File Under?

Mia Doi Todd is letting us have a sneak peek at her ninth studio album. She’s released a new video, “Open Your Heart.” Courtesy of Beam TV, check it out below.

I was fortunate to have flutist John McMurtery and pianist Ashlee Mack perform on my recital this past Sunday. New music specialists, members of the Society of Chromatic Art and Luna Nova, they are dedicated advocates who excel in the modernist end of contemporary classical: Babbitt, Carter, Ferneyhough, etc.  They have also commissioned works from several American composers.

Both are also active as educators and performers of more mainstream repertoire. John plays in the New York City Opera Orchestra, while Ashlee teaches at Knox College in Illinois.

Tomorrow, they’re making a return trip to Westminster Choir College, giving a talk at 7 PM in RC 1. They’ll discuss commissioning and working with composers, performing new music, and extended techniques on their respective instruments. If you’re in the area, please consider joining us! (Need directions? Send me a message via the comments section below)

After my church gig on Sunday, I’m presenting a faculty recital at Westminster Choir College. I’ll be singing pieces by two student composers from our program: Michael Fili and Matthew Samson. Pianist Rebecca Leshures will premiere three pieces by Robert Thomas. Jody Redhage will be singing a set of my songs, a set of hers, and a piece by Daniel Felsenfeld. Joe Arndt will be playing my solo organ work Spiritual Variations. Flutist John McMurtery and pianist Ashlee Mack will perform works by Robert Morris, James Romig, and yours truly.

Faculty Recital: 21st Century Music with Christian Carey

February 7 at 3 PM in Bristol Chapel

Westminster Choir College of Rider University

101 Walnut Lane,

Princeton, NJ 08540

Free Admission

Despite the impending snow this weekend will be a packed one.

I’m attending the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s concert this Saturday at Carnegie Hall. Pianist Angela Hewitt will be appearing with the ensemble, performing as soloist in Bach’s Concerto for Piano and Strings in D minor. Christopher Taylor will be the piano soloist in the premiere of a new work by Peter Maxwell Davies. The latter piece, Sea Orpheus, is a trope on Bach’s chamber concerto style, using Brandenburg #5 as its inspiration. Dvorak’s E major Serenade for Strings and Stravinsky’s Basel Concerto round out the program. I’ll be reviewing the concert for Musical America.

Many Sequenza 21 readers will know Carlton Wilkinson best for his blog The And of One and for his work as a composer and presenter of contemporary concert music; but the man wears many hats. He’s also a college instructor (currently on the faculty at TCNJ) and a music critic for the Asbury Park Press.

Wilkinson recently shared another facet of his work: Three Rooms, a self-released album of avant pop songs. It’s currently for sale at CD Baby and iTunes. The recording primarily consists of spare piano-vocal tracks; but also includes percussion, guitars, and judicious, employment of synthesizers.

One can certainly hear influences of Carlton’s experimental compositions in the arranging touches such as flurries of noise and percussive adornments. But there’s a fair bit of prog sensibility here as well, no doubt abetted by Wilkinson’s singing voice bearing more than a  passing resemblance to Adrian Belew.

Wilkinson has graciously shared an MP3 with us for previewing. Please don’t re-host and, if you like it, support grassroots music-making and buy the recording!

MP3: Trigger

Minnesota experimental band Cloud Cult has recently reissued two albums, 2003’s They Live on the Sun and 2004’s Aurora Borealis. Until recently, both were out of print. Remastered as double CD sets, with bonus tracks (including unreleased material), these are just the type of sonic artifacts that send record collectors to their local indie shop in search of treasure.

Best of all, the band’s PR was kind enough to let us stream one of the songs from Aurora Borealis, “Breakfast With My Shadow.”  Cloud Cult is notable for its eclectic palette; but Aurora Borealis might just be the best starter kit for those new to their oeuvre. It combines “single-worthy” anthems with more ambitious, and extended, sonic adventures.

Stream “Breakfast With My Shadow” from File Under?’s Tumblr page here.

Cloud Cult’s website, with more info about the reissues, here.

DJ Hell’s “U Can Dance,” featuring Bryan Ferry, courtesy of RCRDLBL.

San Francisco “rock noir” vocalist Rykarda Parasol self-releases her LP Blood and Wine on February 16.

In the meantime, she’s shared “A Drinking Song” as an MP3 teaser here.

“A Drinking Song” is darkly hued yet energetic post-psych rock.

You may find yourself swaying to the beat and grooving to the chorus; then, its sinuous underpinning will overwhelm any élan.

Nervously, you’ll wonder who’s mixing Parasol’s cocktails.

This Sunday, the Prism Quartet is celebrating 25 years of concertizing and the release of various CDs with a show at Le Poisson Rouge (details below). The show will feature music from their recording catalogue, focusing on their most recent projects. They’ve also shared a sneak peek at their set list, with audio clips below.

The quartet’s latest CD, Antiphony, is a collaboration with New Music from China. It includes works by Wang Guowei, Zhou Long, Lei Lang, Chen Yi, Tan Dun, Ming-Hsiu Yen.

Thus far I’m really enjoying the title work, by Zhou Long. In addition to the saxophones, it features Erhu, Daruan, and percussion in a piece that explores folk resonances and microtones in a finely sculpted modernist-tinged amalgam. Yen’s Chinatown lands on the other side of ‘town,’ stylistically speaking, but is equally fetching. Zesty minimal ostinati are juxtaposed against Sun Li’s vibrant pipa playing. It’s a postmodern audio travelogue that indeed captures its eponymous neighborhood’s energy and diversity. I’m still seeking out scores for the Tan Dun and Chen Yi works; more once I’ve had time to digest them.

25th Anniversary CD Release Concert
Le Poisson Rouge

Sunday, January 31, 2010
Doors open at 6:30 PM, show at 7:30 PM

158 Bleecker Street, New York City
Information and ticketing: 212.505.FISH (3474),

lepoissonrouge.com
$15, two item minimum

Audio clips previewing their set list for the LPR gig:

Steven Mackey: Jackass
from Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
Roshanne Etezady: Keen
Jacob TV: Jesus is Coming
William Albright: Pypes
Jacob TV: Pitch Black
Lei Liang: YUAN