Cozy up with the Winter 2022–23 issue and discover new pathways of sonic connectivity! ON THE COVER: SLOWPITCHSOUND With roots in turntablism that extend into the likes of classical composition, sound design, and theatre, Toronto-based artist and musician Cheldon Paterson—aka SlowPitchSound—is an artist whose music is difficult to define. In an interview with Musicworks contributing editorContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 144?”
Genre Archives
Frank Denyer Probes the Unconscious
In composer Frank Denyer’s dream, he is watching a small monkey that is inexplicably nestled in the flames inside a stove that closely resembles the one in Denyer’s kitchen. The scenario elicits many questions: How did the monkey manage to get in there in the first place, and then remain unnoticed? How is he evenContinue reading “Frank Denyer Probes the Unconscious”
Scrap Arts Music: Dr. Seuss meets steampunk
Scrap Arts Music is a joyous collision of creativity, experimental sound, and energetic movement, with percussion pieces performed on reborn hunks of junk. It’s challenging to describe and impossible to ignore. Since 1998, when he founded Scrap Arts Music in Vancouver with his wife Justine Murdy, composer and performer Gregory Kozak has built more thanContinue reading “Scrap Arts Music: Dr. Seuss meets steampunk”
Walter Smetak. Smetak & Interregno.
The first comprehensive biographical article on Walter Smetak in English was published in Musicworks 121 (2015). Since then, interest has been growing: in 2017 the BBC Radio show Hear and Now dedicated an episode to his work; Smetak was the only artist to receive a full chapter in Sound Art: Sound as a Medium ofContinue reading “Walter Smetak. Smetak & Interregno.”
Civvie. Inheritance.
Weaving is a frequent metaphor for music-making, especially when the interplay of discrete elements creates a single cohesive texture. The Winnipeg trio Civvie’s overcast, mahogany-hued sonics lend themselves to such a metaphor, but their peculiar instrumentation adds another dimension to that analogy. In fact, it’s no longer a metaphor in their case: percolating beneath longContinue reading “Civvie. Inheritance.”
What’s Inside Musicworks 129?
BUY THE WINTER 2017 PRINT ISSUE OR THE PRINT+CD ISSUE FROM OUR NEW SHOP! Take a peek at what’s between the covers and the tracklist on the CD: ON THE COVER: Geronimo Inutiq The music and media art of Geronimo Inutiq recently attracted attention from the New York Times, which described his piece in the 2017 Musée d’ArtContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 129?”
Senyawa plays the music of the universe
On a chilly, rainy Thursday May night, a crowd of sixty or so people, spread unevenly around the pews of Halifax’s Fort Massey United Church, is waiting. OBEY Convention creative director Andrew Patterson has just introduced Indonesian “doom folk” duo Senyawa, but after the applause has faded they have still not appeared. Finally, two diminutiveContinue reading “Senyawa plays the music of the universe”
Amanda Dawn Christie’s Requiem for Radio
In 2012 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) began to tear down its Radio-Canada International towers in Sackville, New Brunswick (home to some 6,000 people and best known as the locale of the beloved SappyFest). The dismantling of the towers wasn’t just another chapter in the public broadcaster’s ongoing fight to keep its funding, but somethingContinue reading “Amanda Dawn Christie’s Requiem for Radio”
Jay Crocker Navigates the Music of Obstacles
“THEY WERE EXPECTING TO HAVE A swinging kind of jazz party, but we were doing nothing of the sort that night.” Percussionist Chris Dadge is recalling a particularly memorable gig at the Beat Niq Jazz & Social Club—a trad jazz club in downtown Calgary—during which he, guitarist Jay Crocker, saxophonist Dan Michael, and pianist Mark LimacherContinue reading “Jay Crocker Navigates the Music of Obstacles”
Anne-F Jacques. Sable ou Sel.
Anne-F Jacques is a Montreal sound artist who plays acoustic noise-music on invented instruments. Mechanical loops are created when various objects are attached to spinning motors amplified by contact mikes, assemblies that Jacques categorizes as her “rotating devices.” Unlike the digital world of perfect repetition, her improvisations are brought to life by erratic variations arisingContinue reading “Anne-F Jacques. Sable ou Sel.”