Monthly Archive for October, 2007

Wordless Music; Free Concert Archives from WNYC

Published
by
sean
on October 29, 2007
in feature
. 4 Comments

For corporate cogs like myself, the biweekly paycheck day is a joyous occasion. Every other thursday in the mailbox, waiting patiently, is that freshly printed statement of self-worth, precise to two decimal points. Turns out, I’m not worth much (and only up about 3% from last year). More troubling than the ultimate value, though, is the fact that my single bi-weekly check isn’t even enough to cover that months rent, which ends up devouring around 60% of my income. It’s usually difficult to warrant such waste. Well, when the Wordless Music Series shows are in full swing, the decision seems more than justified. I’m situated literally 20 minutes walk from the best New York has to offer.

Colleen

My first Wordless show featured Eluvium, who I’d been dying to see for ages, supporting Amiina. The venues are mostly churches, perfectly warm, intimate spaces for ambient acoustics. I had also bought tickets to see The Books, but had to miss the show for work (I’ve bought tickets for three separate Books shows, and missed them all). Most recently, I was able to see Colleen supporting Beirut. I’d seen Colleen before, supporting partner Leaf label musician A Hack and a Hacksaw. I’m guessing Colleen got paired with Beirut for their tour through Hack and a Hacksaw, since the two bands worked closely together on the eastern-european, gypsy inspired and critically adored ‘Gulag Orkestar‘, a sound Hacksaw has been developing for years, over several albums. Even under the worst concert conditions, at a tiny show during the summer of 2005, in a stuffed, unventilated Philadelphia art studio, I’d completely fallen for Colleen’s looping, glitchty, music box & minimalist cello that night. Well, her Wordless performance was similarly stunning. Fortunately this time I’m able to relive the experience, and share it with other like minded folks since WYNC recently decided to partner up with Wordless to archive this season’s shows, and offer the recording for free online. They’ve really come at a perfect time, with the absolute best performances yet to come from Múm, Hauschka, and Max Richter in his first ever US concert appearance. WYNC’s recording of the Colleen show is embedded below. The rest can be found on WNYC’s page dedicated to Wordless.


Recommended highlights: Colleen @ 23:15 (from Golden Morning Breaks), Katya Mihailova & Colin Jacobsen @ 50:26 (performing Arvo Part’s Fratres)

(image: Colleen in Paris, promotional photo from colleenplays.org)

Pretty Rad Sounds (Film Music)

Published
by
sean
on October 25, 2007
in podcast
. 0 Comments

Aguirre (Klaus Kinski)

Since I’ve been listening to lots of film music recently, I though it would be compile some of my favorites for this weeks show. Part/most of the reason for compiling this show is as a contribution back to the groovy Totally Rad Show. I don’t know nearly as much as Alex, Dan or Jeff about music, tv, comics or video games, but I do know quite a bit about musics. Basically, I think this show is something a film dork, and TRS regular, might really enjoy. I know at least Dan has regularly referred to film scores in his commentary, and I think Jeff has a few times as well. Alex seems pretty indifferent to music, but maybe like-minded listeners will still be enticed by what I’ve got to offer here. Anyway, this is inspired by you, TRS chaps; I hope this is a constructive contribution to the community, and everyone enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it. Maybe a few of you will subscribe to my feed based off what you hear here, and keep listening to what I come up with in the coming weeks :-().

Before I go any further, a heroic sense of duty compels me to mention I drifted from my theme on a couple of occasions during the course of this show. Sven Libaek’s track is the first example of these departures. The Libaek track I’ve featured is actually from a Trunk Records compilation of previously unreleased or under appreciated songs by the composer. Theoretically, these songs appeared somewhere in a film, I just don’t know where. Laypersons will recognize Libaek from his inclusion on Wes Anderson’s ‘Life Aquatic’ soundtrack. He’s got a completely unique sound, unashamedly nerdy, but still jazzy and slick (like TRS — I hear geeky is the new cool).

My two selections from Delia Derbyshire (see below for more about Delia) also don’t appear in any films. Both were included in BBC TV specials though, which is sort of filmesque I suppose. Delia Derbyshire’s Dr. Who theme should be familiar enough to any sci-fi fan. The Ending Credits I’ve included from the series is easily Delia’s most accessible and recognizable work. That second track is from a TV adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s ‘The Prophet’, for the BBC’s Out of the Unknown series. Never read the story, but according to the documentary I’ve posted below, it’s apparently about a bunch of robots on a space station who start worshiping the vessel’s power converter. In classic Derbyshire style, the track was composed meticulously without the use of synthesizers or recognizable electronic instrument, relying instead on the principles of music concrete and tape manipulation.

There are plenty of other interesting selections I’d like to speak about at length, but I don’t want to go overboard here. I’ll post some more information about specific selections in the comments shortly, if anyone’s interested. I should also mention quickly, you’ve probably noticed some of the more famous film composers weren’t included in this show. Iconic John Williams, Ennio Morricone, etc. compositions are obviously brilliant, but everyone’s heard them a thousand times. I was looking to compile selections from less familiar soundtracks, and as always I hope my shows can expose folks to music they’ve never heard before. Hopefully I’ve selected tunes that remind some of you why listening closely and expanding your musical horizons can be so rewarding.

(image: Blood On Satan’s Claw, Trunk Records 2007. buy it.)

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BBC Radiophonic’s Alchemists of Sound

Published
by
sean
on October 25, 2007
in feature and news
. 0 Comments

Ziw-zih Ziw-zih OO-OO-OO

I’ve been wandering around the history of electronic music recently, and spent a good deal of time dwelling on the work of Delia Derbyshire and the rest of the BBC Radiophonic workshop. My interest stemmed mostly from the incredible slew of releases and re-releases coming out of Trunk Records, the indisputable masters of this realm. Bernard Herrmann’s spectacular ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still‘ soundtrack, especially the pieces that include his theremin work, have contributed to my recent fascination with early electronics. Well, while “working’ today, I came across a wonderful BBC Four documentary covering the workshop, Alchemists of Sound, on the youtubes. Apparently the documentary hasn’t been released properly on dvd, so I don’t feel so guilty watching such a wonderful program for free. The documentary is a wonderful look back at the atmosphere within the BBC that allowed the Radiophonic Workshop to develop, and shortly after its creation, create some of the pioneering tape, electronic and experimental music of the era.

WFMU’s blog featured one of the more interesting snippets investigated by the AoS documentary, namely the otherworldly pop single from ‘Ray Cathode‘, an imaginary artist dreamed up by George Martin of the Radiophonic Workshop. The post includes mp3s for the A&B sides of that single, which has apparently become quite the collectible.

Before the video, I also just wanted to note for you, my non-existent readers & listeners, that I’ll be more active shortly. New show should be up shortly, with more postings coming on a regular basis from now on.

Radiophonic Workshop -Alchemists of Sound -Part 1 of 7: