One Ring Zero is a modern music group led by Joshua Camp and Michael Hearst that melds many genres and sounds to create a unique type of music.
Instruments
Hearst plays the theremin and Camp plays the accordion. They both play the claviola and prove to be extremely versatile musicians, often switching instruments for each song. Other instruments include a toy piano, a melodica, a metallophone, jones-O-phone, cajón and a series of everyday sounds looped and altered to create textures and rhythms. Using all these instruments together One Ring Zero creates a sound that defies genre. There is an undeniable klezmer influence throughout their music but also a modern rock or indie influence. The band has been denoted "Lit Rock" by the media but they seem to defy any singular name. Both Hearst and Camp sing, Hearst bass and Camp tenor. They often perform as a five-piece band, including trumpet, drum kit, and bass guitar.
On their critically acclaimed album "As Smart As We Are", published authors and writers wrote lyrics on request, which Hearst and Camp then set to music. Some writers wrote basic chord progressions or requested a certain genre for their song to fall under but for the most part Michael and Joshua wrote their own music for the lyrics. Track list and contributing author.
This provides a large variation in each song's theme, feel, and over all sound. Some lyrics are more poetic, while others tell stories.
Planets
For One Ring Zero's 2010 release, Planets, the band composed thirteen new songs to represent the solar system and beyond. Tracks on the album include "An Introduction To Planets," "Mercury," "Venus," "Earth," "Mars Part I," "Mars Part II," "Jupiter," "63 Moons," "Saturn," "Uranus," "Neptune," "Pluto," and "Exoplanets." The concept was inspired by Gustav Holst's nearly century-old orchestral suite "The Planets." As Hearst and Camp put it, "Seemed like maybe it was time to revisit our solar system with some new tunes.”
is a CD-book combo released in 2011 that was the result of a collaboration between One Ring Zero and celebrity chefs including David Chang, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Chris Cosentino, and Tom Colicchio, among others. The recipes are sung word for word, as song lyrics, and as an added bonus, the band asked each chef what kind of genre of music they would prefer their recipe be sung as. Edible Brooklyn called the CD "A feast for the ears." Time wrote "Every once in a while you come across a project and think, I can’t believe no one has done this before."
Discography
Albums
One Ring Zero "Tranz Party”
One Ring Zero "Alice”
One Ring Zero "Interludes and Out-takes from The Pumpkin Pie Show”
One Ring Zero "Memorandum”
One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are”
One Ring Zero and Rick Moody
One Ring Zero "New York Spleen” French Edition
Sophie Auster
One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are” Deluxe Edition with DVD
One Ring Zero "Wake Them Up”
One Ring Zero "Wake Them Up" Japanese Edition
One Ring Zero "Live at Barbes"
One Ring Zero “Ten Years Of Extra Stuff”
One Ring Zero "Planets"
One Ring Zero "Planets" Japanese Edition
One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are" Japanese Edition
One Ring Zero "The Recipe Project"
EPs
One Ring Zero “The Sirens of Red Hot”
One Ring Zero and Rick Moody
Video
One Ring Zero “Addendum”
As the subject of “As Smart As They Are - The Author Project”
