National Gallery of Art New Music Ensemble Program

February 17, 2010 — Mike

At the NGA on March 7th:

Mikka (1971) Iannis Xenakis 4:30
Seasons: Cycle I (2009-2010) Roger Reynolds 46:00
Mikka S (1976) Iannis Xenakis 4:30
Poème électronique (1958-2009) Edgard Varèse 8:00
One becomes Two (2007) Steve Antosca 11:00

Personnel
Roger Reynolds (Artist in Residence, UCDC, Calit2 Composer in Residence) – composer
Steve Antosca (VERGE ensemble, Artistic Director) – composer, computer musician
Lisa Cella (UMBC) – flute
Bill Kalinkos (Alarm Will Sound, New York) – bass clarinet
Ross Karre (red fish blue fish, Ensemble XII (Geneva), and UCSD) – percussionist, installation artist
Lina Bahn (UC/Boulder & VERGE ensemble) – violin
Alexis Descharmes (Ensemble Court-Circuit, the National Opera Orchestra, Paris) – violoncello
Jaime Oliver (Lima, Peru, and UCSD) – computer musician

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Music and More Reviews

February 17, 2010 — Mike

From Music and More:

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Ken Vandermark – Resonance, Discs One & Two (NotTwo, 2009)

Monday, February 15, 2010
Jason Adasiewicz’s Rolldown – Varmint (Cuneiform, 2009)

Sunday, February 14, 2010
Dave King – Indelicate (Sunnyside, 2010)

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Musique Machine Reviews

February 17, 2010 — Mike

From Musique Machine:

Fearthainne – Self Titled
This self titled album is Fearthainne debut album & it offers up two disc & over two hours worth of earthy, primal & emotional raw forest folk. The four piece project features two members of Ambient/ folk Black Metal project Fauna; & though Fearthainne are purely acoustic based project this does sometimes have the barren & angered spirit of black metal raising in it’s veins.

Blood Fountains – Floods
‘Floods’ is the last in a series of albums on the Utech label that are adorned with the dark, surreal artwork of Stephen Kasner, sleeve artist of choice for many of today’s so-called avant-metal musicians. But, unlike all other releases in the series (that includes work by Skullflower, Justin Broadrick and Runhild Gammelsæter) the sound here has also been recorded and mixed by the artist alongside a handful of select associates with the aim of translating paintings into musical concepts.

The Rita – The Voyage Of The Decima MAS
‘The Voyage Of The Decima MAS’ sees The Rita return to the Troniks/Pacrec label which released such landmark & genre classic Rita/HNW recordings as: ‘Thousands Of Dead Gods’ , ‘Bodies Bear Traces Of Carnal Violence’ & ‘Total Slitting Of Throats’- but this is far from simply another HNW record or a retread of The Rita’s past work.

Remlap & Werewolf Jerusalem – Collaboration
On offer here is 60 minutes worth of violent & at times darkly atmospheric HWN collaboration between Werewolf Jerusalem(Richard Ramirez‘s most know & prolific project) & Remlap(the harsh wall noise project of Canadian Jake Vida who also runs Pointless Blank records).

Gordon Grdinia’s East Van Strings – The Breathing of Statues
There’s been so much experimental, digital, post-this and post-that stuff entering my ears lately that a disc of music as it might be performed live (gasp) by real people (double gasp) is as refreshing as a hike in the country after years of city asphalt. Such music is far from dead, but I fear it’s been shoved so far into the margins that it has become as much of a niche as, oh, Merzbow.

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Axiom – Saariaho and Lindberg in New York

February 17, 2010 — Mike

From NYTimes.com:

On Monday night Axiom opened its final pairing of its current season with a concert devoted to works by the Finnish composers Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho. Both are among the world’s most widely recognized, renowned creators: Mr. Lindberg is serving as the composer in residence at the New York Philharmonic, and Ms. Saariaho last week added the Sonning Music Prize, Denmark’s highest musical honor, to her long list of accolades.

Connections between the two extend back more than three decades. Around 1980 they helped to establish the Ears Open Society to foster awareness and appreciation of modern music in Finland. Over the years they have shared some teachers, an interest in electronics and a flair for fashioning brilliantly inventive sounds. But the works in the first half of the concert showed that despite their commonalities, their musical styles diverge widely.

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John Zorn Is Just Getting Started

February 17, 2010 — Mike
Concert of "Masada": Joey Baron (dr)...
Image via Wikipedia

From the Village Voice:

Downtown jazz isn’t always played at a downtown venue, but every so often—as is the case when someone as synonymous with the scene as John Zorn orchestrates a confluence of underground luminaries—that geographically specific but harmonically nebulous term crystallizes around a night of sonic mayhem that defines and even alters it, right in the neighborhood where it was born.

And so, over two nights this week at the Abrons Art Center, Zorn—an indefatigable iconoclast who, after a three-decade career, has solidified a reputation as the bard of downtown jazz—will conduct a series of 10 bands, five per night, in a Masada marathon featuring such renegades as rhythmic innovator Cyro Baptista, genre-straddling keyboardist Uri Caine, new-wave klezmer clarinetist Ben Goldberg, and the phantasmagorical fervor of the Masada String Trio. “The downtown scene is in a healthier place than it has ever been . . . more musicians, more bands, more venues, a bigger audience,” Zorn notes in an e-mail message, taking a rare break from a recording project.

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