Nathan Greenslit (born November 3, 1975) is an American musician, writer, and academic.

Nate Greenslit
Birth nameNathan Paul Greenslit
Born(1975-11-03)November 3, 1975
Greenfield, Massachusetts, United States
OriginWorcester, Massachusetts, United States
GenresHeavy metal, dark cabaret, steampunk, folk, folk punk, Middle Eastern music, oom-pah, punk rock, sociopolitical
Occupation(s)Musician, writer, educator
Instrument(s)Drums, percussion, guitar, synthesizer
Years active2005–present
LabelsWarner Music Group, independent
Websitewww.metasymptom.com

Early life

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Greenslit was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts. He began playing drums at age five, when his father gave him the Walberg and Auge drumset he had played in his own garage band as a teenager. Greenslit began taking drum lessons the following year. He continued with private lessons off and on until enrolling in 1993 at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in their Contemporary Improvisation program.

Music career

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Greenslit dropped out of NEC in 1994 and did not perform again until 2005, when he joined a number of Boston-based bands, including H.U.M.A.N.W.I.N.E.;[1] What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?; and Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band. Since then he has been a fixture of the Boston music scene, having performed and recorded with numerous projects.

HUMANWINE's music was distributed by Warner Music Group, and has received multiple Boston-area awards, including Best New Act in the 19th Annual Boston Music Awards 2006 and WBZTV's Best Local Album for Fighting Naked in 2007.[2][3]

In 2010, Greenslit and marimbist Vessela Stoyanova co-founded Bury Me Standing. The band merges Stoyanova's Balkan folksong influences from growing up in Bulgaria with Greenslit's industrial and metal influences from growing up in the U.S. In 2014 they added Tunisian singer Yasmine Azaiez on vocals and violin, and Greenslit also began performing on guitar and synths.[4]

Academic and writing career

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After leaving NEC, Greenslit pursued studies in a number of academic fields including philosophy and history of mathematics and science at St. John's College, cognitive science (psycholinguistics) at Johns Hopkins University, and the history and anthropology of science and technology at MIT, where he earned a PhD[5]

Greenslit has held postdoctoral scholarships at the Media Lab at MIT and the History of Science Department at Harvard. He was also a visiting scholar in MIT's Initiative on Technology and Self.[6][7][8]

He has since held faculty positions in the History of Science Department at Harvard University[9][10][11][12] the Liberal Studies Program at the Boston Architectural College, and Liberal Arts at the Boston Conservatory of Music. Greenslit is currently also a visiting scholar in the Anthropology Department at New York University.

In addition to publishing in academic journals, Greenslit has published in more mainstream venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Wired, and The Baltimore Sun. His published writing has focused on neuroscience and society, and the political and cultural history of drugs.

Greenslit publishes occasional comedy writing as well,[13] including writing for Cracked.[14]

Personal life

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Greenslit has three daughters from a previous marriage. He lives with Vessela Stoyanova (MIDI marimba player, Berklee College of Music assistant professor,[15] and cofounder of Bury Me Standing), at the Boston artists' collective Cloud Club.

In 2014 Greenslit launched the Lost Marbles Salon at Cloud Club, a series of themed events combining lecture-style presentations with music, performance art, short films, and art installations.

Discography

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Albums

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  • Bury Me Standing (self-titled debut) (2013)[16]
  • The Folks Below (self-titled debut) (2013)[17]
  • Little Bit of Blue – What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? (2013)[18]
  • Disco Dischordia – Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band (2012)
  • The Lovebird's Throat – Clara Engel (2012)
  • And Other Stories … – What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? (2010)[19]
  • Steamship Killers – Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys (2010)[20]
  • Did We Happen To Begin? – Super Time Pilot (2009)
  • Fighting Naked – H.U.M.A.N.W.I.N.E. (February 26, 2008)[21]
  • No Time for Dreaming – Cabiria (2006)

Singles

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  • "Home", "Raze" – Bury Me Standing (2014)
  • "August", "Repetitions", "Dirt Drop City" – Bury Me Standing (2013–2014)[22]

Publications

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References

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  1. ^ Goodwin, Jeremy (July 25, 2013). "With the Folks Below, Holly Brewer sheds new light on her own world". Boston Globe. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  2. ^ "HUMANWINE". Sonicbids.com. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  3. ^ Flynn, Rory (September 29, 2006). "Boston Music Awards at the Avalon Ballroom on September 27". Boston Music Spotlight. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015.
  4. ^ Infante, Victor (June 2, 2014). "Rich, lovely new music from Bury Me Standing". Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  5. ^ "MIT HASTS: Graduate Student Info: Alumni". MIT HASTS. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  6. ^ "MIT Initiative on Technology & Self". MIT Initiative on Technology & Self. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  7. ^ "Visiting Scientists and Affiliates " Nate Greenslit". Synthetic Neurobiology Group. Retrieved June 20, 2015. Nate Greenslit started his career as a drummer, studying at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he majored in contemporary improvisation, and then studied the history of mathematics and science, philosophy, comparative literature, and classics, at St. John's College
  8. ^ "Big Pharma's placebo problem". Salon.com. August 3, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  9. ^ "Course Website Locator: 79013". Harvard University. Retrieved June 20, 2015. Spring 2013–2014 History of Science 140v: The Historical and Cultural Lives of Drugs in the U.S.; Nathan Greenslit
  10. ^ "Who Decides? Gender, Medicine, and the Public's Health". Radcliffe Magazine. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  11. ^ "Personal, Political, Physiological". Harvard Magazine. Harvard University. April 16, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  12. ^ Annicchiarico, Francesca (March 1, 2013). "History of Science Rethinks Sophomore Tutorial". Harvard University. The Crimson. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  13. ^ "We think with the objects we love". Financial Post. National Post. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  14. ^ "6 Most Badass Self-Inflicted Medical Experiments". Cracked. November 8, 2011.
  15. ^ "Vessela Stoyanova". Berklee College of Music. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  16. ^ Infante, Victor (September 19, 2013). "Bury Me Standing and The Folks Below have staggering debuts". Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved June 20, 2015. Bury Me Standing – featuring Greenslit again on drums and guitars, his wife Vessela Stoyanova on MIDI marimba and tupan... pushes further into the experimental on its (again) eponymous debut, creating a move that... has a heavier feel.
  17. ^ Infante, Victor (September 19, 2013). "Bury Me Standing and The Folks Below have staggering debuts". Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved June 20, 2015. The album – which features HUMANWINE alumni Nate Greenslit on percussion, Paul Dilley on bass and Holly Brewer on vocals and acoustic guitar – is a punk-rock apocalypse by way of Kurt Weill's "Threepenny Opera," and if the portrait painted is bleak and, at times, disturbing, the music remains fresh and engaging.
  18. ^ Brown, Sophia (March 14, 2013). "What Time Is It, Mr. Fox: Little Bit of Blue". DigBoston. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  19. ^ Simmons, Ryan (September 1, 2009). "What Time is it, Mr. Fox? – "And Other Stories"". Wonka Vision. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  20. ^ Thompson, Barry (June 24, 2010). "Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys : Steam Ship Killers". The Phoenix. Retrieved June 20, 2015. The sheer magnitude of Sickert and company's apocalypse folk appears to have mushroomed in proportion to their roster – formerly comprising just Sickert and Edrie Edrie, now something akin to a 15-player circus of doom.
  21. ^ "Fighting Naked by HUMANWINE". MTV. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  22. ^ Infante, Victor (June 2, 2014). "Rich, lovely new music from Bury Me Standing". Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
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