Category: Video
Þráinn Hjálmarsson on Carrier Records (CD Review)
Þráinn Hjálmarsson
Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone
Caput Ensemble, Krista Thora Haraldsdottir, Icelandic Flute Ensemble, Ensemble Adapter, Nordic Affect
Carrier Records
Composer Þráinn Hjálmarsson’s latest CD, Influence of Buildings on Musical Tone, revels in the exploratory sound world of effects and extended techniques. That said, his work is more than an assemblage of alternative ways to treat instruments. Rather, the technical extensions serve to expand Hjálmarsson’s considerable palette of expression.
The five different pieces on Influence of Buildings each employ a different ensemble. The title work features the Caput Ensemble, while “Grisaille” is performed by the Icelandic Flute Ensemble. Both pieces deal with an upper register melodic line that is slowly bent and distressed until it is entirely transformed.
Kristin Thora Haraldsdottir plays the solo viola work Persona, adopting a penetrating tone and easily reaching stratospheric harmonics and digging in to sections with varying bow pressure. A flair for the dramatic allows this piece to move from pensive to more animated gestures in a captivating meditation. Mise en scéne plays up the percussive capacities of Ensemble Adapter, eventually deploying sustained upper register flute lines against the percussive attacks of harp and percussion and breathy exhalations and plosive pops from bass clarinet. The piece develops into a more harmonic terrain, with shades of spectra creating beguiling verticals.
The album’s closer is the string trio Lucid/Opaque, performed by members of Nordic Affect. The strings repeat pitch patterns that, while not necessarily tonal in orientation, encompass individual partials of a harmonic series. The overall effect is enhanced by a reverberant space, lending a naturally ambient character to the proceedings, even more so the case because of the number of repetitions of the opening gesture. Gradually, the opening shape is altered, with splashes of string noise and edgy bowing, changes in rhythm, and the overall duration of phrase overlaps developing the character of the main line over time. The material becomes even more forceful as octave displacements, notably a low cello line and repeating altissimo violin notes, are added. Here, and elsewhere, Hjálmarsson’s Influence of Buildings on Music Tone demonstrates a judicious approach to the selection of material that is then most imaginatively deployed and developed. Recommended.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “Hanoi 6” (Video)
During recording sessions in Hanoi for Sex and Food, their last LP, Unknown Mortal Orchestra also worked with local musicians to create IC-01 Hanoi, a set of instrumental tracks. This collection, emphasizing jazz and Krautrock stylistic signatures, will be released October 28, 2018 on the Jagjaguwar label. Check out a teaser video for album track “Hanoi 6” below.
Low – “Rome (Always in the Dark)” (Video)
This week, Low released a video for “Rome, Always in the Dark,” one of the tracks off of their new Sub Pop recording Double Negative (released yesterday).
On Double Negative, Low, probably best known for its work as one of the premier slowcore bands, moves their music closer to an aesthetic involving deconstruction and electroacoustic elements. One saw glimmers of this approach on their previous album, Ones and Sixes (2015), but now the band approaches distressing and reconstituting recorded material, including warped cassette tapes, full on and with aplomb. It is a fascinating new layer that complements, rather than replaces, the duet vocals of group founders Alan and Mimi Sparhawk and the group as a whole’s knack for finding fetching melodies and fashioning memorable instrumental arrangements. Double Negative is one of the freshest-sound and best executed recordings to see release this Fall. For a band in its third decade together, this vitality is all the more remarkable.
The band is touring in support of Double Negative (see dates below)
2018 Tour Dates
Sep. 19 – New York, NY – National Sawdust
Sep. 20 – New York, NY – National Sawdust
Sep. 21 – New York, NY – National Sawdust
Sep. 29 – Lisbon, PT – Lisboa ao Vivo
Oct. 01 – De Compostela Santiago, ES – Sala Capitol
Oct. 02 – Madrid, ES – Sala But
Oct. 03 – Barcelona, ES – Fabra i Coats
Oct. 05 – Milan, IT – Teatro Dal Verme
Oct. 06 – Zurich, CH – Bogen F
Oct. 08 – Leipzig, DE – UT Connewitz
Oct. 09 – Berlin, DE – Festsaal Kreuzberg
Oct. 10- Bochum, DE – Christuskirche Bochum
Oct. 11 – Brussels, BE – Orangerie (at Botanique)
Oct. 12 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Oct. 13 – Paris, FR – La Gaîté Lyrique
Oct. 15 – Bristol, UK – Trinity
Oct. 16 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Cathedral
Oct. 17 – Dublin, IE – Vicar Street
Nov. 02 – St. Paul, MN – The Fitz
Nov. 05 – Detroit, MI – El Club
Nov. 06 – Toronto, ON – Great Hall
Nov. 08 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rosa
Nov. 09 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
Nov. 12 – Washington, DC U Street Music Hall
Nov. 13 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Funhouse
Nov. 14 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
Nov. 15 – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme
Nov. 16 – Chicago, IL – Rockefeller Chapel
Nov. 17 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
2019 Tour Dates
Jan. 29 – Glasgow, UK – Tramway
Jan. 30 – Birmingham, UK – Birmingham Town Hall
Jan. 31 – Brighton, UK – St. George’s Church Brighton
Feb. 01 – London, UK – Barbican
Feb. 02 – Kortrijk, BE – De Kreun
Feb. 04 – Groningen, NL – Vera
Feb. 05 – Erlangen, DE – E-Werk (Erlangen)
Feb. 06 – Cologne, DE – Kulturkirche Köln
Feb. 07 – Frankfurt, DE – Sankt Peter
Feb. 08 – Hamburg, DE – Uebel & Gefährlich
Feb. 09 – Aarhus, DK – Voxhall
Feb. 11 – København, DK – The Koncerthuset – Studie 2
Feb. 12 – Gothenburg, SE – Pustervik
Feb. 13 – Oslo – Norway – Parkteatret
Feb. 14 – Stockholm, SE – Kagelbanan (Small Room)
Mar. 08 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
Mar. 09 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf
Mar. 11 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
Mar. 12 – Tustin, CA – Marty’s On Newport
Mar. 13 – Tijuana, MX – Moustache
Mar. 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
Mar. 16 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Mar. 18 – Portland, OR – Star Theater
Mar. 19 – Vancouver, BC – Imperial
Mar. 20 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
Mar. 23 – Provo, UT – Velour Live Music Gallery
loadbang Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Concerts, New Focus Recording
CC: Cheering for the home team in this post (I collaborated with loadbang back in 2011 on a microtonal setting of “Prayer,” a poem by Joannie Mackowski).
Photo: Anthony Collins
Ten years ago, the members of loadbang met in the Contemporary Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music. A mixed chamber ensemble, consisting of Jeffrey Gavett, baritone, Andrew Kozar, trumpet, William Lang, trombone, and Carlos Cordeiro, bass clarinet, they have since commissioned, composed, and arranged a number of works for their hybrid grouping. They specialize in extended techniques, microtonality, and unconventional notation systems. In short, they are some of the most daring performers at the vanguard of contemporary music.
As in past years, loadbang held a Commission Competition in 2018, awarding First Prize to Cristina Lord:
Oren Boneh and Yoshiaki Onishi were runners-up.
Earlier this year, loadbang released its latest recording, Old Fires Catch Old Buildings on New Focus.
It features compositions by two of the group’s members – Gavett and Lang – as well as pieces by Paula Matthusen, Reiko Fueting, Taylor Brook, Scott Wollschleger, and Angélica Negrón. Old Fires brings together some of the aforementioned special techniques with new demeanors: the jocularity of Brook’s piece, references to Sciarrino in Lang’s, and the spectral-based and breath-focused work of Fueting.
Below you can find a video of the title track from the latest CD, as well as listings for the ensemble’s coming season. Happy anniversary loadbang!
loadbang: Upcoming Events
September 18, 2018: Susquehanna University (Selinsgrove, PA)
loadbang will be performing music by Mark Applebaum, Evan Johnson, Andy Kozar, William Lang, Paula Matthusen, Angélica Negrón, and Heather Stebbins.
September 23, 2018: Longy School of Music (Boston, MA)
loadbang will be performing a faculty recital featuring music by Mark Applebaum, Evan Johnson, Nils Vigeland, Heather Stebbins, Julia Werntz and ZongYun WE.
2pm
October 11, 2018: loadbang Presents: Premieres Vol. 10 at location TBD (NYC)
loadbang will be giving world premieres of works by Daniel Bayou, Anne Hege, Eli Greenhoe, Lisa Atkinson, and Sonja Mutic. 7:30pm
October 17, 2018: Pendulum New Music at University of Colorado, Boulder (Boulder, CO)
loadbang will be performing a recital of works by Mark Applebaum, Eve Beglarian, Taylor Brook, Anne Here, Paula Matthusen, and Sonja Mutic.
October 21, 2018: Chatter New Music Series (Albuquerque, NM)
loadbang will be premiereing two pieces for loadbang and strings by Eve Beglarian and Scott Wollschleger in addition to works by Lisa Atkinson, Eli Greenhoe and Eric Richards.
10am
November 6, 2018: Out of the Box Series at the University of the Arts (Philadelphia, PA)
loadbang will be performing music by Quinn Collins, Paula Matthusen, Angélica Negrón, Paula Matthusen and Paul Schuette.
November 14, 2018: Concert in the Crypt at the Church of the Intercession (New York, NY)
loadbang will be performing music in this remarkable space by composers including Eve Beglarian, Jeffrey Gavett, Evan Johnson, William Lang, Hannah Lash, Paula Matthusen and a NY premiere of a new work for loadbang by Christian Wolff.
7:30pm
November 20, 2018: loadbang Presents: Solos at Arete (Brooklyn, NY) Featuring loadbang’s trumpeter, Andy Kozar. Repertoire TBA
7pm
December 4, 2018: loadbang at 10: Concert #1 The Music That Defines at Roulette (Brooklyn, NY)
loadbang will be performing works that have been cornerstones of the repertoire. Music by Charles Wuorinen, Reiko Füting, Eve Beglarian, Andy Akiho, Hannah Lash, and Alexndre Lusqui. 8:00pm
December 5, 2018: loadbang at 10: Concert #2 loadbang plays loadbang at The Crypt at the Church of the Intercession (NYC)
The members of loadbang have been writing for the ensemble since its inception. This concert will feature works by Carlos Cordeiro, Jeffrey Gavett, Andy Kozar and William Lang.
7:30pm
December 6, 2018: loadbang at 10: Concert #3 Commission Competition Winners at The DiMenna Center’s Cary Hall (NYC)
For many years, loadbang has been holding a yearly Commission Competition. This concert will feature the past winners, Gary Philo, Evan Johnson, David Franzson, Chris FisherLochhead and Ioannis Angelakis
7:30pm
February 11, 2019: CPP @ MSM 10th Anniversary Alumni Showcase at Manhattan School of Music’s Ades Space (NYC)
loadbang formed 10 years ago as students at MSM’s Contemporary Performance Program (CPP). This concert, as a celebration of the program’s 10th year, will feature alumni ensembles including loadbang, MIVOS, Rhythm Method, and TAK.
7:30pm
February 16, 2019: Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) February 17, 2019: Brandeis University (Waltham, MA)
Premiering works of student composers.
March 7, 2019: loadbang Presents: Premieres Vol. 11 at Opera America (NYC)
loadbang will be giving world premieres of works by Chaya Czernowin, Vincente Atria, Andrew Harlan and a NY premiere by Andrew List. 7:30pm
March 19, 2019: loadbang Presents: Solos at Arete (Brooklyn, NY) Featuring loadbang’s vocalist, Jeffrey Gavett. Repertoire TBA
7pm
April 13, 2019: American Opera Projects and Chatter present Hannah Lash’s ‘Stoned Prince’ at SITE Santa Fe (Santa Fe, NM) loadbang will be performing an expanded version of Hannah Lash’s monodrama, Stoned Prince
April 14, 2019: American Opera Projects and Chatter present Hannah Lash’s ‘Stoned Prince’ at Las Puertas (Albuquerque, NM) loadbang will be performing an expanded version of Hannah Lash’s monodrama, Stoned Prince
April 18, 2019: loadbang Presents: Premieres Vol. 12 at Opera America (NYC)
loadbang will be giving world premieres of works by George Lewis, Claus SteffenMankopf, Alex Temple and loadbang’s Carlos Cordeiro and Jeffrey Gavett.
7:30pm
Rimarimba – Egg Foo Young (Video)
This Fall, Freedom to Spend is presenting their first catalog deep survey of an artist’s work. The Rimarimba Collection consists of four albums from UK-based Robert Cox’s Rimarimba project: 1983’s Below The Horizon, 1984’s On Dry Land, 1985’s In The Woods, and finally, the “once-imagined, now-realized assembly” of 1988’s Light Metabolism Number Prague.
Cox is still active as a musician, but these documents attest to the specialness of his works in the eighties, when he eschewed falling into the genre trap of identifying too closely to minimalists, ambient artists, industrial recordings, and post-punk and instead cast a wide swath that both encompassed and transcended these various pigeon-holes of production.
The release dates, as well as a sample track – “Egg Foo Young’ – are included below.
FTS005–FTS008
Limited 4x LP Collection Release Date: September 21, 2018
Below The Horizon (FTS005)
Release: October 5, 2018
On Dry Land (FTS006)
Release: January 8, 2019
In The Woods (FTS007)
Release: February 22, 2019
Light Metabolism Number Prague (FTS008)
Exclusive to Collection: September 21, 2018
James Romig – Still (CD Review)
James Romig
Still
Ashlee Mack, piano
New World Records 80802
Composer James Romig has spent the past twenty years cultivating a body of work that embodies both rigorous structuring and a wide-ranging gestural palette. As is explained in Bruce Quaglia’s excellent liner notes for Romig’s first New World CD, Still, there is good reason for these two aspects to be so important to Romig. His training as a composer was with American modernists Charles Wuorinen and Milton Babbitt, while his background as a performer – a percussionist – included a number of works by minimalists such as Steve Reich.
Extra-musical touchstones also play a significant role as inspirations for the composer. A series of National Park residencies has provided him with natural beauty to contemplate while composing. Abstract Expressionist painters such as Clyfford Still, who is the titular reference point for Romig’s piece on this CD, also enliven his imagination.
Nowhere in Romig’s output to date is this confluence of influences more apparent than in Still, a nearly hour-long piece for solo piano. One can see the pitch material’s progression in a chart in the liner notes and note the comprehensiveness of its organization. Unlike Romig’s portrait disc Leaves from Modern Trees, where the pieces tend towards tautly incisive utterance, here the progression of pitch material evolves slowly in a prevailingly soft dynamic spectrum. Ashlee Mack, a frequent performer of Romig’s music, provides a sterling interpretation. Slow tempi are maintained no matter what local rhythms (some complex) ripple the surface texture. In addition, Mack voices the harmony skilfully, allowing the piece-long progression to be presented with abundant clarity.
One more composerly ghost lurks in the room: that of Morton Feldman. Also an appreciator of Abstract Expressionism, who created long single movement pieces that transformed slowly and remained primarily soft, Feldman could seem to be Still’s natural progenitor. While surface details and scale of composition are similar, there is a significant musical difference between Feldman’s paean to a painter like Philip Guston and Romig’s reference to Clyfford Still. As pointed out by theorists such as Thomas DeLio, the undergirding of a Feldman piece is indeed subject to an organizational structure. That said, his work seems more intuitive than Romig’s, which is methodical in the unfurling of its linear components and their constituent harmonies. Whether Feldman’s surface in any way inspires the depths of Still, I am not sure; it would be an interesting question to pose to Romig. Either way, Still is his most engaging and beguiling piece to date. One looks forward to hearing more works that accumulate Romig’s proclivity for parks, painters, maximalists, and minimalists; these many ingredients make for intriguing results.
