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September 2006

Bridget St. John

Sunday, September 24, 2006

When her first album came out in 1969, distinctive British songwriter Bridget St. John sang of stepping away from daily concerns and eating "buttercup sandwiches," and of birds, flowers, the sea, and the pleasure of walking barefoot. A few years and a few albums later, Bridget opted out of the English countryside and became a New Yorker. She's lived here in Manhattan for decades now, continuing to write personal, deeply affecting songs. With new reissues of her albums available, the value of her early work is getting proper acknowledgment. Bridget joins host David Garland to perform new and old songs in the WNYC Studio, and to talk about her life and music.

View photos from the session

Bridget St. John's "Celebration of Sixty Years on This Earth" takes place Wed., Oct 4th, at Kenny's Castaways, 157 Bleeker St., NYC. More info about Bridget, and this benefit event


Vetiver

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Andy Cabic's San Francisco-based group Vetiver has a relaxed and tuneful sound. Their new album, "To Find Me Gone," lets the songs accumulate momentum gradually, and revels in the textures of voices, and plucked and bowed strings. Visiting WNYC for an in-studio session, Vetiver is a seven-piece band ready to weave their instruments around Andy Cabic's voice and explore his songs about outlaws, arboretums, and love. Host David Garland welcomes them and talks with Andy about his music and the band.

view photos from the session
Vetiver's website


Songs and Views of the Magnetic Garden

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Songs and Views of the Magnetic Garden is a piece by Alvin Curran, recorded in 1973. Weaving his voice, flugelhorn, glass chimes, and synthesizer with the sounds of high-tension wires in Sardinia, swallows in Rome, bees, water, and frog peepers, Curran created music that still sounds unique after 33 years. The piece has an unusual beauty: focussed and expansive, casual and precise, experimental and warmly human. On the eve of Sept. 11th, when something thoughtful and heart-felt seems called for, we listen to this piece in its entirety.
alvincurran.com


Mind Games

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Some experimental songs make the experiment happen in your head. If the music is "normal," but the words or singer's voice are surreal or unexpected, then the listener has to make adjustments in their well-worn paths of perception. It can inspire a little extra thinking about who the artist might be, what they're doing, what we're hearing, and what our assumptions are. Host David Garland presents a few songs that might cause such refreshing re-adjustment, by Death Vessel, Wooden Wand, Bosque Brown, MV & EE, and others. Also, a brief experiment in musical memory, and more.