On a Sunday afternoon this past June I visited Outlet Fine Art, one of many independent galleries and performance spaces that have popped up in and around the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bushwick in recent years. I was there to attend a performance by sound artist Roarke Menzies, the second in his series of appearances inContinue reading “The Material Soundscapes of Roarke Menzies”
Genre Archives
Fall 2016
Jason Sharp. A Boat Upon Its Blood.
Baritone and bass saxophonist Jason Sharp is a long-time collaborator with poet Kaie Kellough and has been involved in the Montreal music scene for several years as a member of large ensembles (Sam Shalabi’s Land of Kush, and Nicolas Caloia’s Ratchet Orchestra), playing with Matana Roberts and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra, and opening forContinue reading “Jason Sharp. A Boat Upon Its Blood.”
Amy Brandon. Scavenger.
Truro-based guitarist and composer Amy Brandon is a quietly singular figure whose musical language hovers softly between numerous familiar styles—notably outside jazz, fingerstyle, and modern composition. Scavenger, her debut recording, isn’t especially conspicuous, yet it’s nearly impossible to think of any cohabitants of her very particular universe. While nylon-string guitar is unquestionably in the foregroundContinue reading “Amy Brandon. Scavenger.”
the centre is wherever
Are you experienced? Even if you haven’t strapped on a virtual reality headset to interact with brave new computer-simulated worlds or to visit real-life remote locations (Mount Everest!) or to watch 360° music videos, news documentaries, and pro-sports games, you know that V.R. is here. Earlier this year, I started wondering about the role ofContinue reading “the centre is wherever”
Electric Eclectics 2016.
THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE AT ELECTRIC ECLECTICS IS THAT YOU’RE NEVER REALLY BALANCED. The three-day midsummer festival of weird music and art takes place at Gordon Monahan and Laura Kikauka’s Funny Farm in Meaford, Ontario, which has hardly any level ground. The ground in front of the stage slopes away from it, not towardsContinue reading “Electric Eclectics 2016.”
Various Artists. Kudatah—Vol. 1
Electronic dance music has always been notorious for its overly rarefied stylistic niches. Within the past few years, the cartoonish overabundance of incomprehensible genre designations has folded in on itself, producing a vast polymorphous body of peculiar and self-aware work. Record labels like 1080p, Orange Milk, Los Discos Enfantasmes, PC Music, and Noumenal Loom haveContinue reading “Various Artists. Kudatah—Vol. 1”
Tristan Perich. Parallels; Telescope; Active Field; Dual Synthesis.
Across his body of work, composer and conceptualist Tristan Perich varies from electronoise and glitched-out video to sound installations and drawing machines. But what he is no doubt most known for is a singularly focused and wonderfully varied approach to composition. His “one-bit music” got a fair bit of attention with the release of aContinue reading “Tristan Perich. Parallels; Telescope; Active Field; Dual Synthesis.”
Bill Dietz. 8 Tutorial Diversions, 2009-2014.
Edition Solitude publishes the work of resident artists at Akademie Schloss Solitude, an artist fellowship and residency program in Germany. One of its recent monographs is 8 Tutorial Diversions, 2009-2014 by American-born, Berlin-based artist and composer Bill Dietz. Consisting of eight scores from his “Tutorial Diversions” series, each work is a “composed listening” designed toContinue reading “Bill Dietz. 8 Tutorial Diversions, 2009-2014.”
Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, 32nd Edition.
The Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville (FIMAV) arrives with the late, brief spring of Quebec’s central region, an energizing jolt between winter and summer that sees the flowering of older vines and new life bursting through the earth. This year’s instalment of FIMAV did what it has done very well for many years: present challengingContinue reading “Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, 32nd Edition.”