In his “Sonnet 45” William Shakespeare muses on thought and desire as “present-absent” qualities. Both testify to a bond with the loved one, but they speak also of distance. Pianist Eve Egoyan sings the words of this sonnet as she plays Linda Catlin Smith’s composition Thought and Desire. Her voice has an affectingly delicate, woundedContinue reading “Linda Catlin Smith. Thought and Desire.”
Genre Archives
Yves Bouliane. Champ (10 Opérations).
Tenzier’s hunt for the lost treasures of Quebec avant-garde music history is as relentless as the music on this album of Yves Bouliane cello solos, originally released in 1977 in an ultra-limited edition of ten cassettes. Aside from a brief stint in Le quatuor de jazz libre du Québec, Bouliane was a founding member ofContinue reading “Yves Bouliane. Champ (10 Opérations).”
Ken Aldcroft. Mister, Mister.
There’s something special about fully realized solo improvisation. Layers of consciousness, kinds of memory, and impulses of intent impinge on one another, revealing fresh possibilities and meaning, as if improvisation, in the absence of an immediate community of players, begins to extrapolate substitutions for the more conventional kind. Toronto guitarist Ken Aldcroft is a widelyContinue reading “Ken Aldcroft. Mister, Mister.”
Nick Storring. Gardens.
We think of gardens as something we make. You start a garden and tend to it. It is yours. But the garden has most likely been there for a very long time. You just mould it to your own purposes. If you ask a rosebush how long it has been there, it won’t know whatContinue reading “Nick Storring. Gardens.”
Jaap Blonk
Ever since his performances of classic Dada sound poetry in the late ’70s, Dutch performer–composer Jaap Blonk has been a prolific explorer of the limits of oral sound. He has developed an extensive body of work centred around his own vocal invention and innovation, frequently including acoustic instruments, electronics and, more recently, studio and liveContinue reading “Jaap Blonk”
Isaiah Ceccarelli
“I know it may sound crazy, but I am interested in making beautiful music—music that sounds good. I’m not saying this just to be different, and it might not be in line with a lot of the reasons that people make music today, but I am actually not very involved with, or worrying so muchContinue reading “Isaiah Ceccarelli”
Adrian Verdejo. Modern Hearts.
Recordings of new music for electric guitar are rare. Solo efforts in that field are rarer still. And albums that fully exploit the sonic capabilities of the instrument are practically unheard of, thus making Adrian Verdejo’s Modern Hearts almost a public service—at least for those of us who wonder why one of the world’s mostContinue reading “Adrian Verdejo. Modern Hearts.”
Sarah Neufeld: Solo Violin, Guerrilla-Style
“I COULDN’T EVEN PLAY A NOTE. If you even breathe, your breath becomes this crazy, feathery freight train of echo.” Sarah Neufeld recalls her first visit to Devil’s Mountain with a mixture of fear and delight. The site of an abandoned array of geodesic domes that served as a U.S. listening-station during the Cold War,Continue reading “Sarah Neufeld: Solo Violin, Guerrilla-Style”
Charlemagne Palestine Pulls Out the Stops
Interpretation takes the sensory experience of the work of art for granted, and proceeds from there. What is important now is to recover our senses. We must learn to see more, to hear more, to feel more. —Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation” “My work speaks for itself and doesn’t need to be explained,” Charlemagne Palestine insists,Continue reading “Charlemagne Palestine Pulls Out the Stops”