A trio of Seattle self-starters, Motorik creates boisterous songs that combine art rock with dance-punk. Theirs is an incendiary rhythmic approach, featuring cannonading percussion, syncing downbeat ‘thwacks’ with bass guitar punctuations, and retro New Wave-style guitar riffs. Meanwhile, bassist Sio also supplies hearty vocals, indulging the occasional wail amid staccato outbursts.
“Utopia Parkway” is a standout; Motorik creates a mathy groove with danceability at its core – despite multiple layers of simultaneous activity. As a title,”Box of Knives” has an attitudinal snarl to it. But musically, it’s much more than just ‘tude; a combination of sharpened guitar ostinati, tight-knit rhythmic underpinning, and a bellicose post-punk refrain makes for a substantial lead-off single.
True, the band gets a bit giddy on “Robert Palmer;” but one can forgive a few over-the-top synth flourishes and yelps in service of such exuberant rocking! Indeed, just when you think that the songs have hit a predictable stride, “It’s Just Sugar” throws a few off-kilter bass-lines, unexpected keyboard harmonies, and a noise-based guitar break into the mix – all reminders that Motorik is a band capable of providing pleasant surprises.
The term “Mild Violence,” a PG Rating on a video game box, inspired the title for a 2005 chamber work on Steven Ricks’ Bridge recital CD. Performed by the New York New Music Ensemble with characteristic élan, the piece features explosive percussive utterances, juxtaposing moments of pointillism with quirky ostinato and shimmering splashes of harmonic color. While one ‘gets’ the tongue in cheek humor, the music is anything but mild; Indeed; it’s stirring stuff!
Ricks runs the electronic music studio at Brigham Young University in Utah. Two works for chamber groups and electronics are included here. “Boundless Light” is a meditation on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Featuring shakuhachi-styled effects and vigorous electronic interjections; one is reminded of Davidovsky and Krieger here. It’s excellently rendered by Carlton Vickers. “American Dreamscapes” features the most thrilling moment on the CD – a swelling crescendo of electronics that introduces an ensemble tutti of considerable fervor. The piece features alto saxophonist John Sampen; who impresses with all manner of playing – including copious bends, microtones, and altissimo notes.
The Talujon Percussion Quartet performs “Dividing Time;” the piece’s background deals with the Divisions of time at the beginning of creation.Cleverly, Ricks uses overlapping polyrhythms to illustrate this inspirational focus, accumulating a rhythmic canvass of considerable flexibility and coloristic variety.
Curtis Macombcer is the “go-to guy” for violin-electronics pieces. “Beyond the Zero,” based on Pynchon’s “Gravity’s Rainbow,” contains sudden outbursts of fury, uncommon to the Synchronisms. But after an early focus on ‘effects’ – an explosive musical illustration of the V2 rocket from Pynchon’s novel, Macomber is given a great deal of angular electroacoustic interplay of the high modernist variety – his bread and butter. The piece is an excellent addition the solo plus electronics repertoire.
The CD closes with “Haiku,” a tenderly evocative piece for percussion and electronics. Spoken poetry is interwoven with prayer bowls and tam-tams, creating and ethereal, Eastern-influenced soundscape. Its inclusion is fortuitous; it allows us a full length glimpse at a talented composer of considerable versatility.
Phenomenal Handclap Band, an octet of Brooklynites and lower Manhattan residents, are slated to release their s/t LP June 23 on Friendly Fire Recordings. A teaser track, “15 to 20,” indicates a heady conglomeration of styles: the tune is a dance-rock mixture of funk signatures and experimental New Wave (with just a dash of hip-hop!). Download via the link below and enjoy!
LA-based pianist DANNY HOLT, currently on the faculty at Cal-Arts, is a brilliant player. A percussionist as well as a pianist, he attacks the instrument with verve. On his Innova recital disc, the pianist presents five world premieres; all pieces written since 1997. The disc opens with Caleb Burhans’ In Time of Desperation (2003). Written to commemorate the passing of Luciano Berio, the piece is a series of variations on a ground. This venerable technique is refreshed by pop-inflected harmonies and a postminimal rhythmic ostinato. While the language seems distant from Berio’s, Burhans’ engagement with elements from the distant musical past, as well as his willingness to explore vulnerable emotional terrain, resonant with the departed as music of a kindred spirit.
Holt’s fulsomely energetic approach seems well-suited to the Yamaha grand he favors. Brightly shaded incisive attacks give appropriate luster to the CD’s title work; Lona Kozik’s Fast Jump; Etudes and Interludes for Piano. Kozik writes brilliantly for the piano, inhabiting an earnest, postmodern language rife with virtuosity. “A Tangled Web We Weave (We Keep our Demons Intact)” is filled with whirling arpeggiations and punchy repeated clusters. Traversing the entire keyboard, it alternates registers in strategic, dramatically-charged juxtapositions. Another highlight is “Disperse (the quick but calm spread of sunlight – on water – at dawn)” is an appropriately Impressionist etude in polyrhythmically overlapping arpeggiations, creating a diaphanous swath of shimmering harmonies.
Jascha Narveson’s ripple (2005) is a welcome respite in the midst of these stormy musical proceedings. Its spare harmonic palette and gentle demeanor remind one a bit of Tobias Picker’s “Old and Lost Rivers;” but Narveson favors a more pointillist sensibility. In a clever programming choice, this “eye of the hurricane” is followed by Graham Fitkin’s “Relent.” This postminimal powerhouse is a live staple of Holt’s; and he plays it assuredly and impressively. At eleven minutes in duration, Fitkin’s constant keyboard assault is a grueling gauntlet, containing enough material to keep the players in his multi-piano works happy; Holt manages to grab it all with two hands – con fuoco!
The disc closes with another set of elegies: David Lang’s memory pieces (1997). Although his recent Pulitzer prize award has garnered Lang increased scrutiny of his latest works, these pieces serve as a reminder that he’s been a consummate craftsman and thoughful composer all along. Each of the pieces serves as a memorial to a departed friend. The half-hour cycle is frequently poignant, but also serves as a collection of etudes. “cello” highlights cross-hands playing;”cage” is an exploration of ambient effects. “Spartan arcs” is a delightful showcase for one of Holt’s favorite techniques: overlapping arpeggios. While one seldom thinks of etudes solemnly emotional works, “memory pieces” is both a technical tour de force and a considerably eloquent collection.
Last December, Kay and I were at a Locrian Chamber Players concert. Beaming about our recent engagement, we shared the news with a number of friends at intermission.
Nils Vigeland fixed Kay with a penetrating stare, saying, “You’re really going to let him handle the music for your wedding? You must love this guy!”
We’re having our wedding outdoors. We’ve picked a lovely spot at a nature preserve near where I work. However, an outdoor wedding means no organ.
So, with two months to go, I’ve settled on the selections, hired a string quartet with the help of friend Jody Redhage, and started to work on the arrangements.
Here’s how it looks thus far.
Prelude Music: String Quartet by Maurice Ravel
Processional: from Cantata #140, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” by J.S. Bach
Bridal Processional: Trumpet Tune in C by Henry Purcell
Hymn: “O God Beyond All Praising;” Text: Michael Perry; Music: Gustav Holst
Offertory: “The Call;” Text: George Herbert; Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Anthem by Carey
Hymn: “Kingsfold Amazing Grace;” Text: John Newton (adapted by Carey); Tune: Down Ampney; Music Vaughan Williams
Recessional: Trumpet Tune in D by Jeremiah Clarke
After playing many weddings for other couples, with widely varying programs, it’s exciting to pick the music for your own!
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