Lazy, hazy summer days… Not much really happening, unless you hoof it to some festival or other… Or, for the price of simply wearing out your finger clicking, you could spend the better part of the next couple weeks feasting on the treasure trove that is the Other Minds website. Founded in 1993 by Jim Newman and Charles Amirkhanian, the Other Minds Festival has become a San Francisco Bay-area institution, supporting the exposure for and exchange between a vast array of new-music and musicians important these last twenty-plus years, on or off the beaten path. The festival doesn’t simply rely on the concert-hall, but
Read moreSure, a short latte, or a couple humbows & a coke… Or, just about any couple weeks through this year, that or even less will get you into any of a slew of great concerts in the sfSound series. Beginning tomorrow (!), when you can hear Steve Reich’s Four Organs (1970), Giacinto Scelsi’s Kya (1959), Salvatore Sciarrino’s Muro d’orizzonte (1997), Tom Dambly performing Mauricio Kagel’s Atem (1970) for trumpet and tape, violist Alexa Beattie performing Alan Hilario’s kibô (1997), and a new collaboratively-created piece by sfSoundGroup, directed by Matt Ingalls. The sfSound Group consists of a central core (currently David Bithell
Read moreNothing for those slooow summer days like another round of “everything sucks/everything’s fine” wars… Courtesy of The Guardian, Joe Queenan kicks it off with an article on how he just can’t take any more, what we “high priests of music” have been pawning off as art these last couple-three generations or so… While Tom Service tells Joe he needs to unbunch his underwear a bit… Or is that Tom getting in a bunch over Joe’s blow-off?… Read both sides; and there’s plenty of room in the comments both here and there, to thoroughly reach no consensus or conclusion whatsoever. Ah Summertime,
Read moreA little while back on S21, I mentioned the good news that the indomitable / indubitable / inscrutable / incontinent Kalvos & Damian were bringing back an online-only version of their (ASCAP Deems Taylor) award-winning broadcasts. Though the name has changed from New Music Bazaar to In The House, The show retains all of its trademark off-the-wall storytelling, banter, and enthusiasm for sharing the music and thought of all kind of interesting NON-POP musicians at work today. Our duo may be out in the wilds of rural Vermont, but there isn’t anything backwoods about their awareness of the new-music scene. Each
Read moreThe Paul Bailey Ensemble is a self-described “alternative / classical garage band” busy these last few years in and around Los Angeles. Though Bailey (The bulky but sharp-looking fella in the center of the photo, surrounded by some of the PBE posse) gets naming rights and creates a large amount of the featured music, the ensemble performs works by a number of other like-minded composers, too — most living, a few dead guys as well. That “like-mind” is post-minimal, with equal parts 1980s minimalism, 1680s Purcell, and heavy doses of the rock-band riff factor (though there’s usually no drumkit in the ensemble,
Read moreRobert Gable at his aworks blog flagged this gem of news from Dennis Bathory-Kitsz’s We Are All Mozart site: Beginning this summer, we are bringing back Kalvos & Damian — not the old format of the New Music Bazaar, but rather Kalvos and Damian: In the House! … We shut down the show in September 2005 after 537 episodes, but the demand for our show has never quite relented. We will start with the four interviews we did not broadcast during the show’s initial run, and then continue with Art Jarvinen and, if things go well, with Lisa Whistlecroft. By
Read more[youtube]qKXy1FPTdvg[/youtube] Steve Reich’s seminal 1967 Piano Phase has always been a fantastic challenge for any two pianists. But here is the Russian Peter Aidu (b. 1976) going them all one better, by performing both parts solo, on two pianos at once. Released on the netlabel Top-40, the complete recording is available to freely download at Archive.org. (There’s also a link there to further information on the pianist and release, and the MP3 download at Archive.org is fine, but I would recommend NOT visiting directly the Top-40 homepage. There may be some malware lurking there!)
Read moreJames Combs, composer… Ah, where to start?… I met James years ago, in our formerly-shared hometown of Seattle. Truly a “regular-Joe” in person, giving little hint of the ornate wheels spinning underneath. An anecdote on James’ blog seems a perfect illustration of the man and the work: A Minimalist Experience A boring Sunday, really not so much different than any other Sunday. March 16, 2008, I went for a drive to run some miscellaneous errands. My wife informed me that we were in some need of household items which could be purchased at the nearest store. So heading to the
Read more…Who needs an aerobic DVD? The clip title is roughly “Maraca Driven Crazy”, but I don’t think that’s the only thing coming unhinged here. Though this was posted around a year ago, I can’t help feeling that somewhere in Italy they’re still running through this phrase, over and over… (The piece rehearsed is Reich, but I’m not sure which piece; help, anyone?) Thanks to my wonderful cellist pal Francesco Dillon for the tip to the clip. [youtube]zejCcymd1Io[/youtube]
Read moreWilfrido Terrazas, phenomenal flautist and busy-busy beaver in the Mexican new-music scene, just passed along notice about a fantastic series of concerts coming up the start of next month in NYC. 3G: Tres Generaciones Music Festival May 2–7 The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) hosts a celebration of composer Julio Estrada and three generations of New Music from Mexico. This May 2–7, ICE invites New Yorkers to partake in a trailblazing cultural exchange when it hosts this six-day celebration of avant-garde music from Mexico. The Festival will showcase the work of three generations of Mexican composers: esteemed musical pioneer Julio Estrada; the second
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