Marcus Creed, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart - America: Copland, Reich, Cage, Feldman, Bernstein, Barber Four Motets by Aaron Copland is a worthy work and new to me. [haenssler CLASSIC]
Robert Orth, Maria Kanyova, Etc./Marin Alsop: Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado Chorus - John Adams: Nixon in China, Act 1 [Naxos]
Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Milton Babbitt: All Set Also new to me, but not appealing as these things go. All Set almost sounds jazz-ish. Correspondences is more serious. [BMOP/sound]
Beyond:
Tinariwen - Remixed 2012 recording; I really only got it on the second listen - state-of-the-art production ideas and rocking good music.[Anti/Epitaph]
Toumani Diabaté, Sidiki Diabaté - Toumani & Sidiki The U.S. tour has been cancelled. Disappointing. [World Circuit]
Ryley Walker - All Kinds of You Singer and finger-style guitarist in a debut album. [Tompkins Square]
The Crusaders - The 2nd Crusade I listened to this album when I was a teenager and finally again. I'm not sure this was the Crusaders album I liked. Seems a little too mellow. [Blue Thumb Records]
Guitar in the 21st Century I like the concept and I like several of the works e.g. Sebastien Roux & Kim Myhr's SIX, Mike Vernusky's Nylah, and Duane Pitre's Music for Microtonal Guitars and Mallets. From 2009, this of course is little like traditional guitar, with Keith Rowe's Fragment from a Response to Cardew's Treatment and Jandek's The World Stops the most primitive, bordering on unpleasantly difficult. [Quiet Design Records]
Lincoln Trio - Notable Women: Trios by Today's Female Composers I happened to listen to this after watching Stephen Spielberg's Lincoln for the first time. Too soon to gauge my reaction to either. [Cédille]
Robert Orth, Maria Kanyova, \/Marin Alsop: Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado Chorus - Nixon in China, Act 1 [Naxos]
Beyond:
Herva - What I Feel EP [Delsin Records]
Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes Unexpected new release after not really being absent. Unfortunately, it's not as weird as the best Thom Yorke music. [W.A.S.T.E]
Aphex Twin - Syro Overly-hyped new release after a long absence. Neither intelligent nor danceable. Does have a beat and some whirring. I like the syntax in the song titles, though. [Warp Records]
Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV A really muddy version of My Bloody Valentine's Only Shallow, among other songs. [The End Records]
Links:
Thom Yorke's new recording, purchaseable via BitTorrent
Thom Yorke's new recording is still old-style distribution (buys vs. plays) and probably won't contain a hit. Lefsetz Letter
Marcus Creed, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart - America: Copland Reich Cage Feldman Bernstein Barber Fresh versions of Proverb and Rothko Chapel and some other works.[haenssler CLASSIC]
Joseph Kubera - Book of Horizons Michael Byron's Book of Horizons may be a pianistic tour de force. [New World Records]
Fifth House Ensemble - Excelsior I like other music from composers like Alex Shapiro, Caleb Burhans and Mason Bates, but on this album, not as much. Burhans' Excelsior seems like minimalism in slow motion, which is intriguing, and the electric guitar adds to the blend of the ensemble. Joshua Kosman has the little man clapping in his review; "a beguiling range of inventive post-minimalist music." [Çedille Records]
Beyond:
Toumani Diabaté, Sidiki Diabaté - Toumani & Sidiki Father and son musicians; we're going to see them at Stanford next week. [World Circuit]
Tinariwen - Remixed [Anti/Epitaph]
Keith Jarrett - Treasure Island I heard this in my teens but I don't remember the music. At all. [Impulse! Records]
David Gilmour - On an Island Pink Floyd guitarist in a solo album from 2006. Uninspiring shadow of a work. The band was overly dramatic and sometimes over-the-top but this is surprisingly tepid. [Columbia]
Giacomo Fiore - iv: american electric guitars Electric guitar pieces by Eve Beglarian, Larry Polansky and others. [Gflp]
Robert Satterlee - Rzewski: Piano Music [Naxos]
Beyond:
Autechre - Exai This isn't abstract music per se, but it seems more removed from reality than most. Although with song titles like "irlite (get 0)" and "Flep", that should be expected. [Warp Records]
The piece is modeled on the 24 hours of a day with its phases of activity, leisure, transport and rest. It was included in Chamber Music America's "Century List" (although I can't find the actual list online). Elodie Lauten
Robert Carl found the work New Age-ish but did say this: "The impressive trick of the piece is that every one of its four movements is based on some form of a low G pedal point, which either sounds as a drone or rhythmic ostinato." Fanfare
The work takes advantage of the percussive aspect of the piano and the "single tone" grounds the piece conceptually and emotionally. Tiny Mix Tapes
Elodie Lauten obituary after her death from cancer. New York Times
"She was an oddly quirky, ever-upbeat personality with a touch of Zen mysticism." Kyle Gann
Musicians' Accord, Colorado String Quartet - Henry Cowell: Mosaic 26 Simultaneous Mosaics sounds like you might expect. I wasn't aware that the Mode label was streaming on rdio. [Mode]
Beyond:
Giuseppe Ielase - August [12k]
Links:
Music audio files may be dead but high-definition streaming is impressive. Lefsetz Letter
Sabine Liebner - Morton Feldman: Triadic Memories 2+ hours. Long duration music is good but I probably need more of an explicit, consistent pulse. The 56 minute conclusion is more intense than the 77 minute beginning, if only briefly. [Oehms Classics]
Beyond
The Muhal Richard Abrams Orchestra - The Hearinga Suite A 1989 recording. [Black Saint]
Links
An app to be released that will allow virtual performances of Terry Riley's In C. Concertgebouwincapp.net
rdio throws a bunch of streaming approaches to what used to be a clean, well-designed UI for music discovery. engadgetwired
Philip Glass and Steve Reich on the same bill. BAM
Duane Pitre - Organized Pitches Occurring in Time [Important Records] The Ensemble Chord In C With A Major 7th And A Guitar Base is probably my favorite work, of all the music I listen to.
Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Lou Harrison: La Koro Sutro The Suite for Violin with American Gamelan is a calm, appealing work. I'm still not sure about La Koro Sutro, although I see it was also just played on Music from Other Minds.[BMOP/Sound]
Duane Pitre - Feel Free [Root Strata]
Duane Pitre - Origin [Root Strata]
Duane Pitre - Bridges [Important Records]
Bruce Brubaker, Nadia Sirota, Pekka Kuusisto, Nico Muhly - Drones & Piano An abstract interprepation of a drone. Muhly: "The idea is something not unlike singing along with one’s vacuum cleaner, or with the subtle but constant humming found in most dwelling-places." . [Bedroom Community]
Duane Pitre & Cory Allen - The Seeker and the Healer [Students of Decay]
Beyond:
rdio - Drone Station Cranking up the station to "Adventurous" from "Popular" pulls in Christian Marclay etc.
Mary Lee's Corvette - Blood on the Tracks Live recording of a track-for-track version of Bob Dylan's album. It's ok.[Lakeside Lounge Records]
Aphex Twin - minipop 67 [120.2][source field mix] I lost my taste for Aphex Twin after having my car totaled while listening to his music. This preview cut from the new album doesn't encourage me. [Warp Records]
Links:
Media coverage won't get people to listen to your music. Lefsetz Letter
Bang on a Can All-Stars - Julia Wolfe: Steel Hammer The first track has vocal music and what sounds like a hammer banging on a pipe.[Cantaloupe]
Beyond:
Peter Brötzmann / Sonny Sharrock - Whatthefuckdoyouwant Sharrock was an excellent free jazz guitarist; not sure what to make of Brötzmann on saxophone. The album is as abrasive as the title might suggest, but after warming up to it, I like it. [Trost Records]
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular 51 of the 316 people I follow on rdio have listened to this. Strangely enough, this was also playing tonight at Oren's Hummus Shop in Palo Alto. [Red Ink/Columbia]
Links
R. Andrew Lee hit his initial donation target for "Commissioning Music of Considerable Duration."
