Charlie Kirchen is a music theorist and maker based in New York City.
As a theorist, he is a doctoral candidate in music theory at Columbia University where he is working on a dissertation that looks at the relationship between genre and the creative practice of the renowned producer, Madlib. Working from the observation that at the turn of the millennium Madlib begins to frame his creative practice as one geared towards the evasion of genre, this dissertation asks what such a relationship to the concept of genre entails in practical, concrete terms. In so doing, the project argues that Madlib evades genre by, simply, tinkering with his craft. Each chapter highlights a different parameter along which this craft is altered and unpacks the technical, aesthetic, political, and economic implications therein.
As a music maker, Kirchen is a composer, improviser, bassist, and bandleader. Recent releases include The Beginning and the End (2022) by RGB, Sit Down! (2022) by Rooms, Gneiss (2023) by the Charlie Kirchen Quartet, Ellipses (2023) by The Few, and Boiler Room (2023) by Sfyria Trio. His work has been funded by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, South Arts, and the City of Chicago.
