Paul Bailey: Retrace Our Steps (2004)
Paul Bailey: Retrace Our Steps (2004)
“Retrace Our Steps is a secular oratorio in 4 acts (2004) based on texts by Gertrude Stein, Guy Debord and Jenny Bitner. the work explores the relationships between idealism, alienation, and consumerism.”
act 4
Retrace Our Steps, Graphic Libretto
curated by david toub
anonymousremains-a-hack-in-a-trance (2010)
anonymousremains-a-hack-in-a-trance (2010)
“a music boffin enunciates Shostakovich’s signature motif, this is doubled up as 2 loops of different length
producing a phasing effect, loops of voice,mouth organ,and harp add an swirling impressionistic wash.
The title is a ‘fellow’ composers critique of Shostakovich.produced in Soundforge.”
O – anonymousremains – a hack in a trance by anonymousremains
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”
Landscaping for Privacy-Eve Beglarian (1995)
Landscaping for Privacy-Eve Beglarian (1995)
“was written in August-September 1995 for twisted tutu (Kathleen Supové, keyboards and Eve Beglarian, vocals) while we were in residence at the Bellagio Center in Italy under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation. The poem is by Linda Norton. The keyboard part was written to be played using the arpeggiator function of a synth keyboard, sort of like a new convertible with an automatic transmission. I tried to capture the fragile elation urban types feel at driving out of the city on a beautiful Saturday morning in spring.”
A recording of Landscaping for Privacy is on the CD Tell the Birds and also on the compilation CRI Emergency Music.
Landscaping for Privacy is May 30th in Eve’s ongoing project A Book of Days.
Libretto
The hedges along the parkway, the trees, the trees–
They sashay, they nearly genuflect, they breathe.
It’s good to breathe; it’s good to get away in summer,
It makes you feel clean. The city, the squalor, the mess,
That’s what’s killing us. Did I tell you about the rat
I saw in the subway last night? It had a swollen belly
And no fear, it went right for a transvestite in heels!
Enough; I know; not here, not now; I should relax,
Shut up, let go. Oh, yes, Long Island’s very fresh and nice;
Do they have rats out here, or just field mice? And I forget,
What do people do with themselves in the suburbs?
The streets are empty, the lawns unused. If I lived here,
I’d spread out, I’d hang a hammock, I’d keep sheep,
I’d dig a well. I’d build hummocks to my own
Specs, I’d be positively pastoral.But you’re right, of course. Of course, you’re right.
I couldn’t keep sheep, there’s probably an ordinance,
They’d shoot me for ruining property values.
But what’s property, anyway? Years ago
I read about a pillar of roses in an English garden
And so I own it, I have the deed by heart.
Speaking of which, pull over, look,
Here’s a surprise for you. Check out my bicep.
Do you like my new tattoo?What do you mean, “What is it, did it hurt?”
It’s a miniature gazebo! Of course it hurt!
Note the incredible detail, the wicked craftsmanship.
See–it’s a garden pagoda for me and you,
With ivy, and grass, and a snake in the grass.
Hey, what are you doing? Oh yes, that’s good,
Yes, kiss it and make it better. Because
It did hurt a bit. In fact, it hurt like hell
(Remember that night when you touched me
And I yelled?)OK, let’s drive, let’s tour the hydrangeas
And the lawns. What could be more suggestive
Than a grassy mattress? Maybe that TV glowing
In a darkened den, shades nearly drawn.
Slow down, slow down–that’s strange: a sick room,
A suburban tomb, on a day like this,
With the clouds all starched and bustling
In a Disney sky. Look, they have a gazebo, too,
Jam-packed with rusted rakes and trash.If I had their lawn I’d soak it and sun bathe on it,
I’d sleep out under the stars, I’d walk to the mall
And strap a sack of fertilizer to my back and hike
All the way home. We’ve lived in the city far too long,
Yes, that’s what’s killing us. That, and this monument
To love we lug, this brick inscribed FOREVER.
Let’s let it sink. Let’s kiss. Give me the wheel,
I’ll drive so you can look at clouds.“All clouds are clocks,” bulldozing time.
Do you remember who said that?
A pauper? A philosopher?
Well, he was right,
Those pretty clouds are bullies–Bouffant armada,
Fluffy but cruel,
Ushering last days for many.
–Linda Norton
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.
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.”
Douglas Hein: Orlando, He Dead (1985)
Douglas Hein: Orlando, He Dead (1985)
Orlando, Orlando, he dead, he dead, Orlando, he dead.Josquin, Johann, Amadeus, Ludwig, they dead, they dead, all them guys they dead.Buddy H., Brian J., Mama C. Karen C., they dead, they dead, all them guys, the dead.La, la, la …And when your dead your dead forever,forever, forever, foreverYou don’t go live no more,no more, no more, no more.You be dead more long than live‘Cuz when your dead your dead forever,Forever, forever, forever.Some day me be dead,Some day you be dead,Some day me be dead,Some day you be dead,All us guysWe deadLa, la, la ….
performed by the Cartesian Reunion Memorial Orchestra
this groundbreaking group featured compositions by Michael Bayer, Chuck Estes, Douglas Hein, William Houston, Steve Moshier, Frank Riddick, and Lloyd Rodgers. at various times, the orchestra featured musicians Jannine Livingston, harpsichord; John Glenn, bass; Lloyd Rodgers, clarinet and keyboard; Douglas Hein, acoustic guitar; Diana Halpern, violin; Joeseph Goodman, violin; and Michael Baer, violincello
DJ Wolf at renewable music (June 2005)
“Sometimes the internet is a wonderful place. Composer Paul Bailey has just put up an mp3 of Doug Hein’s Orlando he dead, one of my favorite pieces from the repertoire of the legendary Cartesian Memorial Reunion Orchestra (a semi-situationist, semi-electric chamber ensemble in the grand style of LA in the 80’s). Hein’s piece is one of the few vocal works in the Cartesian ’s repertoire, with the only lyric I know of that meaningfully includes both Orlando di Lasso and Mama Cass. It’s also one of the very few genuinely funny works of recent modern music. But more importantly, it’s an example of exquisite counterpoint and near-counterpoint and fake renaissancery.”
text and music by Douglas M. Hein
curated by Paul Bailey
Randy Gibson: Mujeres de Juárez (2009)
Randy Gibson: Mujeres de Juárez (2009)
from http://randy-gibson.com/v+sw/
“Voices + Sine Waves is a collection of short works by Randy Gibson written over the last 10 years. These works represent the most primal and basic of materials; voices ethereal and guttural; sine waves pure and distorted. Most of these pieces have been scores for short films or dances, but exist on their own as recordings of a single performance.”
Performers on Mujeres de Juárez: Laine Rettmer and Randy Gibson
Scoma: Voice III night (2009)
“The audio piece centers on the thought of the integration of human voice in sonic context. Right now a series called „voices“ is work in progress, reflecting the ways of interaction between music/sonic textures and derivates of the human voice.”
Henali: To Live (with Maria Navrotskaya)
To Live (with Maria Navrotskaya) by heinali
Henali: To Live (with Maria Navrotskaya)
Notes from soundcloud.com
