Although Hanoi is more closely associated in North American minds with 1960s Vietnam War designators like the Ho Chi Minh trail and the Hanoi Hilton, the city now has an improvised music scene, and this disc celebrates Hanoi’s first-ever New Music Festival. Being Together, a three-part piece based on a graphic score by Danish saxophonistContinue reading “Hanoi New Music Festival Ensemble 2013. Being Together.”
Genre Archives
Thanos Chrysakis. Above The Hidden Track An Endless Blaze.
Electronic musician (and, elsewhere, pianist) Thanos Chrysakis’ newest release is dominated by dense continuous textures that throng the sonic field. It’s an undeniably intense listening experience, with less breath and fewer blatant contrasts than some of his other solo work. Portrayed with absolute auditory limpidity, each particle tickles one’s ears like glass mosquitoes. Other sustainedContinue reading “Thanos Chrysakis. Above The Hidden Track An Endless Blaze.”
JOYFULTALK. Muuixx.
Muuixx recalls that fecund period during the 1990s when some notable electronic music was celebrated for its eccentric intrepid quality. But JOYFULTALK, the latest project of Nova Scotia resident Jay Crocker, isn’t nostalgic; rather, it leans toward creating something indelible. What the album does share with the aformentioned ’90s electronic music is a bric-à-brac soundContinue reading “JOYFULTALK. Muuixx.”
The Retro Aesthetic of Le Révélateur
THE OCEAN RECEDES INTO THE DISTANCE, awash in thick bands of golden-purple sunset hues. Its surface ripples in loose synchronization with a burbling synthesizer score. Suddenly, a shimmering plane materializes and obliquely bisects the scene; the plane spins and the textures of the two surfaces soak into one another. The projection of these abstract seascapesContinue reading “The Retro Aesthetic of Le Révélateur”
James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings
James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings, winner of Musicworks’ 2014 Electronic Music Composition contest, is a highly suspenseful acousmatic piece in which sounds are partially diffused through tactile transducers (specialized speakers that transmit sound through any object to which they’re attached) that are attached to an acoustic guitar and a toy piano. The two instruments are not playedContinue reading “James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings”
The Restless Art of Radwan Ghazi Moumneh
It’s Friday night in Montreal, and a who’s who of local musicians is packed into the back room of Casa del Popolo to check out the first public appearance of Master of Masters My Master. Nobody knows anything about the music they are about to hear. All they have to go on is an eventContinue reading “The Restless Art of Radwan Ghazi Moumneh”
Juan Blanco. Nuestro Tiempo / Our Time.
Through most of the twentieth century, Cuban composer Juan Blanco (1919–2008) was an active and collaborative creator and cultural leader in his homeland—primarily, though not exclusively, through his work in electroacoustic music. “No Cuban composer epitomized musical innovation better than Blanco, who melded new music, electronic instruments, improvisation, and the island’s unique musical heritage,” wroteContinue reading “Juan Blanco. Nuestro Tiempo / Our Time.”
Margaret Noble and Caitlin Smith win top marks in Musicworks’ 2013 Electronic Music Composition and “Sonic Geography” Writing contests
TORONTO, February 4, 2014 Musicworks is thrilled to announce the winners of its 2013 contests. San Diego interdisciplinary artist Margaret Noble’s Safer Is Better has won first place in Musicworks’ 2013 Electronic Music Composition contest, and Toronto composer and writer Caitlin Smith (now based in Vienna, Austria) has won first place in its 2013 “Sonic Geography” Writing contestContinue reading “Margaret Noble and Caitlin Smith win top marks in Musicworks’ 2013 Electronic Music Composition and “Sonic Geography” Writing contests”
Insubordinations
The shifting technological terrain that has brought about the decline of the CD, the rise of the download, and the return of the LP, invites inventive solutions from musicians who want to get their music heard. In this spirit, the Swiss netlabel Insubordinations combines free downloads along with memorably designed, limited-edition CDs available on line,Continue reading “Insubordinations”
The Ondes Martenot is Making New Waves
No one knows exactly how many functioning ondes Martenot are in use around the world today, but an informed, conservative estimate puts their number at sixty. In the course of half a century, Maurice Martenot, the creator of this most sensitive electronic musical instrument, was able to handcraft around 270 of them. More interested inContinue reading “The Ondes Martenot is Making New Waves”