aworks :: "new" american classical music

lala's last 31 days :: day 0 /nothing can disappoint me/

We must be in the technological Ides of April. Yesterday, I was speculating what I'd do with this blog if TypePad shuts down. Then today at work, my five-year-old laptop with faulty screen, broken USB and unusable wireless was replaced with a spiffy new model. Finally, in a disappointing but unsurprisinging development, Apple announced they are shutting down their recently streaming service acquisition (and Palo Alto-based) lala in a month. To the Cupertino-based company's credit, they won't completely trash the 500 or so web songs I purchased at ten cents a track:

Web songs. In appreciation of your support, you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple's iTunes Store.

Still, before I venture forth towards some kind of streaming subscription on some yet to be determined service, I figure I will have one final month of musical discovery on lala. So, here's today's notable lala tracks (sans playlist, since the ability to create them appears to be gone as of today):

• Lovely. Marghreta Cordero / Melody Sumner Carnahan. A surprisingly jaunty track on a new music collection from 1997. "It will be lovely. It will be true. It will be infinitely repeatable. And nothing can disturb me. Nothing can disappoint me." lala
• Samba De Sausalito. Santana. From the Welcome album, this is funky, jazzy, 70s electric piano-ish Santana. lala
• Friday the 13th. Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk. Giants swinging hard. lala
• You Have Been Disconnected. Brian Jonestown Massacre. Listening to this band's back catalog was greatly facilitated by lala. lala

 By the way, my third ever tweet on Twitter back in 2006 was bemoaning Apple's iTunes software...

In C (1964). Terry Riley /grand valley state/

GVSU via Wikipedia

Although I own more than a dozen versions of Terry Riley's In C, tonight I was glad to purchase a new version by Allendale, Michigan's finest musicians (aka Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble) recorded last year at Le Poisson Rouge. 

Ghostly International is the label. Via Sequenza21.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 204 :: 22 January 2010 :: IN C - REMIXED (netnewmusic.net)
• Chiara Quartet at (Le) Poisson Rouge (netnewmusic.net)
• MATA Featival Features Calder Quartet at Le Poisson Rouge (avantmusicnews.com)

aworks ordered list :: julia wolfe

works:

1. Believing
2. East Broadway
3. Stronghold
   

---

4. Girlfriend
5. Dark Full Ride
   
6. Four Marys
   
7. Dig Deep
8. LAD
9. My Lips from Speaking
10. Lick
11. Early That Summer
12. Tell Me Everything
13. On Seven-Star Shoes

recordings:

1. Renegade Heaven - Bang on a Can All-Stars (amazon lala emusic)
2. Go - Ear Unit (amazon)
3. The String Quartets - Ethel, Lark Quartet (amazon lala)
   
4. Dark Full Ride: Music in Multiples (amazon lala emusic)
   

   ---

5. The Art of the Toy Piano - Margaret Leng Tan (amazon lala)
   
6. The String Quartets - Cassatt String Quartet (amazon lala)
7. Never Sing Before Breakfast - Quintet of the Americas (amazon)
   
8. Hear This Now - Cantaloupe Records
9. Industry - Bang on a Can (amazon)

videos:

1. Dark Full Ride (youtube)

---

2. Lick (youtube youtube)
3. Tell Me Everything (youtube)

playlist:

julia wolfe ordered list

Believing (1997). Julia Wolfe /relentless/

From Paul Nelson's Julia Wolfe - A short analysis of style: 

The first word which quickly leaps to mind for all four works is relentless. Each work has a driving motoric force which pushes the listener through the composition, leaving one breathless and exhausted by the end (imagine how the performers must feel!).

Believing: Julia Wolfe - Bang ...

Downtown (1976). Steve Drews /via pandora/

I'm playing with Pandora this morning and its new integration with Facebook. More importantly, I'm streaming an old Mother Mallard track on my "music like John Cage" station. From a description of the album on the Mother Mallard website:

The music is a unique and extremely enjoyable blend of space electronics (ala Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze), minimal music (Terry Riley, Philip Glass), and contemporary classical & electronics (Gordon Mumma, John Cage).

All those ingredients being good, of course. Ok, to be precise, I can't remember who Klaus Schulze is exactly and I have a mixed reaction to the music of Gordon Mumma. 

Update via Wikipedia:

Klaus Schulze (born August 4, 1947) is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums (more than 140 CDs) lasting over four decades.

Update 2:

Composition date in the post title changed from 1876 to 1976. I didn't find a definitive date of the work but I"m safe in saying it wasn't composed in the 19th century.

I'm also finding the related tracks playing on John Cage radio are more "spacey" than I would attribute to the music of Cage himself. He had a rigor to his methods even if he was perpetually trying to rid his music of his own intentions.

The Well-Tuned Piano (1964-81). La Monte Young /on youtube/

Jen Weng Jen Wang points out YouTube has all of La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano, albeit in 30 separate chunks.

Update: Apologies for incorrectly spelling Ms. Wang's name. Her composer bio here; her well-designed music page here.

beyond aworks :: also five-star

Outta My Head - Wooden Shjips. From a new EP by the SF psychedic group. (YouTube)

Bowls - Caribou. I'm disappointed in the new Caribou album. It doesn't have the grand soundscapes of prior releases.

Hannibal - Caribou. I'm less disappointed than I first thought. Also, I like the sound of the bowls from the previous track even if I don't like the glimpse of harp (or electronic fascimiles of each). Finally, this track has saxophone-like sounds for at least part of the time. 

"Though a few more outbursts could’ve given Swim more punch, it stays afloat—austere, chilling and beautiful." 

 

04/17/10

Related articles by Zemanta

• Caribou: Swim (pastemagazine.com)
• Wide caribou buffer would kill logging: minister (cbc.ca)

Dreams Away (2004). Henry Flynt /ethnic music of my native region/

US Ancestry Map via Wikipedia

Of artists I've heard for the first time over the last year, I probably like the hillybilly-ish avant garde music of Henry Flynt the most. It's overly simple and yet authentically compelling. 

Dusted Reviews quotes Flynt: 

In his essayThe Meaning of My Avant-Garde Hillbilly and Blues Music, Flynt makes it clear: “My music is a sophisticated, personal extension of the ethnic music of my native region of the United States.”

And since this is "blog more than just about content" day, I'll announce my latest half-baked idea of blogging every five-star track I listen to that arguably fits the aworks artistic/geographic aesthetic, starting with this one.

Dreams Away - Henry Flynt & Th...

Four Piano Blues (1926-48). Aaron Copland

For the record, not everyone hates the music of Aaron Copland e.g. me.

04/17/10

Bemsha Swing (1952). Thelonious Monk/Denzil Best

lichtconlon’s posterous points to that version of Bemsha Swing by Cecil Taylor from the Sweet Sound of Jazz album. One of John Fordham's fifty great moments in jazz.

Bemusha Swing - Cecil Taylor, ...