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New Sounds Archive
February 2006
Mardi Gras Music
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
On this New Sounds, it’s all about horns, groove, and the urge to shake one’s money-maker. Hear the latest from Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All-Stars, a Klezmer/Balkan/Brazilian/New Orleans-inspired collection “Carnival Conspiracy.” This record might help to temporarily reverse the social order, shake things up, and shock people into new ways of experiencing the world – along with bringing together the intellectual, the booty shaker, and the Hasid. Plus it’s fun! Also, listen for the combined sound of military brass bands, voodoo ritual chants and rhythms, scratchy American jazz records, with a dash of Fela’s Afrobeat that is Benin’s Gangbé Brass Band. And more over-caffeinated music from the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, something from the famed Wild Magnolias of New Orleans, and maybe we can make way for the Rebirth Brass Band.
New Releases February 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
It's that time of the month again for the new releases show on New Sounds. John Schaefer carefully sorts through the stacks, bins, and boatloads of new CDs which have come across his desk over the past month to present some of the finest new releases. He'll skim off the cream. He'll pick the lentils from the ashes. You get it. What we can see of his desk from here includes new material from Terje Rypdal and Daniel Lentz, plus guitar work from Richard Leo Johnson, gamelan music from Java, and Mountain Music of Kyrgyzstan. With luck, there'll be selections from percussionist Glenn Kotche's new record as well.
Innovative Deviations
Sunday, February 26, 2006
On this edition of New Sounds, there's a load of new music for guitar. Classically trained, but just as likely to give a nod to Prince and/or Black Sabbath, Dominic Frasca is a guitarist who makes his own instruments so as not to be confined to just 6 strings. Hear "Dark Age Machinery," and the title track from his latest CD release, "Deviations." Then there's also music by Forastiere, who, like Michael Hedges, uses tapping, muting, and alternate tunings to great effect. Plus, hear selections from the most recent John Fahey collection and a tune by Michael Hedges as well.
Music Inspired by Southeast Asia
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Hear the snaking vocal harmonies of Papua New Guinea and rhythms of Indonesian gamelan music, along with Indian vocal techniques on this edition of New Sounds. It’s a program of world music inspired by Southeast Asia, featuring music by David Parsons, from his Ngaio Gamelan project. Also, there's music by Telek with ancestral drums (the hourglass-shaped kundu and the massive slit-log garamut) and tropical guitar, infused with the spirit and pride of the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea. Plus, listen to the ethnoambient sounds of the John Hassell and Brian Eno collaboration, Possible Musics, where Hassell incorporates Indian vocal techniques into his trumpet-playing, and more.
American Guitars
Friday, February 24, 2006
There’s music by Ingram Marshall on this edition of New Sounds. Listen to Marshall’s “Soe-pa” for solo guitar with electronic processing, written for Benjamin Verdery. Also, hear Verdery and fellow guitarist Andy Summers (formerly of The Police), recorded live at Joe’s Pub during the annual NY Guitar Festival.
Guitar Marathon 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
For this New Sounds program, there’s new music from the New York Guitar Festival Marathon 2006 at the 92nd Street Y, “450 Years of Spanish Guitar.” Listen to three newly commissioned world-premiere compositions — all inspired by Spanish themes: "Los Cambios Quedan Igual," by Gyan Riley for classical guitar; Variations on “La Follia” by Dominic Frasca, for guitar and laptop; and “Memorial” by Bryce Dessner, for guitar, viola, and percussion. There’s a Flamenco impression left by Riley’s work coupled with bluesy bends, while Dessner's piece is inspired by the traditions of ornamentation and improvisation in Spanish and Italian Renaissance lute music. And Frasca’s untitled piece, for 10-string guitar and computer, is a set of variations on La Follia, a well-known theme (based on a Spanish folk melody) that has been used in Western music since the Renaissance. These works and much more.
Not Exactly "Jazz"
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
What if you can’t quite call it “jazz”? Well, then it’ll probably end up on this New Sounds program, which is chock full of music that is jazzy, but not “jazz.” There’s music from the Benevento Russo Duo, two soul mates who take keyboards and drums and bring them to looser, scruffier, and funkier heights of rock-influenced chamber jazz. Also, listen to mysterious musical narratives by Robert Stillman, who takes saxophone, clarinet, drums, pump organs and out-of-tune old pianos to make something delicate and urgent, and sort of “jazzy,” even. Then there’s also the eclectic, mixed-up playfulness of Aksak Maboul, a band who squish together Gypsy music; primitive drum machines and demented "human sequencer" organ lines, along with assorted snatches of fake ethnic, fake jazz or fake classical music. Rounding out the show is music by the Lounge Lizards, who draw on anything from James Brown, Indian brass-band music, and Nino Rota to create their “not jazz” blend.
Live Bang on a Can
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
On this New Sounds show, experience The Bang On A Can All-Stars, in concert. Listen to live recordings from several concerts by the All-Stars, including works by Marc Mellits, Brian Eno, Kurt Cobain/arranged by Evan Ziporyn, and Thurston Moore.
New Music for a Silent Film
Monday, February 20, 2006
From the New Sounds Live concerts at the World Financial Center, the Milwaukee-based new music group Present Music plays a new score to the early Hitchcock silent film “The Lodger.” English composer Joby Talbot provided the original score and plays keyboards along with Present Music in the eerie accompaniment to this film on Jack the Ripper.
Jimi Hendrix of Tabla
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Indian percussionist, composer, jazz player, and British-Asian underground mentor Trilok Gurtu visits with John Schaefer and introduces material from his latest recording for this edition of New Sounds. Gurtu has been playing since he was 6, and in his teenage years he expressed a desire to play tabla like "Jimi Hendrix played guitar". Also, hear other cross-cultural works by Indian-American singer Shweta Jhaveri and more.
Wayfaring Stranger
Saturday, February 18, 2006
It's been a long time since the last episode of New Sounds took on the idea of theme and variations, but here comes a program on the tune "Wayfaring Stranger". Hear an hour of unusual arrangements and rearrangements of the classical American folk song, including a gamelan version by Jody Diamond, a computer version by Paul Lansky, and recordings from Anonymous 4, the Cold Mountain soundtrack, the band Wayfaring Strangers, and more.
Unconventional Works for Piano
Friday, February 17, 2006
On this edition of New Sounds, there’s music from Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, who fuses characteristics of traditional Azerbaijani music with modern Western techniques in her “Music for Piano.” Not incidentally, she is also known as a pianist who first brought the music of John Cage, Arnold Schoenberg and George Crumb to Azerbaijan. Speaking of Crumb, hear a mix of the ancient and modern with his seminal work “Makrokosmos." Each of these "Twelve fantasy pieces after the Zodiac for Amplified Piano," corresponds to a sign of the Babylonian zodiac, and draws on various non-Western traditions. To round out the show, Geoff Keezer take dubbed layers of piano to create exquisite textures along with other piano works in unconventional tunings and tonal colors.
Wu Man And Friends
Thursday, February 16, 2006
On her recent release, “Wu Man And Friends” the Chinese pipa (lute) virtuoso Wu Man teams up with musicians representing East African, Slavic, and Appalachian traditions. At first glance the combinations of the instruments from such disparate corners of the earth seems forced, however the musical scales of the Ugandan endongo and those of the pipa aren’t so dissimilar; the Ukrainian bandura is also a lute held upright like a pipa, held from behind and played with fingers of both hands; and some Appalachian folk tunes, when played on banjo, seem eerily close to certain Chinese folk melodies. On this edition of New Sounds hear some suggestive conversations between instruments and traditions from Wu Man’s record, with songs about rain in Chinese with accompaniment on Ugandan harp (adungu), a dance from the Appalachian mountains with mouth bow and pipa, and not to be outdone, there’s a pipa/bandura combination hinting at flamenco experimentation.
Unconventional String Quartets
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Over the years, New Sounds Live has played host to some truly remarkable performances that never saw the light of day as commercial recordings. On this edition of New Sounds, we raid those archives for some live recordings from the recent past. Listen to Richard Einhorn’s work for double electric string quartet, “The Silence” as performed by the Sirius String Quartet (formerly the Soldier String Quartet.) Also, the Modern Mandolin Quartet performs InterPlays with violinist/composer David Balakrishnan (from the Turtle Island String Quartet.) Plus, performances by the Kronos Quartet, Turtle Island String Quartet, and the Uptown String Quartet.
American Eccentrics
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
As part of WNYC’s American Music Festival on this edition of New Sounds, there's music from American eccentric Harry Partch, who among other things, was a composer, instrument-maker, musical dramatist, sometime hobo, piano teacher, and grape-picker. We’ll hear a work that fused Partch’s instrument building and composing - “And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma.” It's just full of complex textures and radical rhythms created by overlaying thirty-four one-minute instrumental verses, in combinations of duets, trios, and quartets, up to a concluding septet. Also, listen to "serious" orchestral music by the late guitarist, innovator, and American iconoclast Frank Zappa. Hear selections from a recent release of his music by the Ensemble Modern, the German new-music group that Zappa worked with late in life. Plus, there’s the strange and twisted sounds of Henry Kaiser’s re-invention of Stephen Foster’s song, “Autumn Waltz,” and music by La Monte Young, among others.
The Modern Medieval
Monday, February 13, 2006
Listen to some new music that looks back – way back – on this New Sounds program. There’s “Proverb,” Steve Reich’s take on medieval French counterpoint, along with music from the medieval-looking Estonian Arvo Pärt. We’ll also hear a Requiem from Alfred Schnittke, the Soviet Union-born German-Jewish composer who brings together in his music several unlikely combinations of styles: Romantic, Classical, Baroque, modernist, and medieval. Plus, listen to highlights from Richard Einhorn’s oratorio, Voices of Light, written to accompany the Passion of Joan of Arc (the 1928 Carl Dreyer silent film.) Einhorn’s score pivots between Joan's time and now, using an authentic-sounding medieval style that develops into what NY Times writer Allan Kozinn calls a “post-Minimalist combination of repeating figures and lush neo-Romantic orchestration.” The score will be performed with Dreyer’s silent film at a New Sounds Live event this Thursday and Friday, February 16 & 17, at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden.
Guitar Marathon
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Listen to highlights from the New Sounds Live/New York Guitar Festival's biannual Guitar Marathon at the 92nd Street Y, Part 3 of 3. This edition of New Sounds includes performances by the Newman/ Oltman Guitar Duo, David Cullen, Russell Malone, Dominic Frasca, David Torn, and Patty Larkin.
Click here to view a slideshow of this New Sounds Live day-long event.
Guitars, More Guitars
Saturday, February 11, 2006
On this edition of New Sounds, hear highlights from the New Sounds Live/New York Guitar Festival's biannual Guitar Marathon at the 92nd Street Y, Part 2 of 3. From the Renaissance lute to the latest electric guitar technology, guests include Bob Brozman, Abdoulaye Diabate & Banning Eyre, Ed Gerhard, Michael Newman and many others.
Click here to view a slideshow of this New Sounds Live day-long event.
Solo Sessions
Friday, February 10, 2006
For this edition of New Sounds, pianist/composer Matthew Shipp presents music from his latest album of nu-jazz, “One.” His first collection of original solo material in nearly a decade, (his last solo outing was a record of standards, not his own works), Shipp gleefully explores and savors where the music might take him, rather than resorting to pianistic pyrotechnics. “One” is not all swirling contemplative eddies, however, there is a streak of volatility in the tune “Electro Magnetism,” where Shipp’s fierce, low-end tones “threaten to shake the song loose from its floorboards.” (PitchforkMedia.com)
Mish-Mosh Klezmer Thrash
Thursday, February 09, 2006
repare for some incredibly "relentless fun" on this New Sounds program. Drummer Aaron Alexander and a klez-punk ensemble (who include downtown jazz/jewish music all-stars and great young players in the klezmer scene; trumpeter Frank London, reed player Greg Wall, and guitarist Brad Shepik, among others) perform live and make mayhem in the studio. On Alexander’s latest CD, “Midrash Mish Mosh,” dueling drummers pound out infectious klezmer-rooted music, embracing jazz, thrash-punk, Balkan and African rhythms. The boot will conquer the sandal.
New Music from Germany
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Listen to Ensemble Modern playing music of Frank Zappa, Haindling’s updated Bavarian folkmusic, Duo Sonare playing Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells,” and more on this New Sounds program. Hans-Jürgen Buchner, who is better known by the name of his German home town, Haindling, (Lower Bavaria), equally as fond of African drums and South-American congas as he is of his native tuba, borrows music from all over the world, yet somehow comes across as Bavarian. Not only does he sing, but he plays piano, synthesizer, tuba, trombone, tenor horn, alt horn, French horn, bass-trumpet, saxophone, percussion, accordion, singing saw and all kinds of exotic instruments himself. Sample from some of his music along with “serious” music by Frank Zappa, as played by Ensemble Modern, the German new-music group that Zappa worked with late in life. Also, a twosome of German guitarists, Thomas Offermann and Jens Wagner, known as Duo Sonare, render Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells into an entirely new work of art.
Primarily Percussion
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
On this edition of New Sounds, drink in some music where the drummers get the spotlight, like the debut recording from Afro-Cuban All-Star percussionist Miguel 'Anga' Diaz. His record, “Echu Mingua,” fuses traditional Cuban son, ritual Santeria call-and-response, hip-hop, jazz, salsa, and Malian groove as well, with a guest appearance by Baba Sissoko on n'goni and vocals. Also there's music from the tabla phenom Zakir Hussain and music from the show, Stomp, that uses human bodies, trash cans, brooms, and nearly anything else as a melodic drum.
Eastern Voices
Monday, February 06, 2006
Experience the distinctive rich choral music from the Balkan and Slavic regions of Eastern Europe on this New Sounds program. Listen to “Winter Songs” performed by Kitka, a group whose earthy and exotic blend of eight female voices is quite ravishing and riveting. Their vocal techniques have origins in the fields and hillsides of the Balkans, Caucasus, Baltics, and Slavic lands where voices had to both carry or scale down to intimate levels. We'll also hear from the second installment of the “Baltic Voices” series, all of it new music written during the past 20 years. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and conductor Paul Hillier focus on sacred music from Estonia, the Ukraine, Denmark, and Russia encompassing all three branches of Christianity practiced in the Baltic region: Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant. Plus, Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares and more.
What is an Ocarina?
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Hear flutes of all shapes and sizes on this installment of New Sounds, including recorders, pan pipes, and ocarinas. What is an ocarina, you ask? Not just a way to save Princess Zelda from the evil Ganondorf in the video game, ocarinas, or vessel flutes, are instruments that have been around since the Stone Age. Whether ceramic, wooden, plastic (bone, antler, seed pod, seaweed, jade, quartz, or metal), many are made in the shape of small animals, some are anthropomorphic, some look like “sweet potatos”. The late Lou Harrison in his Canticle #3, calls for the ocarina as solo instrument to trade melodies with the ensemble while a guitar is strummed. Hear that work along with the sounds of Native American player R. Carlos Nakai’s wooden flute and the Andean contemporary native instrument orchestra Arawi on this New Sounds program.
A World of Guitars
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Listen to highlights from the New Sounds Live/New York Guitar Festival's biannual Guitar Marathon at the 92nd Street Y. This edition of New Sounds is Part 1 of 3, featuring a world of guitars, from the Renaissance lute to the latest electric guitar technology. Guests included Vinicius Cantuaria, Steve Kimock, Dennis Koster, David Cullen, Dominic Frasca, and many others.
Click here to view a slideshow of this New Sounds Live day-long event.
Funky Brassy Party
Friday, February 03, 2006
It’s Friday and that means brassy, funky party music, New Sounds-style on this edition of the show. Hear music from the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, lots of horns and groove for shaking your money-maker. There’s also music from the Boban Markovic Orkestar, a Serbian groovy gypsy outfit. Plus 3 Mustaphas 3, Les Miserables Brass Band, and more.
Gotham - a Filmic Symphony
Thursday, February 02, 2006
On this New Sounds, Listen to Michael Gordon’s “Gotham,” a filmic symphony in collaboration with filmmaker Bill Morrison. “Gotham,” brought to life by the team at the Ridge Theatre who put together Gordon’s 2001 multi-media experience “Decasia,” is structured along the Decasia model with the city of New York as its subject and star. The live concert version incorporates projections (including an opening sequence with a sheep), re-edited archival film, multi-tiered sets, and musicians who sometimes seem actually to inhabit the projected environment. For this progam, these two artists discuss their ongoing collaboration of new music and old decaying silent film prints. “Gotham,” along with the World Premiere of "Who By Water," and the 2004 collaboration "Light is Calling," are on the program this Saturday night, February 4th at Merkin Concert Hall, as part of an evening dedicated to the multimedia work of Gordon and his frequent collaborator Morrison.
String Quartet Plus
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
On this edition of New Sounds, listen to the Kronos Quartet play music by the Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh. Her work for string quartet and the sound of dripping water, "Oasis," builds to a dreamland of turbulent, slashing strings and shimmering chords. Running with “The String Quartet plus…,” there’s also music from Rokia Traore’s CD, Bomboi, where Malian folk melodies and traditional instruments combine with string arrangements from the Kronos Quartet. Then there’s the ancient and moving sounds of Osvaldo Golijov’s collaboration with Kronos, from "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," with the clarinet adventurer David Krakauer. Plus - jazz, groove and improv meet classical music in a forthcoming release by the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Ying Quartet, “4 Plus Four.”
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