To many listeners, Ian William Craig’s debut LP, A Turn of Breath (Recital, 2014), seemed to materialize out of thin air—and not just because it was his first commercial release: one can hear almost spectral voices attempting to penetrate layers of electromagnetic detritus, like choral music trickling in from the spirit world. One can definitelyContinue reading “Ian William Craig’s Sonic Alchemy”
Genre Archives
Ian William Craig. Red Sun Through Smoke.
In the summer of 2018 wildfires tore through British Columbia, leaving the city of Kelowna enveloped in smoke. Composer and singer Ian William Craig, who had temporarily relocated there from his Vancouver home, recorded what would become Red Sun Through Smoke. Craig’s grandfather had moved to a long-term care facility, and Craig decided to useContinue reading “Ian William Craig. Red Sun Through Smoke.”
crys cole. Beside Myself.
Beside Myself, the second full-length album by Canadian sound artist crys cole, is a peculiar beast. Its two tracks, both clocking in around twenty minutes, feature immersive soundworlds that are constantly transforming. The Nonsuch begins with the sound of cole writing with a pencil. The utensil isn’t presented as an instrument capable of surprising musicalContinue reading “crys cole. Beside Myself.”
What’s Inside Musicworks 136?
The Spring 2020 issue is a one-stop, one-of-a-kind sonic journey. Most of the stories were assigned, written, and edited before the lockdown, due to the global COVID-19 health crisis, took hold. Events referred to or advertised in this issue were not yet cancelled at press time but likely are now. We’re grateful to the communityContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 136?”
James O’Callaghan & Ensemble Paramirabo. Alone & Unalone.
Montreal’s James O’Callaghan exemplifies a wave of younger composers whose unique remedies have successfully healed some of the major ideological rifts that characterized twentieth-century music. This new disc, immaculately performed by the brilliant and agile Ensemble Paramirabo, plucks four of his chamber works from their onstage home (most include performative elements) and renders them asContinue reading “James O’Callaghan & Ensemble Paramirabo. Alone & Unalone.”
heArt Ensemble. From the Basement
The historical importance of the Quatuor de jazz libre du Québec has been well recognized. Recent book (Eric Filion’s Jazz libre et la revolution québécoise, M Éditeur) and archival CD (Jazz libre du Québec: musique-politique—1971-74, Tour de bras) releases have highlighted the cultural role the group played in Quebec and the continuing vitality of theirContinue reading “heArt Ensemble. From the Basement”
Land of Kush. Sand Enigma.
Sand Enigma is a vision. Not in the sense of a future or even a past, but of a roiling, tempestuous, and contradictory present. Composer and bandleader Sam Shalabi has created a movie—and without trotting out the cinematic tropes, this release has a comprehensive narrative, one that has as much to do with Guillermo deContinue reading “Land of Kush. Sand Enigma.”
We Are All Connected
I have often stopped to listen to the trees during a walk in a forest on a breezy day. Only recently, however, did I realize that it is possible to stop and listen to the fungi. Mycelium is the underground network of fungal threads that connects the roots of different plants and provides a kindContinue reading “We Are All Connected”
What’s Inside Musicworks 135?
The artists in the Winter 2019 issue are connected through the sonic mycelium of Musicworks! Order the Winter issue now. Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Illuminations Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Illuminations is one of the most sonically beguiling, technologically groundbreaking, and undeniably brilliant albums of the 1960s folk era. Sadly, it failed to find commercial success upon its release in 1969 andContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 135?”