Archive for April, 2008
George Gershwin
Complete Music for Piano and Orchestra
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano; Dallas Symphony Orchestra; Justin Brown, conductor
Bridge Records (www.bridgerecords.com)
Was Gershwin a pop songwriter who aspired to being a concert music composer or a genuine crossover artist? It’s one of the most hotly debated questions among aficionados of classical music. The purists point to Gershwin’s use of orchestrators as “evidence” of deficiencies; those on the other side of the debate might gently point out that Rimsky-Korsakov certainly helped finesse the scoring of several colleagues who were still fine composers. While the middle ground, admitting Gershwin to the canon as “light classical” or “pops” seems like a decent compromise on the face of it, I’d argue that Porgy and Bess is no lightweight work. Thus, the debate will probably continue as long as people perform Gershwin; the delightful fare featured on this latest Bridge CD suggests that will be a long time indeed.
Anne-Marie McDermott plays Gershwin with just the right balance of technical polish, elegant finesse, and jauntily syncopated rhythmic suaveness. Her rendition of the I Got Rhythm Variations is delightfully virtuosic; Justin Brown allows the orchestration to sizzle in all the right places while proving a truly sensitive accompanist. The Concerto in F is mined both for its passages of eloquent lyricism and splashy showboat moments with equal earnestness. The Dallas SO is wonderfully captured on this disc; kudos to Adam Abeshouse for excellent quality sound. One need only listen to the exquisite balance of tutti chords and piano soloist on the Concerto and both the Rhapsodies to learn that this is a CD that any ardent Gershwin proponent will treasure.
-Christian Carey
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Bob Mould
District Line
Anti Records (www.anti.com)
Given the diversity of styles he’s explored, it’s understandable that Bob Mould’s fans are likely to be a deeply divided bunch. His work with Hüsker Dü and Sugar, solo albums such as the wonderful Workbook, and his recent electronica experiments demonstrate a very broad artistic palette. Mould’s latest, District Line, integrates these various styles into an appealing hybrid.
Indeed, Mould seems to revel in heterogeneity; this is underscored by mischievous sequencing. For instance, “The Silence Between Us” and “Very Temporary” are hook-laden rockers, but sandwiched between them is “Shelter Me,” a multi-textured piece of electronica. While the more partisan of his fans may quibble about the measurements of Mould’s stylistic mixtures, any album that includes excellent crafted songs such as “Stupid Now,” Who Needs to Dream,” and “New Highs, New Lows” can afford to be daringly eclectic.
-Christian Carey
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Singing cellist, composer, and laptop performer Jody Redhage (www.jodyredhage.com) will be performing 21st Century art songs this Sunday, April 27th at 7 PM at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco, CA (http://www.redpoppyarthouse.org/concerts.html). Redhage will present her own compositions, pieces from her CD All Summer in a Day (www.newamsterdamrecords.com), and the premiere of “Otherwise” by Christian Carey. 
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Ellen Allien
Sool
BPitch Control BPC 175 (www.ellenallien.de)
When one hears the stylistic category “minimal electronica,” they might justifiably consider it fare more suitable for clubbing than dedicated listening. However, this isn’t true of Sool, Ellen Allien’s latest CD for BPitch Control. The Berlin-based DJ crafts IDM compositions that are groove-centered enough to propel activities on the dance floor; but the constantly shifting textures and frequent introduction of new materials ensure a steady flow of pleasant surprises.
Particularly fascinating is “Sprung,” in which a flute ostinato is set against skittering percussive punctuations in an evolving series of juxtapositions. “Bim,” on the other hand, effectively brings together sultry spoken word vocals and a spare, glitch-inflected backing track. Perhaps most winning is “Frieda,” a gently sung, lushly appointed downtempo ballad.
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Destroyer
Trouble in Dreams
Merge MRG 319 (www.mergerecords.com)
Dan Bejar’s Destroyer project has long depended on a strange mix of elements. Elliptical lyrics and topsy-turvy arrangements are pitted against a melodic accessibility that borders on the power pop of his other outfit, the New Pornographers. The end result on offerings such as Trouble in Dreams, his latest CD for the Merge imprint, is a connoisseur’s indie rock that is as rewarding as it is at times deliberately obtuse.
“Blue Flower/Blue Flame” is an alt-folk song with an engaging vocal chorus and fine instrumental support; Bejar’s acoustic guitar, Nicolas Bragg’s electric solos, and Ted Boise’s keyboards create a memorably tuneful background. Drummer Fisher Rose and bassist Tim Loewen take an active role in creating forward momentum on the rocker “Dark Leaves form a Thread.”
“Foam Hands,” with its neo-psych ambience and melancholy if non-linear narrative, is all the more poignant for Bejar’s laconic delivery and the wistful mellotron and deft guitar solos lovingly woven into its arrangement. “Shooting Rockets” builds gradually; starting in a stripped down setting, with Bejar’s delivery supported by sparse, chordal accompaniments, it eventually builds into a post-prog epic ballad (once again, Boise’s mellotron proves evocative). Trouble in Dreams is filled with challenging and provoking material that explores along the edges of the pop song format.
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Ernst Toch: Tanz-Suite-Cello Concerto
Spectrum Concerts Berlin; Christian Poltéra, cello
Naxos 8.559282 (www.naxos.com)
Orchestration can serve as a composer’s fingerprint; there’s no denying the individual stamp made by Ernst Toch’s idiosyncratic, often pungent scoring. One may reference his strong identification with Stravinsky when analyzing his compositions. The Tanz-Suite and Cello Concerto, both from the 1920s, indeed have many Stravinskyian moments: burbling ostinati, curiously spaced verticals, surprising rhythmic accentuations, and the like.
Toch (1887-1964), however, was no mere Stravinsky clone; his music is eminently well-crafted and contains some singularly beautiful moments; listen, for example, to the haunting harmonies of the suite’s Intermezzo: Fliessende Achtel, or the skittering fugal writing in the Cello Concerto’s finale. However, his orchestration’s “fingerprint” – inimitably piquant high winds set against rhythmically charged strings and percussion – makes for stimulating listening throughout. Spectrum Concerts Berlin does a bang-up job of presenting Toch to best advantage; their strong performances here make me eager to seek out more of their Naxos catalog.
-Christian Carey
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Explorers Club
Freedom Wind
Dead Oceans DOC 007 (www.deadoceans.com)
Is it necessarily a bad thing to wear your influences on your sleeve? The members of the Explorers Club don’t think so. Their latest CD, Freedom Wind, is a lovingly crafted homage to sixties vintage summery pop reminiscent of the Beach Boys. Very reminiscent, which leads me to the question: When is stylistic troping paying tribute and when is it ripping off your predecessors? Happily, the Explorers Club seems to be operating in the spirit of the former, rather than the latter, pursuit.
Of course, “borrowing” another group’s sound may doom an artist to live forever in another’s shadow. Fortunately, that’s not my problem. All I’m saddled with are a spate of wonderful tunes and excellently rendered group vocal harmonies persistently in mind, as well as the urge to dig out my copy of Pet Sounds – for fun, not for comparison’s sake. Take a listen to “Forever” or “Lost my Head” and see if it doesn’t get you properly prepped for summer.
-Christian Carey
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Chris Walla
Field Manual
Barsuk Records (www.barsuk.com)
Chris Walla’s day job is in the band Death Cab for Cutie; he’s also worked on a number of other artists’ albums as a producer, engineer, and performer. While front man Ben Gibbard might get the lion’s share of media attention, Walla is a talented songwriter as well. The sonic signatures that make Death Cab’s recordings so distinctive are also amply in evidence on Field Manual, Walla’s latest solo recording for Barsuk: deft textural combinations, layered guitars, and a shimmering, lush ambience. Walla applies these atmospherics to host of strong material, ranging from the relentlessly catchy “Everybody Needs a Home” and the Robert Pollard-influenced punchy-pithy rocker “The Score” to the ambling, thoughtful ballad “Unsustainable.” The irresistible hook for “Everybody On” is the CD’s highlight.
Given the strength of their various solo efforts, one might expect Walla and Gibbard to consider going their separate ways; it’s fortunate that Death Cab’s members seem happy to reconvene for future projects together – a new studio album is pending. That said, one hopes that Walla will find time for a follow-up to Field Manual.
-Christian Carey
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BIPPP – French Synth Wave 1979-85
Everloving Records (www.everloving.com)
This trip down memory lane is a reminder that early New Wave music may have repudiated punk’s instrumentation, but was in its own way equally subversive to the musical status quo. Cuts by French synth pop artists such as Marie Moor, Act, TGV, and Vox Dei combined motoric grooves, robotic chanted choruses, and the distinctive timbres of analog synths to create quirky sci-fi soundscapes.
The songs on BIPPP may be “period pieces,” but there are plenty of things to be missed from this period; particularly, the outstanding warmth and considerable sonic charm of early synthesizers. Despite the relatively easy accessibility of outstanding electronic equipment today, and the vibrancy of our own era’s avant-electronica, I’ll bet that many a current laptop popper wishes they could replicate the excitement some of these Synth Wavers engendered when they first appeared.
-Christian Carey
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Joan of Arc
Boo Human
Polyvinyl Records (www.polyvinylrecords.com)
I’ve heard of recordings being put together in a number of unorthodox ways, but Tim Kinsella’s forthcoming Joan of Arc recording, Boo Human, takes the cake. With a backlog of songs and no regular band, Kinsella booked a week of studio time and made some telephone calls to his best indie compadres: artists who’ve played with luminaries such as Wilco, Bonnie Prince Billie, and Iron & Wine. The sessions were ultimately organized with a sign-up sheet; 14 musicians turned up at various times throughout the week to help Kinsella realize his latest songs.
Rather than the hodge-podge one might expect, the result is one of Joan of Arc’s strongest offerings to date. “Shown and Told” is an affecting, stripped-down acoustic ballad. Kinsella’s ragtag band creates a jovially minimalist backing track on “Laughter Reflected Back” and sophisticatedly layered textures on “Just Pack or Unpack” and “Vine on a Wire.” Kinsella vents considerable spleen on the incendiary “9/11 2.” The back end of the recording presents multiple versions of a couple songs, allowing one to hear various arrangements devised by an ad hoc, but powerful, incarnation of Joan of Arc.
-Christian Carey
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