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

---

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.

aworks album log :: sept. 29, 2014 #motets #nixon #remixes

American Classical:

1. 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]
2. Robert Orth, Maria Kanyova, Etc./Marin Alsop: Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado Chorus - John Adams: Nixon in China, Act 1
   [Naxos]
3. 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:

1. 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]
2. Toumani Diabaté, Sidiki Diabaté - Toumani & Sidiki
   The U.S. tour has been cancelled. Disappointing. [World Circuit]
3. Ryley Walker - All Kinds of You
   Singer and finger-style guitarist in a debut album. [Tompkins Square]
4. 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]

aworks album log :: september 27, 2014 #guitar #notguitar #21stcentury

American classical:

1. 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]
2. 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]
3. Robert Orth, Maria Kanyova, \/Marin Alsop: Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado Chorus - Nixon in China, Act 1
   [Naxos]

Beyond:

1. Herva - What I Feel EP
   [Delsin Records]
2. 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]
3. 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]
4. 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:

1. Thom Yorke's new recording, purchaseable via BitTorrent
2. Thom Yorke's new recording is still old-style distribution (buys vs. plays) and probably won't contain a hit. Lefsetz Letter

aworks album log :: september 22, 2014 #islands #horizons

American classical:

1. 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]
   
2. Joseph Kubera - Book of Horizons
   Michael Byron's Book of Horizons may be a pianistic tour de force. [New World Records]
3. 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:

1. Toumani Diabaté, Sidiki Diabaté - Toumani & Sidiki
   Father and son musicians; we're going to see them at Stanford next week. [World Circuit]
2. Tinariwen - Remixed
   [Anti/Epitaph]
3. Keith Jarrett - Treasure Island I heard this in my teens but I don't remember the music. At all. [Impulse! Records]
4. 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]

rdio:

aworks album log :: september 21, 2014

American classical

1. Duane Pitre - Bridges
   [Important Records]
2. Duane Pitre - Origin
   [Root Strata]
3. Elodie Lauten - Inscapes from Exile
   This is surprisingly exotic music. [Felmay Records]
4. Duane Pitre and Cory Allen - The Seeker and the Healer
   [Students of Decay]
5. Duane Pitre - Feel Free
   [Important Records]
6. Scott Johnson - Rock/Paper/Scissors
   This is a recording that might have been better live with a richer, less compressed sound. [Point Music]

Beyond

1. Joni Mitchell - Blue
   I can't decide if her voice sounds dated or I never really liked it. [Reprise Records]

Links

1. Music curation is not the answer. hypebot

rdio

1. my duane pitre playlist

Related articles

DUANE PITRE - Bridges

DUANE PITRE - Feel Free

Audrey Chen / Duane Pitre at Roulette

aworks album log :: sept 20, 2014 #electric #abstract

American classical:

1. Elodie Lauten - Piano Soundtracks
   [4-Tay, Inc.]
2. Giacomo Fiore - iv: american electric guitars 
   Electric guitar pieces by Eve Beglarian, Larry Polansky and others. [Gflp]
3. Robert Satterlee - Rzewski: Piano Music
   [Naxos]

Beyond:

1. 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]
2. Gazelle Twin - Anti Body 
   British art rocker. [Last Gang Records]
3. Laurel Halo - Metal Confection 
   [Hippos in Tanks]
4. Gazelle Twin - The Entire City 
   [Anti-Ghost Moon Ray Records]

Links:

• The paradox of Charles Ives. The Times Literary Supplement
• The demise of iPods in return for Spotify playlists. c|net

aworks album log :: september 9, 2014

American classical:

1. 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:

1. Giuseppe Ielase - August
   [12k]

Links:

1. Music audio files may be dead but high-definition streaming is impressive. Lefsetz Letter