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Pernice Brothers – “Jacqueline Susann” from Ashmont Records on Vimeo.

Today (Wednesday, September 8 ) the remaining 30 composer-contestants in the Project 440 competition are being featured in a 24-hour marathon on Q2. The internet radio station will be featuring works by the composers, including a number of private recordings, many of them live, previously unavailable for the delectation of new music listeners.

The contestants are all vying for one of 4 commissioning slots for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s 2011-’12 season.

It’s pretty daring for these emerging composers to share unreleased recordings with the world. It demonstrates a few things:

-In the internet/social media age, there’s been a change in attitude about sharing music hot off the presses. Recordings that might have been kept under wraps or only shared in private hearings or small masterclasses are now posted on the web; oftentimes, warts and all.

-Q2/Project 440 must have had these composers working overtime to get their music cleared for broadcast.

-The composers are being very thoroughly vetted for this commissioning opportunity. Individual web pages, blogging, dealing with comments and votes in a public forum, and now carrying a leg in a broadcast marathon!

Whoever wins this thing will have been tried and tested – and will also have been given a great deal of visibility. One can question how well the reality program model translates to selecting a composer of concert music – one can even have fun selecting the contestants who shoulda’ woulda’ coulda’ been up there – but there’s little doubt that this is an extraordinary way to introduce the next generation of new composers to the audience.

Oval
O
Thrill Jockey

After nearly a decade of silence, experimental electronica act Oval has returned in 2010 with a vengeance; and, with a spate of new releases. Although it was once a collective, now Markus Popp retains sole responsiblity for the proceedings. Earlier in the year, he released an EP entitled Oh! Today, its longer cousin, the 2xLP O, sees its much anticipated release. Add to that a second EP, Ringtone II, that’s being offered by the label for free download here.

O retains some of Popp’s previous proclivities – glitchy  technobeats, strummed string sounds, drones, textural juxtapositions, and repeated-note ostinati. What’s brought to bear here most overtly is an interest in pithy forms. Indeed, the second half is called “Ringtones,” and consists of 50 miniature compositions. One can imagine more than a few experimental electronica buffs installing one of them on their smartphone stat! What’s more, there’s a relaxation of one the more extreme aspects of glitch: the avoidance of pulse seems a bit less pronounced. Rather Popp seems content to flirt with metric obfuscation, but in an overall rhythmic scheme that also embraces at least occasional phrasal regulation.

Thus, on O, Popp has created music that still has an experimental edge, but seems willing to seek rapprochement with a wider range of techno/electronica styles.

MP3: Ah!

Oval US mini-tour dates:

Thu Sep 9 New York, NY – Issue Project Room (2 Shows)

Fri Sep 10 Chicago, IL – Chicago Cultural Center – Sonar Festival

Contemporary classical audiences were very pleased with Adam Goldberg’s performance as an avant-classical composer in the 2009 film Untitled (the David Lang penned soundtrack is available on Cantaloupe).

But did you know he’s also active as a pop musician? Relatively contemporaneous to his work on (Untitled), Goldberg, under the moniker LANDy released the engaging quirk-pop album Eros and Omissions.

Enjoy the song, but the somewhat silly outro is endless!