Out of the Dark: Martin Bisi

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MARTIN BISI IS one of those unsung rock-hero types you'd know only if you peruse album credits.

In the early '80s, Bisi was a member of seminal avant-funksters Material and co-produced the second and third Sonic Youth albums. He went on to engineer records by artists ranging from Brian Eno to Afrika Bambaataa to The Ramones. More recently, he produced the first Dresden Dolls CD.

That last credit seems to have left an impression. Bisi's newest record, one with his name at the top of the credits, "Sirens of the Apocalypse," comes close to capturing the feel of the Boston duo's decadent cabaret punkishness.

Bisi's sonic landscape is filled with eerie-sounding instruments, spoken-word pieces and lots of cavernous reverb. It's an appropriate backdrop for his bleak vignettes about dalliances with various New York women, most of whom are given serio-comic monikers such as "Mary Maudlin," "Buddhist Girl" and "Goth Chick '98." "Apocalypse" is his fourth full-length effort, but he'll be on his first tour when he stops into the Velvet Lounge with his three-piece band.

"I'm starting to get into finding the performer in me," says the Manhattan native. "That's been a long process. It's funny, because I didn't think that was really in me when I was in my early 20s. I just didn't see myself as a ham. I was thrilled just being a studio rat."

Bisi says he decided to turn the spotlight on himself after spending decades cloistering himself away in recording studios and feeling that acts he worked with seemed to be having more fun performing. "Sirens" seemed like a good vehicle to take to audiences because its theme of broken romance seemed so universal.

"[With] people that you're gonna be friends with, it's easy to be selective," he muses. "But with attraction, you realize the magic is that it's completely random and biological, and it doesn't conform to the logic of, 'Well, what would be right for me?'" Bisi agrees the record comes off like a guy's rendition of "Sex and the City."

"I guess the record is kind of personal, because it's a bit of a road map of where I've been over the last five years."

» Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW; with The Homosexuals, Thu., 9:00 p.m., $10; 202-462-3213.(U Street-Cardozo)

Written by Express contributor Tony Sclafani
Photo courtesy Martin Bisi