21.11.10
Keith Jarrett 'Dark Intervals' (1987)
17.11.10
Stephan Mathieu + Taylor Deupree, Transcriptions (2009)
'Transcriptions', a collaborative work by Stephan Mathieu and Taylor Deupree, contains 8 tracks of music that is both historic, decayed, angelic and revolving, while also existing in warmth, purity, and transcendence through acoustic instruments, and vintage synthesizer.
Delving deeply into the history of the earliest recording methods through mechanical phonographs, Stephan Mathieu created a method using wax-cylinders, the predecessor of records, as well as 78s, which have a larger frequency range, to create his music through playback of these pieces of musical history. With a setup consisting of playing the cylinders through two portable gramophones, and then sending them directly into the computer by microphone, Mathieu was able to record the sounds, and perform software processing in realtime, rendering a resulting flow of deteriorated angelic elegance, decomposed beauty, and reborn awakenings.
From this result, Taylor Deupree worked with the recordings, adding acoustic instruments and vintage synthesizer; adding-to, while still maintaining the physicality of the 78s, opening the range of the tracks through unalloyed analog contributions. Upon first listening, it might be thought that the contributions of Taylor Deupree were merely additions to original material, but when listening further, once the music has breathed openly, it can be heard actually how much the cylinder recordings of Stephan Mathieu shape the open pathways of Deupree's acoustics, allowing for a breadth of incredible range. Not merely a compliment, but a modern counterpart.
Through nearly 48 minutes of music, self-described as warm and enveloping, these sounds represent the pivotal movements of the unique, the saturated, and the exploratory, all colliding in what may be sometimes a wave of revolving fuzz, swirling melodies of the supernatural and the human, the delicate echoes of single revolutions, and gentle plucks of the guitar. It is both a conversation, and a translation of both sides. Transcription, after all, means notating the unnotated.
The result of the century-apart sources combined with the methodology and talent of these two leading experimentalists creates an immutable, impressing magnetism, while still balancing so gently on the vibrations of the decayed, and the frail humanity of the past.
- Spekk
15.11.10
Morton Feldman, Patterns in a Chromatic Field, performed by Arne Deforce, Yutaka Oya (2009)
‘In the beginning was the word.
Then they put two words together, then they made a sentence, then they made a
paragraph and they forgot the word.’
- Gertrude Stein
10.11.10
Steve Reich, Steve Reich and Musicians, Drumming (1987)
In the compositional technique phasing, popularized by composer Steve Reich, the same part (a repetitive phrase) is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not identical tempo.
Thus, the two instruments gradually shift out of unison, creating first a slight echo as one instrument plays a little behind the other, then a doubling with each note heard twice, then a complex ringing effect, and eventually coming back through doubling and echo into unison.
Phasing is the rhythmic equivalent of cycling through the phase of two waveforms as in phasing.
Note that the tempi of the two instruments are almost identical, so that both parts are perceived as being in the same tempo: the changes only separate the parts gradually. In some cases, especially live performance where gradual separation is extremely difficult, phasing is accomplished by periodically inserting an extra note into the phrase of one of the two players playing the same repeated phrase, thus shifting the phase by a single beat at a time, rather than gradually.
The technique originated in Reich's tape music, where the composer sets off several copies of the same tape loop simultaneously on different machines. Over time, the slight differences in the speed of the different tape machines causes a flanging effect and then rhythmic separation to occur. Examples include Reich's Come Out and It's Gonna Rain. This technique was then extended to acoustic instruments as described in the above paragraph and later the change in phase was made immediate, rather than gradual, as in Reich's Clapping Music.
As the cycle unfolds, often other melodies will be created by the differing instances of the original phrase being played together. As in Steve Reich's Violin Phase, the composer will sometimes have an additional instrument or live performer with the tape who playing these secondary, extracted melodies to accentuate them.
The effect is similar to that heard when a Shortwave station undergoes fading. As the signal takes multiple paths through the ionosphere, the different time delays cause the signal to exhibit the characteristic phasing sound.
- Wikipedia
8.11.10
Samuel Beckett / David Warrilow, Solo (1993)
In August 1977, the actor David Warrilow, who had had such a resounding success with the adaptation of The Lost Ones wrote to Beckett asking him if he would write a solo piece for him to perform. After clarifying what exactly he was after Beckett declined: “My birth was my death. But I could not manage 40 min. (5000 words) on that old chestnut. Not with it now within reach.”
The day afterwards he did however sit down and attempt a piece with the opening words: ‘My birth was my death.’ Written in the first person singular; it was provisionally entitled ‘Gone’.
“It broke down … after a few thousand groans” but he considered it salvageable and returned to it in January 1979 when Martin Esslin wrote to him to ask if he had an unpublished work that could appear in The Kenyon Review. He added a set of stage directions to what had been up till then simply a monologue and, on his severity-third birthday, he posted copies to both Esslin and Warrilow. He considered it “unsatisfactory … I do not expect you to use it,” he wrote to Warrilow.
“The piece drew on childhood memories: “his father teaching him to light a match on his buttocks; the various operations involved in lighting an old-fashioned oil lamp … what his mother had told him about how he was born just as the sun was sinking behind the larches ‘new needles turning green’; a gleam of light catching the large brass bedstead that had stood in his parents’ bedroom.” He had also recently calculated his own age in days and incorporated a figure of “Twenty five thousand five hundred and fifty dawns” in his initial draft.
Interestingly, a few days after Beckett began work on ‘Gone’ he arranged for his whole house to be painted “grey like the proprietor” and, on his return from a trip to Germany seeing the walls now bare and uncluttered, he chose to let them remain that way. As James Knowlson puts it in Damned to Fame (p 650): “Life here emulated art, or at least echoed the mood that inspired it.”
- Wikipedia
Lost Sounds of the Tao, Lo Ka Ping (2001)
Should Chinese Music Be Taught In Christian Schools?
by Philip Lo [Lo Ka Ping], 1920
It is with very profound pleasure that I meet you all here to-night. I have been an interested listener to the various speeches that have been delivered by musicians on this auspicious occasion and I assure you that I have derived very material assistance from the suggestions advocated. But, in particular, I am requested to make a few remarks on a special phase of the subject. I feel very incompetent, however, to speak clearly on such an intricate and perplexing topic as that on which I am asked to speak. When I consider the qualifications of my audience, I can hardly have enough nerve to get up to this platform. Not having learned the art systematically, I can scarcely add any embellishments to the discussion. Indeed the few pieces that I am able to play have been learned at random and only by blind imitation. But since I am given the honor to speak, I feel it a duty to lay bare my few scanty thoughts on Chinese music.
Before answering the questions - "Should Chinese music be taught in Christian Schools?, it is well, I think, to examine into the cardinal purposes of Chinese music as conceived and practised by the fathers of the art. The chief of these was the purification of the sensual impulses. Our fathers believed that music had the power to rouse the beast-like emotions and thereby drive them away, thus purifying the heart. This, it is to be noted, is in fac-simile with the Aristotelian conception of the purpose of music, a conception which led him to advocate that music be incorporated into the school curriculum. Secondly, they intended and actually used music for the psychological examination of human nature. They recognized over two thousand years ago that the native constitutions of human beings possessed both good and bad traits. By the proper exercise of the one and judicious suppression of the other, the child could be moulded to be a good citizen. They claimed that by playing a certain kind of music in the presence of a child, he would invariably respond in a certain way as indicated by his facial expressions. This experiment could be carried out, of course, only by expert musicians. Last, but by no means least, our fathers believed that the person playing music at a particular time indicated his state of mind at that time, such as fear, anger, or happiness. Numerous instances can be cited from our history as illustrations of this point. One of these, I suppose, would suffice. Those of you who are acquainted with the history of ancient China know the great general and far-sighted statesman Hung-ming. Once he planned a defensive attack, but through sheer insanity and total lack of common sense of the man he placed in charge of the scheme, his forces were annihilated. The enemies drew near the city. He realized his danger of being captured unless some ingenious plan be instantaneously devised. This he did by getting up to the top of the highest building and there concealed his fear of the approaching by playing a Chinese Seven-stringed Harp, from the sound of which it seemed that he was very joyful and contented.. The adviser of the enemy listening carefully to the songs, detected that it was a fake, but the generalissimo refused to take the advice and withdrew his forces immediately. Thus Hung-ming was saved.
From this brief enumeration we indubitably see that morally, psychologic[ally], Chinese music is an art. That this is so was upheld by our greatest sage Confucius. He believed that no man's education could be considered complete without a sound knowledge of music. That is why he included it among the six fundamental branches of study. The character of its inventors seems to substantiate this dignified appraisal, being invented by men of high intellectual calibre, among whom were philosophers, prophets, kings and emperors. Specifically the Seven-stringed harp, the most beautiful of all our musical instruments, was invented by Fu-hie, who was our emperor. Of course I do not assume that all emperors had inventive ability. But in this particular case, noble rank was coupled with exceptional ability.
Just as its inventors were men of high intelligence, so too, were the men who practiced it. In olden times no ordinary man dared to practice this noble art. We are bewildered to find that this is the exact reverse today. But the cause is not to [. . .]. As with everything else, glory is always followed by decline. When music had reached its peak, of glory, it began to deteriorate. Soon, men [from all] scales of social and intellectual development tried to master the essentials which made music what it was at first, its true beauty was gradually lost. In turn this is due to the lack of [a] universal system of instruction. At the beginning and for a long time afterwards, the musicians had a great deal of leisure, as they were mostly men who lived in retirement. These men had plenty of time to improve the instruments and composed songs for themselves. But they left behind no records of their methods.
This long decay through promiscuous practice and lack of instruction makes music appear today very different from what it was. We now find an enormous [. . .] of musical instruments, a great many of which [are] being played by persons way down in the social scale. This does not mean, however, that the instruments themselves are inherently bad. Nay, their ignoble appearance has been given them temporarily by their unworthy practitioners. This fact clearly points to the pressing necessity of thorough reformation and judicious selection. To this end I have formed an association of Chinese musicians, which meets regularly once a week. In endeavoring to bring about this reorganization, we are trying at the same time to work our a scientific method of teaching. With all the intricacies involved, such a work cannot be accomplished all at once. But although it is still in process of discussion, yet our efforts thus far have been amply gratified by discovering many instruments that deserve to rank among the highest of musical instruments. A few of these I have roughly sketched and, if you are interested to know what they are, I shall be very glad to show them to you at the conclusion of the meeting.
I have given you the facts and opinions of Chinese music and I shall be very glad if a step be taken to make it part of the curricula of Christian schools. If it could purify the heart by arousing and driving away the sensual impulses; if it could detect the weak points in this active constitution of the child; if it could show the state of a person's mind at any time; then it would accomplish a great part of what morality, psychology, and education strive to accomplish in concurrence. As such, it should be made part and parcel of all school curricula.
7.11.10
Shamisen I - Japanese Traditional Music (1990)
The shamisen or samisen (Japanese: 三味線, literally "three flavor strings"), also called sangen (literally "three strings") is a three-stringed musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi.
The shamisen is similar in length to a guitar, but its neck is much much slimmer and does not have any frets. Its drum-like rounded rectangular body, known as the dō, is taut front and back with skin in the manner of a banjo, and amplifies the sound of the strings. The skin is usually from a dog or cat, but in the past a special type of paper was used and recently various types of plastics are being tried. On the skin of some of the best shamisen, the position of the cat's nipples can still be seen.
The neck of the shamisen is usually constructed such that it is divided into three or four pieces that fit and lock together. Indeed, some shamisens are made so that they can be easily disassembled and stowed to save space. The pegs used to wind the strings were traditionally fashioned out of ivory, but as it has become a rare resource, they have been recently fashioned out of other materials, such as various kinds of wood and plastic.
The three strings are traditionally made of silk, or, more recently, nylon. The lowest passes over a small hump at the "nut" end so that it buzzes, creating a characteristic sound known as sawari (somewhat reminiscent of the "buzzing" of a sitar, which is called jivari). The upper part of the dō is almost always protected by a cover known as a dō kake, and players often wear a little band of cloth on their left hand to facilitate sliding up and down the neck. This band is known as a yubikake. There may also be a cover on the head of the instrument, known as a tenjin.
Laraaji, Day of Radiance (1980)
Edward Larry Gordon was a comedian/musician attempting to work his way through the Greenwich Village clubs in the '70s when one day he impulsively traded in his guitar for a zither, adopted the name Laraaji, and began busking on the sidewalks. Brian Eno, living in New York at the time, heard his music and offered to record him, resulting in this singular, unusual album. Laraaji uses an open-tuned instrument with some degree of electrification (and, presumably, with studio enhancements courtesy of Eno), which creates a brilliant, full sound. The first three pieces, "The Dance, Nos. 1-3," are rhythmically charged and propulsive, with tinges of Irish hammered dulcimer music mixed with a dash of Arabic influence. The layered production gives them a hypnotically captivating quality and an echoing vastness, inducing a dreamlike state in which the listener happily bathes. The two parts of "Meditation" are arrhythmic, ethereal wanderings, still effective if less immediately riveting. Day of Radiance is considered an early new age masterpiece and, while it shares certain aspects with the genre (including a heady mystical aura), it has far more rigor, inventiveness, and sheer joy of playing than the great majority of its supposed descendents. It possesses a sense of timelessness that has enabled it to quite ably hold up over the years.
- Brian Olewnick, All Music
Paul Giger 'Chartres' (1989)
Recorded digitally at summer solstice 1988 inside the crypt and upper church of the cathedral of Chartres, France.
On the Chartres composition
"Paul Giger’s fascinating musical pilgrimage has been inspired by the secrets and the magic of the Cathedral of Chartres where his work was the outcome of an intensive dialogue. The famous gothic Cathedral of Chartres in France stands as a symbol of the “spiritual development” of the human being.
"Paul Giger’s fascinating musical pilgrimage has been inspired by the secrets and the magic of the Cathedral of Chartres where his work was the outcome of an intensive dialogue. The famous gothic Cathedral of Chartres in France stands as a symbol of the “spiritual development” of the human being.
In seven stages the composition describes the pilgrim’s path through the Cathedral: from the crypt through the labyrinth and the crossing into the sanctum sanctorum.This physical path, trodden by the faithful for centuries, symbolises the inner, spiritual transition from the earthbound individual to fulfilled spirituality. The musical material emerges from a diversity of traditions ranging from classical to jazz, from European to Asian sounds. Improvised passages alternate with composed passages. Virtuosity contrasted with the meditative immersion into the “key note” of the sanctuary."
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Penguin Cafe Orchestra 'Penguin Cafe Orchestra' (1981)
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" 'Penguin Cafe Orchestra' was the second album by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and was recorded at the Penguin Cafe between 1977 and 1980.
By this time the line-up for the band had expanded greatly, with contribution including Simon Jeffes, Helen Leibmann, Steve Nye, Gavyn Wright of the original quartet, as well as Geoff Richardson, Peter Veitch, Braco, Giles Leamna, Julio Segovia and Neil Rennie. All pieces were composed by Simon Jeffes except for "Paul's Dance" (Jeffes and Nye), "Cutting Branches" (traditional), and "Walk Don't Run" (by J. Smith).
This release is widely considered as the critical best produced by the Orchestra, its whimsy and eclecticism making it inherently more approachable than the previous, more serious-minded initial album.
The cover painting is by Emily Young."
—Wikipedia
6.11.10
優人神鼓, 與你共舞 / U Theatre, Dance with You (2006)
最安靜的劇團 最堅定的步履 最撼動的聲音 以鼓、以舞、以詩樂 帶您踏上最壯闊的生命之旅
繼《聽海之心》、《金剛心》、《禪武不二》 劉若瑀與黃誌群，聯手共創謳歌生命歷程的樂舞篇章 "與你共舞"是黃誌群四次進出佛陀故鄉，在恆河畔與托缽僧、吹笛人、少年乞兒、盲眼彈琴老人相遇的心靈之旅。
未受正統音樂師承的優劇團音樂總監黃誌群，突破鼓曲的侷限，以擊鼓為基礎，加入鋼琴、大提琴、笛…等中西樂器，透過多年禪修的純靜，心中旋律自然轉化，從鼓聲的震撼中，突顯寧靜。獨特的作曲風格，融入中亞古老的神聖舞蹈素材，更將優人神鼓在暴風中的寧靜力量，清楚的表現。 從擊鼓、琴音到梵唱，優人神鼓一路走來，以心擊鼓、以心練武、以心與你共舞
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5.11.10
Eleven Centuries Of Traditional Chinese Music (1994)
Eleven Centuries of Traditional Music of China collects ancient Chinese compositions like "Water & Clouds Over the Rivers Hsiao & Hsiang, "Wild Geese Descend on Level Sands," and "Water Lily." While not a definitive collection, it may be worthwhile for listeners just beginning to explore traditional Chinese music. - Heather Phares, All Music Guide
30.10.10
The Roots of Gamelan - Bali. 1928 (1999)
Recordings found in a private collection stemming from a failed attempt at creating an indigenous market for gamelan music in 1928. The record series from which these recordings came failed miserably, but the performances themselves are quite well-done, and among other things provided inspiration for composer Colin McPhee (whose work is presented at the end of the album). The album starts out with a good deal of the gong kebyar form, with the piece "Kebyar Ding" broken into six movements (for recording onto the old 78s), followed by a pair of short, stand-alone works in the kebyar style. From there, it moves into a few pieces in the pelegongan form, telling a bit of the Calonarang epic, and adding in a pair of original compositions by I Wayan Lotring. A short stop in Northwest Bali for a pair of gong kebyar numbers leads the way to a gender wayan composition (for use with the wayang kulit shadow plays). A short composition in the jangger style is followed by a pair of gamelan angklung works, leading the way to the finale of the album. For the final number of tracks, Colin McPhee himself (along with Benjamin Britten) performs piano transcriptions of the music he was unable to record aurally while staying in Bali. It's a thoroughly detached version of gamelan, free of the ringing intonation that so much defines the genre. Nonetheless, it's an interesting attempt at converting the sounds into those of the piano. Flutist Georges Berrère provides accompaniment as well on a few tracks. It's an interesting mix of the old forms of gamelan and the earliest attempts at Western instrumentation using Balinese music as inspiration. The gamelan represented here is itself enough of a reason to give the album a listen or two, and the piano versions are simply additional treats for the curious armchair music historian.
- Adam Greenberg, All Music
26.10.10
Paul Giger, 'Ignis' (2000)
2. Karma Shadub
3. Tropus A
4. lleluja
5. O Ignis
(Recorded June 1998)
"Paul Giger, born in Switzerland in 1952, has not been content to remain in the competitive yet artistically safe world that most classical violinists inhabit. Although he has been a leading member of traditional ensembles, he has made the greatest artistic impact as a musician who plays unusual material in uncharacteristic places with unexpected people. As a young man, he wandered through Asia; on an earlier ECM New Series CD (Chartres, ECM New Series 1386 837752-2), he wandered through a cathedral, playing as he went. [...]
"Paul Giger, born in Switzerland in 1952, has not been content to remain in the competitive yet artistically safe world that most classical violinists inhabit. Although he has been a leading member of traditional ensembles, he has made the greatest artistic impact as a musician who plays unusual material in uncharacteristic places with unexpected people. As a young man, he wandered through Asia; on an earlier ECM New Series CD (Chartres, ECM New Series 1386 837752-2), he wandered through a cathedral, playing as he went. [...]
This new CD was recorded in a church in the Estonian city of Tallinn. The project came about when Giger's growing interest in writing for the human voice was nurtured by ECM's Manfred Eicher, and also by the same Estonian choir recorded here. Impressed by Giger's solo performances in this church, members of the choir asked him to join them in a new project. The sessions came together in 1998, after correspondence between Giger and Kaljuste."
—Raymond Tuttle
Mamoru Fujieda, Patterns of Plants (1997)
Generating melodic material through the micro-changes of surface-electric potential on leaves, Mamoru Fujieda's second Tzadik release was composed completely based on data taken from plants. Combining alternative tuning systems (just intonation, Pythagorean) with traditional instruments of China and Japan (sho, koto and the ancient 25-stringed zither, the hitsu), Fujieda has again created a world of sound never before imagined possible. Delicate and subtle variations of tone and timbre give a whole new life to classical musical forms such as the passacagalia and strophic variations in this bizarre and fascinating mixture of European Medieval music, the traditions of Asia and modern science.
- Tzadik
25.10.10
Thierry De Mey, Pièces électroniques: scies, bonds, empreintes (2004)
Thierry De Mey is a composer and filmmaker. Much of his musical output is written for dance and film. For choreographers, he works as a composer and also a collaborator in the conception of "formal strategies." His main productions and works are Rosas danst Rosas (choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker); What the body does not remember and Les Porteuses de mauvaises nouvelles (choreographies by Wim Vandekeybus), Musique de table, Poses, Frisking pour percussions, and several ensemble pieces for Maximalist! And Ictus. He has been a guest at the Brussels University, the Montpellier Festival, Musica, IRCAM... Almost 10 years ago, Sub Rosa released his first opus: 'Undo' (SR39). A love of music, rigorous work ethics and a natural gift for disorderliness are what define him; he loves Jimi Hendrix and Paul Valéry, topology, he is also a specialist on mushrooms. Composer of both rhythmical and lyrical music, a supporter of the "back to feeling" movement, through his latest works he builds a bridge between contemporary music and the electronic scene.
Exploring the 5 Works- notes by Thierry De Mey.
1. Silver
The sound material consists of sampled percussion on unorthodox instruments: steel strings several meters long tightened over electric guitar pick-ups, bowed bronze rods, mirrors, tissue paper drums, etc.
2. Proximités
The Italian choreographer Manuela Rastaldi has developed a unique form of virtuosity: the dancers draw their quick movement sequences inches from each other, without ever making contact...
3. Elastique
Where, through a voluntary act of withdrawal, a form of Arte Povera in approaching composition, the piece uses only extremely restricted material produced on a lo-tech "instrument": a rubber band of a few meters long, stretched over two mikes... Explorations out of the usual paths, where the logical development of computer tools has led us inexorably.
4. Landscape 1,2,3,4
Long sonic drifts, so that the "window" of attention (aural or otherwise) can let go of its stubborn anchor points in favour of a meditative mode of perception: the sonic landscape unfolding almost without any intrusive intervention from the conscience. Some things you can think well about only on a train...
5. Water
For six percussionists (double set of cow bells, crotales resonating and oscillating on tympani, water drum, whips, ...), sampled percussion, cello and electronics. Ictus Ensemble: Georges Elie Octors, conductor.
24.10.10
Arvo Pärt, Da Pacem (2006)
"This stunning new collection of short pieces by Arvo Pärt covers a 30 year period of the composer's output. The listener will be both comfortable with and surprised by the changes he's made: his essential style/approach and the beauty of the music remain constant, but Pärt is no whispering new-age poster boy. Sometimes the sound just washes over the listener; more often the small complexities or intensities are the hooks by which we are captivated. "Da pacem Domine" is a prayer for peace. Its different tonal hues thrill as much as they soothe. There's much of Renaissance music in his work--under the layers of sound there is a solid, far more simple core. The Two Slavonic Psalms have a Russian feel unlike most of Pärt's other works, and the first is fleet and perky. The strange "Dopo la vittoria" tells the story of St Ambrose and St Augustine singing the Te Deum composed for his defeat over the Arians; the story part is presented in an odd, chatty manner, but the prayer itself is exclaimed with great dignity. The performances, by Paul Hillier, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, do Pärt's ethereal, still, but ever-moving music absolute justice, and the recorded sound is crystal clear." - Robert Levine
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Sachiko Kanenobu, 'Misora' (1972)
"[...] Originally released on Japanese independent label, URC, the album was produced by the legendary Harry Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Happy End. The songs themselves all sound like they've come from an American folk-rock background, with 'Leave It To Time' for example, sounding very Judee Sill complete with some vintage slide guitar bolstering its FM-friendly country rock aesthetic. The production here is surely a key to this album's enduring appeal, especially in the way the rhythm section is recorded: 'Blue Fish' achieves something close to that Harvest-era Jack Nitzsche sound that Jim O'Rourke (understandably) spends so much of his career chasing. Importantly though, producer, Hosono has found enough different ways of recording a stripped-down acoustic guitar and vocals combo to reinforce each song's individuality. Oddly, science fiction writer, Philip K. Dick was one of Kanenobu's biggest fans, not only encouraging her to restart her music career in the '80s but actually executive producing her 1981 comeback single, which was planned as a precursor to a full album with Dick at the helm, a plan eventually thwarted by the author's death the following year. Nevertheless, Kanenobu's long-delayed sophomore album was eventually released in 1992."
Willits + Sakamoto, Ocean Fire (2008)
Christopher Willits and Ryuichi Sakamoto's new release, "Ocean Fire", is a sublime soundtrack for the ocean. It is an intense and stirring wash of cascading tones and textured harmony. Willits + Sakamoto surprise with rare form in this collaboration, creating a sound world unlike anything they have produced previously. Each artist has gently pulled the other into new sonic territory. Sakamoto's gorgeous processed piano sound reflects beautiful shimmering clusters of notes, a new aspect of Willits' pioneering guitar/computer approach. Together, their sounds merge effortlessly, creating seamless swells of gigantic melodic waves.
"Ocean Fire" was recorded live at Sakamoto's studio in NYC. The improvisations found their final form through some further editing in the months to come, and final mastering by Clayx in Berlin. We hear the artists exploring their relationship to each other, new sounds, and the ocean's boundless force and importance. This release is dedicated to the healing and restoration of our fragile oceans.
Sakamoto is a living legend in music. His numerous releases in YMO, and his grammy award-willing solo work has inspired two generations of fans and artists. Christopher Willits is an incredibly multi-talented artist who has shown he can do just about anything. In the late-nineties Willits began integrating his guitar playing with unique custom digital processing, and has since become instrumental in redefining the guitar in the digital age. Overlapping all forms of music, sound, and visual art, Willits' work defies genre distinctions while retaining a presence unto it's own."
Adrian Klumpes, Be Still (2006)
"Australian Adrian Klumpes (moonlighting away from his day job in avant-jazz act Triosk) is probably well aware of all the jazz Stereotypes, but instead of using his solo project to show that he isn't afraid of rocking out, he's poked his head into another genre primed for ridicule - avant-classical. Yep Klumpes has taken his trusty piano and used it as the centre point for 'Be Still', but instead of simply leaving it alone as so many solo piano artists have (Gonzalez and Goldmund to name but two) he chops and distorts it to take what might have sounded like simple compositions into another realm entirely. Stuttering keys and clipped reverbs shimmer and sparkle making dense soundscapes, somewhere in-between the haunted work of Deaf Center and 12k's Kenneth Kirschner, who famously recorded 'Post Piano' with Taylor Deupree. Sadly Klumpes' experiments never quite reach the quality of that record, yet he throws enough ideas down into the ring to make 'Be Still' a worthwhile listening experience. The title track is actually the most successful, as Klumpes keeps his laptop glitches to a minimum, allowing high frequency hisses to gently drift over the gorgeous piano parts and introducing new parts subtly and with a cautious ease. As the album progresses, Klumpes experiments with textured ambience ('Why', 'Give In'), introduces incredibly well measured percussive elements ('Exhale') and ends on a glorious combination of styles with 'Passing Pain', which starts off with an almost Tim Hecker style processed granular wave before slowly introducing the piano which weaves 'Be Still' together. A mixed success, but Klumpes proves to have a distinct voice in the genre of modern electro-acoustic piano music, and when he gets it right you don't forget it easily."
- Boomkat
Terry Riley, The Book of Abbeyozzud (1999)
The Book of Abbeyozzud (say "ah-BYE-ah-ZOOD", a word invented by Riley, without meaning) is a planned series of 26 pieces for guitar, multiple guitars and guitar in ensemble. So far, thirteen pieces are completed. Riley writes "All of the pieces have Spanish titles and take a different letter of the alphabet to begin their names. They are also indebted to great Spanish music traditions and to those traditions upon which Spanish music owes its heritage."
23.10.10
Makigami Koichi, Moon Ether (2006)
1. кара дуруяа (Kara Duruya)
2. Lunar Mare 2:43
3. YAbaRA HoE 2:43
4. Moon Ether 4:44
5. Past The Adam's Apple 4:41
6. Sprouting Fingers 7:57
7. Snail Express 4:51
8. Zackly 4:22
9. Li Bai's Moon 6:52
10. Hazy Detail 4:28
11. кара дуруяа (Kara Duruya) 1:46
“Makigami Koichi is one of best voice performer in the world. "Moon Ether" is his improvisation of voice and theremin except 1 & 11 are Asian folksong. This works includes his marvelous Khoomii singing -double voice, humor, free theremin playing, a taste of impromptu talent, sound effect, etc... "Shadowlike, the theremin sings. The ether dances" -Makigami Koichi."
The Cave, Steve Reich (1995)
Tracklist
CD 1
1. Typing Music (Genesis XVI) 2:58
2. Who Is Abraham? 1:33
3. Genesis XII 2:18
4. Who Is Sarah? 3:06
5. Who Is Hagar? 2:37
6. Typing Music Repeat 1:13
7. Who Is Ishmael? 4:42
8. Genesis XVIII 2:32
9. Who Is Isaac? 4:57
10. Genesis XXI 2:36
11. The Casting Out of Ishmael and Hagar 5:25
12. Machpelah Commentary 3:27
13. Genesis XXV (chanted in Hebrew from the Torah by Ephraim Isaac) 1:20
14. Interior of the Cave 4:29
15. Surah 3 (chanted in Arabic from the Koran by Sheikh Dahoud Atalah, Muqri of Al-Aksa Mosque) 4:41
CD 2
1. Who Is Ibrahim? 4:26
2. Who Is Hajar? 3:54
3. The Near Sacrifice 5:05
4. El Khalil Commentary 5:18
5. Interior of the Cave 3:46
6. Who Is Abraham? 6:29
7. Who Is Sarah? 4:23
8. Who Is Hagar? 4:40
9. Who Is Ishmael? 4:04
10. The Binding of Isaac 4:28
11. The Cave of Machpelah 8:44
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