aworks :: "new" american classical music

aworks album log :: no. 11 #phases #places #idiom

American classical:

1. Stefan Grasse - Guitar Phases [Gallileo Music Communication]
   Excellent recording of music by Steve Reich and others.
2. Sarah Cahill - Mamoru Fujieda: Patterns of Plants  [Pinna Records]
   Joshua Kosman: "winsome but also a little wan." Sounds to me like Terry Riley in slow motion. This is a gargantuan amount of minimalism.
3. Lois Svard - Other Places [Lovely Music]
   Works by Elodie Lauten, Jerry Hunt, and Kyle Gann. 
4. Various - Sean Hicky: Cursive, piano and chamber works [Delos]

Beyond:

1. Zammuto - Idiom Wind [Make Mine]
   Weirdly creative music from a member of The Books. This is an EP that duplicates three of the tracks from Zammuto.
2. Zammuto - Anchor [Temporary Residence Ltd.]

3. Katie Gately - Katie Gately [Public Information] 

   
   Vocal sounds, if not songs.
4. Ashley Paul - D.O.L [REL Records]
   Esoteric sounds, that may or may not be vocals.
5. Herva - Instant Broadcast [Delsin Records]
6. Zammuto - Zammuto [Temporary Residence Ltd.] 
   A full album of 11 tracks, almost too much new to easily comprehend.

Links:

Related articles

SF Symphony review: America and Europe back-to-back

Maxing Out on Minimalism in Kansas City

Variations on the Orange Cycle (1991). Elodie Lauten #links

aworks album log no. 10

American classical

1. John Schneider - Por Gitaro: Suites for Tuned Guitars
   How come I only discovered this album of Lou Harrison guitar music fourteen six years after it was released? [Mode]
2. Brooklyn Rider - The Brooklyn Rider Almanac
   [Mercury Classics]
3. Meredith Monk - Key
   [Lovely Music]
4. Cypress String Quartet - How She Danced: String Quartets of Elena Ruehr
   [Cypress String Quartet]
5. Joan Jeanrenaud & PC Muñoz - Pop-Pop 
   Former cellist of the Kronos Quaret paired with a multi-disciplinary artist. I list this under "American classical" but it doesn't particularly sound like "American classical," and I'm normally open and permissive about that category. Released in 2010. [Deconet Records]
6. Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Elena Ruehr: O'Keeffe Images
   Liner notes of this new release (PDF) [BMOP/sound]

Beyond

1. Carsick Cars - 3
   Chinese and Chinese-American classical music are so-so. Love this Chinese indie band, though. [Maybe Mars Music]
2. Issa Bagayogo - Mali Koura
   [Six Degrees Travel Series]
3. Herva - What I Feel EP
   [Delsin Records]
4. Richard Craig - inward
   Flute recording with works by Brian Ferneyhough, Salvatore Sciarrino, Richard Barrett and others. Esoteric rather than melodic, but ranges from pleasant to intense, in an abstract way. From the Scottish musician's website: "Regardless of the result of the referendum, we all want a fairer society and need artists to provoke and sustain the debate now more than ever."  [Metier]

Links

1. There's new Steve Reich album - Radio Rewrite - although it's not on rdio.
2. Alex Ross describes how Beethoven overshadows contemporary composers ever after and then goes in depth on various Beethoven biographies. "The canon is a grand illusion generated by the erasure of a less desirable past."
3. U2 downloads don't matter; it's the (perpetual) streaming. Lefsetz Letter

aworks album log :: oct. 12, 2014 #carsick #book #rider

1. Carsick Cars - 3
   Upbeat Chinese rock with crisp guitars and drums. [Maybe Mars Music]
2. Joseph Kubera - Books of Horizons
   Especially like Michael Byron's Book of Horizons. [New World Records]
3. Meredith Monk - Key
   [Lovely Music]
4. Brooklyn Rider - The Brooklyn Rider Almanac
   [Mercury Classics]
5. Herva - What I Feel EP
   [Delsin Records]
6. Issa Bagayogo - Mali Koura
   Recommended by last.fm as being similar to Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté and Tinariwen. This is more percussion and piano than the expected guitar. [Six Degrees Travel Series]Date Palms - Of Psalms
   Recommended by last.fm as being similiar to Duane Pitre and Glenn Jones. This appears to be an Oakland band with a varied sound, and in fact it does overlap with the aforementioned artists, sort of. "They employ traditional rock instrumentation to create music informed by Indian classical music, country, minimalism, and spiritual jazz" Thrill Jockey [Root Strata]
7. District of Noise Vol. 7 
   Seventh in a series; less noise and more experimental. Chuluun in Darvi, Mongolia #51 by Guillermo Pizarro was disconcerting although I did like tracks by Amptext, Safe Creations, BLK TAG, Daniel Barbaro, and Tag Cloud. "Sonic Circuits seeks to expose audiences to cutting edge contemporary music that defies genres, and offer artists new platforms to present their music and opportunities to network and collaborate with artists from around the world." [Sonic Circuits]
8. Nate Wooley - Seven Storey Mountain III, IV
   [Pleasure of the Text Records]
9. Cage / Hiller - HPSCHD
   In result if not intent, is this John Cage's Metal Machine Music? [Electronic Music Foundation]
10. Larry Austin - CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. 28: The Composer In The Computer Age VII
    [Centaur Records]

aworks album log :: oct. 4 #feldman #brooklyn #monk #theotherchrishughes

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1. University of California Berkeley Chamber Chorus, California EAR Unit - Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel / Why Patterns?
   The canonical Morton Feldman album. [New Albion]
2. Brooklyn Rider - The Brooklyn Rider Almanac 
   A kickstarter-funded project. Works by Vijay Iyer, Glenn Kotche, Bill Frisell and others and inspired by Keith Haring, William Faulkner, James Brown, Chick Corea and others. [Mercury Classics]
3. Meredith Monk - Key
   From 1995. I like the songs with minimalist accompaniment. The Vision tracks are just too weird, though.[Lovely Music]
4. Nate Wooley - Seven Storey Mountain 
   Two tracks of 40 and 50 minutes with crazy improvisation. For some reason, I hated the first and liked the second. I also like the name of the record label. [Pleasure of the Text Records]
5. Chris Hughes - Doxy
   Turns out this is not the Chris Hughes who did that Steve Reich remix-like album in the 90s. [Fontana] 
6. Turing Machine - What Is the Meaning of What.  
   The drummer died falling down a Brooklyn elevator shaft five years ago. [Temporary Residence Ltd.]
7. Sonic Youth - Sister
   From 1987. [Squeaky Squawk]
8. The Crusaders - At Their Best
   Pianist Joe Sample died this month. [BUDGET (MT)]
9. Jazz at the Movies Band - White Heat: Film Noir Double Indemnity etc. [Rhino Atlantic]
10. Daniel Johnston - Live at SWXW
    Poorly recorded singer-songwriter. How did this end up in my listening queue? rdio suggests this is a similar albums by Liz Phair and Beck. I guess. [Eternal Yip Eye Music]

Update: It's now October, not September.