The piece ‘Wintergreen Tint’ is one among a series of ‘ambient’ pieces created by National Tryst, titled: ‘Musical Tints Project’. Each of these pieces was composed with the intention of translating a specific tint (or, shade)—of either one or an admixture of colors—into music.
National Tryst is creating a video to accompany each of these musical tints. ‘Wintergreen Tint’ is the first of these videos to be completed. It exists on vimeo.com and is accessible here:
Some of the footage that appears in this video was culled from a public-domain film that is included in the Prelinger Archives, accessible at the Internet Archive ().
‘Wintergreen Tint’ is Copyright 2010, written & performed by National Tryst (Negation of Words & Music, ASCAP).
[posted: 5 August 2010 ]
New National Tryst "Band Biography"
These days, National Tryst, in addition to making music, has been writing what might be called ‘songs for the page’. Expect examples of these to appear in the nooks and crannies of this Web site in the near future.
(Also, expect nooks and crannies to appear. Among the ambitions of nationaltryst.com is that of the spearheading of a revival of the flagging tradition wherein Web sites include nooks and crannies of various kinds. Their object is simple: to distract you. Life’s too short. It’s true that the Internet has become exceedingly dull, but there’s no rule that says it has to stay that way.)
In any case, National Tryst has updated its “band biography” The new biography has been written as a mesostic. Should you be unfamiliar with this heterodox form of poetry—invented or at least nurtured into its mature form by the late, great American composer, thinker and troublemaker John Cage—try the Wikipedia page.
[posted: 15 February 2010 ]
National Tryst celebrates Christmas.
We are proud to feature National Tryst’s interpretation of a Christmas classic. We forgot to post this here when it was created, in December of ‘08. But, why not re-imagine your summer—muggy, sunburn-inducing and encumbered by the annoying expectation that you have an overabundance of ‘fun’—as a glistening, hazy, snow-and-slush-filled wonderland replete with snowball-fights, warm liqueurs, days and weeks of indoor sloth, shoveling and patches of cold, brown, muddy ice blanketing the sidewalks and streets?
National Tryst has awoken from its slumber. The band is putting the finishing touches on an album; actually there’s enough material for two or three albums, but it’s unlikely all to be completed at the same time.
Have a look at the Music section of this site, to which selections from upcoming projects will be added, in addition to other odds and ends like improvisations, home recordings, ambient pieces and film soundtracks.
Also, check out Songs for Sleeping In, released on the Japanese label Moor Works. Purchase it as an import through Chicago’s Reckless Records.
[posted: 25 August 2008 ]
Upcoming Show: Saturday, 12/9/06, at The Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
National Tryst will be performing at The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave, Chicago, on Saturday, Dec. 9. We’re opening for another local band, Del Rey, and Columbus-based Melty Melty.
Show starts at 10:00.
[posted: 28 November 2006 ]
Upcoming Shows - Rounded Binary and National Tryst
We’re pleased to anounce two performances in Chicago on the last two Fridays of this August. The first is a Rounded Binary performance at Wicker Park’s All Rise Gallery during the opening of Out of House and Home on August 18, 2006. Tom and Steve will be joined by Kristina Dutton (violin), and Hannah Trobe (cello).
The second is a National Tryst acoustic performance at South Union Arts (south of Roosevelt and Union), on Friday, August 25th, at 9:00, opening for Paper Airplane Pilots.
Please visit our shows page or contact us for further information.
[posted: 8 August 2006 ]
Jack, "D," Tell-All Records
National Tryst’s Jack recently recorded the piece “D” for San Francisco-based label Tell-All Records’ twelve series. National Tryst’s Paddy also contributed to the piece, which contains no notes other than D, unless you count percussion.
[posted: 28 July 2006 ]
Tom's Film Score Performance
National Tryst’s Tom recently played piano in the Jill Summers-penned score for the Chris Hefner film A Small Corona for the Freakshow. Click here to see and hear the film.
[posted: 21 June 2006 ]
Music Streaming
Music streaming is enabled, thanks to our Webmaster Paul.
Also, our recording sessions here in Chicago have been going really well. The new songs are all acoustic and stripped-down. Lots of violins and all of that.
[posted: 21 June 2006 ]
In the Studio
We will be recording an EP in June. The EP is projected to contain the following numbers, in no particular order:
She Sees Pie Graphs
It’s An Adult World After All
In The Window
2 DG (a.k.a. “David Grubbs”)
Clickity Clackity, I’m Licking Your Backity (No Drums Version)