Misc. Music Writing
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Pedro Soler & Gaspar Claus
Originally published at SSG Music Marion Lefebvre/Courtesy of the artist While in Paris during the summer of 2011, I was lucky to receive a generous invitation from the InFiné label to attend a small showcase by Pedro Soler & Gaspar Claus. The label that specializes in “easy music for the hard to please” has…
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Suoni per il Popolo
This post collects two previews written for Cult MTL. In honor of their upcoming 20th anniversary, I’ll be publishing a long overdue encomium to Suoni and to the Montreal experiment music community more broadly. Suoni 2015 The word “radical” literally refers to a search for roots, and so it is fitting that Montreal’s self-proclaimed festival…
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Sigur Rós ~ Heima and Hvarf/Heim
Originally published at The Silent Ballet Heima The music of Sigur Rós has a way of impressing melancholy and hopefulness at the same time. Their music is awfully powerful, and, though the live recordings are flawless and the performances stellar, there is no substitute for actually being-there. Unlike any other “concert,” a Sigur Rós performance…
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Old Bicycle Records ~ Sparkle in Grey, Nuno Moita/Matteo Uggeri, Stefano De Ponti, and Tape Crash # 6 & #7
This is a compendium gathering posts originally published at A CLOSER LISTEN Old Bicycle Records ceased operations in 2016 (with the exception of a joint-released split digital release which was delayed until 2018). From 2011-2016, label boss Vasco Viviani released some truly excellent and eclectic music from Sparkle in Grey, Harshcore, Futeisha, Stefano de Ponti,…
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Interview: Linear Obsessional’s Richard Sanderson on ‘For Syria’
Interview: Linear Obsessional’s Richard Sanderson on ‘For Syria’ Since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War, the Middle East seems to have been unable to regain any sense of stability. Internal conflicts, imposed borders, powerful oligarchs and outside interventions have resulted in a complex web of human suffering with no end…
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Back to the Lab
In “Get on the Mic” Geoff Harkness argues that “the studio is essential to the culture [of rap] in ways that it is not for many other music genres,” because it has a particular function as a symbolic space of socialization, professionalization, and legitimization that is less significant in modes of music which place more…
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François J. Bonnet (Kassel Jaeger) on Éliane Radigue, the GRM, and Quebec
Originally published at Cult MTL as “Montreal’s Acousmatic Music Festival is Here.” We spoke to composer Groupe de Recherches Musicales director and performer François J. Bonnet ahead of the 16th annual Akousma. Composer Éliane Radigue studied with musique concrète pioneer Pierre Schaeffer in the 1950s, later becoming assistant to Pierre Henry in the 1960s. They…
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The Fountain
A version of this article was originally published by The Silent Ballet, 23 February 2007. ———————————— When one thinks of the greatest composers ever to score film, one thinks of greats such as Toru Takemitsu, Philip Glass, Bernard Herrmann, and even John Williams. (I mean, really, who doesn’t know the music from Star Wars?) The…
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Interview: From Monument to Masses
This two part feature was originally published by The Silent Ballet in 2008. Interview conducted in San Francisco in the fall of 2007. ____________________________________________ Joseph Sannicandro hosts a discussion on politics, technology, and activism through music with From Monument To Masses, finding out why they love Mandy Moore and pick fights with Metallica. On Tuesday,…
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Emiliano Romanelli ~ 333 Loops (Volume 1)
Originally published at http://www.acloserlisten.com Emiliano Romanelli (b. 1979) is well-known amongst the Italian scene for his work in the multimedia duo Tu m’. Back at The Site Before we were pretty fond of their record Monochromes, which made our Best of 2009 list. Released on the 12k imprint LINE, the four numbered tracks were stark…
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On the Pedagogical Organization of Record Collections
This post is a revised and expanded version, originally published at A CLOSER LISTEN as “The Problem with ‘My Husband’s Stupid Record Collection.” ———————————————————- “It would be a lowly art that allows itself to be understood all at once, whose apex can be observed by the newly initiated.” – Goethe There’s a lot to like…
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Steve Reich @ 70
Originally published by The Silent Ballet, 17 December 2006 New York– I recently read an article about a Zen Buddhist practitioner whose teacher would often encourage him to reflect on the nature of sound. The teacher would strike a bell, be mindful of the creation of a noise, and mindful as it faded out, eventually…
Sound Propositions 