterpoint to the thought-provoking words he spits out with an incomparable cool....undeniable talent for crafting songs that stimulate the mind and the body." Amorn Bholsangngam, Urb Magazine
"Somewhere between hip-hop attitude, Minneapolis nasty and latin rock playa chops, PC Muñoz has an instantly compelling sound that defies definition..." Rickey Vincent, author of "Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of the One" and host of KPFA's "The History of Funk" radio show
"Compelling beats, clever lyrics, and special guests, such as cellist Jean Jeanrenaud, make (Grab Bag) an enjoyable listen." Electronic Musician
"...undeniable stage presence...laid-back, but commanding...the show is a left hook all right---and a knock out at that." Mike Osegueda, Fresno Bee
"Great work. It's all too rare to hear someone breaking new ground in the pop field." John Zorn, Composer
"... PC Muñoz consistently redefine(s) himself, sailing effortlessly across artistic categories..." Marian Liu, San Jose Mercury News
