LD Beghtol
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LD Beghtol (born 1964, Fort Campbell, Kentucky) is a musician, designer and writer. Beghtol grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee. He holds a BFA from the University of Memphis, and studied design and the fine arts in London. In 1995 Beghtol moved to New York; currently he lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Beghtol is the singer/musical director for the orchestral-pop band Flare (which features Charles Newman of Mother West studio in Manhattan) and the experimental pop outfit LD & the New Criticism. He is a one-half of the bicoastal musical project moth wranglers (with ex-King Missile bassist/keyboard player Chris Xefos). In 1998 Beghtol was invited by songwriter/producer Stephin Merritt to collaborate as a guest musician and designer on the Magnetic Fields’ 1999 triple-CD boxset, 69 Love Songs. Merritt has also contributed his distinctive vocals and instrumental work on various Flare and moth wranglers releases. Beghtol, Merritt and Dudley Klute (former singer for European synthpop band Kid Montana and also a guest vocalist on 69 Love Songs) have curated and starred in several live-only performances as the Three Terrors, offering infrequent theme-based live musical events based on the topics French pop, movies, intoxication and New York City. Guest musicians for these extravaganzas have included author Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Jon DeRosa (a sometime member of Flare), and Kenny Mellman (aka Herb of Kiki & Herb). In June 2006, LD & the New Criticism contributed their song “Sex Surrogate” to issue 6 of Tod Lippy’s elaborate, process-oriented, beautifully produced art/design/culture magazine, Esopus. LD & the New Criticism's debut cd Tragic Realism (2005) and follow-up ep Amoral Certitudes (2007) were released by Darla and Acuarela.
Beghtol has worked professionally as a designer and art director for publications including Travel Holiday, Outdoor Life and The Village Voice, and has written extensively about the arts, music, books and culture for Time Out New York, the Memphis Flyer, chickfactor, The Village Voice and other publications and websites. His book 69 Love Songs, A Field Guide was published by Continuum International Publishing Group as part of their esteemed 33⅓ series of critical studies of important rock and pop albums in December 2006.
