aworks :: "new" american classical music

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...

Celestial Power (2001). Henry Flynt /not your father's koyaanisqatsi/

Andrew Sullivan is back from vacation and already taking a blogging mental health break, in this case, posting a video of the drive from SF to DC photographed in ten second increments:

I blinked and missed the Sierra Nevadas (although Nevada and Utah are certainly empty) and the entire Midwest goes by too fast to be recognizable.

The soundtrack is Michael Nyman but I turn off the volume and listen to Henry Flynt instead from his Graduation And Other New Country And Blues Music:

Celestial Power - Henry Flynt

For the record, when I was young and silly, I had a blast driving from California to Nova Scotia via Vancouver (and back through the USA via US-40/I-70/US-50).

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the daily dish: mental health break. youtube: cross country timelapse. aworks: philip glass - koyaanisqatsi