Amy X Neuburg in LA

Amy X Neuburg continues to perform The Secret Language of Subways in cool concert settings. This time, she's part of the LA Philharmonic's West Coast/Left Coast festival.

Today in his blog, festival director John Adams writes:

"Those of you in the Los Angeles zip code are urged not to miss the spectacular Amy X Neuberg, who with her Cello ChiXtet will be performing tonight at Zipper Hall (right across the street from Disney Hall)... Don’t miss her show. She’s the best thing to come out Oakland since Jack London."

A CD of The Secret Language of Subways, released by MinMax earlier this year, already has pulled in some impressive reviews. Recently, Audiophile Audition wrote Amy's CD is "like Laurie Anderson joining up with Philip Glass or Annie Sofie Von Otter collaborating with Steve Reich."

This CD is available at Amazon.

CD Baby also has Subways in stock.

And it can be downloaded at iTunes.

Sound + Vision Praises Surround Sound, Starkland

The most widely read consumer electronics magazine in the world, Sound + Vision, focuses on surround sound and compliments Starkland's 2 surround DVDs in the new December issue. Their editorial comments include:

"We here at S+V continue to wholeheartedly embrace music in surround... Groundbreaking surround-sound releases are still coming from the likes of King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and Genesis... Music in surround is here to stay."

They add that Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze is one of the new "multi-channel titles that deserve a shout-out." Daze has also been praised in The New York Times, Stereophile, New York Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, and over a dozen other publications.

We are also quite pleased that Entertainment Editor Ken Richardson ranks Starkland's Immersion DVD as a "landmark" surround sound release. We agree! Immersion was the first commissioned hi-res surround recording, as well as being the first new music hi-res surround recording.

For the Immersion DVD, Starkland commissioned new surround works from Paul Dolden, Paul Dresher, Ellen Fullman, Phil Kline, Lukas Ligeti, Ingram Marshall, Merzbow, Meredith Monk, Bruce Odland, Pauline Oliveros, Maggi Payne, Carl Stone, and Pamela Z.

Pro Sound News declared that Immersion is the "first DVD-A released featuring works composed specifically for the new surround medium." Over a dozen publications praised the DVD, including Billboard, Stereophile, and Fanfare.

Tomlinson Holman, one of the world's leading surround sound authorities, stated "this fascinating disc" is among the first "to show composers stretching the boundaries of recorded sound by exploring the new possibilities inherent in DVD-Audio."

Visit Starkland for more about these 2 groundbreaking DVDs.

Amy X Neuburg CD: Like Laurie Anderson joining up with Philip Glass

"Like Laurie Anderson joining up with Philip Glass or Annie Sofie Von Otter collaborating with Steve Reich" is how Audiophile Audition describes Amy X Neuburg's The Secret Language of Subways CD.

This new review observes, "The thirteen tracks teeter and admirably balance between avantgarde, performance art, pop sensibilities and contemporary classical," adding that "its Neuburg's application of electronics and multi-layered lyrics that capture the imagination and captivate the listener."

Reviewer Doug Simpson concludes, "The production is exactingly recorded. The voices and strings are rich and resonant and Neuburg's vocals have articulate vibrancy while the cellos lose none of their natural timbres."

This CD is available at Amazon.

CD Baby also has Subways in stock.

And it can be downloaded at iTunes.

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Phil Kline at Brooklyn Academy of Music caps active 2009

Composer Phil Kline is having a big year. His music will soon be heard at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave series, as part of Really Real from choreographer Wally Cardona. Phil’s music will be performed live by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Really Real will be presented Nov. 17, 19, 20, and 21 at BAM.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show discussed Phil's Rumsfeld Songs on 9/11/09.

Earlier this year, Starkland released Phil’s longest work to date, Around the World in a Daze, commissioned by Starkland to premiere on this surround sound DVD. Daze has been widely praised in such publications as The New York Times, Stereophile, New York Magazine, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Daze peaked as the #1 Bestseller on Amazon's Indie Classical Charts and was selected as a “Pick of the Week” at the largest public radio station in the country (WNYC).

On the same day as the release of the Daze DVD from Starkland, Phil’s John the Revelator CD was released by Cantaloupe as part of a joint promotional effort by the two new music labels. The Cantaloupe CD has also picked up an impressive set of reviews and the disc charted on Billboard's classical crossover list.

In March, the world premiere of Phil’s SPACE was performed by the Ethel Quartet at Alice Tully Hall’s newly unveiled lobby, in a dramatically spatial presentation called "hypnotically attractive" by the New York Times.

In May, Ethel performed SPACE at the Kennedy Center in another unconventionally spatial rendition.

Kudos to Phil for his fine ’09.

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Rinde Eckert: Interview, "Slow Fire," "Ravenshead"

It’s great to see an interview with the mesmerizing Rinde Eckert appear at New Music Box. If you’re accustomed to his typically severe stage roles, here you find the more lighthearted realworld Rinde in a video that also includes excerpts from some of his creations. The interview is effectively handled by the diligent Molly Sheridan.

One of Rinde’s first major works was Slow Fire, an “electric opera” with music by Paul Dresher.

CD Review wrote about this CD:

"Rinde Eckert is like Laurie Anderson with an attitude or Tom Waits with a voice... Framed by a Dresher score that integrates hyper-kinetic, minimalist funk, mysterious atmospheres, gamelan cycles, and some burning electric guitar, Eckert gives a mesmerizing recitation... psychotic in its raw power."

Another impressive CD from with Rinde is Ravenshead, with music by Steve Mackey. USA Today anointed Ravenshead as the "Best Opera of '98,” remarking that Eckert delivered “a tour de force to Mackey's insinuating rock-influenced score."

The work combines Mackey's multi-faceted score, Rinde's dazzling physicality and mordant wit, and a superb performance by the Paul Dresher Ensemble to produce what the New York Press called "equal parts MTV video and Metropolitan Opera."

The Los Angeles Times wrote that the opera is "astonishing," that Eckert's "brilliant" performance "entertains us, amazes us and shatters us," and that Steve Mackey's music has "the energy of rock."

Rinde's discography is listed at his website.

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