Di Mainstone, inventor of the Human Harp, describes herself as a “bridge botherer.” But to be accurate, her bridge-bothering activities are fairly recent. Before bridges (the Human Harp has, to date, played bridges in Brooklyn, Omaha, and Bristol) came mood-sensitive kinetic outfits and prosthetic sound devices. In Mainstone’s tiny studio, perched atop a disused VictorianContinue reading “Di Mainstone Fashions a New Sonic Future”
Genre Archives
The Avian is the Message
Songbirds have a secret language. This is something I did not fully appreciate until recently, when I became immersed in their world. What may be music to our ears is bird-speak—a mating call, an aural fence, or simple prattle to stay in touch. There are people who can understand bird speak, who can instantly discernContinue reading “The Avian is the Message”
Simon Cacheux’s InnerSelf
Simon Cacheux works as a musician, sound designer, and sound artist. He is interested in the texture of sounds, how they blend with each other, and in the microfictions that occur within the sounds themselves. His work leans towards minimalism—in particular drones, ambient, and noise music. His deep interest in technology has lead him exploreContinue reading “Simon Cacheux’s InnerSelf”
Howlround. Torridon Gate.
The title of Howlround’s third and reassuringly unheimlich album takes its name from a gate that really exists. It’s on a road in Hither Green, a suburb that was laid out for an expanding London at the end of the nineteenth century as an ideal home for hard-working commuters who had, presumably, no time orContinue reading “Howlround. Torridon Gate.”
Shannon McKee’s “The Copy Room”
As I step into the undersized side room of the middle-school office, I want to remove my high heels. I want to kneel on the thin, brown carpet and touch my forehead to the ugly floor. I want to offer up a soft song. Because when I—a teacher’s assistant for twenty-five twelve-year-olds—cross the threshold ofContinue reading “Shannon McKee’s “The Copy Room””
Sarah Peebles. Delicate Paths.
The thin, luminous sound of the shô, a Japanese mouth organ, is very particular and very beautiful—presenting a pleasant and impossibly clear glassy tonal surface. Sarah Peebles’ new shô-centred disc Delicate Paths demonstrates a thorough, painterly understanding of this instrument’s saturated astringency in solo, small ensemble, and electroacoustic contexts. There’s a contemplative austerity to theContinue reading “Sarah Peebles. Delicate Paths.”
On Listening. Edited by Angus Carlyle and Cathy Lane.
On Listening provides a broad cross-disciplinary map of the sound world, through forty short essays, each a brief introduction to an aspect of listening. The essay on underwater sound introduces the field of marine bioacoustics and describes elements of physics that determine the conduct of sound waves through water. An essay on the sonic boomsContinue reading “On Listening. Edited by Angus Carlyle and Cathy Lane.”
Music from the New Wilderness
What can sound tell us about a place? Listen to British Columbia, and it might sound something like Music from the New Wilderness, a multimedia performance work that conjures B.C.’s past and evolving present by incorporating historical and current field recordings into new compositions. One piece relies on the fast-changing sounds of a remote coastalContinue reading “Music from the New Wilderness”
A Walk in the Barrios
Buenos Aires, also known as Capital Federal, is the largest city in Argentina, with a population of three million—thirteen million including the greater urban area. The city is located on the western shore of Rio de la Plata (River of Silver), the widest estuary in the world, which channels the muddy waters of the ParanáContinue reading “A Walk in the Barrios”
Anna Höstman Tunes In To Her Roots
There’s no place like home. For Anna Höstman, winner of the 2013 Toronto Emerging Composer Award, home is the Bella Coola Valley, a remote wilderness wonderland on British Columbia’s central coast. Its rich cultural history dates back 10,000 years to the Nuxalkmc people (now called Nuxalk—pronounced Nu-halk), who lived in villages along its extensive andContinue reading “Anna Höstman Tunes In To Her Roots”