Yellowknife-based experimental electronic-music artist Sami Blanco plays me a snippet of a soundbank he made for late-night broadcast on Yellowknife’s francophone radio station, CIVR-FM, familiarly known as Radio Taïga. Emerging from a Korg MS2000—the virtual analog synthesizer Blanco dreamed about owning since he was sixteen—is a dazzling sequence that twinkles like stars on a clearContinue reading “Sami Blanco’s Experimental Atmospheres”
Genre Archives
Eric Lewis. Intents & Purposes.
Are John Coltrane’s out versions of “My Favorite Things” valid representations of the original Rodgers and Hammerstein song from The Sound of Music? What are the similarities and differences between fully scored and freely improvised music? More generally, how best conceive of musical works vis à vis musical performances, and why are these concepts importantContinue reading “Eric Lewis. Intents & Purposes.”
Tim Olive / Martin Tétreault. Faune; Doreen Girard / Tim Olive. Boro.
Tim Olive is a Prairie-raised sound artist and improviser currently based in Kobe, Japan. He regularly releases music on his 845 Audio label, both on Bandcamp and on CD, the latter in editions of 100. Faune and Boro document Olive in duets with Canadian musicians Martin Tétreault and Doreen Girard, respectively. Originally a guitarist, OliveContinue reading “Tim Olive / Martin Tétreault. Faune; Doreen Girard / Tim Olive. Boro.”
Mystery & Wonder Records: Extending the Sound
A striking musical and visual aesthetic distinguishes Mystery & Wonder Records from other artist-curated labels. The recordings are concise yet complete musical statements. High-definition sound with a lively, in-your-face feel results from microphones placed very close to the instruments. Releases are downloadable from the label’s Website but are more fully appreciated on vinyl or CD,Continue reading “Mystery & Wonder Records: Extending the Sound”
Chroma Mixed Media’s Water
Water, the second-place winner of Musicworks’ 2018 Electronic Music Composition Contest, is a multimedia performance piece structured around changing states of water. It was composed collaboratively by three members of Chroma Mixed Media for a performance with the Co.Crea.Tive collective that took place at the Golden Saucer in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Earth Day (April 22)Continue reading “Chroma Mixed Media’s Water”
Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, 35th Edition.
There has always been something slightly enchanted about FIMAV’s existence. Sheltered in a small city between Montreal and Quebec City, Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville is devoted to musique actuelle (music of the moment), which embraces improvised music, free jazz, avant-rock, electronica, harsh noise, folkloric projects, and uncategorizable sonic eruptions from around theContinue reading “Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, 35th Edition.”
Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival.
Since 2010, Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival in Winnipeg has been offering an annual space where musical inspiration meets modern technology and interdisciplinary art. Its tenth edition featured nearly three dozen artists presenting performances, installations, lectures, and workshops; while not explicitly stated as such, issues of identity, representation, and art as an instrumentContinue reading “Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival.”
Hübsch, Martel, Zoubek. Otherwise; Cyril Bondi / Pierre-Yves Martel / Christoph Schiller. tse.
Pierre-Yves Martel is a musician and sound artist of the greatest subtlety, which is evident in his choice of a principal instrument, the viola da gamba, a Renaissance–baroque instrument roughly equivalent to a cello, but one that has six strings and frets—guitar-like features that lend it a unique flexibility in the context of improvised music.Continue reading “Hübsch, Martel, Zoubek. Otherwise; Cyril Bondi / Pierre-Yves Martel / Christoph Schiller. tse.”
Christopher Fox. Topophony.
Ilan Volkov is responsible for some remarkable mergers of composed and improvised music, having conducted some of Roscoe Mitchell’s first Conversations with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in 2016, combining transcribed improvisations with live ones. In the previous year, Volkov commissioned and conducted Christopher Fox’s Topophony, a rare symphonic setting for improviser(s), debuting the piece withContinue reading “Christopher Fox. Topophony.”
Overleaf. Overleaf.
The recently formed Overleaf assembles three of Toronto’s most distinct yet unsung voices in a compelling and elusive amalgam. Synthesist (and occasional bamboo flutist) Heidi Chan (aka Bachelard), saxophonist Kayla Milmine, and Mira Martin-Gray, who has an uncharacteristically acute grasp of mixer feedback, are indeed improvising, but this work trades many of the tropes of theContinue reading “Overleaf. Overleaf.”