Contradiction is a huge theme in contemporary experimental music. Today’s most potent works situate the listener at hitherto unimaginable thresholds between seemingly irreconcilable points. While many artists use paradoxical scenarios as compositional devices, Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear is one of those rare artists whose creative foundation actually reflects these contradictions. De Alvear’s defiantly uniqueContinue reading “Maria de Alvear, Rebel By Nature”
Author Archives: Musicworks
wnoondwaamin | we hear them
Inspired by the idea that sound travels and has purpose beyond the human ear, wnoondwaamin | we hear them is about the materiality of sound, the social implications of the transmission and reception of sound, and the politics of being or not being heard. Artists Autumn Chacon, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Melissa General, and Suzanne MorrissetteContinue reading “wnoondwaamin | we hear them”
Wow & Flutter make breathing room
The phrase “wow and flutter” typically refers to flawed analog recordings—ones with imperfections that cause the pitch to oscillate, either slowly or quickly. When Toronto-based wind players Bea Labikova, Kayla Milmine, and Sarah Peebles decided to form an improvising trio together in late 2017, Wow & Flutter felt like the natural name choice: it’s exactlyContinue reading “Wow & Flutter make breathing room”
Peggy Lee and the Joy of Unknowable Notes
Her cello in a white case strapped to her small back, Peggy Lee had walked several unfamiliar blocks in her hometown Vancouver, since the bus dropped her at the edge of a genteel oceanside neighbourhood. She was looking for the Aberthau Mansion, where she would perform later that evening. Across a shaded park, Lee climbedContinue reading “Peggy Lee and the Joy of Unknowable Notes”
Jean-Sebastien Audet’s Songs of Ephemera
Jean-Sebastien Audet and I drink coffee in a café on Toronto’s Queen Street West, as we try to pin down his elusive music. The man who has kindly given us his larger table is now squeezed into a corner with his laptop and is feigning interest in nondescript wall art. He perks up his earsContinue reading “Jean-Sebastien Audet’s Songs of Ephemera”
Bug Incision: Calgary’s Cross-Pollination Buzz
The world of free improvisation is like a parallel universe, a global underground community of nonidiomatic soundmakers, recording with each other in every imaginable permutation, connected via a proliferation of text- and link-heavy Web 1.0 sites, DIY venues, and CD-R labels, with a passionately devoted audience consisting of— in large part, if not exclusively—improvisers themselves,Continue reading “Bug Incision: Calgary’s Cross-Pollination Buzz”
What’s Inside Musicworks 131?
Musicworks 131 is the second issue of our 40th anniversary year, featuring artists who are active in interarts, DIY culture, collaborative composing, and more! Buy the print issue (or print + CD combo!) from our shop or start your subscription with the Fall 2018 issue. ON THE COVER Vancouver cellist, improviser, and composer Peggy Lee talksContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 131?”
Getting Out More Often
In my five years as editor of Musicworks, I cannot recall a more action-packed time than the three-day whirlwind of stimulating events, conversations, and music I experienced last May. All the chatting and typing and reading and listening that I do in front of (or holding) a screen certainly keeps me connected to my colleaguesContinue reading “Getting Out More Often”
BLACKOUT MUSIC
Deep black space is speckled with birdcalls and falling water until an ominous boom looms and the drumming of rat-a-tat-tat – insect infestation or insistent rain – is jarring and subsides in the darkness a piano perforates the heavy steely rumble of trains and we tumble up the keyboard to dissolve into sparkles tiny fireflyContinue reading “BLACKOUT MUSIC”
Julia Mermelstein’s “wonted II-III”
Toronto-based composer Julia Mermelstein creates music focused on detailed tone, colour, textures, and gestural movement that reveal evocative, immersive, and subtly changing soundscapes. Her work aims to blend acoustic and electronic sound worlds in seamless interactions. Drawing inspiration from Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and ritual, as well as her extensive background in ballet, Mermelstein blends multipleContinue reading “Julia Mermelstein’s “wonted II-III””