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June 2006

June 2006 New Releases

Friday, June 30, 2006

We love it when new mail it comes into the New Sounds office. We sometimes race to the mailbox three times a day anticipating the newest, latest sounds to reach us in these overwhelming stacks of mail. And on tonight’s New Sounds, we share the best of the new releases we’ve received this June. Probable finalists include the folk-gypsy-tango music created by the multi-tracked viola of Ljova (Lev Zhurbin), the inbetween jazz-rock from drummer Jim Black's band AlasNoAxis, and dualing South Indian Classical violins played by the siblings Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Lalgudi J Vijayalakshmi. Plus, Cuban-Senegalese salsa from Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra and more…


Daniel Lanois and Belladonna

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Daniel Lanois, the guitarist, singer, songwriter and award-winning uber-producer (Peter Gabriel, U2, Bob Dylan, Dashboard Confessional)visits the studio for this edition of New Sounds. He’ll be presenting music from his most recent release, “Belladonna,” an instrumental album with a low-key atmospheric feel, akin to the ambient soundscapes he recorded with fellow studio guru Brian Eno in the 1980s. Anchored by Lanois’ pedal-steel guitar playing, “Belladonna” also features guest musicians, including pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Brian Blade (Dylan, Joni Mitchell.)


Ashes and Snow

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Ashes and Snow, the photography/film exhibition by Gregory Colbert, has continued its worldwide migration since its Venice, Italy premiere in 2002. Traveling in the Nomadic Museum, the exhibit came to New York in the spring of 2005 and most recently stopped in Santa Monica, CA (January–May 2006.) This edition of New Sounds is filled with music from Ashes and Snow, including works by cellist David Darling and Robert Een. Also, there’s music by composer Lisa Gerrard, (one half of the duo Dead Can Dance), who has written the scores to several different films like “Whale Rider” and “Gladiator,” to name a few. Plus, electro-acoustic Middle Eastern and Indian hybrid works by Canadian producer, engineer and virtuoso guitarist Michael Brook, along with music by the Armenian duduk master Djivan Gasparyan, and others.


Radiance

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Keith Jarrett once said that “the best improvisations I know of are always made when you have no ideas. The solo concert is like another world that has its own rules that I didn’t make up.” Now comes “Radiance,” a double-disc set of solo piano improvisations from Jarrett - the first in nearly 10 years due to illness - recorded live in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan. On this edition of New Sounds, hear portions of "Radiance" and listen for the interplay of all the music that Jarrett has been through over the years. Also on the show is “Dance,” from “Day of Radiance" by Laraaji. Listen to his electronically enhanced zither, multi-tracked with layers of reverb and delay by uber-producer Brian Eno.


New Sounds Live, More Early Years

Monday, June 26, 2006

Hear music from the early years of concert recordings on this edition of New Sounds. Listen to performances from the long-running concert series by Peter Gordon’s all-star NYC band the Love Of Life Orchestra, the Canadian bagpipe-driven band Rare Air, technofolkies The Horse Flies. Plus, there’s electronic counterpoint from David Borden and Mother Mallard, and funky horns in the memorable “Ramayana Monkey March” courtesy of A. Leroy.


Sufi Traveler

Sunday, June 25, 2006

West Meets Near East on this New Sounds program. Hear music, both old and new, based on Sufi music traditions, featuring works by Turkish-born Mercan Dede, who lives and works between Istanbul and Montreal. Dede fuses the profound, spiritual dimension of Sufi music, drawn from his study of the ney flute and of the 13th century philosopher and poet Rumi, with electronic beats and atmospheric effects on his new CD, “Sufi Traveler.” Listen to selections from it along with works by Ensemble Al Kindi and Daniel Schnyder.


Balkan Gypsy Influence

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Listen to music under the Balkan & Gypsy influence on this New Sounds Program, featuring music by the gypsy/klezmer/folk/jazz band Les Yeux Noir. The Paris-based octet combines violins, cello, accordion, electric guitar, cimbalom and electronic samples. Something like klezmer for the 21st century, there’s even a take on Aram Khachaturian’s fiery "Sabre Dance" from these French-Jewish gypsy violinists. Also on the show, hear music by the tuneful high-energy Balogh Kalman & the Gipsy Cimbalon Band and the slinky Middle-Eastern groove of Nikola Kodjabashia. Plus, Wisconsin’s own Balkan Lounge Funk, The Reptile Palace Orchestra, and more.


Splintered "Totalist" Music

Friday, June 23, 2006

Special guest Mikel Rouse visits the studio for this New Sounds program to present his new music/film/counterpoetry project, “Music for Minorities.” The work was commissioned by UCLA Live, and made while Rouse spent time in the Louisiana Delta as a composer-in-residence. In it, Rouse plays guitar and sings with a soundscape of percussion and guitars under him as he weaves stories and interacts with a kind of fractured video memoir of life. The video clips range from an introduction to a Japanese cowboy to stuttering CNN tapes complete with a scroll announcing that God has called it quits. There’s even a video clip of his wife, a dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, prancing while Rouse, amusingly, sings of "rubber feet."


New Sounds Live Post-rocks

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Bassoon rock. Chamber jazz. Delicate drums. Paradoxes or Post-Rock? That's for you to enjoy and if you like, decide, on this edition of New Sounds. Recorded from a recent New Sounds Live event at Merkin Hall, listen to concert hall instruments doing the rock thing, rock instruments plucked and finessed in something of a classical vein, and experimental music veering in a jazz improv way. Hear some of each set of music from the Kentucky ensemble Rachel’s and NY-based group Clogs, where everyone had a great time.


'Round Midnight

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Listen to an hour of reinterpretations and deconstructions of Thelonius Monk’s classic song, 'Round Midnight on this edition of New Sounds. Hear arrangements by American composer George Crumb, Afro-Cuban drummer Anga, “downtown” guitarist Elliott Sharp, vocalist Bobby McFerrin, and more.


Cross-Cultural World Music

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Hear many different cross-cultural collaborations on this New Sounds program like the joyous, energetic music made by the Bang on a Can All-Stars together with composer and virtuoso of the Burmese pat waing, Kyaw Kyaw Naing. The Pat Waing is a traditional instrument made of 21 separately tuned drums that surround the player completely and are played melodically with superhuman speed. Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man, joins forces with musicians from Uganda, Ukraine and the southern Appalachian mountains on her most recent release, which brings together the most unlikely of the world’s plucked instruments: pipa and banjo, Ukarainian bandura and Ugandan endongo. Also, music by Betty Anne Wong and the Phoenix Spring Ensemble, a group of intrepid musical travelers from San Francisco. Their music draws on folk music of Tajikistan, Eastern Turkestan, Kazhakstan, Turkey and Iran, and other great ancient civilizations living near the deserts of the world.


All Strung Up

Monday, June 19, 2006

Up on this New Sounds program is a wide net of guitar music, from the Japanese/Argentine trio Zum to the neo-folk of Glenn Jones; along with the elegant compositions of Ralph Towner to the Persian-rooted guitar of Lily Afshar. The international guitar ensemble Zum consists of members of Robert Fripp’s League of Crafty Guitarists – who have been working in Guitar Craft for more than a decade. We’ll hear some arrangements from their second CD, just-released, called “Angel Suite.” Also, we’ll listen to the latest picking and playing slide from Boston-based Glenn Jones (guitarist and leader of Cul de Sac), in the fingerstyle tradition of one of his musical hero, John Fahey. And more.


If It's Broke, Don't Fix It

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Hear music for ruined pianos and beat-up guitars on this New Sounds program, subtitled, "If It's Broke, Don't Fix It." Listen to Victoria Jordanova's Requiem for Bosnia, where the piano is strummed, beaten, and otherwise serves as a entire battery of percussion instruments. Also on tap is a piece by Ross Bolletter, "Nallan Void," for a piano left to the Australian elements. Plus, works by T. Sukegawa, Annie Gosfield, and Ed Gerhard.


World Music

Saturday, June 17, 2006

The singer, percussionist, dancer and actress Alessandra Belloni joins John Schaefer in the studio to perform a particularly irresistible tarantella with a blend of Brazilian accordion and percussion coupled with Italian traditional singing and chitarra. Also on this New Sounds, music by David Darling fusing the vocal polyphony of the Wulu Bunum people of Taiwan with cello anchors and lush soundscapes. Plus, songs from Mali’s Issa Bagayogo, DJ Cheb I Sabbah, and more.


Romanian Fantasies

Friday, June 16, 2006

Tabla master Zakir Hussain has proclaimed that "without Romanies the musical history of our planet would be completely different." He compares Romanies to bees who fly all over the planet and then mix together the "pollen" they have gathered from its musical "flowers", regardless of anything besides musical perfection. On this edition of New Sounds, hear some of this musical pollination. The Balanescu Quartet plays music inspired by Romanian singer Maria Tanase, sometimes called "Romania’s Edith Piaf." Also, the Kronos Quartet plays with the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks and the Klezmatics play “Romanian Fantasy.” Plus, hear works by Ansamblul Hyperion as well as Marius Mihalache, on the traditional Balkan instrument known as cembalo.


BOAC Marathon 2006 Highlights, Part 3

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Listen to highlights from this year's Bang on a Can Marathon, recorded live at the World Financial Center. Hear music by David Lang performed by cellist Maya Beiser and the percussive delights of Gamelan Galak Tika. Also, music from the piano-insider Michael Harrison, and the violin-manipulator Todd Reynolds. This is part three of a three-night series.


BOAC Marathon 2006 Highlights, Part 2

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Listen to highlights from this year's Bang on a Can Marathon, recorded live at the World Financial Center. With Alarm Will Sound, performing its acoustic arrangements of electronic music by Aphex Twin and John Adams. There’s also music from the electronic duo Matmos (whose aluminum rap sheet includes organized sound sources from crayfish swimming, human skulls, cards shuffling, and liposuction), joined by hardware-store lurking instrument-builders So Percussion. Plus music by the Icelandic string quartet Amiina making stunning music with water-glasses, table bells and musical saws. This is part two of a three-night series.


BOAC Marathon 2006 Highlights, Part 1

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Listen to highlights from this year's Bang on a Can Marathon, recorded live at the World Financial Center. Hear the one-of-a-kind 10-string guitar madness by Dominic Frasca, along with the heavy punk-folk of the Tuvan throat-singing band Yat-Kha. Plus, there’s the Italian chamber-music group Sentieri Selvaggi, and Michael Gordon’s Weather Ensemble. This is part one of a three-part series over the next few nights.


Klezmer-Core, Balkan Bangers and More

Monday, June 12, 2006

It’s New Sounds party music on this program with high-energy Balkan and Slavic big band music played by Americans. Members of the Hungry March Band, a Brooklyn-based collective with lots of horns and drums, perform crazy speed Balkan boogie along with groovy parade music live in the studio, and it’s powerful fun. (Catch the Hungry March Band live out at Coney Island in Brooklyn for the annual Mermaid Parade on June 24th, starting around noon, rain or shine.) Also, hear music from the Luminescent Orchestrii, who have cornered the market on Appalachian gypsy music with a little nod to the seminal punk band Dead Kennedys. Plus, listen to the Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, and selections from the brand-new Slavic Soul Party record.


New Music From Poland

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Hear New Music from Poland on this edition of New Sounds, with the achingly beautiful work of Henryk Gorecki. Also, sample the hard-rocking folk of the Warsaw Village Band who use the occasional hurdy-gurdy, some dulcimer and rely on punk-ass driving rhythms. Plus, experience the crazed monk mysticism of Mieczyslaw Litwinski as well as the uncategorizable electro-acoustic blend of the Orchestra of the 8th Day.


Music from the Bay Area

Saturday, June 10, 2006

California composer Terry Riley’s seminal “In C,” launched the concept form of interlocking repetitive patterns otherwise known as “minimalism.” There are unavoidable comparisons to Riley when talking of music by other Californians working in the San Francisco Bay area, another of whom we’ll hear on this edition of New Sounds. John Adams has recently released “Road Movies,” music settled in a pulse groove and traversing different textural landcapes. Hear his piece for two pianos “Hallelujah Junction,” named for a small truck stop on Highway 49 in the High Sierras on the California-Nevada border. Also, listen to the sampled prepared piano and electronic percussion in Paul Dresher’s “Cage Machine.” Plus, spliced and sampled pieces from Jay Cloidt, another Bay area composer, and more.


Reimaginings

Friday, June 09, 2006

For this New Sounds program, listen to an hour of unusual covers of popular songs. Hear Charles Lloyd's long and bleak take of Jacques Brel's chanson “Ne Me Quitte Pas" (If You Go Away.) Also, Vijay Iyer plays a radical solo piano version of John Lennon's "Imagine." Plus, “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” as rendered by Andy Haas and Don Fiorino, along with music from The Bad Plus and more.


Cross-cultural Music

Thursday, June 08, 2006

There's new music from Turkey and elsewhere on this New Sounds program. We’ll dip liberally into the soundtrack from the new film, “Crossing The Bridge,” in which the musician and composer, Alexander Hacke (of the German avantgarde band Einstürzende Neubauten), sets out with his mobile recording studio on the streets of Istanbul to capture a cross-section of Turkish music. Some of the artists documented include fusion DJs Orient Expressions, the "Elvis of Arabesque" Orhan Gencebay, and digital dervish Mercan Dede, among others. Dede takes electronic groove and beats from the DJ booth and melds them to traditional instruments like the darbouka, santur, and ney. Listen to some of his most recent record, “Su.” Plus, music by the groove-based experimental collective known as Club D’Elf. This band usually includes an oud, in addition to bass, drums, turntables, slide guitar, and keyboards. And there's so much more.


Audio Landscapes

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Brian Eno, who rose to prominence as the boa-modeling, liberally rouged keyboardist for '70s glam band Roxy Music, has long experimented with dismantled pop structures and toyed with sound, credited by some as having invented "ambient" music. Eno is also a world-class producer, ranging from the Talking Heads to U2 and everything inbetween, tangential to, or within an orbiting earshot. On this New Sounds, we’ll hear Eno’s audio landscapes, as both a producer - featuring his sound sculpting skills on Paul Simon’s latest record, “Surprise,” Robert Fripp’s Exposure, and a release from a star-studded EP by Fovea Hex – and as a solo artist in his own right with his latest release, “Another Day On Earth.”


Almost Jazz

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

For this New Sounds program, listen to some idiosyncratic almost-jazz from America, Australia, and beyond, including some new music by the Catholics. Led by Lloyd Swanton, the bass player for the instrumental trio The Necks, The Catholics are a jazz-leaning outfit, who on their latest, “Gondola,” combine jazz with influences from African, Eastern and Caribbean music with a little bit of atmospherics. Also, hear selections from “My Ears Are Bent,” the latest release from accordionist/keyboard player Ted Reichman, who has finally returned from a nomadic existence to choose New York as his home. The name of the record comes from a collection of writings and observations on New York City by Joseph Mitchell, and Reichman’s record aims to do the same, using music as the medium. And as always, much more.


To The Moon, Alice!

Monday, June 05, 2006

For this New Sounds program, hear songs to the moon, about the moon, and higher than the moon. From Schoenberg to Pink Floyd, along with songs about Luna and lunacy by Savina Yannatou, John Cale, and Susana Baca, this nocturnal hour will be packed full of ebbs and flows. Plus, there’s music by Osvaldo Golijov, Daniel Melingo and Nick Drake, to name a few more.


Youssou N'Dour's "Egypt"

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Mbalax is a Senegalese blend of African, Caribbean and pop rhythms; take a base of griot percussion, praise-music, and story-telling, and add western guitars and keyboards. In large part, Youssou N’Dour and his relentless touring made mbalax known outside of Africa. Since the 1980’s, the Senegalese singer and composer has mixed African sounds with wide-ranging other influences. On his latest effort “Egypt,” traditional musicians from Senegal's capital of Dakar and musicians from Cairo come together for a sound quite unlike his previous “pop” records. Something of a modern griot himself, N’Dour feels that now is a particularly important time for greater tolerance of the Islamic religion, and the new album (actually titled in Arabic, “Allah,”) is a celebration of the Sufi mystical tradition of Islam. On this edition of New Sounds, Youssou N’Dour introduces selections from the pan-African and pan-Islamic CD.


Machine Music

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Hear works played by real people but inspired by the sounds of machinery on this edition of New Sounds. There’s a looping order to Marc Mellits’ “5 Machines," with impressive and complicated cross-rhythms and syncopated hooky lines, carried by marimba, piano, bass clarinet, guitar, all amplified. Plus, listen to music by Vini Reilly (of Durutti Column fame and one of the forces behind Factory Records) using, well, “the Guitar and Other Machines,” specifically a Yamaha Sequencer and a DMX Drum Machine to make perky synth loops and punchy drum sounds, while also trying out new approaches with his guitar playing. Then, there’s also the sound fragmentation of Christopher Willits, who folds fractured guitar lines on top of one another. And much more.


Electro-Acoustic Music

Friday, June 02, 2006

For this New Sounds, we’ll dip into the new collection of works by Eve Beglarian, from a CD called “Tell the Birds,” which deals with texts, from such disparate writers as William Blake, Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, and American poets Linda Norton and Stanley Kunitz. Listen for combinations of samplers and electronics with vocalists, the Paul Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band and possibly an orchestral showpiece. Plus, music by the Norwegian trumpet player, composer and producer Nils Petter Molvær. His music connects stylistic extremes - jazz, ambient, house, electronic and breakbeats - and effortlessly melts them into intense soundscapes that give space to the trumpet and the melodic structures and can stretch to eternity.


New Music for Cello

Thursday, June 01, 2006

On this edition of New Sounds, listen to an hour of new music for cello, including music from cellist David Darling and The Wulu Bunun, an aboriginal tribe living in Taiwan. Also, hear the latest from Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Journeys- “Beyond the Horizon,” more collaboration with virtuoso musicians like China's pipa master Wu Man, and Armenian duduk player Gevorg Dabaghyan. Plus Chinese-born New York-based composer Tan Dun’s multimedia cello concerto called “The Map,” featuring the overtone singing style known as “Tongue Singing” of the young women of the Dong people of mainland China. And rounding out the show is music by French-Canadian singer-cellist Jorane.