aworks :: "new" american classical music

aworks list of ten :: experimental guitar on last.fm #guitarmath

Range and (standard) tuning of a guitar (Wikipedia)

Here's a list of 10 plays on the "experimental guitar" tag radio station via last.fm, roughly sorted in order of preference. The tag's description and then the list:

"Using the guitar to make unorthodox sounds not normally associated with the traditional guitar vocabulary."

1. Hash Jar Tempo. Untitled 5 - Well Oiled. Pelt is listed as a similar artist and they did a great version of John Fahey's Sunflower River Blues (YouTube). This song is a long way from American primitive acoustic guitar, though.
2. Mukra. Outro - Vergölst. This is edgy, yet almost ambient guitar. It also has the "math" tag but don't know what that consists of. Note also that composer Milton Babbitt doesn't have the "math" tag.
3. Zechs Marquise. The High Anxiety Arkestra - Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare. Neo-psychedelia? Weird sounds on top of a pulse. Unlike the artists of the first two tracks, Zechs Marquise has an album on rdio.
4. Syd Barrett. Late Night - The Madcap Laughs. Spacey song but 43 years later, it's trad-psychedlia.
5. Scissor Shock. your chemistry theories are a waste of f*ing time - The Mars Travolta. From that hotbed of avant-garde music, Columbus, Indiana. I  almost took a job there 32 years ago. Nice civic architecture, though.
6. Alice Donut - Magdalene. The Untidy Suicides of Your Degenerate Children. I'm not sure the guitar is particularly experimental. Nice drive to the song, though.
7. bygones. spray you with your own trip - by-. Guitar and drum hyper- and punkish-rock.
8. Raoul Björkenheim. I Told You So - I never meta guitar. This is the most unique guitar sound.
9. Pentagonic. Pure Skunk Joint. This sounds like it was recorded in a free-for-all session. From the artist page: "Emphasis on complicating matters of rhythm, melody and (dis)harmony, combining delirium with psychosis and spontaneity with higher-dimensional coherence."
10. Satanized. Perineal Wrath - Technical Virginity. A band from Philadelphia, they have also been tagged as "black metal" and "swedish." Mildly interesting guitar part.

aworks ordered list :: works of the week /town hall craziness edition/

Arnold Dreyblatt via last.fm

1. Nodal Excitation. Arnold Dreyblatt
2. A Room. John Cage. Bruce Brubaker
3. The Seasons. John Cage. Steffen Schleiermacher
4. Creep. Radiohead. Edmund Welles
5. Axial Symmetry. John Cage. Percussion Ensemble Mainz
6. North by Northwest. Bernard Herrmann
7. When Will the Blues Leave? Ornette Coleman
8. Nutty. Thelonious Monk
9. Ode. Beth Anderson
10. 6 Melodies Variation. Christian Wolff

Arnold Dreyblatt's interesting pulse and timbre is from The Sound of One String (although not available on lala)...I keep working through my John Cage tracks...The Ornette Coleman is from a crude early recording Complete Live from the Hillcrest Club; he plays with zest but hasn't yet broken free...I can listen to Monk improvise on any tune but Nutty is a favorite...Ode fascinatingly combines a recording of an auctioneer with electronic sounds.

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town hall and related: seth godin paul krugman firedoglake openleft openleft politicalanimal

aworks ordered list :: billboard classical chart /more or less/

Mormon organ via Wikipedia

Billboard now has a lala play button on their charts. Here are the blog-relevant albums, more or less, from their classical chart:

1. David Garrett. A mishmash of Vivaldi, Michael Jackson, Ain't No Sunshine etc. arranged for violin.
4. My American Dream. Neal E. Boyd. God Bless the USA, Sonny Boy etc. Not available on lala.
5. Escala. Live and Let Die, Kashmir (featuring Slash), Barber's Adagio etc. Apparently, some kind of photogenic string quartet with guitar and drums. The Escala website also has Fashion & Beauty, Film and Gossip sections.
10. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Hymns I mostly don't know.
17. Journey to the New World. Sharon Isbin. Finally, a recording I've heard and would recommend (lala)
18. 50 Classics for Relaxation. Legacy composers except for Edward MacDowell's To a Wild Rose
19. Yo-Yo Ma and Friends : Songs of Joy & Peace Christmas

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aworks ordered list :: top albums on lala

Image by haldean via Flickr

Based on site most listens:

1. Essential Yo Yo Ma
2. Koyaanisqatsi. Philip Glass
3. Strung Out on Alternative Hits - Volume 3. Vitamin String Quartet
4. Songs of Joy & Peace. Yo Yo Ma.
5. Appassionato. Yo Yo Ma.
6. The Music Of Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition. John Williams
7. Music for 18 Musicians. Steve Reich
8. Memoirs Of A Geisha. John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman
9. A Nonesuch Retrospective. Philip Glass
10. The Copland Collection. Aaron Copland

The usual suspects.

The Kronos Quartet's by Black Angels by George Crumb is #358 on the real list and their Monk recording is at #432. Phil Kline's John the Revelator is at #488.

aworks reverse ordered list :: american top 40, aworks edition

Alvin Lucier via last.fm

In honor of the retirement of Casey Casem, here's the aworks blog edition of American Top 40, for the preceding week of listening. It's been thirty years since I was a reliable AT40 listener so I mostly just remember the AM station where I first head the show, "long distance dedications" and of course the reverse countdown:

40. Infogee Rhapsody. Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd
39. Mysterious Traveler. Weather Report
38. A Remark You Made. Weather Report
37. Glasspiece #2 ('Facades'). Philip Glass
36. Ode. Beth Anderson
35. Ionisation. Edgard Varése. American Percussion Society
34. Tower of Power. Beth Anderson
33. A Room. John Cage. Anthony De Mare
32. String Quartet No. 8. Gloria Coates
31. Dedication. Thad Jones and Mel Lewis
30. Music in Twelve Parts. Philip Glass
29. Rothko Chapel. Morton Feldman
28. Scircura. Chas Smith
27. A Tribute to James Tenney. Alvin Lucier
26. In Memoriam Stuart Marshall. Alvin Lucier. Anthony Burr and Charles Curtis
25. Still And Moving Lines Of Silence In Families Of Hyperbolas. Alvin Lucier. Anthony Burr and Charles Curtis
24. Rosemary Swale. Beth Anderson. Rubio String Quartet
23. String Quartet No. 2 ("Company"). Philip Glass. Smith Quartet
22. In Memoriam John Higgins. Alvin Lucier
21. Violin Concerto Nr.1 'On the Nature of Love'. Robert Kyr.
20. Batter My Heart from Doctor Atomic. John Adams. bootleg recording from the SF premiere
19. The Screens. Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso
18. String Quartet No. 2 ("Company"). Philip Glass. Kronos Quartet
17. In Memoriam Stuart Marshall. Alvin Lucier
16. Survey of Brutality. Phog Masheen.
15. Printemps II. George Antheil. Ensemble Modern
14. Appalachia Waltz. Mark O'Connor. Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra
13. The Seasons. John Cage. Philipp Vandré
12. Teo!. Maryann Amacher
11. Jazz Study. John Cage. Philipp Vandré
10. Skies of America. Ornette Coleman. London Symphony Orchestra
9. Charles Curtis. Alvin Lucier. Anthony Burr and Charles Curtis
8. The Wire. Alvin Lucier
7. Nutty. Thelonious Monk
6. Crepescule With Nellie. Archie Shepp
5. Phantom Waltz. Meredith Monk. Double Edge
4. A Room. John Cage. Steffen Schleiermacher
3. Sutra for Winter. Steve Layton
2. A Room. John Cage. Philipp Vandré
1. John McLaughlin. Miles Davis

I think it is safe to say none of this music was ever played on the real American Top 40...

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aworks ordered list :: alvin lucier on lala

Image via Wikipedia

1. Ever Present
2. I Am Sitting in a Room
3. Music for Alpha Waves, Assorted Percussion, and Automated Coded Relays
4. Music For Cello With One Or More Amplified Vases
5. "On The Carpet Of Leaves Illuminated By The Moon"
6. Fan
7. Elegy for Albert Anastasia
8. Piper

Ever Present is more than just a simple tone. As the waves sweep up and down, the players sustain long tones across them creating beating patterns (DRAM)...I Am Sitting is a fifteen minute version...Music for Alpha Waves is more percussion than alpha waves...Music for Cello is from the fine album of Lucier's music by Anthony Burr and Charles Curtis (lala)...On the Carpet is for koto and the title comes from a complicated Italo Calvino novel (DRAM. Wikipedia)...Although also written for koto, Fan is reminiscent of Steve Reich's Pendulum Music (Wikipedia)...Elegy for Albert Anastaia is an early tape work and reminds me of the Finding Nemo ride at Disneyland...Piper is performed by a bagpiper walking around a space; not as painful sounding as you might imagine.

aworks ordered list :: interesting tracks on lala, before it's too late

Robert Ashley (via last.fm)

Warner Music just wrote off all their investment in imeem and half their investement in lala. Since the latest incantation of lala.com is the best thing for listening since the invention of the MP3 codec, I'll continue to enjoy it while I can:

1. California Dreamin'. Lionel Hampton
2. Oldies. Ellen Fullman
3. Blue Bird and Red Bird. Kui Dong
4. Within You Without You. Sonic Youth
5. In Memoriam Stuart Marshall (1993). Alvin Lucier.
   
6. You Have Been Disconnected. Brian Jones Massacre.
   
7. Ultra Vomit Craze. Black Dice.
8. Variations IV - From a Live Performance At The Feigen/Palmer Gallery In Los Angeles, August 1965: Excerpts 7pm To 8pm. John Cage, David Tudor. (via the astute mouse clicks of Alex V. Cook)
9. Hey Man Nice Shot. Vitamin String Quartet. (and the original by Filter)
   
10. The Wolfman. Robert Ashley

Ok, the Hampton is quite weird and enjoyable but I have no idea how much is his musical initiative (other than the vibe solo)...The works from the females (Fullman, Dong) are subdued but both may be my favorite composers right now...Within You is the Beatles starting to go mad...It's hard to pick my current fave Lucier track although if I crank up the volume on my computer speakers for this one, my mouse vibrates...I've listened more on lala to Brian Jones Massacre than anything else. Athough this could indicate a personal problem, the particular track above is from their Bravery Repetition & Noise album and I'm considering that title as the new aworks tagline...Other than arguably New Humans (MP3s here), Black Dice are probably the most "out there" "rock-ish" music I listen to...The Cage/Tudor track is the usual Schubert/wife/pipe and drum etc. radio remix...At least on lala, people hear more "classical music" via the Vitamin String Quartet playing pop and rock covers than by the traditional artists and repertoire that we all know and love (more or less)...Finally, and as always, I don't know what to make of Robert Ashley...

The above on lala:

interesting tracks on lala, be...

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aworks ordered list :: wizards & wildmusic

Alvin Lucier (via last.fm)

Exporting my MP3 track data from most of the decade, I come up with the following top albums based on average rated track:

1. String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 and 6. Gloria Coates. Kreutzer Quartet.
2. Philip Glass - The String Quartets. The Smith Quartet.
3. Four Pieces. Carl Stone.
4. White Man Sleeps. Kevin Volans.
5. [Purgatorio] Popopera. Michael Gordon.
6. Ornette On Tenor. Ornette Coleman.
7. Lou Harrison-Serenado. David Tanenbaum.
8. The Screens. Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso.
9. Alvin Lucier. Anthony Burr and Charles Curtis.
10. Volume 1. Wooden Shjips.

And by most tracks played:

1. Wizards & Wildmen - Piano Music by Ives, Cowell, Harrison. Anthony De Mare.
2. Geogaddi. Boards of Canada.
3. Hail To The Thief. Radiohead.
4. A Portrait of Charles Ives. Ensemble Modern, Metzmacher, Ingo
5. Songs Of Charles Ives & Ernst Bacon. Helen Boatwright.
6. Amnesiac. Radiohead.
7. Alan Hovhaness - Zhou Long - String Quartets. The Shanghai Quartet.
8. Music Has The Right To Children. Boards of Canada.
9. Twoism. Boards of Canada.
10. Virgil Thomson / Tede, Frohnmayer,Skelton, et al.

I may like contemporary string quartets more than I realized, there's less jazz than expected, and I'm rather tired of Boards of Canada. Not wild enough, I suppose...

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aworks ordered meme :: albums from the past

Cover of Hoodoo Man Blues

Via Iron Tongue of Midnight:

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it.

In rough order of listening:

1. More of the Monkees. The Monkees.
2. Symphony No. 5. Leonard Bernstein. New York Philharmonic. (Beethoven).
3. White Album. Beatles.
4. We're an American Band. Grand Funk Railroad.
5. Born to Run. Bruce Springsteen.
6. Mysterious Traveller. Weather Report.
7. Bitches Brew. Miles Davis.
8. Interstellar Space. John Coltrane.
9. Hoodoo Man Blues. Junior Wells. or Hard Again. Muddy Waters.
10. Reich: Variations; Adams: Shaker Loops. Edo De Waart. San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
11. Early Works. Steve Reich. or Chamber Music. Wilhelm Killmayer.
12. Einstein on the Beach. Philip Glass. or The Well-Tuned Piano. La Monte Young.
13. Amnesiac. Radiohead.
14. In a Landscape. Stephen Drury. or Daughters of the Lonesome Isle. Margaret Leng Tan. 
15. Ives: Symphonies no 1 & 2. Neeme Järvi. Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Let's see. Pop, Deutsche Gramophone, rock, jazz (followed by adulthood), a side-trip into Chicago blues,  minimalism/contemporary classical, Radiohead and finally Cage/Ives. Yes, that's a reasonable overview of my musical journey...

aworks ordered cloud :: most played last.fm tags

Here's a cloud representing the tags of the music I've played via last.fm (plus scrobbles of home MP3s and lala tracks, the latter a new beta feature. Cloud tool by Anthony Liekens). Less jazz than I would have expected.