Damon Smith

Smith spent his childhood in eastern Washington but moved to Oakland in the mid-1980s.[1] He took up bass in his late teens, inspired by the Minutemen's Mike Watt.[1] [3][2] His love of Minutemen got him to explore other bands on the SST Records label which led to his discovery of Henry Kaiser, Elliott Sharp and Saccharine Trust.[3] Smith credited Saccharine Trust's improvised live album Worldbroken with altering his views on punk rock, jazz, and free-form jamming.[4] Eventually Damon was fortunate enough to meet Kaiser and the two have collaborated for over twenty years including more than ten recordings together.[2]

Initially an electric bass player due to his love of Minutemen and Watt's followup band fIREHOSE,[2] Smith switched to double bass and began focusing on improvisation[2] inspired by Peter Kowald[1] and his album Duos:Europa[5]

Smith studied with Bill Douglas,[5] Lisle Ellis,[3][5] Kristin Zerneg,[5] and Bertram Turetsky.[5]

In 2001, Smith launched his own record label called Balance Point Acoustics.[5]

More recently, Smith has played with Weasel Walter in his Weasel Walter Quartet[4] and in Plane Crash which also includes Henry Kaiser.[6] The latter expanded to become Astral Plane Crash with the inclusion of Vinny Golia and Bob Moses.[6]

Smith has also collaborated with Werner Herzog on soundtracks to his documentary films Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World.[7]

• Color Architecture (Limited Sedition, 1999)
• A Tribute to John Stevens and the SME with Sextessense (Balance Point Acoustics, 2006)
• Winter Solos (Balance Point Acoustics, 2019)
• Contradictory Consequences 1999 (Balance Point Acoustics, 2020)
• Variations for Double Bass 1961 Benjamin Patterson (Balance Point Acoustics, 2020)
• Whatever Is Not Stone Is Light (Balance Point Acoustics, 2020)

With Emergency String Quartet

• Hill Music (Spring Garden Music, 2001)
• Motions Last (Visible Dog, 2002)
• On the Corner (Public Eyesore, 2002)

With Alvin Fielder

• From-to-From (Balance Point Acoustics, 2013)[8]
• Song for Chico (Balance Point Acoustics, 2016)[9]
• The Shape Finds Its Own Space (FMR, 2016)[10]

With Vinny Golia

• Healing Force (Cuneiform, 2007)
• Grosses Messer (ugEXPLODE, 2009)
• Astral Plane Crash (Balance Point Acoustics, 2018)[6]

With William Hooker

• Earth's Orbit (NoBusiness, 2010)
• Triangles of Force (Balance Point Acoustics 2014)
• Remembering (Astral Spirits, 2018)

With Henry Kaiser

• Domo Arigato Derek-Sensei! (Balance Point Acoustics, 2006)
• Plane Crash (ugEXPLODE, 2009)
• Encounters at the End of the World (Fractal Music, 2013)
• Plane Crash Two (New Atlantis, 2015)[11]
• Relations (Balance Point Acoustics, 2015)
• The Celestial Squid (Cuneiform, 2015)
• Indestrucible Fantasy (Fractal Music, 2016)
• Nearly Extinct (Balance Point Acoustics, 2016)[12]
• More Requia (Metalanguage, 2019)

With Weasel Walter

• Revolt Music (ugEXPLODE, 2006)
• Firestorm (ugEXPLODE, 2007)
• Large Group Performances 2007–2009 (ugEXPLODE, 2009)
• Invasion (ugEXPLODE, 2010)

With others

• Jaap Blonk, Hugo Ball: Sechs Laut-Und Klanggedichte, 1916 (Balance Point Acoustics, 2014)
• Jaap Blonk, North of Blanco (Balance Point Acoustics, 2014)
• John Butcher, The Catastrophe of Minimalism (Balance Point Acoustics, 2017)[13]
• Carlo Actis Dato, USA Tour & April 2001 & Live (Splasc(h) 2001)
• Marco Eneidi, Ghetto Calypso (Not Two, 2006)
• Marco Eneidi, Marco Eneidi & the American Jungle Orchestra (Botticelli, 1996)
• Peter Evans, Oculus Ex Abyssus (ugEXPLODE, 2008)
• Peter Evans, Untitled (ugEXPLODE, 2008)
• Burton Greene, Life's Intense Mystery (Astral Spirits, 2019)
• Pandelis Karayorgis, Cliff (Driff, 2018)
• Pandelis Karayorgis, CliffPools (Driff, 2020)
• Peter Kowald, Mirrors Broken But No Dust (Balance Point Acoustics, 2001)
• Joe McPhee, Six Situations (Not Two, 2017)
• Kenny Millions, Fuck Music... Tell Jokes You'll Make More Money (Unhinged, 2018)
• Gino Robair, I, Norton: An Opera in Real Time (Rastascan, 2009)
• Richard Thompson, Music from Grizzly Man (Proper, 2018)
• Dave Tucker, Tenderloin (Pax, 2004)
• Bertram Turetzky, Thoughtbeetle (Balance Point Acoustics)
• Fred Van Hove, Burns Longer (Balance Point Acoustics, 2013)

• Balance Point Acoustics