Listen to Robby Grant on WXNA's X-POSURE with Leanne Merritt

Playlist:

2:02pm Melotron I by The Apples In Stereo on New Magnetic Wonder (Yep Roc Records / Simian Records)

  • 2:02pm Was by Vincent Gallo on When (Warp Records)

  • 2:05pm Gold Day by Sparklehorse on It’s a Wonderful Life (Capitol Records)

  • 2:12pm Decades by Joy Division on Closer (Collector’s Edition) (London Records)

  • 2:19pm Premiers Detours by Cosmic Analog Ensemble on Une Vie Cent Détours (My Bags)

  • 2:20pm Premiers Detours by Cosmic Analog Ensemble on Une Vie Cent Détours (My Bags)

  • 2:21pm Kites by Simon Dupree & The Big Sound on Monsters of Psych Rock (Warner Music Group – X5 Music Group)

  • 2:25pm A Place in the Sun by jason crest on The Rubble Collection, Vol. 8 – All the Colours of Darkness (TTW)

  • 2:27pm Strange Shadows by Fabienne Delsol on On My Mind (Damaged Goods)

  • 2:30pm Ant Life by Isobel Campbell on Thre Is No Other… (Cooking Vinyl)

  • 2:35pm Fancy Man by Devendra Banhart on Ape in Pink Marble (Nonesuch)

  • 2:38pm The Escape by Mooon on Safari (Bickerton Records)

  • 2:38pm Odyssey and Me by Mooon on Safari (Bickerton Records)

  • 2:41pm One of a Kind by The Small Breed on The Small Breed – EP (Bickerton Records)

  • 2:48pm Soul Brogues by Papernut Cambridge on Mellotron Phase: Volume 2 (Gare Du Nord Records)

  • 2:49pm Soul Brogues by Papernut Cambridge on Mellotron Phase: Volume 2 (Ravenwood Music Ltd.)

  • 2:51pm A Lover’s Quarrel by Palm Ghosts on Architecture (Ice Queen Records)

  • 2:55pm Cross My Heart by Melody’s Echo Chamber on Bon Voyage (Domino Recording Co)

  • 3:04pm The Afternoon Turns Pink by Black Moth Super Rainbow on Dandelion Gum (Rad Cult)

  • 3:05pm Autumn Almanac by The Kinks on Something Else (Deluxe Edition) (Castle Communications)

  • 3:10pm Tuesday Afternoon by Moody Blues on On the Threshold of a Dream (London)

  • 3:13pm Welcome by Mattias Olsson on We Came from the Ocean – Single (Apollon Records)

  • 3:24pm Pulsar (feat. John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Jonathan Kirkscey & Robby Grant) by Mellotron Variations on Mellotron Variations (feat. John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Robby Grant & Jonathan Kirkscey) (Spaceflight Records)

  • 3:27pm Roller Rink (feat. John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Jonathan Kirkscey & Robby Grant) by Mellotron Variations on Mellotron Variations (feat. John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Robby Grant & Jonathan Kirkscey) (Spaceflight Records)

  • 3:35pm Into the Sunrise (feat. John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Jonathan Kirkscey & Robby Grant) by Mellotron Variations on Mellotron Variations (feat. John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Robby Grant & Jonathan Kirkscey) (Spaceflight Records)

  • 3:46pm Tahiti by Duets for Mellotron on Duets for Mellotron (Mellotron Records)

  • 3:46pm The Green Sword by Duets for Mellotron on Duets for Mellotron (Mellotron Records)

  • 3:49pm Tahiti by Rodd Keith on I Died Today (Tzadik)

  • 3:54pm Take the Old Bridge by Robby Grant & Jonathan Kirkscey on Duets for Mellotron (Mellotron Sounds)

  • 3:57pm Another Time, Another Place And Space by Big Star on Beale Street Green (Columbia)

Aquarium Drunkard Review: Mellotron Variations :: S/T

Aquarium Drunkard Review: Mellotron Variations :: S/T

Mellotron Variations—the new collaborative project from John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Jonathan Kirkscey, and Robby Grant—sounds like it could have scored an imaginary, chimerical Stanley Kubrick film. The quartet compositions of the great tape replay keyboard of the 1960s were originally conceived of as Mellotron duets between Memphis locals Kirkscey and Grant, before looping in the Medeski Martin & Wood and Wilco stalwarts. Doing so expanded the possibilities to an almost limitless scale, but one that rooted in a serene, and often severe, neoclassical aesthetic.

From NPR's All Things Considered: "On 'Mellotron Variations,' A 1960s-Era Instrument Makes A Comeback"

From NPR's All Things Considered: "On 'Mellotron Variations,' A 1960s-Era Instrument Makes A Comeback"

"It is an iconic part of so much pop and rock music, but it's also an instrument that's yet to be fully explored," says jazz keyboardist John Medeski.

Medeski is talking about the Mellotron. In addition to using the Mellotron on his own records, last year he collaborated with Pat Sansone of Wilco, Jonathan Kirkscey and Robby Grant to put on a concert in which all four musicians played original compositions together on the instrument. This summer, they released Mellotron Variations, a live album of that concert performance, and its accompanying film comes out this week.

Commercial Appeal: Memphis Mellotron Masters Make Movie!

Commercial Appeal: Memphis Mellotron Masters Make Movie!

"The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England, in 1963."

That's the first sentence of the "Mellotron" entry on Wikipedia. Perhaps it doesn't help you.

Perhaps it might be more helpful to tell you the Mellotron is the instrument that provides the odd, ethereal, somewhat eerie, somewhat melancholy, somewhat orchestral and entirely otherworldly sound that is a signature of such mind-expanding and mood-altering 1960s recordings as the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever," the Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin," and King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King." 

Memphis Musicology Podcast: THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

Memphis Musicology Podcast: THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

On this episode of Memphis Musicology, we sit down with musicians Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey to talk about their new album Mellotron Variations, a collection of original songs performed on obscure electro-mechanical keyboards known as mellotrons. We also survey the 2019 Memphis Music Hall of Fame class, who will be inducted in a ceremony on November 8th.

NPR's All Songs Considered: New Mix: Pinegrove, Sudan Archives, Anna Meredith And 4 Mellotrons

NPR's All Songs Considered: New Mix: Pinegrove, Sudan Archives, Anna Meredith And 4 Mellotrons

Long before sampling (which came of age in the early '80s), there was the Mellotron in the '60s. It's a brilliant contraption, an instrument with a traditional-looking keyboard, but one that triggers tape loops. Those loops might be strings, or horns flutes and more. On this new album, Mellotron Variations, John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Jonathan Kirkscey & Robby Grant form a Mellotron quartet. This song,"Pulsar," from Mellotron Variations, is out now, with a film from the group's 2018 performance coming very soon.

Mellotrons Redux: “Mellotron Variations” Spawns a Record and Film

Mellotrons Redux: “Mellotron Variations” Spawns a Record and Film

By Alex Greene

Regular readers of these pages already know about a particular musical niche in which Memphis has lately played a pivotal role: the Mellotron revival, which has slowly been gathering steam over the last two decades.

Collector and enthusiast Winston Eggleston, son of famed photographer William Eggleston, has instigated concerts featuring the 1960s-era keyboard, which uses analog tape loops to eerily recreate the sounds of real instruments and even whole bands at the push of a key. So far, the culmination of this has been the stunning Mellotron Variations concert in April 2018 at Crosstown Arts, in which local players Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey were joined by Pat Sansone (Wilco) and John Medeski (Medeski Martin & Wood), presenting semi-improvised original pieces that showed off the evocative range of multiple Mellotrons being played at once.

Wilco's Pat Sansone Explores Cult Favorite Instrument on 'Mellotron Variations' Project: Listen to 'Pulsar'

A musical whim in Memphis has turned into a full-blown all-star project called Mellotron Variations, whose "Pulsar" from the upcoming self-titled debut album is premiering exclusively below.

Mellotron Variations was created by Robby Grant of the band Vending Machine, who recruited classical musician Jonathan Kirkscey in 2016 for a duo concert for Memphis' nonprofit Crosstown Arts. The initial collaboration was recorded and distributed in a limited edition, which was also used to apply for a $20,000 NEA grant for multi-disciplinary performances, which helped spur a multi-day Mellotron Variations festival during April of 2018, adding Wilco's Pat Sansone and John Medeski to the lineup.

Valley Show Girl: Play That Trippy Noise

Valley Show Girl: Play That Trippy Noise

When I opened the press release for this upcoming album release that was accompanied by a live set at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA, there was one word that caught my interest: Mellotron. The instrument is similar in artistry and the complicatedness of a synthesizer, but not to put them in the same category when it comes to uniqueness.

Ghost Music: Mellotrons Return to Crosstown Arts

Ghost Music: Mellotrons Return to Crosstown Arts

"When I'm playing a real Mellotron, it's like I'm playing ghosts," says Pat Sansone, multi-instrumentalist for Wilco, who's in town for a series of concerts this week. It's not a comment you would hear about many instruments, but the Mellotron is unique. Its immediate precursor was the Chamberlin, in which strips of audio tape triggered by a keyboard could mimic various orchestral instruments. When a Chamberlin employee absconded to England with two of the machines in 1962, he created his own consumer-oriented model, and the Mellotron was born. The new instrument, using lower fidelity recordings, tended to color the sound of the instruments with its own warble and woof. Before long, it was appearing on records by the Beatles, the Kinks, and others.

Members of Wilco, Medeski Martin & Wood celebrate the music of the Mellotron with multi-day festival

Members of Wilco, Medeski Martin & Wood celebrate the music of the Mellotron with multi-day festival

For Pat Sansone, the mysterious, ethereal and beautiful sounds of the instrument known as the Mellotron captured him early on. 

“I’m sure it came from my love for the Beatles as a kid. ‘Strawberry Fields Forever,’ which has that famous Mellotron intro, is one of the masterpieces of recorded music,” says Sansone, a member of Wilco and co-founder of The Autumn Defense. “From the very beginning, I’ve always been fascinated by the haunting quality of the Mellotron. It’s a such a deep instrument -- it’s been an obsession for a long time.”

‘Duets for Mellotron’ brings players to bear on collector’s passion

‘Duets for Mellotron’ brings players to bear on collector’s passion

For Winston Eggleston, his obsession with the Mellotron — the keyboard-based sampling instrument — began with the Beatles.

"As a kid, I was obsessed with the song 'Strawberry Fields.' I knew every part of it, and as soon as I figured out that flute at the beginning was not actually a flute but a Mellotron, I became fascinated by what they were," says Eggleston. "I'd hear other songs and wonder what certain weird sounds were — and it always turned out to be a Mellotron. It's just got that haunting quality that I was drawn to. I'd always fantasize about maybe eventually having my own."

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