American composer

Weasel Walter

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American composer
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Weasel Walter (born Christopher Todd Walter, May 18, 1972) is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including no wave, free jazz, extreme metal, punk, noise, new music, and free improvisation. He coined the term "brutal prog" to describe the aggressively dissonant strain of prog played by groups like his band The Flying Luttenbachers.

Known as an unrelenting and abrasive provocateur whose performances trend toward overblown antics and "nihilistic glee", Walter has been described by renowned guitarist Mary Halvorson as "completely manic and extraordinarily sensitive" and by The Chicago Reader as "a splinter lodged beneath the fingernail". Avant-garde artist Glenn Branca once called him "one of the greatest rock composers who ever lived".

He has performed as leader and sideperson in a number of bands, including Cellular Chaos and Lydia Lunch Retrovirus. Walter has worked with Marshall Allen, John Butcher, Tim Dahl, Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson, Henry Kaiser, Joe Morris, Jim O'Rourke, Evan Parker, Elliott Sharp, Ken Vandermark, and William Winant, as well as in bands including Sharon Cheslow, Bobby Conn, Cheer-Accident, Cock E.S.P., Curse of the Birthmark, Erase Errata, Harry Pussy, Lair of the Minotaur, Quintron, The Chicago Sound, The Scissor Girls, U.S. Maple, and XBXRX. He has produced albums by AIDS Wolf, Arab on Radar, Glenn Branca, Burmese, Lydia Lunch, Coachwhips, and Total Shutdown.