On June 21, 1982, the French Ministry of Culture introduced the first Fête de la Musique (meaning celebration/feast of music, and a homophone of Faites-musique—make music), a large street party where musicians reignite ancient pagan solstice rituals in spontaneous concerts featuring amateur and professional musicians from all genres. Noise and drinking restrictions are relaxed, andContinue reading “Paris, France”
Genre Archives
Summer 2012
Chris Watson and Marcus Davidson. Cross-Pollination.
Of all earthly creatures, insects come the closest to resembling aliens: exoskeletons, multifaceted eyes, barbed legs, and an impenetrable collectiveness. Their sonic world is highlighted on Cross-Pollination. Central to the two tracks on this CD are recordings of insects by Chris Watson, renowned nature-sound recordist. Midnight at the Oasis is a condensed soundscape composed fromContinue reading “Chris Watson and Marcus Davidson. Cross-Pollination.”
Chris Watson. El tren fantasma.
Sound recordist Chris Watson’s latest CD is a homage to the sounds of trains, sounds that until ten years ago travelled the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Mexico. The ten pieces on El tren fantasma abound with the screeching and the rhythms of steel wheels rolling over the tracks, eerie locomotive whistles, and the soundsContinue reading “Chris Watson. El tren fantasma.”
Aki Onda. Diary and First Thought Best Thought.
Cassette tapes have been one of the more unlikely sound devices to have a resurgence in popularity these last few years. Vinyl can at least by claim to high sound fidelity, but what’s the motive for making space on the shelf for a new wave of cassette releases—let alone for digging out the old SonyContinue reading “Aki Onda. Diary and First Thought Best Thought.”
Rouge Ciel. Bryologie.
Bryologie, named intriguingly for the study of mosses, is the third CD by the Montreal quartet Rouge Ciel, founded in 2001. When the group began recording, some of the members were around twenty years of age, and the band maintains that same personnel, with Guido Del Fabbro on violins, banjo, and programming; Simon Lapointe onContinue reading “Rouge Ciel. Bryologie.”
Havana, Cuba
What does a city sound like whose history spans periods of colonial opulence, Mafia casino decadence, and a dying communist revolution? The habanera, the salsa, and reggaeton. Havana’s storied past has produced a musical culture as varied and deep as the sociopolitical eras that it has survived. During the nineteenth century Havana gave birth toContinue reading “Havana, Cuba”
Rings of Beijing
I sit staring at the laptop screen in my Beijing hotel room. Writers’ block. Silently trying to formulate words. No sounds enter my consciousness. Only the insistent hum of the laptop. Until my listening body is dropped into a pool of sound. Concentric sonic circles ripple out from the imitation Qing chair. My energy isContinue reading “Rings of Beijing”
Kitchen Chorus
over breakfast, writing in my head, i can’t hear the words land—they’re swallowed back down the chute they come from—thud of molars as they chew buttered toast which slides, with a slick suck, into the whirlpool of digestive juices—outside, rain is rivetting itself to the ground, a seamless crackle all around tacks maple leaf toContinue reading “Kitchen Chorus”
G20
“Down with capitalism, up with socialism!” This distorted-megaphone message is heard against a backdrop of African drumming, French resistance songs, and the constant whirr of helicopters overhead. The rally organizers direct the crowd, “Please walk slowly and peacefully out of the park and west toward City Hall, where we will start our speeches.” It isContinue reading “G20”