FULL TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Buffalo has long held an aura of adventure for me. The first time I visited the city, I was intrigued by the impressive collection of modernist work at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, where I returned often in the 1970s, driving from Toronto with a carful of my fellowContinue reading “Buffalo New Music”
Article Type Archives
John Wynne
FULL TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY A chill-blue image of ocean waves projects across the join of two white walls. At first the image appears still, but then you notice the waves undulating gently. On a table in front of the image, and housed in a small casket with its lid raised, twelve hearingContinue reading “John Wynne”
Colin Stetson’s Sound Story
Stories in which the protagonist blossoms, finds themselves, or rediscovers their roots appear everywhere. Their ubiquity makes it awfully tempting to replicate this narrative when telling the story of a solo artist who has arrived at a uniquely focused sound world. Yet sometimes it’s more powerful, and more in line with reality, to illuminate theContinue reading “Colin Stetson’s Sound Story”
Akio Suzuki
This article was originally published in Spring 2013. The applause following the introduction of Akio Suzuki at his first Toronto performance since 1984 quickly died down to reveal an echo emerging from the concert-hall seats. It was a consistent pattering—not a true echo but a sonic answer to the applause. The source of the soundContinue reading “Akio Suzuki”
Erdem Helvacioglu
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY When you’re caught up in the thick of it, all those cute, clichéd little epithets about turning life’s lemons into lemonade, spinning grave fuck-ups into rapturous inspiration, and the like, hardly seem to hold any wisdom whatsoever. Things suddenly went awry for Turkish composer and performer Erdem Helvacioglu whileContinue reading “Erdem Helvacioglu”
Nicolas Bernier and Martin Messier
“La chambre des machines is a project where two electronic musicians are driven by the desire to be involved, as physically as they can be, in a performance context,” explains Nicolas Bernier, discussing his ongoing collaborative work with Martin Messier. “It’s not a conceptual piece; it was made in action, from day one.” The actionContinue reading “Nicolas Bernier and Martin Messier”
Richard Windeyer
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Sitting behind his drum kit and laptop, Richard Windeyer manages the energy of the dance floor, while his colleague Sabrina Reeves emcees the evening’s events. A slow folk ballad suddenly ramps up to 120 bpm; the room pauses for a dance-off; the tempo returns to a slow gaitContinue reading “Richard Windeyer”
loK8Tr
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY They weren’t going to speak with me. Maybe it was just a he or a she, rather than a they. I didn’t know. An e-mail exchange was possible, but I wanted to meet face to face. I tried cajoling the members of the online musical project with theContinue reading “loK8Tr”
Pheeroan akLaff
Pheeroan akLaff believes in drums first, rather than last. He can drive an ensemble forward with the machine-gun attack of his snare and the rolling thunder of his bass and toms, compounding and enriching the music with dense polyrhythms, or using the metallic shimmer of his cymbals to surmount it all with a luminous, celebratoryContinue reading “Pheeroan akLaff”
Cassandra Miller’s Unclassifiable Concert Music
If you had just commissioned Cassandra Miller to write a new piece of music for you, she might get the ball rolling by chuckling and then asking you, “What do you sing when you’re in the shower? What was your favourite song as a kid? What would you be if you weren’t a musician?” ThenContinue reading “Cassandra Miller’s Unclassifiable Concert Music”
Olivia Block
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY The sound of a clarinet passage emerges from a quiet section and is punctuated by a series of minute electronic tones. Accompanying the clarinet is a recording of the wind, but the sound is more than just that of a rush of wind; it is the sound ofContinue reading “Olivia Block”
Clint Conley and Hildegard Westerkamp
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY You haven’t picked up your guitar in weeks, if not months. You stare at the staff paper and the rows of empty lines burn an impression on your retina. Is this just writer’s block, or is it gone for good? Many artists have an up-and-down, on-again-off-again relationship withContinue reading “Clint Conley and Hildegard Westerkamp”
Christopher Mayo
In 2005, Christopher Mayo had a summer that unexpectedly changed his approach to composing. The Toronto-born composer spent three weeks at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Institute in North Adams, Massachusetts, where he came into contact with composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Steve Reich. Mayo, who had recently gained aContinue reading “Christopher Mayo”
STEIM
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Maybe someone would have been able to guess what I was getting myself into when I left for STEIM in The Netherlands. After all, there was a pretty clear sign. All passengers had boarded the plane, and we all were eager to get to our destinations or makeContinue reading “STEIM”
Dániel Péter Biró
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Composer Dániel Péter Biró talks about his work in long, lucid sentences. He takes his time, he doesn’t double back or digress, and he rarely needs to correct himself. But just when you think his explanation is complete, he adds another layer. His music, too, is multi-layered, butContinue reading “Dániel Péter Biró”
Barry Truax
With a friendly disposition and unassuming personality, Barry Truax would hardly be thought of as a trailblazing radical. But this soft-spoken composer and teacher is a groundbreaking Canadian icon. Not only did Truax pioneer granular synthesis with the PODX computer music system, he is viewed the world over as an electroacoustic compositional guru. At sixty-threeContinue reading “Barry Truax”
Charles Stankievech
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Some time ago, a friend and I were talking outside a gallery, when suddenly we saw a bright green object sear through the night sky. Assuming it to be a stray firework, we waited for the expected explosion and crackles. We waited and waited, then waited some more.Continue reading “Charles Stankievech”
James Rolfe
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY. I first met James Rolfe nearly twenty years ago, when we were finalists in the 1990 edition of the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers. As a frequent visitor to Rolfe’s Toronto apartment at that time, I was afforded an insider’s view of the creative process behind many ofContinue reading “James Rolfe”
Tom Zé
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY The romantic Brazil—the one that ensnares tourists—does not include the Brazilian Northeast. Miles from Rio de Janeiro, this place is worlds removed from the urban sophisticates that dwell in the south. To Brazilians and northerners alike, the Northeast has its own mythology. Its interior, the sertão, is aContinue reading “Tom Zé”
Micachu & The Shapes
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Growing up on the outskirts of London, kids are drawn to the city by any number of attractions, from shops to sport matches, from galleries to gangsta posing. For Mica Levi, it was classical-music concerts. Growing up in an intensely musical family, that was a typical weekend excursion.Continue reading “Micachu & The Shapes”
Tim Hecker
It’s a sensation particular to staying up all night—that in-between place on the cusp of complete exhaustion and utter lucidity, where fatigue and receptivity somehow reach a simultaneous peak. No longer fighting to stay awake, you’re charged with a directionless urgency, susceptible to the slightest resonance. Attention roams like a bright focused light searching forContinue reading “Tim Hecker”
Jean-François Laporte
A maze of thin, transparent hose bundled by lock ties runs along the walls and floors of a spacious studio painted white from floor to ceiling. At the back of the studio near a tool and supply room, an air compressor kicks into action with a thump. Hissing air begins filling the lengthy veins ofContinue reading “Jean-François Laporte”
Derek Charke
Derek Charke is irresistibly attracted to the North. In 2006 he found himself in the Yukon, dogsledding with the Kronos Quartet. For a composer with a love of the Arctic it doesn’t get better, or more surreal, than this. A few days earlier he had been in a Whitehorse hotel room where Kronos was rehearsingContinue reading “Derek Charke”
Thomas, Farah, and D’Eon
I’m sitting with Thom Gill and we’re talking about his most recent EP Such Is Your Triumph, arguably his most intimate and personal set of recordings to date. In addition to his beautifully hushed and harmonically inventive takes on two gospel songs made famous by the Clark Sisters, the EP also contains several original pieces,Continue reading “Thomas, Farah, and D’Eon”