Dark, scratchy, and feverishly creepy. This is the hallucinatory soundscape of Klara Lewis, an amazing artist recording for Editions Mego, one of Austria’s coolest weirdo-electronica labels.
Improvisational
[Music] Mary Halvorson & Noël Akchoté – Mary Halvorson & Noël Akchoté
I have to admit that I’ve been waiting for such a release to come about for a while now. Noël Akchoté, perhaps the most prolofic guitarist working in improvisational music today (and maintaining astoundingly high quality throughout each release) pairs with NYC-based Mary Halvorson, a guitarist I have only become acquainted with this past year. This is a purely improvised duet, with no rehearsals, recorded in Belgium this year.
For those who already collect the work of Noël Akchoté, this will be another treasure to add to your collection. As for Mary’s work, this is a fine introduction, which makes me want to delve into her solo work.
[Music] WORM Pirate Bay is launched
I’m having a bit of trouble seeing the connection between WORM, the Rotterdam-based collective lending out materials and The Pirate Bay, who are, in every sense of the word, pirates when it comes to copyrighted material (whether that is good or bad depends on how you see this issue, as a case can be made either way). Still, congratulations to WORM for bringing back the idea of sharing tangible product. As much as I adore digital media, it’s just not the same. Music I can make an exception for, but books? No.
Thanks to The Wire Magazine, who originally shared this post.
[Music] John Cage And Sun Ra’s Legendary Experimental Encounter – Electronic Beats
Electronic Beats, run by T-Mobile, posted this amazing video, and an accompanying article, on the meeting between composer John Cage and psychedelic jazz genius Sun Ra.
[Music] RLW / PAAK – Zur Arbeit I
From Attenuation Circuit’s Bandcamp site:
Ralf Wehowsky and Peter Kastner, aka RLW and PAAK, present their third collaborative album in a series of concept albums dedicated to various subjects. This record, their first on attenuation circuit, is about work, and as on the previous records (about food and religion, respectively), the titles, liner notes, and the sound itself suggest a rather sarcastic take on work, or more precisely, the situation of working people today.
Ralf Wehowsky has been a fixture on the international experimental scene since his 1980s work with P16.D4 and related projects on the Selektion label. The fusion of electronic sounds and non-musical, musique concrète material is characteristic of much of his work. Peter Kastner, working both in improvised sound and visual arts, brings a low-fi approach to jerrybuilt sound objects to the collaboration. By contrasting everyday noise that might well have been recorded in a factory, or factory canteen, with startlingly artificial, almost deliberately cheesy harpsichord and mellotron sounds, they create a tension between a nostalgia for beauty and the barrenness of everyday life, in three pieces, or perhaps movements. The liner notes leave no doubt as to what the three movements stand for: The 19th century with its mass exploitation of industrial workers (courtesy of a quote by Karl Marx), the 20th century with its progress toward more social security for working people, and the 21st century, which sees an erosion of solidarity as neoliberal policies take away social benefits such as rent-controlled housing.
Crap Marxist verbiage, but great music, as always.
[Music] VAN TRIER’s cloud of sounds — Yeah I Know It Sucks
Renee Van Trier is an artist of many kinds, she does so many things (from performances, photography, videos, acting…) that we almost forget that she is also a refined experimentalist in music and song making! Luckily Van Trier has a lovely online cloud with great examples for you and me to hear and be wowed […]
[Music] Benjamin Aït-Ali – Ballet and Other Works
This release, by French experimental music composer Benjamin Aït-Ali, is, and probably always will be, the shortest release I’ve had the privilege to review. Ballet and Other Works clocks in at around 3 minutes, but as with the legendary Cinéma Pour L’Oreille series released by Metamkine in the early 1990s, the compositions waste no time in getting to the point.
Aït-Ali is among a new vanguard of composers who will take the flame from the legends of electroacoustic music such as Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle. It sounds like a tall order, but I’d challenge you to study his work. You can listen to Ballet and Other Works here, via OBS Records, based in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, or at Benjamin’s Bandcamp site. More samples of his work can be heard via Soundcloud.
[Music] Catching up with Henry Kaiser — Avant Music News
Source: Peg Head Nation. Still, keeping up with Kaiser could be a full-time job. He’s been on more than 270 albums since 1977 (about seven records per year). And it’s not just a matter of numbers: the sheer variety of sounds and collaborators is staggering. His 2015 releases included Megasonic Chapel, with percussionist William Winant, […]
[Music] Numinous Music Presents – Mehmet Polat Trio – 2016 North America Summer & Fall Tour August 11th – September 12th, 2016
Mehmet Polat (Turkey/Netherlands) – Ud & Compositions Victor Sams (Dutch Antilles/Netherlands) – Ngoni & Percussion Pelin Başar (Turkey/France) – Ney
We have the tremendous pleasure to announce that one of Turkey’s finest musicians will be touring the United States and Canada starting August 15th! See below for further details:
– Numinous Music Presents –
MEHMET POLAT TRIO
2016 North America Summer & Fall Tour
August 11th – September 12th, 2016
TOUR SCHEDULE
August 11th – Aga Khan Museum – Toronto, Canada
August 13th – Skinny Pancake – Burlington, Vermont
August 14th – Skinny Pancake – Hanover, New Hampshire
August 17th – Ryles – Boston, Massachusetts
August 18th – Lincoln Center – New York City, New York
August 19th – House Concert: Tribeca Loft – New York City, New York
August 20th – Worlds Of Music Chicago – Educational Workshop & House Concert – Chicago, Illinois
August 21st – Chicago Academy of Music – Chicago, Illinois
August 23rd – Des Moines Social Club – Des Moines, Iowa
August 24th – Dakotas Jazz – Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 26th – Corazon Performing Arts – Los Angeles, California
August 27th – House Concert with Sahba Motallebi – Laguna Hills, California
August 28th – Corazon Performing Arts – Educational Workshop – Los Angeles, California
August 28th – The Mint – Los Angeles, California
August 30th – Sea Of Glass – Tucson, Arizona
August 31st – Musical Instrument Museum – Phoenix, Arizona
September 1st – Doc’s Lab – San Francisco, California
September 2nd – Kuumbwa Jazz Center – Santa Cruz, California
September 3rd – The Harris Center – Sacramento, California
September 4th -The Jazz School – Workshop & concert – Berkeley, California
September 7th – University Of Richmond – Workshop & Concert – Richmond, Virginia
September 8th – The Hill Center – Washington, DC
September 9th – Poughkeepsie Day School – Workshops – Poughkeepsie, New York
September 9th – Howland Cultural Center – Beacon, New York
September 10th – Crossroads – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
September 11th – Club Bonafide – New York City, New York
MORE UPCOMING CONCERTS 2016
September 16th – Festival Musica Sacra – Maastricht, Netherlands
September 18th – Festival Musica Sacra – Maastricht, Netherlands
September 23rd-25th – ‘Wenster op het Oosten’ Workshops – De Glind, Netherlands
October 1st – Cultuushuis Ruurlo – Ruurlo, Netherlands
October 6th – Small World Music – Toronto, Canada
October 10th – Cuyamaca Collage – El Cajon, California – US
October 13rd – Monterrey, Mexico (venue tba)
October 15th – Cervantino Festival, Ex Hacienda San Gabriel, Guanajuato, Mexico
October 16th – Mérida, Mexico (venue tba)
October 19th – Treibhaus – Innsbrück, Austria
October 20th – Textilemuseum – Helmbrechts, Germany
October 21st – Sendesaal – Bremen, Germany
October 22nd – Ud Festival, Mezrab – Amsterdam, Netherlands
October 23rd – Ud Festival, Meervaart – Amsterdam, Netherlands
December 18th – Cultuurhuis Heerlen – Heerlen, Netherlands
– This music is much more than a meeting of Turkish and West African musical styles. There is a poetic eloquence here that compels the listener to respond in a visceral and emotional manner. It is music that gently demands deep listening, and inspires introspection and the unveiling of new insights. – Doobeedoobeedoo, USA
Note: The Mehmet Polat Trio is currently preparing to record the second album ‘Ask Your Heart’, expected to be released in Autumn 2016. Please stay in contact for upcoming news.
Mehmet Polat
info@mehmetpolat.net
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bookings:
US, Canada and Mexico
Numinous Music
Craig S. Hyman
craigshyman@gmail.com
U.S. Cell: +1(917)-854-6315Germany, Austria and Switzerland
O-TONE MUSIC
tinka.steinhoff@o-tonemusic.de
info@o-tonemusic.de
+49 (0)641 9 48 8932Spain, Africa and Latin America
Music I Love
yolanda@musicilove.es,
mounia.ramdi@gmail.com
+212 (0) 6 63 35 53 26Turkey
SAHNE360.COM
Kaya Tekin
kayatekin44@yahoo.com.tr
+90 532 653 44 44
[Music] FIMAV 32 Review — Avant Music News
Source: Musicworks. A little late, but… The Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville (FIMAV) arrives with the late, brief spring of Quebec’s central region, an energizing jolt between winter and summer that sees the flowering of older vines and new life bursting through the earth. This year’s instalment of FIMAV did what it has done very […]
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 