Gerald Prokop

From Minnewiki

Gerald Prokop, performing with Sarah Wash, Chris Pappas and Courie Bishop at Big V's. Photo by Jenny Makousky

Gerald Prokop is a Minneapolis-based songwriter and recording artist. His body of work includes numerous independently-produced, DIY recordings as well as zines and other print publications. His music was released under the pseudonym Prokiev between the years of 2003 - 2005.

Songwriting and Recording

Using a Tascam four track and inspired by the music of John Frusciante, Neutral Milk Hotel and Polara, Gerald Prokop spent nearly 10 years creating project after project of lo-fi, small-edition and very low-budget DIY music, ranging from stripped-down folk to surreal noise rock instrumentals. He began distributing his recorded and print-based work under the imprint "Prokiev Projects + Publishing," in 2004. These early projects usually included quickly written songs that were recorded right away, and music that was heavily layered, manipulated and degenerated through the recording process.

After 2005, Prokop's recording gravitated towards a more personal songwriting style. 2006's "Lost in the Background" and 2007's "Twenty-Eight" exhibit a more self-aware, autobiographical subject matter as well as a cleaner, less experimental sound. Prokop began performing live with an acoustic guitar, but usually included delay and distortion effects.

In 2007, he released his final "fourtrack" recording, the improvisational, mostly-instrumental noise-rock disc "Sorry About the Noise," which was written and recorded entirely within that month of October and released the following December. He then got to work on focused digital home recording sessions, mixing dark acoustic folk with grunge and experimental noise influences. The result, "Exits + Obstacles" was released in October 2008. Although technically more polished, "Exits" continues in the path of sonic experimentation, using circuit-bending, home-built effects, tape samples and the creative mis-use of recording equipment.

In 2009, Prokop's live set was filled out with band members Sarah Wash (keyboards), Chris Pappas (drums) and Courie Bishop (synthesizer.) He released his most recent CD, Open, in September of that year. In November 2011 he began working on a new recording project, which he's documenting on Soundcloud and Twitter.

Visual Art and DIY

Prokop's formal training is in visual art, which he studied at the University of Minnesota from 2000 - 2003. He also ran a part time art studio in the Stevens Square neighborhood of Minneapolis, where he built a body of work involving degenerated urban images that were photcopied, projected and markered onto found surfaces or sheets of drywall. Prokop closed his studio in 2005 for financial reasons and instead turned his attention to songwriting.

Prokop has been an active participant in underground DIY culture. He founded the Afunctionul artist network in 2000, a multidisceplinary group of artists that promoted each other's underground projects and collaborated in group efforts. He also co-founded the annual Twin Cities Zinefest, of which he was a key organizer through 2007.

Discography

Briedhagen (1998)
Transit Issues (1999)
Sounds (2000)
Abstractions and Distractions (2001)
Humid Apartment Music (2002)
Snowman (Single) (2002)
Quasi Neutral Staircase (2003)
Dr. Awkward (2003)
Automatic: Contraption, Buy Aspirin, This? (2003)
Some Days Spent Drowsy (2003)
...With Nothing to Say (2003)
I ♥ Boredom (2003)
Signals Encoded in Magnets (2004)
I'll Stay by the Ground (2005)
Lost in the Background (2006)
Twenty-Eight (2007)
Quelquechose (2007)
Sorry About the Noise (2007)
Exits + Obstacles (2008)
Enormous Problems (2009)
Open (2009)