Our always adventuresome friends at Starkland have outdone themselves this time with an ambitious  65-minute studio composition by Phil Kline commissioned specifically for high-resolution surround sound and DVD.  Around the World in a Daze offers Kline’s trademark boombox choirs, as well as (it says here) “an ethereal Ethel string quartet, a weird madrigal, hyper-dense bells (hundreds of thousands at one point), richly mournful multi-tracked vocals, soaring violinistics from Todd Reynolds, and an immersive environment of 15,000 African gray parrots.”

I’m a big fan of innovative packaging (this is one of my all-time favorite books) and Daze is an amazing example of cool presentation. The custom‑designed double digipak includes an Extras disc with a composer-produced music video, a 30-minute interview with Kline and John Schaefer, as well as a 24-page booklet.  Release date is March 24. (Yes, I know I had 4 before.)

Ok, let’s have a contest.  The first person who can correctly guess the two-part 20th century piano sonata that I would like someone like Blair or Jenny or Sarah to play at my memorial service (not currently on the calendar, as far as I know) gets a copy of Around the World in a Daze.  One small catch–you have to write a little review that we’ll publish here on the frontpage so the rest of us will know what you thought. 

7 thoughts on “Daze of Our Lives”
  1. Interestingly, Jerry, the composer you featured in this article has just written a two-part piano sonata. I’m premiering The Long Winter by Phil Kline at Merkin Hall on March 12th, as part of John Schaefer’s New Sounds Live series, along with the premiere of Kyle Gann’s War is Just a Racket and NY premieres by Frederic Rzewski, Terry Riley, The Residents, Preben Antonsen, and Jerome Kitzke. If you’d like me to play Phil’s piece at your memorial service along with Jenny’s Janacek, count me in. Looking forward to hearing Phil’s album on Starkland!

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