Starkland

"Target" CD: Daring, Hendrixian, Captivating, Powerful

2011-12-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm really pleased that favorable reviews continue to appear for Starkland's Keeril Makan "Target" CD.

In the new Fanfare, Robert Carl concludes that Makan's Resonance Alloy is "one of the best pure-sound pieces I've heard in some time." He finds the "near-psychotic" song cycle Target is a "terrifying" and "daring piece." And he notes the virtuosic solo-cello work Zones d'accord "creates near-overwhelming sounds" that move "from breathier harmonic sweeps to Hendrixian explosions."

Vital Weekly recently stated that the "Target" CD is "a great release" full of "captivating and engaging music." Critic Dolf Mulder especially savored the performances from Alex Waterman ("breathtaking"), Laurie Rubin ("beautiful"), and David Shively ("an amazing tour de force").

Lucid Culture praises the CD as "strange and powerful," "intriguing and diverse," and "minimalist yet often absolutely massive." Writer Alan Young was also stunned by the "viscerally mesmerizing" Resonance Alloy.

Even the venerable but staid Gramophone is attracted to the "extraordinary extremes" of the CD, writing:

"On a purely musical level, these first recordings of four works by Makan are about creating expectations out of chaos, tuning the listener’s ear and creating a sound world in which music emerges unexpectedly out of violent textures, gestures and cries."

CDs Will Top Digital Sales for the Foreseeable Future

2011-11-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

An interesting look at projections for physical vs. digital music sales emerges from recent data furnished by top sources. Combining sales data from PricewaterhouseCooper and Gartner, I created this graph:

"CDs still beat digital music, and will do so for the foreseeable future" is the conclusion reached by tech writer Dwight Silverman.

Physical sales (ie, CDs) income of about $15 billion in 2011 makes the latest urban myth that major labels will stop releasing CDs sometime in 2012 sound rather implausible.

I found my data here.

NPR Features Phillip Bimstein's "Bushy Wushy" Piece

2011-10-22T13:11:00.000-06:00

The World Series has prompted NPR to rebroadcast a Hearing Voices show which features Phillip Bimstein's aural portrait of "Bushy Wushy," who sold beer in Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, for more than forty years. If you missed the broadcast, you can listen here. Other segments offer Barrett Golding spending a season with the Rookie League and singer/playwright Terry Allen defining the many meanings of Dug-Out.

There's also now a Bushy Wushy video at YouTube.

Bimstein began the piece by visiting Busch Stadium, recording the crack of the bat from behind home plate, the ball slamming into the catcher's mitt, and other baseball game sounds. He then combined these sampled sounds with stories told by the charming Bushy Wushy, all tied together with a score for wind quintet performed by the Equinox Chamber Players.

Other aural portraits on this Starkland CD feature the harmonica player and storyteller Larkin Gifford, and the Las Vegas dice-caller Tom Martinet, who offers insights into the superstitions and psychologies of gambling.

In the CD's Introduction, John Adams writes, "Like their composer, the pieces on this album communicate a generous and good-natured spirit that is tempered with wry wit and a special sense of the western landscape and culture that he so loves."

In The New York Times, Steve Smith commented that "The irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music has less to do with technology than with his uncanny knack for finding the music of everday life." Read the full review.

And Stereophile called Bimstein "an American original" whose "stunning and heartwarming" CD offers "quirky, moving, and delightful musical journeys." Read the full review.

This "Larkin Gifford's Harmonica" CD is available at Amazon, iTunes, CD Baby, etc.

Keeril Makan "Target" CD: 3 videos

2011-10-07T14:25:00.001-06:00

Three videos with music from Starkland's new "Target" Keeril Makan CD are now available.

Zone's d'accord, performed by Alex Waterman at the CD release concert in September at New York's Issue Project Room, appears here:

The CD's actual studio recording of Resonance Alloy, performed by David Shively, was videotaped at Legacy Sound:

David Lang describes Target as "muscular and terrifying... a scary, aggressive juggernaut of invention." This video presents the second section "Leaflet I," performed by the California E.A.R. Unit and mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin:

Read more about this "approachable and mesmerizing" CD, which has been praised in Gramophone, Sequenza21, Chamber Musician Today, and New Music Box.

Starkland's new Keeril Makan "Target" CD Now Available at Amazon, iTunes, more

2011-09-01T11:30:00.002-06:00

Starkland has released Keeril Makan’s “Target” CD, which is now available at: Amazon, CD Baby, and iTunes. (You can hear previews at both iTunes and CD Baby).

Makan has been described as “an arrestingly gifted young American composer” by The New Yorker, and has already received some impressive commissions, including the Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hall, Bang on a Can All-Stars, American Composers Orchestra, and the Other Minds Festival. The CD has premiere recordings of four works: 2, Zones d’accord, Target, and Resonance Alloy.

At New Music Box, Alexandra Gardner comments that the music gives "the ears a workout with timbral complexity drawn from a remarkably spare amount of material that sneaks up and delivers a whollop of powerful emotional content," adding "the recording is of excellent quality."

At Sequenza21, Jay Batzner writes, “The quartet of pieces on Target serve as excellent examples of what makes Makan’s compositions approachable and mesmerizing... Makan makes what should be simple and mundane captivating and engrossing.”

At The Glass, Chris McGovern writes, “Keeril Makan is definitely a composer that is destined for greatness, and this recording is proof of that.”

David Lang, co-founder of the Bang on a Can festival and a Pulitzer-winning composer, wrote the CD’s Introduction. He remarks that when he first heard Makan’s music he was “blown away [by works] so strong and so smart.”

The title piece emerged from Makan’s participation in the John Harbison/Dawn Upshaw Workshop for Composers and Singers. Commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Makan collaborated with poet Jena Osman to create Target for soprano and chamber ensemble. Regarding Target’s premiere at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times observed:

“‘Target,’ is a moody, ruminative and volatile setting of a text assembled from poems by Jena Osman and phrases taken from leaflets dropped over Afghanistan in the wake of Sept. 11, scored for mezzo-soprano and four instrumentalists, including a percussionist. It is meant as a stinging political commentary on American military intervention abroad. Mr. Makan responded to the earthy, rich and poignant qualities of Ms. Rubin's voice by writing music thick with sliding, moaning figurations for the voice and all the instruments… she gave a courageous performance of difficult music that clearly speaks to her.”

Lang attended the premiere of the “muscular and terrifying” Target, “a scary, aggressive juggernaut of invention.” He remarks that the disturbing text captures “a kind of violent, psychological damage that takes place deep beneath the surface layer of ordinary words.” The CD’s performance features Rubin and the California E.A.R.Unit.

The CD opens with 2, performed by the Either/Or duo of percussionist David Shively and Ethel violinist Jennifer Choi. 20th Century Music writes, “This was a masterful piece, one of the best heard this year. Far from music in the abstract, 2 is a work-it-out-in-the-raw-sounds kind of piece that revels in its sonic splendors.”

Zones d’accord is performed on the CD by Alex Waterman from Either/Or. Sequenza21 comments, “The virtuosity of Waterman’s right hand is truly stunning… [and he]draws out Makan’s ecstatic emotional arc throughout the performance.”

The CD ends with Resonance Alloy (commissioned by Other Minds), recorded by percussionist David Shively in an astonishing, single, unedited performance of the 29 minute work.

Lang concludes that “the emotionality of it all, the drama, the depth of feeling, percolating way down deep, never boiling over and yet never going away” is “strangely powerful, and all his own.”

Tom Steenland and Keeril Makan (and Louis Andriessen)

All the original recordings were made at high-resolution (24-bit,48k/88.2k sampling) audiophile standards. The three non-vocal works were recorded by the Grammy-winning Silas Brown.

Makan’s only other CD, "In Sound" (Tzadik), received impressive reviews: “Top 10 CDs for 2008” (New Music Box); “An amazing disc” (Sequenza21); “frontiers are crossed in this music” (American Record Guide).

Unique Commissioning Program: Season 2

2011-08-03T13:22:00.001-06:00

The unique CLICK commissioning program, inaugurated last year by the Colorado Music Festival, has entered its second season.

Anyone can vote (by donating $10) for one of four composers. Thus all the voters both fund the commission and select the winning composer. In addition to joining a club to commission new music, voters will have their name inscribed on the score of the finished piece. The persons with the highest number of votes will have the piece dedicated to them.

Voting is now underway, the commission will be announced early this fall, and the new work will be premiered during CMF's 2012 season. The composers, with links to biographies and music excerpts, are:

Daniel Kellogg
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Mark Grey
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Kevin Puts
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Jay Greenberg
Read Biography
Listen to Music

Michael Christie, the Festival's adventurous Music Director, comments, “I'm thrilled that our audience was as intrigued by this commissioning project as I hoped. It's a unique program that micro-finances the creation of new works and gives the community a feeling of ownership. It's really a people's commission,” says Michael Christie.

Last year's winner, Patrick Zimmerli, had his commissioned piece premiered this season at CMF. You can listen to the full piece here, and read more here.

Patrick Zimmerli (L) and Michael Christie

Voting closes on August 31.

Louis Andriessen: Hoketus: New York Stock Exchange Plaza

2011-07-15T13:25:00.002-06:00

It's not everyday you get to experience a classic avant-garde work outdoors at the center of the world's finances. Such was the case when Louis Andriessen's Hoketus was performed at the New York Stock Exchange Plaza during Make Music New York this year. One quintet was on the street, facing the other quintet ensconced in the balcony of the New York Stock Exchange. The exciting performance captivated the crowd, and I've assembled a brief video of the 25-minute work:

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Yarn/Wire led the performers: Ian Antonio, Russell Greenberg (congas); Laura Barger, Ning Yu (pianos); Michael Gallope, Jacob Rhodebeck (keyboards); Erin Lesser, Christa Van Alstine (pan flutes); Tony Gedrich, Joe Higgins (electric bass).

David Lang: "warmth" at BOAC Marathon

2011-07-07T12:17:00.001-06:00

David Lang introduces his "warmth" piece, followed by the opening section performed by electric guitarists Taylor Levine and James Moore. From the Bang on a Can 2011 Marathon.

Patrick Zimmerli Premiere: Uniquely Funded by the Colorado Music Festival

2011-07-02T12:40:00.001-06:00

The first-of-its-kind CLICK! crowdfunded commissioning project, started last year by the adventurous Colorado Music Festival, reached a culmination with the premiere of Patrick Zimmerli's Festival Overture on June 30.

Last summer, CMF solicited votes (at $10 each) for four possible composers. With sufficient funds raised, the tallied votes favored Zimmerli, who then had about 7 months to create the 12-minute orchestral work.

Patrick Zimmerli (L) and Michael Christie (R) at a pre-concert talk.

In a pre-concert talk, the personable Zimmerli mentioned he found inspiration by studying some classic works, such as Brahms' Tragic Overture, Beethoven's Leonore overtures, Wagner's Tristan, and even Holiday Overture, an early (1944) Elliott Carter work.

Indeed, this Festival Overture started with a three-note motive presented with an energetic, Brahmsian swagger, followed by quieter, more plaintive materials heard in the woodwinds, followed by development of these two ideas. The piece was solidly tonal, readily accessible, and pleased the enthusiastic audience. I suspect the work will be programmed by others down the road.

While I liked the piece, this conservative music perhaps reflected the standard repertoire a little too diligently. An edgier work, touching more on today's contemporary music possibilities, would have engaged me more.

Patrick Zimmerli (L) and Tom Steenland (R)

Nevertheless, this well-crafted piece clearly fulfilled its purpose and represents a fine start to the CMF's ambitious CLICK! commissioning program, conceived and implemented by the imaginative Music Director Michael Christie.

Also on the program were Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (in an unusual presentation with the Marcus Roberts Trio), Copland's Prairie Journal (one of his earliest "American" pieces), and Ansel Adams: America, with music by David and Chris Brubeck accompanying projected slides of classic Adams photos.

Trimpin: The Gurs Zyklus: pre-concert video

2011-06-11T13:35:00.001-06:00

In connection with the Stanford premiere of Trimpin's The Gurs Zyklus, I shot some simple video of rehearsals and Trimpin's pre-concert talk. I then merged that material into a short video to give an idea of what transpires in this unusual work.

Trimpin: The Gurs Zyklus

2011-05-26T15:42:00.001-06:00

The sound sculptor/composer Trimpin has received a MacArthur "genius" grant, been the subject of a full-length documentary film, and profiled in The New Yorker. His work has been featured in hundreds of installations, exhibitions, performances, and new music festivals around the world. Attending the unveiling of a major, ambitious sound/theater work from Trimpin seemed pretty compelling to me.

I found the May 14 premiere at Stanford of The Gurs Zyklus to be moving and inventive, and, at times, unfocused.

The 75-minute melange attempts to merge Trimpin’s various connections to Gurs (a temporary holding place in France for Jews headed to concentration camps), the composer Conlon Nancarrow, Franco's fascism in Spain, and some personal historical materials furnished to Trimpin.

The work was directed by the highly talented Rinde Eckert, who also performed a central role. There were also four excellent female vocalists/performers (Thomasa Eckert, Susan Rode Morris, Katya Roemer, and Linda Strandberg).

Trimpin and Rinde Eckert

While Trimpin was developing this work, he was contacted by Victor Rosenberg, who offered the use of a substantial cache of letters and postcards sent by relatives who had been imprisoned in Gurs by the Nazis.

And during Trimpin’s residency at Stanford, he was amazed to be contacted by a local person, Manfred Wildman, who, as a 10-year boy, had actually been interned in Gurs, and who furnished Trimpin with his written observations and drawings made while at Gurs. Eckert’s effective reading of these heartbreaking comments along with the projections of the child’s drawings were likely the emotional high point of the evening. Both Manfred Wildman and Victor Rosenberg attended this premiere performance.

Victor Rosenberg, Trimpin, and Manfred Wildman

The production also included several of Trimpin’s complex assemblages. There were two shifting teeter-totters, on which rolled revolving multi-sided boxes with several speakers emitting trains sounds from along the route to Gurs. A picture wheel rotated through images from the train route. Another instrument was Trimpin’s Fire Organ (which produces sounds when Bunsen burners pull heated air through tubes).

Revolving multi-speaker unit on teeter-totter

Trimpin’s wizardry also remotely played pianos, xylophone-like keyboards, and other instruments spread throughout the hall. In addition, at times water dripped from multiple high-up sources into lighted glass canisters, producing both audible and visual results. Three beautiful hanging glass spheres represent Kristallnacht.

In the past, Trimpin has adamantly preferred that his sound sources be purely acoustic. I was pleased that in this piece, he expanded his sonic palette to include loudspeakers, both within the revolving teeter-totter units and via voices that received some delay/reverb enhancements.

How well does this complex, ambitious undertaking weave together all these loosely connected elements?

The results varied. The reading of emotionally-laden text by the charismatic Eckert was the most directly affecting. There were a number of visually striking moments. There were sections of sonic interest, especially when instruments spatially deployed around the concert hall were all activated.

On the other hand, those unfamiliar with Trimpin, Nancarrow, November 9, 1938, etc. might be confused and not strongly involved. For example, it’s not obvious when the Fire Organ is sounding notes. The complexity of the teeter-totter-revolving-speakers unit could be overlooked, and confining them to the stage diminished the spatial effects experienced by the audience.

Trimpin’s devices, when presented in an installation, allow viewers to inspect them, wander amidst them, read about their intricacies, and become caught up in his elegant, eccentric constructions. But placing them on a stage diminishes their impact. As a result, the production, during the non-narrative sections, seemed unfocused, working too long to fill time. Those hanging glass spheres were quite attractive, but their manipulations by the performers became overly extended and repetitious.

I don’t think a work like this must have a clear, linear narrative structure. A collection of strong music, dramatic staging, and striking visuals can enthrall an audience without telling us a story, such as in the Philip Glass and Robert Wilson masterpiece Einstein on the Beach. But this initial version, The Gurs Zyklus hasn’t found the right combination to create a powerful evening. It feels like a work in progress.

I happen to know that some dramatic stagework had to be omitted for practical reasons. The dripping water streams, for example, can be programmed by Trimpin to display cascading letters and thus spell names, such as Nazi victims in this case. But some concern about potentially soaking the front row audience put the damper on such use in this setting. And that teeter-totter, confined here to the stage, can be much bigger and extend out alongside the audience, which would greatly increase the acoustic envelopment. (Apparently an attentive fire-marshal nixed blocking exits.)

With adjustments, Gurs can be improved. The good news is that future performances are planned for Seattle and perhaps elsewhere.

The gutsy support of this unique work by Stanford’s Lively Arts and its Director Jenny Bilfield has been remarkable. Not only did Lively Arts commission this work, but they also supported a year-long residency by Trimpin at Stanford. There were concerts, Kinetic Sound Sculpture workshops, a public interview conducted by Paul DeMarinis, and a free preview talk and stage tour the day before the premiere, conducted by Trimpin himself. Support of such experimental undertakings is clearly part of a major university’s mission. Kudos to Jenny and Lively Arts.

Persichetti CD: "A joy!"

2011-05-10T16:38:00.002-06:00

It's great when a review opens with: "What a joy to listen to this one!" Critic Dolf Mulder, writing in the Dutch publication Vital Weekly, finds "some truly charming and very enjoyable" music in Ellen Burmeister's "delicate and dedicated performance."

Ellen Burmeister

He concludes that these Persichetti piano "compositions are not outdated, but sound very fresh and full of sparkling surprises."

This new review follows other enthusiastic reviews in Audiophile Audition, American Record Guide, and Lucid Culture.

Alarm Will Sound "1969" Denver Concert

2011-04-25T12:35:00.000-06:00

Alarm Will Sound's "1969" concert in Denver was a real treat, especially when considering there has been only one other performance of the work's full version, at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. The generative idea behind this evening-length composition is a purported planned meeting between the Beatles and Karlheinz Stockhausen on February 9, 1969 at Lukas Foss's New York apartment. While the meeting never happened, the notion of establishing a connection between the pop and avant-garde music worlds intrigued Alan Pierson, Alarm Will Sound's Conductor and Artistic Director, to start developing this unusual work. The other main concern of "1969" is looking at the relationship between music and the revolutionary sociopolitical events taking place.

Pre-concert discussion with Director Nigel Maister
and Conductor Alan Pierson

This ambitious piece assembles music from The Beatles, Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Leonard Bernstein, etc., and often the original pieces are types of mashups themselves ("Revolution 9" from the Beatles, Mass from Bernstein, Sinfonia from Berio, etc.). There are also 3 screens onstage, showing familiar images from those heady times (the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Vietnam, John and Yoko, etc.) The musicians themselves portray numerous key characters, declaiming actual first-person dialogue throughout.

I recall, when studying music around the time, the huge gap between pop vs. "serious" music. After analyzing Schoenbergian tone rows, you'd return home to play, say, the latest from the Jefferson Airplane. These realms were far apart. It's been a wonderful development over the years to see these worlds overlap and become quite common in today's alt-classical scene.

"1969" is effectively created and very skillfully performed. Those expecting some Big Message will be disappointed, but it seems wise to avoid a simplistic summary. The voices were sometimes unclear. The final link to 2011 seemed a little forced.

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to attend this significant concert, and major credit goes to Steve Seifert, the imaginative director of the Newman Center Presents series at the Univ. of Denver. He clearly knows what is worthwhile and engaging in today's new music world. Steve has also managed to bring us Gabriel Kahane, Burkina Electra, Andy Akiho, Evan Ziporyn, Michael Harrison, and So Percussion. Next season, he's developing some impressive plans bringing the hot JACK Quartet to town.

Stephen Seifert

Amidst today's panic about dwindling classical audiences, it's impressive that this Denver concert drew about the same-sized audience as the New York concert. It helps that Denver's main classical critic, the Denver Post's astute Kyle MacMillan, has enthusiastically written about these new music concerts.

Lest we take such presentations for granted, I note how the Univ. of Colorado's Artist Series in Boulder for years has settled for safe, conservative, unadventurous programming. They could learn from their southern neighbors.

Kahane Duo Dazzles Denver

2011-03-26T13:33:00.001-06:00

“Crossover” concerts usually fail, but Friday night’s blended genre concert at Denver’s Newman Center was a resounding success, a convincing presentation of indie pop and standard classical. That the two performers were father and son warmly enriched the evening.

While local audiences are familiar with the fine pianist and conductor Jeffery Kahane (who was Music Director of the Colorado Symphony for years), I suspect the big discovery of the night was his multi-talented son Gabriel.

Gabriel and Jeffrey opened with Bach effectively arranged by György Kurtág for two-pianos, which easily segued into a Gabriel composition.

Gabriel next discussed “Chuck” Ives, seeing him as a “father of avant-garde” and one of the earliest creators of mashups. He touchingly sang two Ives songs during the concert, along with Samuel Barber’s charming “Pangur” song from his Hermit Cycle.

The longest set of the intermission-less concert was prefaced by Jeffrey recalling the original Schubertiade events, where the gang gathered to play a potpourri of Schubert's music, along with other music, poetry readings, dancing, etc. Whereupon father and son performed their own such mini event. Jeffery alternated Schubert Impromptus with Gabriel performing his own engaging songs (accompanying himself on both piano and guitar), including “Durrants,” “North Adams” (about a father and son walking in the woods) from his eponymous 2008 debut CD, as well as “LA.”

Jeffrey then performed the meaty, engaging Django: Tiny Variations on a Big Dog, written by Gabriel for him and premiered at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, described by The New York Times as “most striking, if only for the virtuosity and varied stylistic sensibility it demanded.”

Gabriel also performed a song from his Craigslist Lieder collection, which initially brought him recognition as an emerging talent. This tag-team concluded the concert with an arrangement of a traditional tune by Benjamin Britten, whom apparently they both revere.

This first-ever such concert was conjured up by mastermind Steve Seifert, the imaginative, adventurous Executive Director of Newman Center Presents.

I don’t recall ever experiencing a concert with this type of diversified richness, merging sophisticated pop with classical, featuring an abundantly talented father and son duo. Some comments from Gabriel in the program notes help explain his evolution, remarking that he grew up “amidst snippets of Brahms 2nd Piano Concert and Mozart K. 482, Paul Simon's Graceland and the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper.” It all comes together because of certain intrinsic values that transcend genre, such as “attention to solid architecture, quality of sound, and above all, emotional integrity.”

Even more impressive is that we really only saw the indie pop side of Gabriel, who also composes “serious” new music. The Kronos Quartet commissioned a string quartet which will debut in May, and that same month, a work commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic will also debut, to be conducted by John Adams.

Along the way, Gabriel has also performed with bluegrass mandolinist Chris Thile and singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, as well as pianist Jeremy Denk and bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff. And he is much in demand as a music theater composer.

I sure hope he can successfully juggle all the above.

Phil Kline Workshop

2011-03-17T15:15:00.001-06:00

Make Music New York and MATA have announced a new Call-For-Proposals for a workshop, led by Phil Kline, to explore new participatory outdoor soundworks. Ten composers will be chosen for the workshop, which will discuss feasibility, creativity, and public art in general. The workshop will take place on May 10 during the 2011 MATA Festival, and will be open to the public.

In the month after the workshop, participating composers will refine their ideas and submit revised proposals. Each proposal will be showcased on the MATA website, and MATA will choose one to produce in December 2011, as part of a new winter festival, MAKE MUSIC WINTER, inspired by Phil Kline’s legendary Unsilent Night.

The proposal deadline is April 1, 2011. Click here for more info.

Kline's only surround sound recording, Around the World in a Daze, was commissioned and released by Starkland. Over a dozen publications such as The New York Times, Stereophile, and The New Yorker have called this DVD "sensational... ear-opening adventures... extraordinary" and much more.

Persichetti CD Praised at American Record Guide

2011-03-10T14:15:00.002-07:00

Another fine review of our Persichetti piano CD has appeared in the new issue of American Record Guide.

Pianist Ellen Burmeister "gives fine accounts of these pieces," writes Allen Gimbel, adding that "this release will be of interest to all students of this music." He also remarks that Piano Sonata 10 is "one of the great American piano sonatas."

It's a nice addition to the other enthusiastic reviews that have appeared at Audiophile Audition and Lucid Culture.

Read more about this Starkland CD.

Other Minds wrapup

2011-03-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

Some highlights for me at the recent Other Minds festival are:

Louis Andriessen: An excellent performance of his chamber piece Zilver; several smaller pieces reflected a diversity I didn't know about; and his impressive piano improv work with vocalist Cristina Zavalloni.

Louis Andriessen and Tom Steenland

The strongly spatial experience of hearing David A. Jaffe's piece (a tribute to Henry Brant), which used instruments spread throughout the hall, all triggered via Trimpin electro-mechanical expertise.

Henry Brant chimes, deployed by Trimpin

Monica Germino commanded the stage with her excellent violin playing, and at times, singing too.

Agata Zubel displayed amazing extended vocalizations and convincing compositional skills in her Cascando and Parlando works.

Agata Zubel

And pianist Sarah Cahill again reminded us what a special talent she is in her fine performance of Kyle Gann's Time Does Not Exist.

We also heard impressive, virtuosic performances from Bali double-necked guitarist Balawan, jazz pianist Jason Moran, avant guitarist Fred Frith, and the Dutch hyper-drummer Han Bennink.

We are lucky to live in an age of so many prodigiously talented performers.

Dockstader: Water Music

2011-02-21T18:15:00.005-07:00

Tod Dockstader's Water Music: Part Three is heard in this new video:

Read more about Dockstader's Quatermass CD.

"Genuine warmth" in Persichetti CD

2011-01-19T14:28:00.002-07:00

Another favorable review for our new Persichetti CD has appeared at Lucid Culture, where they write, "It’s nice to finally see a digital release for this collection," adding "Starkland has brought it back with impressive attention to dynamics."

Regarding the Tenth Piano Sonata, they note, "Burmeister varies her attack deftly, through its serpentine dynamic shifts: nimble cadenzas, graceful legato lines, percussive clusters and the occasional rapidfire cascade."

And for the challenging Eleventh Piano Sonata, they write, "It’s not easy imbuing music this rigorous and acidic with genuine warmth, yet that’s what Burmeister achieved here, no small accomplishment."

Read more about Starkland's Persichetti CD.

Persichetti CD Praised at Audiophile Audition

2010-12-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

Our new Persichetti CD recently received a fine review at Audiophile Audition. They conclude:

"An important reissue: Ellen Burmeister's performances are authoritative, and Starkland's remastering serves them well."

Phil Kline: Unsilent Night: 2010

2010-12-03T16:34:00.002-07:00

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night, a wonderful participatory moving sound sculpture, will take place in more than 20 cities around the world this December, adding for the first time Hong Kong, Oxford, UK and Charleston, WV.

Cities include: Asheville, Baltimore, Boulder, Charleston (SC), Charleston (WV), Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Missoula, Montreal, New Haven, New York City, Oxford (UK), Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Traverse City, and Vancouver.

Details for each city's meeting place and time can be found here.

This free, outdoor sonic event consists of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CDs, and MP3s, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes and pod-docks carried through city streets every December. People bring their own diverse playback devices and drift peacefully through a moving surround-sound environment which is different from every listener's perspective. Some have even brought their laptops hooked up to large speakers mounted on a wagon.

Since its debut in 1992 in New York, Unsilent Night has become a cult holiday tradition, drawing crowds of up to 1,500 participants. It has also grown into a worldwide annual event that has been presented in over 45 cities and on three continents.

The New York Times writes, "Unsilent Night immerses the listener in suspended wonderment, as if time itself had paused inside a string of jingle bells.”

Time Out writes, "Kline's luminous, shimmering wash of bell tones is one of the loveliest communal new-music experiences you'll ever encounter, and it's never the same twice."

FYI: The only surround sound recording of Phil's spatial music is his Around the World in a Daze DVD, described by The New Yorker as "an audio-visual feast that balances hipster zen with the seriousness of Bach and Wagner."

Persichetti Piano CD Released by Starkland

2010-11-22T14:00:00.005-07:00

This new Starkland CD of piano works by Vincent Persichetti offers the only available recordings personally approved by the composer of his substantial Tenth and Eleventh Piano Sonatas. Performed by Persichetti specialist Ellen Burmeister, this long out-of-print reissue also presents the only current recording of the composer’s simple but charming Serenade No. 7.

It's available at Amazon, CD Baby, iTunes, and more.

Reviews of the original 1985 release praised the music, performance, and sound:

“Ellen Burmeister… exhibits a rich understanding of the composer’s mode of expression… The recorded sound is superb.”
– American Music

“A significant record… A welcome addition to the recorded catalogue of an important composer.”
– Audience

“Ellen Burmeister… plays with a warmth and delicacy… The superb recorded sound… offers a flattering showcase.”
– Fanfare

Persichetti was an ardent fan of the “wonderful pianist” Ellen Burmeister, writing, “I am pleased not only for her talents but also by her sound musicianship and dedication.” Upon hearing the original master tape, Persichetti sent an enthusiastic note of approval to producer Tom Steenland, noting that Burmeister “has done a fine job.”

The new CD’s booklet reissues the full LP notes on the music from both Persichetti and Burmeister.

Persichetti was one of the major figures in American music of the 20th century, both as a teacher and a composer. Among some 100 commissions were those from the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the St. Louis and Louisville Symphony Orchestras, Martha Graham Company, and the American Guild of Organists.

During his nearly four decades teaching at Juilliard, his students included Philip Glass, Thelonious Monk, Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach), and Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Visit Starkland.

Phillip Bimstein's Red Rock Rondo Wins Regional Emmys

2010-10-18T12:15:00.001-06:00

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Science's Rocky Mountain Chapter recently gave the Red Rock Rondo music special two Emmy Awards: Best Arts Entertainment Program and Best Musical Composition.

Made by the Western Folklife Center in cooperation with KUED-TV and produced by Hal Cannon and Taki Telonidis, the hour-long film was shot in and around majestic Zion National Park.

The award-winning music was composed by Phillip Bimstein with arrangements by Red Rock Rondo.

Bimstein originally wrote his Zion Canyon Song Cycle on a grant from the nationwide Continental Harmony commissioning program of the American Composers Forum. The music is performed by an all-star ensemble on a lively assortment of guitars, violins, oboe, English horn, mandolin, banjo, mandocello, harmonica, button accordion, jaw harp, upright bass and vocals.

A CD is now available.

Starkland has released two Bimstein CDs: Garland Hirschi's Cows and Larkin Gifford's Harmonica.

Read more about Bimstein.

Tod Dockstader: Apocalypse CD at iTunes, etc.

2010-09-06T13:00:00.095-06:00

For the first time, Tod Dockstader's Apocalypse CD is now digitally available at iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, etc.

Some fine reviews have appeared:

The Wire:
“The obsessive care with which Starkland have compiled these extraordinary recordings should ensure that Dockstader will be remembered as the innovative, visionary figure he undoubtedly was.”

Fanfare:
“Among the most impressive of electronic-music CDs anywhere... [Luna Park] is one of the finest works of electronic music I’ve ever heard.”

Musicworks:
“Brilliant, compelling listening experiences... vital and fascinating... inventive and powerful.”

Dockstader's Quatermass CD has also recently gone digital.

Read more about Dockstader's Apocalypse CD.

Dockstader: Quatermass: Sound Clips

2010-08-25T00:04:00.023-06:00

Here are some excerpts from Dockstader's Quatermass CD, now at iTunes, etc.

Water Music: Part Three

Quatermass: Song and Lament

Quatermass: Parade

Tod Dockstader: Quatermass: now digital

2010-08-24T13:13:00.003-06:00

For the first time, Tod Dockstader's classic "organized sound" tape music is now available in the digital realm. Starkland's first all-Dockstader CD appears at iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, etc. The release includes Dockstader's masterpiece, "Quatermass."

Reviews have raved about this recording:

The Washington Post:
"Strong recommendation: the work of Tod Dockstader, a highly imaginative pioneer."

Stereophile:
"Tod Dockstader belongs in the select company of Varèse, Stockhausen, Luening, Schaeffer, Subotnick, and the other pioneers of electronic music or musique concrète. His achievement is on a par with the best in his field."

Option:
"In a sense, Dockstader is one of the godfathers of Nurse With Wound, and a distant cousin of rap and techno... Essential for anyone interested in electronic music."

Read more about Dockstader's Quatermass CD.

Klucevsek + Marclay + Whitney Museum

2010-08-20T15:00:00.000-06:00

The ever-hip Guy Klucevsek will perform over a dozen times in September at New York's Whitney Museum, as part of the Christian Marclay Festival.

Marclay's art works double as scores, sometimes in the form of films, other times as found objects which contain musical symbols - everything from candy boxes to sheet music to record covers to car ads.

There are two wonderful pieces in the NY Times about the exhibit (here and here).

Guy's performance schedule:

Wednesday September 1, 1:00 pm – Ephemera (solo)

Thursday September 2, 12:30pm – Ephemera (solo)

Friday September 3, 2:00 pm – The Bell and the Glass: Open Rehearsal

Friday September 3, 4:00 pm – The Bell and the Glass (with Peter Evans, Okkyung Lee)

Saturday September 4, 12:30 pm – Screen Play: Open Rehearsal

Saturday September 4, 2:30 pm – Screen Play (with Peter Evans, Okkyung Lee)

Sunday September 5, 4:00 pm – Ephemera (solo)

Wednesday September 15, 1:00 pm – Ephemera (solo)

Thursday September 16, 1:00 pm – The Bell and the Glass: Open Rehearsal

Thursday September 16, 2:00 pm - The Bell and the Glass (with Ned Rothenberg)

Friday September 17, 3:00 pm – Screen Play: Open Rehearsal

Friday September 17, 4:00 pm – Screen Play (with Ned Rothenberg and o.blatt)

Saturday September 18, 4:00 pm – The Bell and the Glass (with Ned Rothenberg)

Sunday September 19, 12:30pm – Screen Play (with Ned Rothenberg, o.blatt)

Wednesday September 22, 1:00pm – Ephemera (solo)

Thursday September 23, 1:00pm – Ephemera(solo)

Saturday September 25, 2:30pm – Ephemera (solo)

More about the Whitney Museum.

More about Guy Klucevsek.

Innovative Commissioning Effort

2010-08-09T13:36:00.000-06:00

An innovative approach to commissioning a new orchestral work is now underway at Boulder’s Colorado Music Festival.

Anyone can vote (on-line) for one of four composers to create a work for the 2011 season. Each vote costs $10 and you can vote as many times as you want before the Aug. 15, 2010 deadline. All the income goes towards the $10,000 commission.

This approach seems unique, though of course it parallels micro-financed efforts at Kickstarter and Bang on a Can’s People’s Commissioning Fund.

Known for his commitment to new music, Music Director Michael Christie chose the four composers: Enrico Chapela, Jay Greenberg, Behzad Ranjbaran and Patrick Zimmerli. (These links have biographies and sound clips for the four composers.) In a Denver Post article, Christie remarks,

“It just occurred to me that in this era of micro-finance that we could create something where… anybody can participate, not just the most well-heeled or the people who are most used to giving. We’re all trying to engage people.”

Various perks include: all voters will have their name listed in the score; send in 10 votes to get invited a special pre-concert reception; and the highest voter over 100 votes will have the piece dedicated to them.

Read more at the Colorado Music Festival's website.

Erling Wold: Mordake CD: "very interesting"

2010-07-28T16:27:00.004-06:00

“A new chamber opera based on a bizarre story makes for very interesting, pleasant listening” is the headline for a new review of Erling Wold's Mordake CD.

Writing in Audiophile Audition, Daniel Coombs also comments, “The libretto, by Douglas Kearney is lean and simple, befitting the score. The music is an outgrowth of pure minimalism,” adding “the recording and packaging are top quality.”

Here's Track 12, "Once there was a boy (2)":

The opera tells the story of young Edvard Mordake, secreted away in his apartments due to his disfigurement: a woman’s face on the back of his head, whose constant imprecations, heard by him alone, lead him on a terrifying course of action.

The CD is physically available at Amazon, CD Baby, ArkivMusic, and more. It's digitally available at iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, MySpace Music, etc.

The title role is sung by John Duykers, whose most celebrated role was Mao Zedong in the world-premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China, which was televised (winning an Emmy Award), and recorded (winning a Grammy Award).

The eclectic composer Erling Wold has been hailed as “the Eric Satie of Berkeley surrealist/minimalist electro-art rock” by the Village Voice.

Amy X Neuburg: "The Secret Language of Subways" CD; downloadable

2010-07-22T15:45:00.005-06:00

Amy X Neuburg's "The Secret Language of Subways" CD can be downloaded at iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, etc. The release has been enthusiastically received:

"Like Laurie Anderson joining up with Philip Glass or Annie Sofie Von Otter collaborating with Steve Reich."
- Audiophile Audition

“A beauty.”
- Vital Weekly

“Amy’s best work yet… She’s a massive talent whose work is always fresh and entertaining.”
- Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?

Two years in the making, the CD consists of intricately composed, multiple layers of cellos topped by Amy’s distinctive and striking vocals; the songs range from intimate art-song ballads to electronics-based pop to Dadaist meanderings to lush symphonic arrangements. Sometimes the cellos are processed with electronic effects, other times heard in the expressive richness of their natural timbres.

Amy X Neuburg describes The Secret Language of Subways as “a song cycle about the inane and perpetually unfinished businesses of love and war — and New York.” The thirteen songs form a compelling dramatic arc, drawing the listener into a vivid, subterranean emotional journey. Starting from the hushed a cappella opening of One Lie, the CD makes local stops at urban paranoia (The Closing Doors, Body Parts), nocturnal reveries (the haunting-yet-catchy Someone Else’s Sleep), the surreal juxtapositions of street life (The Gooseneck, Difficult), self-preservation through self-presentation (the lilting, folkish Hey), and Amy’s stunning closer, the resigned, chorale-like Shrapnel.

“Neuburg's new song cycle teeters beguilingly on the boundary between pop and avant-garde performance art, and to hear it complete and in sequence is to marvel at the grace and elegance with which Neuburg walks that tightrope.”
- San Francisco Chronicle

Amy's vocals and electronics are accompanied by The Cello ChiXtet, comprised of Jessica Ivry, Elaine Kreston, and Elizabeth Vandervennet.

A stylistically versatile, classically trained singer/composer with a four-octave range, Amy X Neuburg has developed a unique career bridging the boundaries between classical, experimental and popular music. Her ‘avant-cabaret’ songs combine her interests in language, expressive use of music technology, and exploration of multiple genres.

Future Classical Music Sales

2010-07-21T13:23:00.006-06:00

Anne Midgette recently interviewed Klaus Heymann, who has grown Naxos from a new budget classical label to a major leader in the industry. You can read the full article here, but a few excerpts are of interest:

“Physical sales are still surprisingly strong in classical music, unlike pop and rock. In June, Naxos was 12% up on the month’s budget. The year to date is up 6% over last year.”

“Downloads are stagnating… growth is anemic: I think it’s up 1 or 2% over last year.”

“Amazon is our biggest customer in many markets: the US, England, Germany.”

“We’re starting Blu-Ray audio doing a demo of John Corigliano's Circus Maximus…It sounds spectacular…It’s probably the high-end medium of the future.”

“SACD [is] almost dead… More and more indies are giving up.”

“I have no doubt we will do very well with digital things. There are lots of ways of making money now… it’s exciting.”

Overall, it's more evidence that the future remains unpredictable and murky.

Pamela Z: "A Delay is Better" CD; iTunes, more

2010-07-19T14:25:00.000-06:00

Pamela Z's "A Delay is Better" CD is available digitally at iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, etc.

“Sheer genius from the most gifted and enterprising vocalist/composer/audio artist in the US since the heyday of Joan La Barbara and Meredith Monk… The effects are stunning… Essential.”
– The Wire

“A lovely listen.”
– Kyle Gann, Village Voice

“A shining overview of her work as a solo artist. Fascinating.”
– De:Bug

The only CD devoted exclusively to Pamela's music, the recording offers some of her most widely enjoyed signature pieces. The New York Times writes the "acclaimed internationally" Z is "a wonderfully compelling performer with a lot of range." The New Yorker comments that "at the center of it all is the simple beauty of her classically trained voice - which can give her work an almost medieval purity." And the San Francisco Chronicle has enthusiastically commented that "Pamela Z creates lustrous sonic landscapes."

The essence of Z's mesmerizing music is a skillful blending of her lovely voice with refined electronic manipulations. Pauline Oliveros writes that "this CD beguiles us with a rich introduction to a fine vocalist/composer who adeptly embraces technology," noting that Z "invigoratingly explores great varieties of solo, chorused, extended, and manipulated vocal materials."

Fanfare's review concludes the CD is "an excellent introduction" to "an emerging voice that’s adventurous, attractive, and very American."

Charles Amirkhanian: "Walking Tune" CD: now digital

2010-07-14T14:33:00.001-06:00

Charles Amirkhanian's "Walking Tune" CD is now digitally distributed. Sources include iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic. The original CD received some fine reviews:

“Some of the most interesting use of sounds that I've ever heard.”
– NPR’s "Weekend Edition"

“Charles Amirkhanian is a highly imaginative sound poet, text-sound creator, and contrapuntal collagist of the first order.”
– Stereo Review

“One of the Year's 20 Best CDs.”
– Electronic Music Foundation

Regarding this CD, Laurie Anderson wrote, "The art of audio collage has been reinvented here,” adding “I'm reminded of Brian Eno's music for imaginary films, although Charles takes this idea much farther." The CD presents the premiere recording of one of Amirkhanian’s most well-known and warmly received works, "Walking Tune – A Room-Music for Percy Grainger." Amirkhanian writes:

"Walking Tune (1986-7) is an homage to one of my favorite figures in 20th century music history, the Australian-American composer and pianist Percy Grainger (1882-1961)... A great worshipper of the outdoors, Grainger conceived of his piano solo 'Walking Tune' during a tramp through the Scottish highlands in 1900. It is a simple and charming paean to those all-too-few joyous escapes from life's everyday cares. Grainger spent the final years of his life in a frustrated attempt to create a music synthesizer which would free him from the restrictions of conventional musical instruments, performers, and formal compositional structures. In this work, originally conceived for radio, I used the Synclavier digital synthesizer, a tool Grainger eagerly would have embraced, to combine sounds recorded out of doors in Hurricane, UT (tramping), and Pagosa Springs, CO (a swarm of hummingbirds), with sounds sampled from a variety of sources in Australia. The music is, for the most part, unabashedly pretty, as is much of Grainger's own output."

Anderson offered these thoughts:

"Mixing the real and the imaginary is a skill that very few composers have. Charles jumps back and forth between these worlds with delightful ease, his curiosity and humor always evident. But in Walking Tune – and many of the other pieces he's done over his long career – this skill is mixed with a sensibility that is elegiac."

Another premiere recording was the invigorating "Chu Lu Lu," about which Amirkhanian comments:

"Imagine that you were asked to create a 60-second 'commercial' in the form of a work of new music which was to be aired on a European rock station. Furthermore, that the sound of the piece was, in some way, to exemplify the cultural connection between France and the U.S. Via immigration, migration, domination, and through war and peace, the populations of these two nations have, by the late 20th century, taken on striking multi-cultural profiles, which in the allotted time can be only hinted at here. My solution was to collage snippets of various ethnic musics, both from the former French colonies and from Cajun and Native American music."

This CD also presented the premiere recording of the playful "Gold and Spirit." Amirkhanian explained the piece’s origins:

"The title of Gold and Spirit (1984), borrowed from Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, here refers ironically to prize medals and cheering crowds, both integral parts of Olympic competition. When asked to write a piece of music for radio broadcast as part of the 1984 Olympics Arts Festival in Los Angeles, I recalled going to basketball and football games and playing drums in marching bands during my youth, and that one of my cherished ambitions was to have sports cheers of my own design, with the names of artists as texts, performed at real sporting events. In the '60s and '70s I began composing these group cheers, such as 'Ray Man Ray,' 'Go Van Gogh, and 'Marcel – Duh Champ.' The cheers incorporated in Gold and Spirit include spoken phrases processed by a Buchla Synthesizer, an Eventide harmonizer, and a Lexicon reverberation unit; some of the cheers were constructed with 64 images of my voice, layered in the 1750 Arch Street Studio in Berkeley. Other sound sources include actual sporting events (cuero, racquetball, lawn bowling, indoor soccer, baseball, handball, and basketball), as well as drum cadences produced by a synthesizer."

Amirkhanian wrote about the haunting "Bajanoom:"

"The somber mood of Bajanoom (1990), the Armenian word for 'separation,' mirrored my own feelings in light of the many nationalist movements, from Montréal to Yerevan, which have surfaced recently after many years of frustration and bitterness. Gong sounds sampled at the home of Lou Harrison are combined with the sounds of a musical saw, coffee grinder, guitar, and strings."

The CD also contains a slyly witty tribute to the composer, conductor, critic, author, and lexicographer extraordinaire Nicolas Slonimsky. Amirkhanian writes:

"The title of Vers Les Anges (1990) comprises several references to the dedicatee, Nicolas Slonimsky, for whom the music was composed in celebration of his 96th birthday. A resident of Los Angeles, (Les Anges, in French), Slonimsky translated Schloezer's life of Alexander Scriabin, composer of the piano work 'Vers la flamme.' For my tribute, I assembled a number of musical references appropriate to Slonimsky's life. As a conductor, the Russian prodigy directed the first performance of Edgar Varèse's Ionisation (1931), which features the sounds of sirens and a battery of percussion instruments, referenced at the beginning of Vers Les Anges. Other raw sonic materials include the sound of a German music box (from the period of Slonimsky;s youth), a digitally sampled komungo (played by Korean virtuoso Jin Hi Kim), and cuckoo clock and cat sounds which recall Slonimsky’s home."

Anderson concluded that "Humor, colorful cinematography, and a brilliant sense of imaginary space are just some of the joys of this CD."

Composer, percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer Charles Amirkhanian (b. 1945) is a leading practitioner of electroacoustic music and text-sound composition and has been instrumental in the dissemination of contemporary music through his work as Music Director of KPFA/Berkeley from 1969 to 1992. He also directed the Speaking of Music series at the Exploratorium in San Francisco (1983-1992) and was the founding Co-Director (with John Lifton) of the Composer-to-Composer Festival in Telluride, Colorado (1988-1991). From 1993 to 1997 Amirkhanian was Executive Director of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California. In 1998 Amirkhanian was appointed Executive Director of the Other Minds music festival. His music has also been recorded on 1750 Arch Records, Composers Recordings, Inc., Giorno Poetry Systems, Fylkingen Records (Sweden), S Press (Germany), OU Records (England), Perspectives of New Music, and Diffusion i Média (Canada).

Phillip Bimstein: "Garland Hirschi's Cows" CD: Now Digital

2010-07-06T13:05:00.009-06:00

Phillip Bimstein's "Garland Hirschi's Cows" CD is now digitally distributed. Sources include iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic. The original CD picked up some fine reviews:

“Garland Hirschi’s Cows is a cult classic.”
– NPR’s "All Things Considered"

“Outstanding...[Bimstein] has used digital sampling technology to tell wry and moving stories, and to elevate the mundane to the level of high art...brilliantly original.”
– Stereophile

“Quirky and thoroughly engaging.”
– Wired

“A lot of immediacy, wit, and inventiveness.”
– Stereo Review

WNYC's John Schaefer has written:

“Perhaps Bimstein, like Philip Glass, Henryk Górecki, Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, and Arvo Pärt, will find people calling his music Alternative Classical... Bimstein’s music is not meant for theorists to wring their hands over in some future century; it’s meant to be enjoyed and understood, its stories told, right now.”

The CD opens with the now classic "Garland Hirschi's Cows," which describes a Utah farmer, his cows, and why they moo. Radio airplay of the work has generated hundreds of calls (especially after being heard on NPR's "All Things Considered"). Here's the opening track ("A Little Bit About My Cows"):

"Dark Winds Rising," for string quartet and tape, presents the Kaibab Paiute tribe's successful fight against the installation of a toxic waste incinerator on their native land. Employing a technique he calls "voice organics," Bimstein uses sampled speech to develop rhythmic patterns, melodies, and sound effects such as mesa winds, industrial ratchets, a snake pit, and bird calls.

In "The Door," Bimstein uses samples of his creaking studio door to create some funky brass instruments, a pulsating rhythm section, fragments of a merry-go-round's music, and a mournful seal.

"The Louie Louie Variations" is a contemplative fantasy that deconstructs a classic rock chord progression, while the haunting "Vox=Dominum," the most mysterious piece on the CD, deconstructs a variety of Persian sounds.

Bimstein resides in Springdale, Utah, where he served two terms as mayor, prompting Outside magazine to call him "America's only all-natural politician composer." His alternative classical music combines acoustic instruments with found sounds and voices to paint portraits and tell stories. Bimstein's music has been performed at Lincoln Center, Bang on a Can, and London's Royal Opera House. In addition to his studies of theory, composition, and orchestration at the Chicago Conservatory and UCLA, Bimstein led the new wave band Phil 'n' the Blanks, whose albums and videos were college radio and MTV hits.

Visit Phillip Bimstein's website.

Bang on a Can: Marathon 2010

2010-06-30T13:25:00.018-06:00

I think I've attended every Bang on a Can Marathon concert since 1993, and it's a pleasure to report that this year's offering was one of the best so far. From start to finish of this 13 hour event, the varied music was mostly interesting and attractive.

For me, the best was last. Jointly composed by the BOAC triumvirate of Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, Shelter was co-commissioned by BAM and originally seen at their Next Wave Festival in 2005. The music is strong and effective throughout. Adding the dreamy, at times surreal videos of Bill Morrison and Laurie Olinder to the superb performance by SIGNAL produced a wonderful, impressive experience.

One standout for me was Tim Brady's live electric-guitar work which was heavily processed and accompanied by excellent videos from Martin Messier. (The cumulative conclusion of the increasingly multiplied John Lennon guitar was mesmerizing.)

Another virtuoso performer was Moritz Eggert, who attacked the keyboard with not only the standard 10 fingers, but also his left foot, chin, and butt. Of course he also roamed inside the piano, produced handheld noise-makers, slapped the the piano's surfaces, banged the keyboard lid, tossed in some body percussion, and more. Somehow, the choreographed expertise and an appropriate brevity made the music more than mere novelty.

Fausto Romitelli, a new name to me, died in 2004 at age 41. His Professor Bad Trip apparently has received considerable European acclaim. The fine performance here by the Talea Ensemble skillfully presented this 45-minute work, which blends "distorted colorations of acoustic and electric instruments as well as accessories like the mirliton and harmonica," and was inspired by "Henri Michaux's writings under the influence of psychedelic drugs." I liked it.

Outstanding performers played for the appreciative audience from both the main stage in front as well as an elevated landing towards the rear, from where we heard an excellent performance of Xenakis's Tetras by the JACK Quartet.

Early on, two folk musicians from Kyrgyzstan, Kambar Kalendarov and Kutman Sultanbekov, presented lovely performances on the main stage, a haunting recorder and electronic-sounding jaw-harps resonating nicely in the setting's reverberant acoustics. Later, they emerged on the rear stage to dazzle us with showy performances on lute-like instruments.

I also enjoyed music from Tristan Perich, Seung-Ah Oh, Evan Ziporyn, Mary Ellen Childs, Fred Frith, Buke and Gass, and Kate Moore.

David Lang listens to the sartorially enhanced Evan Ziporyn

discussing his upcoming piece.

Also noteworthy, the teenaged group Face the Music, directed by Jenny Undercofler, gave a fine performance of Graham Fitkin's Mesh.

The Dutch percussion group Slagwerk Den Haag offered several top-notch performances, including a work using blackboards outfitted with contact mikes that triggered samples when "played" by the chalk-writing performers, providing entertaining visual theatrics. This piece, I Delayed People's Flights By Walking Slowly in Narrow Hallways, can be viewed on YouTube.

There are pluses and minuses in the Winter Garden's unusual venue. It suits the free-to-come-and-go-as-you-please nature of this long event, as well as taking place in a nontraditional public setting far removed from the standard uptown concert hall. On the other hand, this noisy, highly reverberant space favors certain styles of music and diminishes the impact of some pieces. For example, the important vocal samples in Vernon Reid's Ghost Narratives were unintelligible, and the vocal contributions of the uncredited Theo Bleckmann with a performance by SIGNAL were unheard (as if his mike was turned off).

About 30 photos, taken over the 13 hour concert, are here.

Overall, this was an extraordinary event. Bang on a Can remains one of the most important forces in new music.

Trimpin DVD: an early report

2010-06-15T12:46:00.001-06:00

A documentary about the sculptor, sound artist, and MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Trimpin has been making the rounds of film festivals, and a commercial release is due out this fall. We've previously written about this news here.

Recently, an advance copy of this DVD surreptitiously arrived at Starkland headquarters. Since I've been a Trimpin fan for years, I'm pleased to report that "TRIMPIN: The Sound of Invention" is a fine, engaging portrait of this fascinating individual and his odd, captivating works. The film strikes a good balance between Trimpin's persistent eccentricity and his effective creations that emerge in the real world, working flawlessly and charming observers both visually and sonically.

Though I was somewhat familiar with Trimpin's story, it was an unexpected treat to watch interviews with both his father and sister, and to hear stories revealing that Trimpin's particular genius began to reveal itself early on. His interactions with Conlon Nancarrow, some of which I saw in Telluride in 1989, are also effectively presented.

The DVD's opening menu offers either stereo or 5.1 playback, and I found the surround playback significantly enhanced the DVD, at times placing you in the middle of Trimpin's sculptural installations. Indeed, the use of space is essential to most of his final creations.

Another interesting story arc in the DVD follows Trimpin's creation of a staged work for the Kronos Quartet. We see the initial meetings, an early presentation of a colorful "score" that perplexes the performers, the array of playback instruments that Trimpin conjures up, and a sense of the how the premiere performance finally unfolds.

This well-paced film was produced, filmed, and directed by Peter Esmonde, who explains that he made the film "out of purely selfish concerns," that "I needed to document the most creative person I could find, to discover how they'd managed to survive in this society. And I was lucky enough to find Trimpin."

Trimpin with Peter Esmonde

Up to now, however, the film has only been viewable at various film festivals, where it has been well received. It's great to know that this fall it will be released on DVD.

WNYC airs Bimstein, Gann, Byrne

2010-06-14T16:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday at WNYC, John Schaefer aired a "Found" Sounds show featuring music of Phillip Bimstein from a New Sounds Live concert performed at Merkin Hall. It's fitting the show also airs music from Kyle Gann (a Starkland fan) and David Byrne (a Bimstein fan who attended this concert and chatted with us at intermission). You can hear the show here:

It was a fun evening.

Paul Dresher: "Casa Vecchia" CD: now digital

2010-06-10T17:00:00.000-06:00

Paul Dresher's "Casa Vecchia" CD is now digitally distributed. Sources include iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic. The original CD picked up some fine reviews:

"Four works... by one of the best and most original of post-minimalist composers."
- Stereo Review

"Paul Dresher is perhaps the best of the postminimalist composers who learned at the altar of Reich, Riley, and Glass... A gorgeous gem."
- Wired

"Some of the most hypnotic music to come from his generation of renegade composers."
- Classical Pulse

The CD presented the premiere recording of one of Dresher's strongest and most engaging works. Commissioned and premiered by the Kronos Quartet, "Casa Vecchia" (performed here by Vienna's Ensemble 9) offers convincing minimalism within an evolving, cohesive structure. In his introduction, John Diliberto writes that "There’s a solemnity... that recalls the contemplative paths of Górecki and Pärt." Here's an excerpt from "Casa Vecchia":

The CD opens with the hypnotic "Underground," which originally appeared on Starkland's compilation CD, "From A to Z." "Atmospheric and otherworldly" (CMJ), it is perhaps Dresher's most ambient work.

The infectious "Mirrors," performed by Bang on a Can's Robert Black, deftly generates, weaves, and layers electronically processed materials within a virtuosic, real-time performance. "Other Fire" skillfully processes and combines environmental sounds into an evocative soundscape.

Fanfare’s review concluded that this "Starkland release is an excellent introduction" to "a significant emerging voice in American music."

Erling Wold: Mordake: chamber opera CD released

2010-06-03T14:35:00.000-06:00

Erling Wold’s latest chamber opera "Mordake," starring John Duykers in the title role, has been released by MinMax Music and is distributed by Starkland.

The CD is physically available at Amazon, CD Baby, ArkivMusic, and more.

The CD is digitally available at iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, MySpace Music, and over 20 additional sources.

The opera tells the story of young Edvard Mordake, a man of high birth, secreted away in his apartments due to his disfigurement: a woman’s face on the back of his head, whose constant imprecations, heard by him alone, lead him on a terrifying course of action, one that may result in his own destruction.

The librettist of the opera is the remarkable Douglas Kearney, a teacher of African American poetry, opera and myth at CalArts, well known for his recent performance work with Anne LeBaron. This recording follows Wold’s earlier release on MinMax, the critically acclaimed opera "A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil."

"Mordake packs a multi-sensory punch inside a tightly knit production... If the story of Mordake is a tragic, eerie and at times wickedly funny rumination on the split in the human ego – the violent psychic struggle to reconcile the different parts of our own porous personality – we appreciate its universal tensions because it wraps us so completely in its subject’s deeply fraught isolation,” writes SF360. The San Francisco Chronicle rhapsodizes that “[Duykers] storms, he blusters, he bewails his fate – and, when necessary, he taps into reserves of sweetly tuned lyricism... a dynamic, affecting performance.”

Wold, an eclectic composer whose teachers include Gerard Grisey, Andrew Imbrie and John Chowning, has been hailed as “the Eric Satie of Berkeley surrealist/minimalist electro-art rock” by the Village Voice. His opera Queer, on the book by William Burroughs, will be in San Francisco and New York as part of the 25th anniversary of the publication of the book. His Missa Beati Notkeri Balbuli Sancti Galli Monachi was commissioned and premiered by the Abbey of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He has collaborated with electronic and noise musicians, filmmakers (Jon Jost) and dance companies, including interactive audio and video projects with Palindrome Dance, Nürnberg.

John Duykers, an internationally acclaimed tenor, has appeared with many leading opera companies, including The Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Netherlands Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Los Angeles Opera. Duykers most celebrated role was Mao Zedong in the 1987 world-premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China, which was televised (winning an Emmy Award), and recorded (winning a Grammy Award).

Visit: Starkland
Visit: MinMax
Visit: Erling Wold

Phillip Bimstein: "Larkin Gifford's Harmonica" CD: now digital

2010-04-29T12:30:00.003-06:00

Phillip Bimstein's "Larkin Gifford's Harmonica" CD is now digitally distributed. Here are a few links:

iTunes: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica
Amazon: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica
eMusic: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica
MySpace: Phillip Bimstein: Larkin Gifford's Harmonica

John Adams wrote the CD's Introduction, stating: "Like their composer, the pieces on this album communicate a generous and good-natured spirit that is tempered with wry wit and a special sense of the western landscape and culture that he so loves."

The title piece presents a poignant portrait of the elderly Larkin Gifford, who offers vibrant stories, which include his lifelong love of playing the harmonica. Another portrait features the delightful, funny Robert Logan, known as "Bushy Wushy the Beer Man." Bushy Wushy sold beer in Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, for more than forty years. Casino focuses on both Las Vegas and veteran dice-caller Tom Martinet, who discusses superstitions, insights, and fascinations associated with gambling.

The CD also offers two instrumental works: Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa (with singing canyon tree frogs, howling coyotes, and chirping crickets) and "Rockville Utah 1926" (based on the melodic material from Bimstein's Garland Hirschi's Cows).

A passel of fine reviews has appeared, including:

"An engaging introduction to... his quirky electro-acoustic compositions... The irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music has less to do with technology than with his uncanny knack for finding the music of everyday life."
- The New York Times Read full review

"an American original... [Bimstein] has evolved into a singular musical entity... [the CD is] stunning and heartwarming... quirky, moving, and delightful musical journeys."
- Stereophile Read full review

John Adams concludes:

"Listening to this album of Bimstein's compositions makes me feel like I've taken a slow drive through a western landscape, meeting along the way everyone from Georgia O'Keeffe to Tony Hillerman, Mark Twain, Neal Cassady, Raymond Scott, Kurt Weill, Aphex Twin, and some of those grizzled geezers that populate the novels of Annie Proulx."

Intermedia Festival has 3 Starkland composers

2010-04-22T12:58:00.000-06:00

Phil Kline's music video MEDITATION (run as fast as you can) will have its premiere public performance at this year's Intermedia Festival, scheduled for April 23-25 in Indianapolis.

The Intermedia Festival offers a unique series of concerts and events presenting futuristic modes, combining traditional performing arts, computers, media, and telecommunications. The Festival will feature artists, musicians, videographers, dancers, actors and writers from around the world. Over 100 performers will travel to Indianapolis, and others will participate through the Internet interactively with collaborators at the festival. Live drama, dance, music, visual arts, videography, scientific presentation, commentary, and discussion will synthesize to form a provocative and compelling set of experiences.

The Festival will be held in the new downtown Indianapolis Public Library and in the Informatics and Computer Technology Complex at IUPUI. Admission is free and open to the public for all events.

Kline's MEDITATION features both pulsing surround sound electronica and a handheld video shot by the composer. He comments that the piece is “based on a unified camera movement” which he describes as: “You’re in New York, hold the camera, and run!”

MEDITATION appears on Kline's "Around the World in a Daze" double-DVD, commissioned by Starkland and released in 2009. This release has been praised in over 20 publications, including The New York Times, Stereophile, and the Washington Post. The New Yorker described Daze as:

"A special-project disk in which Kline created, out of extravagant electronic means... an audio-visual feast that balances hipster zen with the seriousness of Bach and Wagner."

Another Starkland composer, Pamela Z, is a featured composer/performer at the Intermedia Festival. She makes solo works combining a wide range of vocal techniques with electronic processing, samples, and gesture activated MIDI controllers. Her numerous awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Creative Capital Fund, the CalArts Alpert Award, the ASCAP Award, an Ars Electronica honorable mention and the NEA/JUSFC Fellowship. Starkland has released Z's only solo CD, "A Delay is Better," which The Wire called:

"Sheer genius from the most gifted and enterprising vocalist/composer/audio artist in the US since the heyday of Joan La Barbara and Meredith Monk... The effects are stunning... Essential."

Maggi Payne is another Starkland composer whose music will be heard at this year's festival. Her electroacoustic works often incorporate visuals, including videos she creates using images ranging from nature to the abstract and dancers outfitted with electroluminescent wire. Payne is Co-Director of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College.

Her surround-sound work White Turbulence 2000 was commissioned by Starkland for its Immersion DVD-Audio, now recognized as the first commissioned hi-res surround recording. Praised in over 2 dozen publications, Immersion was described by Sound & Vision as, "Not only a fascinating array of musical innovation but a persuasive exploration of the possibilities of surround sound."

The Intermedia Festival will present ten media-rich concerts. Featured artists also include New York composer and computer artist Luke Dubois, singer Bora Yoon, eco-acoustic composer Matthew Burtner, Indianapolis-based electro-acoustic ensemble Big Robot, and Dance Kaleidoscope.

Other performers include The Washington DC-based Floating Lab Collective, Florida-based Mobile Performance Group, Occupation Forces Project from New York, and Portuguese computer-artist Andre Rangel.

Visit Starkland.

Robert Een: Mystery Dances: now digital

2010-04-08T13:47:00.000-06:00

Robert Een's Mystery Dances CD is now digitally distributed. Here are a few links:

Robert Een: Mystery Dances: iTunes

Robert Een: Mystery Dances: Amazon

Robert Een: Mystery Dances: eMusic

Robert Een: Mystery Dances: Rhapsody

Robert Een: Mystery Dances: MySpace

When the CD was first released, NPR's Liane Hansen spoke with Bob about Mystery Dances. She commented, "Wow! What a stew you’ve made here in this new CD. It smells and tastes delicious."

In the CD’s Introduction, Meredith Monk remarks:

"Mystery Dances is like a musical caravan drawing upon traditions from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. The music is energetic, filled with contrasting moods of humor and poignancy... An exhilarating listening experience.”

Musicians include film composer Carter Burwell (accordion) and Hearn Gadbois (percussion).

Read more about Robert Een's Mystery Dances.

NPR Airs Bimstein

2010-03-19T19:09:00.000-06:00

NPR seems to love broadcasting Phillip Bimstein's music. Here's the latest news from Phillip:

I just got word that this week NPR's Hearing Voices will rerun their program "Prison: Life Behind Bars," which features an excerpt from Lockdown! (my techno tone poem based on sounds and voices of youths in detention). The show's on at different times all over the country, but here are a couple of places:

Salt Lake City, KCPW-FM 88.3 & 105.3, Friday, March 19, 6pm
New York City, WFUV-FM 90.7, Saturday, March 20, 6am
New York City, WNYC-AM 820, Sunday, March 21, 7am

Or you can listen to the whole show on the Hearing Voices site after March 24. And if you'd like to hear my Lockdown! techno tone poem in its entirety, please click here.

Here's what NPR sent:

Greetings from "Hearing Voices from NPR"

We are re-running:
HV037 Prison: Life Behind Bars

Here's our station list.

The audio will be online early next week.

Hearing Voices also reran their "Place Your Bets" program a couple of weeks ago, featuring excerpts from my Casino piece. You can hear the program here, and you can hear Casino's 1st movement here. Or if you'd like to hear all 3 movements of Casino on CD, I'm sure Starkland would love to hear from you!

Blu-Ray: Superb Sound

2010-03-16T13:40:00.000-06:00

Music fans seeking high quality playback may be interested in the ongoing success of Blu-ray and its superb sound potential.

After Blu-ray won the format war in Feb. 2008, the public didn’t exactly stampede into stores for this new development. However, things have changed, and prices have dropped dramatically. Amazon’s best-selling DVD/Blu-ray model, Sylvania's NB530SLX, now sells for $80. Amazon reports that sales of Blu-ray players are outnumbering those of standard DVD units. Among the top 10 disc players sold, 8 are Blu-ray. In fact, at this point Blu-ray’s household penetration is higher than that of DVD for the same period after introduction.

So what does this mean for music enthusiasts? First, the Blu-ray standards allow for a bunch of audio formats, including high-res surround sound formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. For the technically inclined, this means lossless surround at 96 kHz/24 bit resolution. And of course all this comes with the outstanding video quality.

Yes, everybody expects we will all download media in the future. However, the ability to quickly download Blu-ray-quality content is probably 10 years off (according to industry analyst Ross Rubin).

At a recent Blu-ray conference in LA, we learned that 65% of American households have at least one high definition television, and by now about 20 million homes have Blu-ray playback.

An exuberant Martin Scorsese attended the conference, praising the high quality of both the audio and video of Blu-ray, which is "as close as you’re going to get to replacing the theatrical experience at home."

Referring to his 2008 Rolling Stones Shine a Light Blu-ray documentary, he was especially enthusiastic about the multichannel capabilities of Blu-ray because “it would transfer just that way to the home” with the surround sound in discrete and lossless DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD formats.

The Blu-ray Disc Association has also announced 3D specs for Blu-ray that allows backward compatibility with current 2D Blu-ray players.

Other Minds 15

2010-03-10T13:29:00.001-07:00

It's a pleasure to report that this year's 15th Other Minds new music festival was a solid success. It's the 14th year I've attended this distinguished series.

In some ways, Carla Kihlstedt was the brightest star at Other Minds. Her piece Pandaemonium, which concluded the festival, was attractive, distinctive, well performed by the always on-top-of-it Rova Saxophone Quartet, and enthusiastically received by the audience. The piece employed 2 narrators describing reactions to previous advances in technology, as well as having the Rovans playing some percussion and haunting harmonicas, all of which worked well. The 30-minute work was commissioned by Other Minds and Rova:Arts; they are surely pleased with the results.

In the opening concert, Carla donned her performer's hat to simultaneously sing and play violin in a virtuoso performance of Lisa Bielawa's effective Kafka's Songs, which, unsurprisingly, was written for this unusually talented performer.

Any electroacoustic or surround sound fans in the audience were riveted by the expert command of the hall's full space by Natasha Barrett. She has extensively studied surround sound, acousmatic music, and ambisonics. The first piece, Mobilis in Mobili, referencing Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, contained recognizable sounds (water, waves, a sea chantey, an organ) that flowed around us.

Natasha Barrett

Natasha's other piece, Kernel Expansion, was more abstract. Composed to premiere at the 43-loudspeaker Klangdome hall at ZKM studios in Germany, the piece uses ambisonics, octophonic panning, and sophisticated Zirconium software. Theory aside, the convincing envelopment and constant motion of sound within the overall space was thrilling. She's a master. The excellent sound emerged from 8 Meyer speakers.

I also enjoyed the piquant harmonies of Chou Wen-chung's The Willows Are New for piano, as well as the moody Epiphora (for piano and pre-recorded media) from Pawel Mykietyn. Both works were superbly performed by Eva-Maria Zimmermann.

Other pieces ranged from pleasant to uninteresting, to be expected at any such festival.

The Other Minds festival is unique; there's nothing else like it. Previous years have featured Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Conlon Nancarrow, Ingram Marshall, Terry Riley, Tan Dun, Laurie Anderson, Henry Brant, Lou Harrison, John Luther Adams, Fred Frith, and many more.

Credit goes to the tireless, hardworking, ever-networking Charles Amirkhanian.

If you care about new music, plan to attend in 2011.

ch-ch-changes

2010-03-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

During a recent visit to San Francisco, I passed by a once-familiar storefront that was a sharp reminder how much the record industry has changed:

Quality vs. Sales

2010-03-02T12:47:00.001-07:00

In the new issue of Electronic Musician, Nathaniel Kunkel has some interesting thoughts about the ongoing problems of the music business (especially record labels). An excerpt:

"Movie-makers increase resolution and improve viewer experience regularly. Whether it’s IMAX, 3D, or both, it’s constantly more and better. And guess what? They are making money hand over fist.

"The music business is all about how many corners can be cut. Compress it more, don’t master it, use the fake drums - just get it done. All good ideas to save money, but often bad ideas from a quality standpoint.

"So without oversimplifying this, the people who focus on resolution in entertainment are making record profits, and the people who aren’t are going out of business. Coincidence?"

Read the full article here.

Best 2009 has Starkland, MinMax

2010-03-01T14:37:00.002-07:00

Here's another finalized Best of 2009 list. It's great to see 3 releases from Starkland and MinMax here:

Pushing The Envelope Best Recordings of 2009...finally

Joe Frawley Ensemble - Daughters Of Industry - Joe Frawley Music
http://www.joefrawleymusic.info/doi/doi.htm

Numinous - Vipassana: The Music of Joesph C. Philips - Innova http://www.numinousmusic.com/ or http://www.innova.mu/artist1.asp?skuID=356

The Ed Palermo Big Band - Eddy Loves Frank - Cuneiform Records
http://www.palermobigband.com/ or http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/palermo.html

Knitting By Twilight - Riding The Way Back ep - It's Twilight Time http://www.overflower.com/KnittingByTwilight_riding.htm

Jay Cloidt / Amanda Moody - D'arc: Woman On Fire - MinMax
http://www.jaycloidt.com or http://www.amandamoody.com

Ganesh Anandan / Hans Reichel - Self Made - Ambiances Magnetiques
http://www.actuellecd.com/en/cat/am_192/

Iain Armstrong - Electroacoustic Works - CD-R
http://iainarmstrong.net

Deep Wireless 6: Radio Art Compilation - New Adventures in Sound Art
http://www.naisa.ca/

Phil Kline - Around The World In A Daze -Starkland
http://www.starkland.com

Paranoid Entity - 4Closure - Paranoid Foundation
http://www.paranoidfoundation.com/

Danny Holt - First Jump -Innova
http://dannyholt.net/ or http://www.fitkin.com/ or
http://www.innovarecordings.com/artist1.asp?skuID=375

R. Stevie Moore - Phonography - ReR
http://www.rerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R...
or http://www.wtv-zone.com/rsmko/home.html

Beat Circus - Boy From Black Mountain - Cuneiform Records
http://www.beatcircus.net/ or http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/press/BeatCircus-BFBM-PR.pdf

Markus Reuter / Ian Boddy - Dervish - DIN
http://www.din.org.uk/dervish/

Heiner Goebbels - The Italian Concerto - i dischi di angelica
http://www.heinergoebbels.com/ or http://www.aaa-angelica.com/aaa/disco-heiner-hoebbels-the-italian-con...
or http://www.rerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code...

Jody Diamond - In That Bright World: Music for Javanese Gamelan - New
World Records
http://www.gamelan.org/jodydiamond/ or http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=82743

Susan Fancher - In Two Worlds - Innova (2009)
http://www.susanfancher.com or http://www.music.sc.edu/fs/bain/ or
http://www.innova.mu

Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra - Koch Records
http://www.bjorkestra.com

Nik Baertsch's Ronin - Randoori / Sha's Banryu - Chessboxing Volume
1 / Nik Baersch's Mobile - Aer / - Ronin Rhythm Records
http://www.nikbaertsch.com/en//shop/?article=1002

Hsia-Jung Chang - Inside The Piano: 21st Century Improvisations -
Mandala Studios
http://hsiajungchang.com/recordings.html or http://mandalastudio.com/

Sandor Szabo / Kevin Kastning - Parabola - Greydisc
http://www.kevinkastning.com/
or http://www.myspace.com/sandorszaboofficial

The Bad Plus feat. Wendy Lewis - For All I Care - Do The Math Records
http://www.thebadplus.com/

Morglbl - Jazz For The Deaf - The Laser's Edge
http://www.christophegodin.com/english/ or
http://www.lasercd.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=FES4009

Ozric Tentacles - The Yumyum Tree - Snapper Music
http://www.madfishmusic.com/ozrictentacles/

Amy X Neuburg & The Cello ChiXtet - The Secret Language of Subways - Minmax Music
http://www.amyxneuburg.com or http://www.minmaxmusic.com

SoCorpo - On Becoming - self-release
http://www.socorpo.com

Noveller (Sara Lipstate) - Red Rainbows - No Fun Productions
http://www.sarahlipstate.com or http://www.nofunproductions.com

Secret Saucer - Tri-Angle Waves - Salad Farm Studio
http://www.myspace.com/secretsaucer

T.D. Skatchit - T.D. Skatchit & Company -
Edgetone Records (2009)
http://www.edgetonerecords.com/catalog/4096.html

Charity Chan - Somewhere the sea and salt - Ambiances Magnetiques
http://www.charitychan.com/Home.html or http://www.actuellecd.com/en/cat/am_188/

Radiation - UKZ - Radiation
http://www.ukzband.com/

Amy X Neuburg: The Secret Language of Subways: Vital Weekly Review

2010-02-25T14:13:00.001-07:00

Amy X Neuburg's The Secret Language of Subways CD has received a fine review at the influential Dutch publication Vital Weekly. Dolf Mulder writes:

A beauty this one. Let's say an album of "chamber pop". Dozens of references were triggered: Fibonaccis, Kurt Weill, opera, Kate Bush, cabaret, Laurie Anderson, Dagmar Krause, etc, etc. We have here a collection of 13 very accessible songs, but too much avant garde and experimental to reach a bigger audience I'm afraid. The first time I was impressed by the combination of voice and cello was through the work of Arthur Russell many years ago. On this new work of Amy X Neuburg we find the same combination. The classically trained voice of Neuburg combined with three equally skilled cello players: Jessica Ivry, Elaine Kreston and Elizabeth Vandervennet. Besides voice, Neuburg also makes effective and sparse use of electronics and drums. Also she uses the technique of multi-layering voices. It is surprising that this music was created for a live performance, what makes this recording even more astonishing as the role of technique is considerable. The creator is Amy X Neuburg who wrote all music and lyrics, except for the improvisation "Tongues" and the closing track "Back in NY" by Genesis. After Residue by Amy X Neuburg & Men, it took her about 5 years to return with a new CD, this time as Amy X Neuburg & The Cello Chixtet. I don't know much of her musical past. From what I understand she is best known for her live solo performances, using MIDI drum kit, sounds and samples.

The Secret Language of Subways shows that Neuburg is open for many influences, eclectic in a way, but her pronounced musical language and vision binds everything strongly together following a convincing inner logic. This makes it sound all very natural and undivided. Her songs are carefully modeled and arranged. I guess it must have taken quite some time to sculpt all this material. For sure Neuburg is a very skilled composer, singer and performer. The narrative and dramatic content of the texts are very precise and beautifully accentuated in the music and its the performance. With each listening I discover new subtleties. No doubt this will continue.

Mile High Voltage Concert Two

2010-02-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

The second concert of Denver's Mile High Voltage Festival opened with Imaginary City, a major music/video/performance work from Sö Percussion, who not only performed the work but also created it. If you see 4 young guys on stage with numerous percussion instruments, you might expect the music to proceed tutti fortissimo. Instead, these söwers offered mostly quiet, contemplative, attractive sounds. In addition to the usual instruments, we heard a toy piano, prerecorded material both played into mics as well as via tiny powered guitar practice amps, crashing tin cans, and shouts from the audience; a lot of variety during the hour-long performance. Accompanying all this was a seductive, slowly dissolving video, using images from the Denver area, all created by (uncredited) Jenise Treuting. The work was directed by Rinde Eckert, a familiar name here at Starkland.

It's a pleasure to report the ambitious Newman Center was a co-commissioner of this substantial work, along with the always cool Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Myrna Loy Center (Helena, MT), The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Flynn Center (Burlington, VT), and Diverseworks Art Space (Houston, TX).

The evening's other major work was Michael Harrison's compelling performance of excerpts from his astonishing Revelation, a major work for a standard piano extensively retuned according to the composer's theories. The unexpected sonorities that emerged were rich, otherworldly, striking. In short, a, well, revelation to me. I guess I'm the last on my block to learn about this, since the CD has been widely praised and ended up on many Best of the Year lists.

The concert also included performances of David Lang's classic Cheating, Lying, Stealing, as well as DU's Conrad Kehn's Maximinimal, for accordion (live, processed, and pre-recorded) and visuals.

The unprecedented Mile High Music Festival was ambitious and successful. This is not your grandfather's new music that was "good for you" (like foul-tasting medicine), but rather the music was invigorating, beautiful, and leading-edge. The festival had some world-class performers playing some of today's most vital music. Congrats to all involved. Let's hope there's more in the future.

Mile High Voltage Concert One

2010-02-20T13:00:00.003-07:00

The opening Friday night concert of Denver's Mile High Voltage Festival was an especially fine evening for new music fans. Some of us travel to New York or San Francisco to hear high level performances of "alternative classical" music, but this was just about the first time such concerts have occurred in the Denver area. As critic Kyle MacMillan wrote in the Denver Post, this event "is a first for Denver and probably for the Rocky Mountain region."

The concert opened with Burkina Electric, described as the "first electronica band from Burkina Faso" (located in the deep interior of West Africa). The group blends pop/dance music with unusual, sophisticated rhythms. In live concert, the focal point is the charismatic vocalist Maï Lingani, who sings and moves with an appealing passion. She's flanked by 2 energetic male dancers. They are backed the electronicist Pyrolator and the multi-talented percussionist/composer Lukas Ligeti, who brings a highly developed sense of rhythm and meter to the band. The audience responded enthusiastically to the group.

Next was a new work, commissioned by the Newman Center, for this festival. The composer is Andy Akiho, who specializes in performing on the steel pan. In recent years, he's received considerable attention as a composer. This new piece, NO one To kNOW one, was performed by Andy and The Playground (a new music ensemble in residence at DU's Lamont School of Music). The exciting piece presented mostly driving rhythms and further established the worth of this composer.

The wonderful clarinetist Evan Ziporyn played several pieces by David Lang, Michael Harrison, and Ziporyn himself. Having heard him perform many times in New York, I was again so pleased with his committed, glorious performances. Evan played 2 pieces with Michael Harrison, who performed on his distinctively tuned piano.

In addition to the Lang piece, the other 2 co-founders of the Bang on a Can Festival, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe, were also represented by effective pieces: Gordon's pulsing The Low Quartet (which features 2 bass clarinets in its ensemble) and Wolfe's Early That Summer, a typically driving work for string quartet.

What the Newman Center has done is most impressive. They've brought in top musicians, normally not heard in this area. For example, this was Lukas Ligeti's first performance in Colorado. (As I chatted with him afterward backstage while he packed up, he mentioned he was leaving for a performance in Dusseldorf, due on a plane leaving about 8 hours later.) The music we heard was vibrant, energetic, engaging alternative new music. In addition to the concerts themselves, the Newman folk also organized performances in the student center, a lunchtime performance of Terry Riley's "In C" in a public atrium (which I heard went well), master classes by both Lukas Ligeti and Evan Ziporyn, meetings with composers, and a panel presentation on Building a Profile in the Music Business.

And, in addition to the performance in the fine Gates Concert Hall, they also setup a separate lounge, dubbed the Cantaloupe Cafe, where folks could watch and hear the concert on screen, while ordering food and drink. They even put all the program notes online beforehand, and sent out emails to ticket-holders detailing the full schedule. And they brought in a distinguished moderator, Tom Moon, who's interviewed everyone from John Adams to Frank Zappa.

Overall, it's a major, ambitious, and surely quite expensive effort. Let's hope this becomes a regular event.

Saturday's concert will have the Sö Percussion, along with The Playground performing music by David Lang (his classic Cheating, Lying, Stealing), Michael Harrison, and Conrad Kehn. It'd be great to see lots of new music fans there.

Denver: rare new music concert features Andy Akiho, Lukas Ligeti's Burkina Electric, Evan Ziporyn, Michael Harrison, Sö Percussion

2010-02-15T17:35:00.001-07:00

This weekend, Denver area audiences will have a rare opportunity to hear some leading-edge "downtown" new music. And the venue is not some funky alternative space, but rather the distinguished Newman Center at University of Denver.You can get tix at Ticketmaster.

The Mile High Voltage Festival features artists of the Cantaloupe Music Label who show the evolving notions of what can be offered as classical music. Performers surprise with new instruments, video as an integral part of music, and boundary-crossing composition. As part of the audience, you may eat, drink and surf the net while you view the concert through live simulcast in our Cantaloupe Café, where signature food and drink will be offered, or you may choose to enjoy the concert in June Swaner Gates Concert Hall as part of a new culture of listeners, a freer, more interactive audience, or do a bit of both. There are 2 concerts on Fri-Sat Feb. 19-20, including:

Andy Akiho - award winning young composer and steel pan performer. Recently featured on PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Burkina Electric - Led by Artistic Director Lukas Ligeti, this band from West Africa mingles the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music.

Evan Ziporyn - Composer/clarinetist Evan Ziporyn is a founding member of the Bang on a Can All-stars. He is Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Michael Harrison - One of the present day masters of alternative tuning creates mystical and memorable piano soundscapes. A long-time collaborator of minimalist masters Terry Riley and LaMonte Young, Harrison also brings his own aesthetic point of view into a deeply reflective and emotionally powerful composition.

Sö Percussion - Since coming together at the Yale School of Music in 1999, Sö Percussion has performed its music all over the world. Sö will perform its new work "Imaginary City," which will be played on a transforming percussion instrument constructed on stage during the work and will include video featuring reflections and images of the co-commissioning cities.

The Playground - Made up primarily of graduates of the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music Masters Program, The Playground expands common conceptions of both contemporary music and the chamber ensemble.

Tom Moon - Festival Moderator (Award-winning music journalist Tom Moon is the author of 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List, a New York Times bestseller. He is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered as well as Rolling Stone, Blender and other publications.)

Lukas Ligeti writes this will be "my first performance ever in Colorado!" He does have a local connection, however. Boulder's Starkland label commissioned a surround sound piece from Lukas that premiered on Starkland's first-of-its-kind Immersion DVD, released in 2000.

We hope Denver audiences will pack the hall and café for these superb performers and the worthwhile new music.

Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze: Best of 2009 at WHUS

2010-02-09T14:35:00.001-07:00

Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze release has landed on another "Best of 2009" list. This time it's from Joel Krutt, who airs his "Pushing the Envelope" show on WHUS.

Joel is a great guy, and this is a fine place to send your new music CDs. He's been steadily broadcasting his show since 1988 (!).

Surround Sound Grammy

2010-02-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

It’s especially fitting that this year’s Surround Sound Grammy went to a recording where the title work was indeed composed for surround sound. It’s the first time that’s happened.

The main work, On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams, is a musical commemoration for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The composition is neither an official public memorial, nor a personalized response, but Adams describes it as "a memory space – a place where you can go and be alone with your thoughts and emotions." To enhance the atmosphere, the composer specifies that the audience be surrounded by multichannel playback of “prerecorded city sounds (quiet traffic, voices, footsteps, etc.) and the reading by many different voices of the names of the victims.” John Rockwell has commented:

"The emotional kick is the juxtaposition of the orchestra and the sound collage. You couldn't have done that 50 years ago and had it considered classical music. His acoustic, amplified acoustic and electronic blend adds a contemporary element to him."

The hybrid SACD also offers works from Samuel Barber, John Corigliano, and Jennifer Higdon (who also picked up a Grammy for her Percussion Concerto). The sound of the surround sound SACD has been called “spectacularly clear and atmospheric” (All Music Guide).

Congratulations not only to John, but also to sound designer Mark Grey, surround engineer Michael Bishop, and surround producer Elaine Martone. The label is Telarc, known for high quality sound and originally founded by classical musicians. (Unfortunately, in 2009 most of the key staff was eliminated.)

Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze: "Best of the Year" at American Record Guide

2010-01-21T11:44:00.001-07:00

Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze release has been selected for American Record Guide's "Best of the Year" listing by Kraig Lamper. In his original review, Lamper wrote:

"Pennies from Heaven, an 18-minute layering of bell sounds, shows why more pieces should be recorded in surround sound. Becoming utterly engulfed by bells too numerous to count, all playing descending lines with mixed rhythms, syncopations, and stresses, borders on the mathematical sublime."

During 2009, Daze collected impressive reviews:

“A set of sensational études.”
– Justin Davidson, New York Magazine

“An electro-acoustic DVD extravaganza.”
– Anne Midgette, Washington Post

“An audio-visual feast that balances hipster zen with the seriousness of Bach and Wagner.”
– Russell Platt, The New Yorker

“Mr. Kline, the electronic experimenter who deploys fleets of boomboxes to achieve his preferred textures, is hard at work.”
– Allan Kozinn, New York Times

“This adventurous music... ranges widely from ambient recordings that are surprisingly musical, to complex constructions that emerge as lyrical.”
– Kalman Rubinson, Stereophile

“It fascinates, engages, and, often, moves... Kline’s pieces transport the hearer from their listening space to imaginary vistas that envelope, even overwhelm.”
– Christian Carey, Sequenza21

“Overwhelming... Truly a remarkable sonic experience.”
– John Sunier, Audiophile Audition

“Congratulations to Starkland for releasing this extraordinary and well-documented release.”
– Dolf Mulder, Vital Weekly

Lucid Culture: Amy X Neuburg CD: "Ambitious, dizzying"

2009-12-23T21:01:00.002-07:00

Amy X Neuburg's The Secret Life of Subways has been reviewed at Lucid Culture.

They call Subways "a very ambitious, dizzying ride," adding that Neuburg "creates a loosely thematic series of surreal, theatrical, Bowie-esque vignettes and epics, some harsh and aggressive, others ambient and atmospheric."

Visit Amy's website.

New Yorker: Kline's Daze "an audio-visual feast"

2009-12-16T13:31:00.001-07:00

The New Yorker is yet another source of praise for Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze DVD. Writing in their 2009: THE YEAR IN REVIEW section, Classical Editor Russell Platt blogs about a few "notable" releases previously unmentioned, including Daze:

“A special-project disk in which Kline created, out of extravagant electronic means, a series of tableaus [which] is an audio-visual feast that balances hipster zen with the seriousness of Bach and Wagner.”

Daze has now hit a Big Apple trifecta, favorably reviewed in The New York Times, New York Magazine, and The New Yorker.

Daze has been covered in over 20 publications, also including: Stereophile, Washington Post, Sound + Vision, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sequenza21, Audiophile Audition, and Fanfare.

Denver: Unsilent Night premieres Dec. 16

2009-12-14T08:00:00.003-07:00

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night will take place in Denver for the first time on Dec. 16.

Unsilent Night is Kline's free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CD's and mp3's, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. People bring their own boomboxes and drift peacefully through a moving surround-sound environment which is different from every listener's perspective.

Since its debut in 1992 in New York, Unsilent Night has become a cult holiday tradition, drawing crowds of up to 1,500 participants. It has also grown into a worldwide annual event that has been presented in over 45 cities and on three continents.

The New York Times writes, "Unsilent Night immerses the listener in suspended wonderment, as if time itself had paused inside a string of jingle bells.”

The Denver Pavilions lists this info:

Wed, 16th Dec, 5:00pm
Start: 5:00 PM at Denver Pavilions (North Plaza entrance)
End: 6:00 PM

Here's the map:

View Larger Map

For further questions, contact:

Mary Clare Pittinos:
Phone: 720-217-6347
Email: mcp@prallmarketing.com

Boulder's recent Unsilent Night was a big success, and we wish the best to this inaugural Denver event.

Phil Kline's Svarga Yatra: Video

2009-12-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

This video contains excerpts from Phil Kline's "Svarga Yatra," performed by Ethel, along with comments from Phil about composing the piece (from a John Schaefer interview).

The music is part of Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze DVD, commissioned by Starkland.

Village Voice: Phil Kline's Daze, more

2009-12-09T14:33:00.001-07:00

This week's Village Voice includes an article about Phil Kline. Inspired by the upcoming performances of Phil's Unsilent Night, K. Leander Williams writes about other activities in Kline's busy 2009. We're pleased he's enthusiastic about the Around the World in a Daze double-DVD from Starkland, Phil's largest work to date. After noting the "promise of ruminative sonic immersion" offered by surround sound, Williams concludes "the music's power is undeniable."

Phil Kline's boomboxes, ready to go

9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980

2009-12-08T21:08:00.001-07:00

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Amy X Neuburg CD: "Theatrical, outrageous, contagious"

2009-12-08T11:41:00.001-07:00

Strings magazine writes about The Secret Language of Subways CD (from Amy X Neuburg and the Cello ChiXtet), including these comments:

"The Chixtet boast a tight ensemble sound. Theatrical, outrageous, and contagious—scoot over Bang on a Can."

This Subways CD is available at Amazon and CD Baby.

Amy is here.

Unsilent Night in Boulder Dec. 11

2009-12-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night will again take place in Boulder:

Date:	Friday, December 11, 2009
Time:	7:30pm - 8:30pm
Location:	Starts at the corner of Pearl and 13th Streets

Unsilent Night is Kline's free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CD's and mp3's, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. People bring their own boomboxes and drift peacefully through a moving surround-sound environment which is different from every listener's perspective.

Unsilent Night, Boulder, CO 2007 (Photo: Tom Steenland)

Participants play the material on boomboxes (both cassettes and CDs), MP3 downloads on pod-docks, and other sound-blasters. People have even brought their laptops hooked up to large speakers mounted on a wagon.

Since its debut in 1992 in New York, Unsilent Night has become a cult holiday tradition, drawing crowds of up to 1,500 participants. It has also grown into a worldwide annual event that has been presented in over 45 cities and on three continents.

The New York Times writes, "Unsilent Night immerses the listener in suspended wonderment, as if time itself had paused inside a string of jingle bells.”

The Village Voice describes Unsilent Night as “a marvelously fluid, traveling spatial sound sculpture that disintegrates and reforms at nearly every stop light.”

Boulder is also the hometown of the Starkland label, which earlier this year released the only surround sound recording of Phil's spatial music, his Around the World in a Daze DVD.

Also, a stereo CD of Unsilent Night is available on Cantaloupe Music.

More info is here.

View Larger Map

Trimpin Film out

2009-12-03T14:04:00.003-07:00

"There's a Trimpin film out!" Edgy Varrez exclaimed as he zoomed into Starkland headquarters. Indeed there is. The documentary "TRIMPIN: The Sound of Invention" premiered earlier this year, and has been making the rounds of film festivals in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Denver, Barcelona, more. There's both a blog and website for the film, which has attracted some fine reviews.

For the uninitiated, Trimpin (that's his full name) is a wonderfully obsessive individual. Sui generis, par excellence. He creatively merges sculpture and music in unexpected ways, from a six-story-high microtonal xylophone to his own inventions that mechanically play nearly every instrument in the orchestra.

Perhaps his most famous undertaking is a tornado-shaped column of electric guitars called Roots and Branches, installed in Seattle's Experience Music Project (designed by Frank Gehry and financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen). The guitars are both played and self-tuned automatically via Trimpin's mechanical wizardry.

Photo: EMP|SFM

Edgy eased himself into the Starkland mastering engineer's Aeron chair, popped open a sugar-free Red Bull, and began to reminisce.

"Back in 1989, I attended a new music festival in Telluride, Colorado, of all places." He explained most concerts took place that town's delightfully diminutive Sheridan Opera House, which seats 238.

"Upon entering the opera house, I immediately noticed that, hanging in a horseshoe shape from the balcony, there were about 100 Dutch wooden shoes. I learned each shoe contained a tiny mallet, which could be triggered to produce a sharp klonk via wires from each shoe that were attached to a Mac computer. All this had been built and assembled by the guy on stage, Trimpin." The music heard met the audience's expectations inspired by this elaborate setup. Complex, rapid patterns were especially clear because of the spatial configuration, achieving superhuman rhythmic effects.

Trimpin's wooden shoes, equipped with tiny mallets

Conlon Nancarrow was also in attendance, and somehow Trimpin ended up programming Nancarrow music to be performed on the encircling wooden shoes.

"One of the most magical evenings ever," said Edgy Varrez.

Trimpin sums his work up as:

"extending the traditional boundaries of instruments and the sounds they're capable of producing by mechanically operating them. Although they're computer-driven, they're still real instruments making real sounds, but with another dimension added, that of spatial distribution. What I'm trying to do is go beyond human physical limitations to play instruments in such a way that no matter how complex the composition of the timing, it can be pushed over the limits."

Since those days, Trimpin has won considerable fame, including a MacArthur "Genius" Award in 1997. A fine article appeared in The New Yorker in 2006.

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night Scheduled for December 2009

2009-12-01T13:00:00.001-07:00

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night will take place in more than 25 cities around the world this December, adding for the first time London, Berlin, Denver, and Dallas.

Cities in the USA include: Albuquerque, Asheville, Baltimore, Boulder, Charleston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, East Lansing, Los Angeles, Milledgeville, Missoula, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Fe.

Cities outside the USA include: Berlin (Germany), London (UK), Melbourne (Australia), Cambridge (Ontario), Vancouver (BC), and Fredericton (NB).

Details for each city's meeting place and time can be found here.

Unsilent Night is Kline's free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CD's and mp3's, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. People bring their own boomboxes and drift peacefully through a moving surround-sound environment which is different from every listener's perspective.

Since its debut in 1992 in New York, Unsilent Night has become a cult holiday tradition, drawing crowds of up to 1,500 participants. It has also grown into a worldwide annual event that has been presented in over 45 cities and on three continents.

The New York Times writes, "Unsilent Night immerses the listener in suspended wonderment, as if time itself had paused inside a string of jingle bells.”

The Village Voice describes Unsilent Night as “a marvelously fluid, traveling spatial sound sculpture that disintegrates and reforms at nearly every stop light.”

Time Out writes, "Kline's luminous, shimmering wash of bell tones is one of the loveliest communal new-music experiences you'll ever encounter, and it's never the same twice."

Participants play the material on boomboxes (both cassettes and CDs), MP3 downloads on pod-docks, and other sound-blasters. People have even brought their laptops hooked up to large speakers mounted on a wagon.

A CD of Unsilent Night is available on Cantaloupe Music.

The only surround sound recording of Phil's spatial music is his Around the World in a Daze DVD, released earlier this year by Starkland.

Amy X Neuburg in LA

2009-11-30T14:35:00.006-07:00

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

2009-11-28T11:58:00.006-07:00

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

2009-11-19T12:24:00.017-07:00

"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

2009-11-10T18:43:00.010-07:00

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"

2009-11-05T20:29:00.010-07:00

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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John Schaefer interviews Phil Kline about sound in space and his "Around the World in a Daze" Starkland DVD

2009-10-29T13:31:00.013-06:00

In this video, John Schaefer interviews Phil Kline about his use of sound in space, surround sound, and his Around the World in a Daze surround DVD commissioned by Starkland.

Read more about Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze DVD.
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NPR to air music from Phillip Bimstein Starkland CD

2009-10-20T17:42:00.010-06:00

NPR will air Phillip Bimstein's “The Bushy Wushy Rag” on Hearing Voices, beginning the week of Oct. 21, 2009. The excerpt (over 7 minutes) will lead off a lineup of baseball stories on this “Home Team” show from the Public Radio Hall of Fame. Their description:

“The sounds of a St. Louis Cardinals’ baseball game are combined with the echoes of Scott Joplin's ragtime and the distinctive calls of Bushy Wushy the Beer Man. This 39-year veteran beer vendor at Busch Stadium, he shares his love for the game, the crowd, and the communal spirit of St. Louis.”

Hearing Voices from NPR is an hour of The Best of Public Radio: a sixty-minute stream of “driveway moments” connected by a weekly theme, with the help of a guest host. Each episode mixes broadcasts, podcasts, sound-portraits, slam poets, docs, radio dramas, features, and found-sound. The show is aired by over 100 stations.

“The Bushy Wushy Rag” appears on Bimstein’s Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica CD, released by Starkland.

In the CD’s Introduction, John Adams writes:

"Like their composer, the pieces on this album communicate a generous and good-natured spirit that is tempered with wry wit and a special sense of the western landscape and culture that he so loves."

The delightful, funny, and genuine Robert Logan became known as "Bushy Wushy the Beer Man" over the years. Bimstein began "The Bushy Wushy Rag" by visiting Busch Stadium, recording the crack of the bat from behind home plate, the ball slamming into the catcher's mitt, and other baseball game sounds. He then combined these sampled sounds with stories told by the charming Bushy Wushy, all tied together with a score for wind quintet. Listeners will also hear echoes of music associated with baseball and St. Louis, such as The Maple Leaf Rag written about 100 years before by Scott Joplin in St. Louis.

NPR seems to love Bimstein’s music. Appearing on Weekend Edition, he discussed the CD’s title track “Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica.”

The New York Times warmly praised this second Starkland CD from Phillip Bimstein, stating, "The irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music has less to do with technology than with his uncanny knack for finding the music of everyday life." Stereophile calls Bimstein "an American original” who “has evolved into a singular musical entity.” The audiophile magazine adds that this CD is “stunning and heartwarming,” offering “quirky, moving, and delightful musical journeys.”

“The Bushy Wushy Rag” is performed by the Equinox Chamber Players, who premiered the work in their hometown of St. Louis.

Read more about Phillip Bimstein’s Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica CD.

The CD is available at Amazon.

This is not the first time Starkland has homered with a Bimstein CD. His first Starkland release, Garland Hirschi's Cows, was widely praised and triggered hundreds of calls to radio stations around the country. Stereophile wrote that the “brilliantly original” Bimstein is “outstanding in his field” and uses “digital sampling technology to tell wry and moving stories, and to elevate the mundane to the level of high art."

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Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD: “Extraordinarily absorbing”

2009-10-15T13:53:00.008-06:00

Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze “could well be one of the major ‘classical’ works of this decade,” according to a new review that has appeared at Gapplegate Music Review.

“The stunning Around the World in A Daze, an ambitious and successful electro-acoustic suite,” they write, is “a monumentally conceived work that manages to be pioneering as well as fully pleasurable.”

The review concludes that Daze offers “an extraordinarily absorbing and even startling world of truly ‘new sounds’.“

Daze is currently on sale at Amazon.

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Amy X Neuburg: "The Secret Language of Subways": New CD

2009-10-08T15:37:00.022-06:00

Amy X Neuburg has announced the release of her latest CD, The Secret Language of Subways, a cycle of thirteen avant-pop songs performed by Amy with backing from The Cello ChiXtet, a trio of women cellists. Amy and the ChiXtet will perform The Secret Language of Subways in Los Angeles as part of the LA Philharmonic’s West Coast: Left Coast festival, curated by John Adams (Nov. 30).

Reviewing a live performance of Subways, Joshua Kosman wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle :

“Neuburg's new song cycle teeters beguilingly on the boundary between pop and avant-garde performance art, and to hear it complete and in sequence is to marvel at the grace and elegance with which Neuburg walks that tightrope… As serious as the cycle's overall import is, there’s a vein of wit that does wonders for the music. And when that humor bursts into full flower, as in the superbly drawn mental befuddlement of Dada Exhibit or the exuberant black comedy of Hey, the impact is irresistible.”

Amy describes The Secret Language of Subways as “a song cycle about the inane and perpetually unfinished businesses of love and war — and New York.” A stylistically versatile, classically trained singer/composer with a four-octave range, Amy is best known for performances with voice, electronic drums, and live looping in which she creates a chorus of layered voices and rhythms. Two years in the making, Subways consists of intricately composed, multiple layers of cellos topped by Amy’s distinctive and striking vocals; the songs range from intimate art-song ballads to electronics-based pop to Dadaist meanderings to lush symphonic arrangements. Sometimes the cellos are processed with electronic effects, other times heard in the expressive richness of their natural timbres. Neuburg explains:

“The idea for The Secret Life of Subways began in 2003 when I fell in love with the expressive voice-like quality, enormous pitch range, and dramatic look of the cello — I felt I had found a sort of instrumental kindred spirit to my own voice. I conceived most of these songs while sitting on the subway during a 3-year period when I lived part-time in New York — inspired by the rhythmic lull of the train, the fragmented meanderings of my thoughts, the dramas of recent world and personal events, and the deluge of sensory input that is New York itself. New York at that time presented such a vivid example of how life, love and art continue to move forward with full force, in spite of (or perhaps encouraged by) the fears and uncertainties of war.”

The thirteen songs form a compelling dramatic arc, drawing the listener into a vivid, subterranean emotional journey. Starting from the hushed a cappella opening of One Lie, Subways makes local stops at urban paranoia (The Closing Doors, Body Parts), nocturnal reveries (the haunting-yet-catchy Someone Else’s Sleep), the surreal juxtapositions of street life (The Gooseneck, Difficult), self-preservation through self-presentation (the lilting, folkish Hey), and Amy’s stunning closer, the resigned, chorale-like Shrapnel.

As an encore, Neuburg offers her ingenious arrangement of Back in NYC from Genesis’s groundbreaking 1974 concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

The CD is released by Paul Dresher's MinMax Music label, which specializes in adventurous new vocal and music-theater works. Other MinMax CDs include Paul Dresher's Slow Fire, Steve Mackey's Ravenshead, and D'Arc: woman on fire from Jay Cloidt and Amanda Moody. All MinMax recordings are distributed by Starkland.

Amy X Neuburg has developed a unique career bridging the boundaries between classical, experimental and popular music. Her ‘avant-cabaret’ songs combine her interests in language, expressive use of music technology, and exploration of multiple genres using the many colors of her wide vocal range. She has performed at the Bang on a Can Marathon, Other Minds, and other festivals, universities, rock clubs, and concert halls throughout the U.S. and abroad. Commissions include works for Present Music, Santa Cruz New Music Works, Solstice, and others. As vocalist, Amy has been featured in contemporary operas and recordings including works by Robert Ashley, Culture Clash and Guillermo Galindo.

The Cello ChiXtet consists of Jessica Ivry, Elaine Kreston, and Elizabeth Vandervennet.

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’s "Around the World in a Daze" reviewed in Philadelphia Inquirer

2009-10-01T15:32:00.008-06:00

In the Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns writes about Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD:

“Musically, Kline's 10-part Daze is like those Olivier Messiaen orchestral works that are suites of free-standing tone poems, all from different sound worlds, that impulsively eschew the traditional notions of symmetry, proportion and structure.”

The article focuses on the use of visual content on DVDs that present new music. Regarding Daze, Stearns comments:

“Visual illustrations - still photographs from family pets to a grassy stream - often seem so unconnected that Kline is working with a John Cage-style faith in the accidental poetry of randomness.”

Stearns also discusses a Frank Scheffer film that accompanies Brian Eno's 1978 ambient Music for Airports, as arranged by Bang on a Canners Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Evan Ziporyn. Unmentioned is that this release also contains a second film, In the Ocean, a documentary by Scheffer about the history of the wonderful Bang on a Can festival. There are spoken contributions from and excerpts of music by John Cage, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Elliott Carter, Louis Andriessen, as well as the can-bangers themselves.

Finally, the Stearns article mentions The BQE, with both video and music from Sufjan Stevens. Commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music, this cinematic suite was inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop. The visual here (which include “three attractive, scantily clad women” hula-hooping) seems to be the dominant element, with music that is “far less radical than Kline's; it's like a traditional film score… Offenbach to Kline's Beethoven.”

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#1 at Amazon: Phil Kline’s "Around the World in a Daze"

2009-09-25T14:20:00.008-06:00

For the last week, Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze has appeared daily as the #1 Bestseller in Amazon’s Indie Classical rankings.

It’s great to see new music top the charts. We think this is a tribute to Phil’s wonderful music, which has inspired excellent reviews in such publications as The New York Times, Fanfare, New York Magazine, Stereophile, and many more.

Also, this double DVD release is currently on sale for $14.93, so that helps too.

Read more about Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze.

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#1 Amazon Bestseller: Phil Kline’s "Daze" from Starkland

2009-09-18T15:13:00.011-06:00

Today at Amazon, Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze appears as the #1 Bestseller in Amazon’s Indie Classical charts.

Excellent reviews in such publications as The New York Times, Fanfare, New York Magazine, Stereophile, and many more have undoubtedly helped.

Read more about Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze.

A related recording, Starkland’s Immersion, today ranks at #11.

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Bestseller #4 at Amazon: Phil Kline’s "Daze" DVD from Starkland

2009-09-17T15:52:00.011-06:00

Today at Amazon, Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD appears as the #4 Best Seller in Amazon’s Indie Classical sales rankings. It’s likely the first time a new music surround DVD has charted so high there.

The robust sales probably result from fine reviews in such publications as The New York Times, Fanfare, New York Magazine, Stereophile, and many more, as well as some recent promo efforts from Starkland plus Amazon’s special sale price.

Read more about Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD.

Also, Starkland’s Immersion DVD registers as #36, meaning that today Starkland has 2 new music surround DVDs in this Top 40 list.

Read more about the Immersion DVD.

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Fanfare: “poetry and mystery” heard in Phil Kline’s "Around the World in a Daze" surround DVD from Starkland

2009-09-10T16:37:00.012-06:00

In the latest issue of Fanfare, Robert Carl reviews Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD. He finds that “the whole thing breathes with a certain poetry and mystery.”

Carl writes that The Housatonic at Henry Street, which uses recorded ambiance near Kline’s home on New York’s Lower East Side, “is a very rich and evocative piece, a haunting Ives tribute/elegy.”

Phil Kline (L) and Tom Steenland
check out the ambiance at the corner
of Henry and Rutgers in New York

He next mentions the “ravishing vocal harmonies” found in The Wailing Wall.

Carl then remarks that the “tour de force” Pennies from Heaven “starts as a trickle and becomes a downpour, creating textures of great complexity, yet always clear and direct in its impact.”

He concludes that Daze “has attractive and entertaining things throughout, and sometimes it really takes off.”

Read more about Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD.

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Phillip Bimstein: “True American Original” found on 2 Starkland CDs

2009-09-03T15:21:00.011-06:00

Phillip Bimstein’s music has charmed audiences and critics far and wide for many years. Airplay of his delightful Garland Hirschi’s Cows has generated hundreds of calls to radio stations (especially after being heard on NPR’s All Things Considered). His 2 Starkland CDs have been praised by such publications as The New York Times, Stereophile, and Wired.

The latest review emerges in -- Sweden. Stephen Fruitman writes at Sonomu:

“One of those true American originals, Chicagoan Philip Bimstein once went for a hike in Utah and never came back. Since settling there he has made a name for himself as environmentalist, two-term mayor of Springdale, and composer whose music has been widely performed and generously rewarded.”

Fruitman begins with comments on Bimstein’s first Starkland CD, describing the composer as “a musical Studs Terkel, interviewing ordinary folks about their work and lives and then editing it into a cohesive story with broad appeal.” He adds:

“His first collection of pieces, Garland Hirschi´s Cows, proved to be his breakthrough…The standout is "Dark Winds Rising", a labour of love, commitment and belief, music by someone who refuses to remain a bystander while his planet and its people are being poisoned. He allows three generations of a Paiute Indian family from Arizona to create a narrative about tradition and the threats modern, profit-driven society pose to it.”

Read more about Phillip Bimstein’s Garland Hirschi’s Cows CD.

Writing about Bimstein’s second CD from Starkland, the Sonomu scribe states:

“In his latest collection, Larkin Gifford's Harmonica, Bimstein introduces us to pit bosses in Vegas, a beer-slinger at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and an elderly man´s nostalgic story about his first harmonica... At times uplifting, at others merely momentarily entertaining, but what's wrong with that?”

Read more about Phillip Bimstein’s Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica CD.

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“Cool Presentation”: Phil Kline's Daze DVD

2009-08-27T19:29:00.012-06:00

Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD has not only been praised for its adventurous music, but some have also enjoyed the custom packaging that contains the 2 DVDs as well. At Sequenza21, Jerry Bowles writes, “Our always adventuresome friends at Starkland have outdone themselves this time,” adding that “Daze is an amazing example of cool presentation.”

The first DVD contains Phil’s 65-minute Daze studio composition (commissioned by Starkland). The second DVD offers 44 minutes of Extras, including: Phil’s music video MEDITATION (run as fast as you can), a 34-minute interview (conducted by John Schaefer in Kline’s home studio), and a montage of related production photos, including studio shots where most of the music was performed, created, and mixed. The special packaging also holds a 24-page booklet.

Read more about this Phil Kline DVD.

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Kline’s Daze DVD “A Treat” at New Music Box

2009-08-20T12:03:00.012-06:00

The excellent New Music Box website writes enthusiastically about our Phil Kline Around the World in a Daze recording. The energetic Molly Sheridan states:

“The Starkland label has a treat for you—particularly those with surround sound playback equipment. Kline's Around the World in a Daze, a 10-movement work of manipulated audio samples and acoustic performance (Ethel, vocalist Kamala Sankaram, violinist Todd Reynolds, and much from the composer himself) was commissioned and designed specially for this hi-res DVD package. There's plenty to enjoy in this piece for your standard audio consumer, but for the audiophiles in the crowd, the real fun is in sitting immersed in this mash up of street noise, music clips, music boxes, bug zappers, and many other bits of sonic detritus caught up by the composer's ear and microphone.”

Read more about this Phil Kline DVD.
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"Overwhelming" Phil Kline Daze DVD in Audiophile Audition

2009-08-13T14:02:00.011-06:00

Audiophile Audition loves the rich envelopment and clear sound found on our Phil Kline Around the World in a Daze DVD. John Sunier writes, “The deep involvement in these ambient fields made possible by the hi-res surround sound takes things to a whole different dimension,” concluding that “the effect is quite overwhelming” and that Daze is “truly a remarkable sonic experience.”

For those with audiophile playback, Sunier adds, “I seem to notice an even more pronounced improvement in clarity and transparency of the DVD-Audio feed over even the DTS surround than with standard classical recordings.”

Finally, he also notes the extensive Kline interview on the Extras DVD “is quite interesting.”

Phil Kline Video Discusses 'The Housatonic at Henry Street' from his "Daze" surround DVD

2009-08-06T12:50:00.008-06:00

In this video, Phil Kline discusses "The Housatonic at Henry Street" from his Around the World in a Daze surround DVD from Starkland.

Read more about this Phil Kline DVD.

Phil Kline's Daze DVD from Starkland "Fascinates"

2009-07-30T16:02:00.012-06:00

Our Phil Kline Around the World in a Daze DVD recently received a fine review at Sequenza21. Christian Carey writes that Daze "fascinates, engages, and, often, moves." He adds, "Kline's pieces transport the hearer from their listening space to imaginary vistas that envelope, even overwhelm."

Read the full review at Sequenza21.

Read more about this Daze DVD.

New York Times Reviews Starkland's Phil Kline "Daze" DVD

2009-07-28T14:58:00.015-06:00

The New York Times has reviewed Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze DVD from Starkland. Writing in the Sunday July 26 issue, Allan Kozinn notes that "the electronic experimenter" Phil Kline "is hard at work." The review is not online, but you can read it here:

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Kline DVD Reviewed at American Record Guide

2009-07-23T16:49:00.008-06:00

The new July/August 2009 issue of American Record Guide reviews our Phil Kline Around the World in a Daze DVD. We are especially pleased with this comment:

"Pennies from Heaven, an 18-minute layering of bell sounds, shows why more pieces should be recorded in surround sound. Becoming utterly engulfed by bells too numerous to count, all playing descending lines with mixed rhythms, syncopations, and stresses, borders on the mathematical sublime."

“Imaginative” D’Arc CD Reviewed at Lucid Culture

2009-07-16T12:43:00.011-06:00

D’Arc: woman on fire, from composer/performer Jay Cloidt and writer/singer Amanda Moody, has received a fine review from Lucid Culture:

“Like something of a hybrid of Rasputina, Diamanda Galas and This Mortal Coil, this is a timely, imaginative update on the Joan of Arc legend,” they write. “Distributed by the esteemed Starkland label... this album is as accessible as it is potently relevant.”

The full review is here.

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New York Magazine calls Phil Kline’s Daze “Sensational”

2009-07-10T12:15:00.013-06:00

The current issue of New York Magazine covers two new-music releases: David Lang’s Pulitzer-winning The Little Match Girl Passion and Phil Kline’s Around the World in a Daze DVD. Justin Davidson (himself a Pulitzer recipient for his music criticism) notes that Kline’s surround sound piece is also “beguiling in old-fashioned stereo” and concludes that Daze is “a set of sensational études.” Here’s the Kline excerpt:

The full review is here.

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“Extraordinary” Kline DVD Acclaimed in Vital Weekly

2009-07-09T13:07:00.012-06:00

The latest Vital Weekly congratulates Starkland for its “extraordinary and well-documented” Around the World in a Daze DVD. Here’s the full review from Dutch writer Dolf Mulder:

VITAL WEEKLY

Reading the name of Phil Kline means thinking back of that new wave band with the beautiful name The Del-Byzanteens, a band that also had Jim Jarmusch among its members. Their LP and singles still circulate in my house! I don't know much about Kline's later whereabouts. He profiled himself as a composer and gained success with his project 'Zippo's Song' (2004). A song-cycle based on poems written by American soldiers while fighting in Vietnam. Now he returns again with a very special project. The double dvd-audio carries a high-resolution surround sound recording, promising a very special audio experience. It took some time before I had the opportunity to undergo this experience, as my old equipment was not fashioned to play these two discs. 'Around the World in A Daze' is a song cycle in 10 episodes, lasting some 65 minutes.

From the title you may deduce that space is a keyword in this production. Recordings for this project were done all over the world. But besides Kline is very interested in the spacial aspects of music and sound. He played with these aspects by using whole sets of boomboxes for the recording of most tracks. Besides this main interest, other musical items led him by constructing ten very different works. The lengthiest piece 'Pennies from Heaven' is the one I liked most. Because of the sound and because of the structure of the piece. The same descending scale is repeated and repeated again, transposed and multiplied, etc. The constant downward movement is very imaginative and brings about a meditative state. Also the opening piece 'The Housatonic at Henry Street' fascinates because of its multilayered and detailed soundspectrum.

Other pieces use the human voice as the most important material, like 'The Wailing Wall' resurrected by the voice of Kline himself. Two other pieces have the violin in the center: 'Svarga yatra' and 'Grand Etude for the Elevation'. The beautiful concluding piece is built from field recordings done in Central Africa. Tracks differ also because for the different structuring principles that are used. But as said the pieces impress above all because of their soundqualities and spatial characteristics. Each piece is accompanied by its own series of photos. Nice photos often. From urban environments, to nature, etc, etc. But I didn't need them for enjoying the music, nor the other way around. And I couldn't bridge them in my imagination. While listening I felt a bit 'imprisoned' by looking at the same time at the pictures. Well, this also a spatial effect I guess. The second dvd has an extensive interview with Kline commenting on each piece. This gives a good insight in what Kline had in mind. Congratulations for Starkland for releasing this extraordinary and well-documented release.

Visit Vital Weekly.

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Phil Kline's "Daze" DVD Reviewed at Lucid Culture

2009-07-01T18:51:00.010-06:00

Another fine review for Phil Kline's Around the World in a Daze DVD appears today courtesy of Lucid Culture.

It begins by describing Kline as "One of this era’s most fearlessly relevant composers."

They note the DVD offers "a mix of compositions which run the gamut from challenging to confrontational to playfully fun." And they conclude: "New music fans will salivate over this."

Read the full review.

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Stereophile reviews Phil Kline's "Daze" DVD from Starkland

2009-06-27T12:23:00.019-06:00

In the latest Stereophile, Starkland's Phil Kline: Around the World in a Daze DVD receives an enthusiastic review in Kal Rubinson's surround sound column:

View Starkland's complete catalog.

"D'Arc: woman on fire CD" by Jay Cloidt and Amanda Moody now available

2009-06-25T13:15:00.031-06:00

A new MinMax CD, D'Arc: woman on fire, is now being distributed by Starkland.

Created by composer/performer Jay Cloidt and writer/singer Amanda Moody, the music theater piece D’Arc features performances by ex-Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud on six of the eleven songs. Also performing on the recording are cellists Danielle DeGruttola and Elaine Kreston, pianist Jon Herbst and guitarist Will Bernard.

Weaving the threads of the Dark Ages with our own dark times, the lyrics of D’Arc depict a present-day intercession by Saint Joan of Arc into the life of a contemporary mother, whose daughter vanished while working abroad in a war-torn region. St. Joan intrudes into the modern world through bizarre visions revealed through the cold flame of a television set, challenging today’s Joanne to listen to the call of her own life

The songs on D’Arc include a newly-written hymn setting of 14th-century lyrics, delicate acoustic duets and solo cello works, and intense electronic music. Cloidt weaves musique concrète elements into the music, along with electronic elements and acoustic instruments, to underscore the voice and cello parts. Amanda Moody’s vocal performance runs the gamut from medieval hymn singing to gospel wailing to full operatic bravura, and Cloidt has set her lyrics to an extremely wide range of vernacular styles and semi-abstract electronic textures. The music is intense and intelligent, yet emotional and accessible.

Jay Cloidt is a composer and sound designer working in the San Francisco Bay Area. He studied at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College with Robert Ashley and David Behrman. He has collaborated with many groups, beginning with the late Ed Mock’s dance company (with a performance at the Vienna Biennale), and including the Paul Dresher Ensemble, the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, ODC/San Francisco, and Kronos Quartet. His works have been performed extensively by these groups and others throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including performances at Lincoln Center, Royal Festival Hall, the Concertgebouw, and many other venues.

Cloidt released another MinMax/Starkland CD, Spectral Evidence, in 2007, featuring two string quartets performed by the Cypress String Quartet. Sequenza/21 said Spectral Evidence was “…engaging, attractive, and extremely crafty.”

Writer/actress/singer Amanda Moody’s critically acclaimed work, Serial Murderess, directed by Melissa Weaver and composed by Clark Suprynowicz, won the 2001 Dean Goodman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theater, and the SF Bay Guardian's Best of 2000 Award for great solo performance. Her original oratorio, Bitter Harvest composed by Kurt Rohde, premiered with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. Georgia Rowe of the Contra Costa Times declared Bitter Harvest "Splendid boldly contemporary and undeniably moving." BackStage West said, “Moody’s virtuosity – as writer, singer and actor – is awesome.”

The CD is available at Amazon and CD Baby.

View Starkland's complete catalog.

Phil Kline discusses "The Wailing Wall" from his Around the World in a Daze surround DVD

2009-06-23T19:08:00.006-06:00

In this video, Phil Kline discusses "The Wailing Wall" from his Around the World in a Daze surround DVD:

Read more about this Phil Kline DVD.

Starkland Composers (M-Z) + Recordings

2009-06-17T14:15:00.003-06:00

An updated list of Starkland’s composers (M-Z) linked to their recordings:

Starkland Composers (K-L) + Recordings

2009-06-16T15:36:00.011-06:00

Starkland's composers (K-L) linked to their recordings:

Starkland Composers (A-H) + Recordings

2009-06-15T13:59:00.019-06:00

Starkland’s composers (A-H) linked to their recordings: