{"id":1835,"date":"2020-11-06T06:38:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=1835"},"modified":"2020-11-06T13:09:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T19:09:17","slug":"hal-willner-marc-urselli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/hal-willner-marc-urselli\/","title":{"rendered":"Underappreciated Giant: Marc Urselli on ‘Angelheaded Hipster’ and the legacy of Hal Willner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are no words to soothe this grief-stricken year. As the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs on, artists everywhere are faced with a responsibility to innovate and inspire with renewed vigor as well as to celebrate and memorialize the legacies of those we have lost. Among those losses was an unsung titan of modern music: producer Hal Willner, who passed away on April 7th. A tireless behind-the-scenes figure, the words \u201ceclectic\u201d and \u201cprolific\u201d only scratch the surface of his output, which concluded posthumously this year with Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex<\/em>. It is a sonic cornucopia of immense scale, the likes of which Willner became known throughout an extensive discography of expansive multi-artist concept albums and themed concerts (not to mention his 40-year tenure as the musical force behind Saturday Night Live<\/em>). His ambitious projects never failed to distill a wide conceptual scope and seemingly disparate musical contributors into a cohesive whole, revealing a profound underlying message about music\u2019s connective power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sinking my teeth into Angelheaded Hipster, <\/em>I ended up with a browser-full of open tabs rivalling the hundreds of collaborators involved in this beast of a double album. Numerous threads feed into this project from diverse corners of the musical world while reflecting the somewhat obscure, yet pervasive legacy of Marc Bolan\u2019s music. No one could wring divine symmetry from such an entanglement like Hal Willner. Marc Urselli, Chief House Engineer at legendary NYC recording studio Eastside Sound and recording \/ mixing engineer for Angelheaded Hipster<\/em> was kind enough to offer recollections on Hal\u2019s legacy and the project\u2019s four-year materialization, as well as his own journey from the Italian DIY scene to becoming a first-call NYC recording vet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostGenre:  Before we get to Hal and this huge project, I would love for you to walk us through your journey from the DIY scene in Italy to working your way up through the upper echelons of the NYC production scene.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc Urselli: It started around the mid-90s. I was in various bands and decided to record our rehearsals, so I bought some microphones and equipment and I kept buying more stuff until it dawned on me that it would be a good career path. I opened my first recording studio at age 17 and started recording a bunch of punk\/hardcore bands as that was the scene in the 90s in Italy for the most part. I did a lot of recording for two or three years but I felt I kind of hit a ceiling and needed to expand my horizons. So, I went to New York for an internship in a recording studio, Eastside Sound. The idea originally was to go back to Italy after a 3 or 6 month internship, but New York kind of blew my mind.  I just stayed and kept working at Eastside as an unpaid runner \/ intern, graduated to assistant, eventually to engineer and now chief engineer, so I\u2019m still at the same studio where I started as an intern.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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