Simeon-Diex/Marcello Dirks (2009)
Simeon-Diex/Marcello Dirks (2009)
“Originally a pure piano-piece, this is breaking in Garitan’s Personal Orchestra on Kontakt 4 with a tribute-work-in-progress to one of my favorite Dutch composers; Simeon ten Holt”
marcello dirks soundcloud (synopsis decay)
marcello dirks soundcloud 1
marcello dirks soundcloud 2
Bruce Hamilton-Glibs (2010)
“Glibs” is about trying to create a static yet floating or soaring environment. I use Paul Muller’s minimalist textures a lot in my IF (ImprovFriday) mashes and usually use most or all of his tracks, but this time i just took a few bars and looped them with some processing to create a pulsing, energized, harmonic pad.
To this groove I couldn’t resist adding and tweaking Jukka-Pekka Kervien’s glitchtronica, which is also very busy but ultimately a static texture. On top of these controlled fireworks Adam Kondor’s sparse string lines hover, providing an acoustic contrast with slow melancholic melodies and counterpoint. I manipulated these lines a fair amount to get them to sit right in the harmony and in the mix.
Finally I added some warm pizzicato bass tones to flesh out the spectrum and add harmonic nuance. So ultimately it’s the acoustic string elements that provide form, and the electronic parts ,both stable and chaotic, that serve as eternal and essentially unchanging presences.
I like the simultaneously human and otherworldly feelings thesecontrasts can provide, and love the fact that these elements were contributed from around the planet and remixed within a weekend.”
via Improv Friday Event June 17th-19th 2010
commentary via Improv Friday podcast August 18th 2010
Incantations – Alan Stones (2010)
Incantation is the first of three short pieces written for a collaborative dance project with American choreographer Allyson Green and artist Peter Terezakis, which was premiered in San Diego in March of this year. The dance piece, entitled ‘Archive of Happiness’ is a rememberance and celebration of two great choreographers/dancers who recently passed away – Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham.
Curated by Jim Perkins – Alan Stones Ballad no.1 appears on twigetticast no.3
James Ross-Undifferentiated Light (2010)
James Ross-Undifferentiated Light (2010)
Solo electric guitar and Boss RC-50 looper. Inspired by Aldous Huxley’s 1961 MIT lecture, “Visionary Experience.”
Undifferentiated Light by jrossmusic
James Ross at Goodbye Blue Monday, on Fri., August 20.
also performed (on video) were Alex Carpenter and Michael Waller with help technical help from Richard Lainhart, Jim Goodin and the folks at ImprovFriday for helping to make it a great night.
Matt Marks-I Don’t Have Any Fun (2010)
Matt Marks-I Don’t Have Any Fun (2010)
from the opera “The Little Death Volume 1″
“The Little Death: Vol. 1, Matt Marks’ post-Christian nihilist pop opera, is an ambitious new work that fuses bombastic electro-pop hooks, frenetically chopped break beats, hypnotic lyrics, and apocalyptic Christian imagery. Holding these disparate elements together is a unconventional narrative that follows two characters, Boy (Matt Marks) and Girl (Mellissa Hughes), on a journey through the world of Fundamentalist Evangelism, as they cope with repressed sexuality in a modern world.
The sample-heavy work draws on musical references that echo the character’s sexual-religious confusion, including pop songs and gospel standards with evocative titles (“He Touched Me” and “When God Dips His Love In My Heart”). Marks took most of the sampled material from his own collection of 1970s gospel albums and classic hip-hop and soul recordings. Using a DIY approach, he produced the album using only a couple of microphones and a laptop running Ableton Live.
The stage show as directed by Rafael Gallegos takes inspiration from a number of sources, including The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and church lock-ins”
Alan Morse Davies-Night Falls Fast IV (2010)
Alan Morse Davies-Night Falls Fast (2005)
“Night Falls Fast was composed for the contemporary dance work of the same name by John Utans. The original performance was with the Milwaukee Ballet at the Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee, U.S.A. in February 2005.
Sections of the work were also used for the stage play “Through Wyeth’s Window” by the Aperture Tectonics Theatre Company at the Prince Music Theater, Philadelphia, U.S.A. in 2006.
In 2009 the earlier parts were remastered and a new 6th part added. The 1st, 2nd and 6th parts were then used in a new interpretation of the dance piece by John Utans for HKAPA dancers at the Monaco Dance Forum on 1st, 2nd and 3rd of April 2010 in Monte Carlo”
Night Falls Fast (archive.org)
From Honey to Ashes – Baby Bats
Baby bats is an improvised performance from Jeremy Keenan, Matt Lewis and Edgar Curtis, otherwise known as From Honey to Ashes.The sound world is created through a combination of foley, granulation, comb filtering and audio pops and clicks. Real-time rhythmic synchronicity is achieved between players by using a central network through which patterns are passed around and instruments are interconnected.
the sea, the sea- My Fun/Justin Hardison (2009)
the sea, the sea- My Fun/Justin Hardison (2009)
My Fun is the slightly eccentric nom de guerre of Justin Hardison, a musician, who uses field recordings, lush electronics and samples to make quite lovely, if also quite bittersweet music. – Rare Frequency
He also runs The Land Of label
Simeon- Diex/Marcello Dirks (2009)
“Originally a pure piano-piece, this is breaking in Garritan’s Personal Orchestra on Kontakt 4 with a tribute-work-in-progress to one of my favorite Dutch composers; Simeon ten Holt.”
marcello dirks website (via synopsis decay @soundcloud)
Simeon by Diex
when someone loves you no more: Derrick Hart (2010)
when someone loves you no more: Derrick Hart (2010)
fall asleep to this EP via archive.org“when someone loves you no more” begins with a profound wailing on behalf of anyone who has ever suffered before blooming into some incomprehensible sonic victory. it is performed only with his voice, captured with a contact-mic, processed and converted.
With his “fall asleep to this” EP he goes a more experimental and meditative way. The five tracks are mainly based on vocals, even though there are no actual lyrics. “To follow Derrick’s advice: The EP serves as a meditation tool to listen to before sleeping. So plug your earphones in and fall asleep.
Anton Baibakov: Music for Stop Motion Camera (2010)
Anton Baibakov: Music for Stop Motion Camera (2010)
“this track, the dream of fixing time in the conditional space.”
Music for stop motion camera by Anton Baibakov
curated by Heinali
Oliver Blank – We Were Walking in the Rain (2009)
“The album, Karhu ja Tiikerini, tells the story of two animals who come together. We Were Walking In The Rain takes a moment away from the narrative to set a scene and let the listener just be. Unlike the rest of the album, where I tried to move away from electronics, the track’s foundation lies in software processing. A piece of source music was run through the iRedux software (www.iredux.net) to create a noisy melodic bed. The noise was then recut to bring a progression to the piece and Maiju Lempinen’s beautiful violin playing was layered with vocal harmonies and whispered words. Listen carefully and you’ll hear that the piece also incorporates melodic themes that appear earlier and later in the album.”
Play We Were Walking in the Rain
Download We Were Walking in the Rain
via jim perkins twigetticast #2
Jeremy Keenan (Upside Down Umbrella): 4 am Hong Kong Sun (2010)
am Hong Kong Sun: delirious + delicious = deliricious? A recording unit, a stereo pair of microphones, and an excellent Chinese dinner at a particularly strange juncture. Later that night, an MS20 analog synth recording, some editing and a basic structure. The next day, a guitar and bass guitar overdub by Alex Abalos, and some additive synthesis atmosphere. Finally, some live granular overdubs by Edgar Curtis, and a lot of mixing. Enjoy your meal.
Download 4am Hong Kong Sun (clip)
curated by Jim Perkins from his twigetticast #2
Corey Dargel: The Opposite of Love (2010)
Corey Dargel: The Opposite of Love (2010)
“The songs on Corey Dargel’s Every Day Is the Same Day — scored for voice, violin, and digital looping — present worst-case scenarios as possible solutions for boredom and loneliness. They are part of a larger work in development with Cornelius Dufallo, violinist of the string quartet ETHEL. New Amsterdam Records is pleased to present this free EP as a companion to Corey’s Someone Will Take Care of Me, due out May 25.”
Joanne Gabriel: Life (2010)
Almighty is a concept album (soon to be released). It was inspired by a long and detailed dream I had in my teens and consists in 10 soundscapes, each one being completed by a short text describing the main scenes in the dream. Chapter 5 “Life”,describes the moment when the Planet has been transformed and when life emerges everywhere.
Play Life
Download Life
via jim perkins twigetticast #2
Shane Cadman: Music for Insomniacs #3 (2009)
Shane Cadman: Music for Insomniacs #3 (2009)
from his website…
“This page is dedicated to a collection of acoustic ambient compositions I am writing called “Music for Insomniacs.” These pieces are composed on no more than three staves and have no specific instrumentation, so that they can later be orchestrated as needed/desired by the performers. They will each be slow in nature (otherwise how could someone fall asleep to them), and generally five to ten minutes long. These also fit nicely into a concept I have called “realistic music.” “Realistic music” is music that can be performed live at an acceptable level by competent musicians with no more than three hours of rehearsal time.The scores on this page are free to print and perform. All I ask is that you report any and all performances to ASCAP, as well as to Illustrious Music. Also, while performance tempos are marked on the scores, they are there as reference points – the pieces may be played faster or slower as desired by the performers…”
Walls and Whispers: Steve Moyes (2009)
Walls and Whispers: Steve Moyes (2009)
looped guitar improvisation originally posted at ImprovFriday Event: October 23rd 2009
Oliver Blank: Lumi Karhu (2009)
Oliver Blank: Lumi Karhu (2009)
‘Oliver Blank is a composer living in Helsinki, Finland. His first album, Karhu ja Tiikerini, features husky dogs, whispering, very small guitars, string quartets, mechanical pianos and the sound of Lapland on a cold Winter’s night. Karhu ja Tiikerini, tells the story of a bear and tiger. The title, translated from Finnish, means, “Bear and My Tiger.” The two animals meet in the wild and, despite their cultural differences, become close friends.
Lumi Karhu can be translated from Finnish literally as ‘Snow Bear’. The piece follows Bear’s journey through the seasons. From tumultuous weather hunting for food in the dark to long Summer days eating berries. The forest changes around Bear and he learns to survive on his own. The piece was originally recorded in Jyväskylä, 2009, and features violinist Maiju Lempinen.’
Heinali-Ave Moog (2009)
notes via the composer:
“Ave Moog is a sort of ode to the legendary rich and powerful sound of analog synthesizers. It could remind of Vavilov’s or Bach’s “Ave Maria” but the chord progression isn’t actually based on any of them, though it was inspired by Vavilov’s (Caccini) version. Dedicated to Robert Moog”
curated by paul bailey
Mark Harris: Still Frame (2009)
Mark Harris: Still Frame (2009)
“an experiment in granular synthesis. created from two notes (a piano and violin tone)“
website
curated by: Paul Muller
Adam Kondor: Ildikó Vékony (2009)
Adam Kondor: Ildikó Vékony (2009)
Adam Kondor’s memorial to his ex-wife who died in a fall while rock climbing. The performance is a mashup of found sounds/field recordings and his wife performing his Six Sonate for Cimbalom Solo
“Ildikó was one of the world’s premiere cimbalom players (in Adam’s own words “She was the best cimbalom player in Hungary, and for classical music probably the best all over the world – not many people play Bach on cimbalom”), and a composer in her own right. She’s featured on all kinds of major recordings, and had worked with everyone from Kurtag to Ligeti to Eötvös (in fact she was soloist just last January in NYC at Zankel Hall, in a concert led by Eötvös)” http://bit.ly/6rMCcq
you can read more about the memorial here
Joanne Gabriel: Daybreak (2009)
[Joanne Gabriel: Daybreak (2009)
Listen to more tracks.
‘Daybreak is the first track from the “Landscapes” opus, recorded for the ‘50 songs in 90 days challenge of Summer 2008‘. Like all the other tracks in this opus, it is a soundscape inspired by contemplation and describing a scene in the form of sound-art.’
curated via Jim Perkins from his twigetticast (itunes podcast)
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Paul Bailey: Music for Controllers V (2009)
Paul Bailey: Music for Controllers V
via paul bailey:
“improvisation performed and recorded live created by using various “controllers” (macbookpro, ableton live, korg nanokey, iphone, (buddha machine and srutibox) originally performed on ImprovFriday event. October 16th-17th 2009″
Music for Controllers V by paul bailey
curated by Shane Cadman
Alan Morse Davies: The Sontaran Experiment in the Style of Jóhann Jóhannsson (2009)
The Sontaran Experiment in the Style of Jóhann Jóhannsson
notes via alan:
“Just a bit of fun… I was playing around with how Jóhann Jóhannsson uses little splashes of a melodic motif bound together with big tracts of connective tissue, and I had the idea of linking it with one of my favourite Dr. Who epsiodes where the Sontarans travel back in time to made DaVinci paint multiple copies of the Mona Lisa in order to make themselves rich in the future. The explanation probably over-hypes the result by some order of magnitude.”
alan morse davies (wordpress.com)
curated by paul bailey
thanks also to marc weidenbaum’s excellent site disquiet.com for introducing me to the music of alan morse davies (and many others)
