Steve Smith
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I've written about the music-sales website/service Bandcamp so often, here and on social-media channels, that I run the risk of sounding like a shill, I know. But I can't help it: I just love the browsing, streaming, shopping and sharing capabilities it delivers. Early on, my admiration was slightly mitigated by the idea that even
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New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, November 14, 2013The New York Times, Nov. 18, 2013 A brilliant local premiere for Christopher Rouse's gorgeous Oboe Concerto by Liang Wang, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, bracketed by rock-solid renditions of Richard Strauss's Don Juan and Also sprach Zarathustra. This was the kind of night
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Marcos Balter, by Kat Keers Classical Playlist: András Schiff, Janine Jansen, Rebekah Heller and MoreThe New York Times ArtsBeat, Nov. 13, 2013 A playlist of a different kind than the sort this blog is known for, and an attempt at solving the recent problem of too many worthy recordings and not enough space in
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Green Heights by Toshimaru Nakamura + Ken Ikeda + Tomoyoshi Date There's no reason why I should be surprised to find anything on Bandcamp nowadays… and anyone who knows me even a little, in person or online, also knows what an avid ’camper I am. Still, I admit that I was pleasantly taken aback to
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<a href="http://gestinson.bandcamp.com/album/masters-of-the-abstract-an-homage" _mce_href="http://gestinson.bandcamp.com/album/masters-of-the-abstract-an-homage">masters of the abstract (an homage) by g.e.stinson</a> Left coast guitar artist GE Stinson, a founding member of seminal New Age/fusion ensemble Shadowfax who moved onward to all manner of rich, gripping projects, has just reposted this 2011 "homage to some of the masters of abstract jazz and improvisation." I was going to
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The New York Times building, by Richard Perry/The New York Times I've promised myself for quite some time now that I'd finally get around to catching up with posting my writing for the Times here with a couple of omnibus posts, and now I'm finally making the time for it. Here's the first, covering everything
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<a href="http://recordings.irritablehedgehog.com/album/eva-maria-houben-piano-music" _mce_href="http://recordings.irritablehedgehog.com/album/eva-maria-houben-piano-music">Eva-Maria Houben: Piano Music by R. Andrew Lee</a> It's not all bad news today; it only seems that way. The world's a mess, but all is right with pianist R. Andrew Lee, who continues to blaze deep trails into the music of major minimalists past and present. New today on the Irritable
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New death-ambient hip-hop drone by 3:33, who cite Yoshi Wada, Terry Riley, Whitehouse and La Monte Young in the press release for their forthcoming 2CD album, Bicameral Brain, due October 29 on Parallel Thought. From the group's label bio: Too frequently, experimental music has automatically fallen under the generic label of “new” or “different”. Perhaps
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<a href="http://umorrex.bandcamp.com/album/collected-works-vol-1-the-moog-years" _mce_href="http://umorrex.bandcamp.com/album/collected-works-vol-1-the-moog-years">Collected Works Vol. 1 The Moog Years by M. Geddes Gengras</a> Compilations aren't generally things I spend much time recommending. But in the case of an artist as madly prolific as California synth muso M. Geddes Gengras, Collected Works Vol. 1, a new anthology from Mexican label Umor Rex, is a godsend. Subtitled
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Fred Frith and Evelyn GlennieMoers Festival, May 19, 2013
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<a href="http://steamroom.bandcamp.com/album/steamroom-1" _mce_href="http://steamroom.bandcamp.com/album/steamroom-1">Steamroom 1 by Jim O&#39;Rourke</a> A hefty, heady trove of new and recent music by Jim O'Rourke has just turned up on Bandcamp, priced inexpensively and available in a variety of file formats, lossless and otherwise. I've just bought Steamroom 1, a 2012 recording O'Rourke pressed up for his recent Japanese tour with
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Today's required listening, from Max Roach's 1981 LP, Chattahoochee Red. Not many musicians could pull this off with such decorum, gravity and conviction. The album is rare now, evidently, and is worth tracking down, not least because the band involved – Odean Pope, Cecil Bridgewater and Calvin Hill – was one of Roach's best, and
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You might know Anne Guthrie's name from Sinter, the excellent CD she recorded with Richard Kamerman for the ErstAEU label, which is where I first learned of and heard this Brooklyn-baed composer, improviser and acoustician. Maybe you've heard her previous recordings on Engraved Glass or Copy for Your Records. I haven't, which is why I'm
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Donna Lewis, by Marvin Joseph Donna LewisTime Out New YorkAug 15–21, 2013 Any self-respecting pop star would be delirious to have a hit like “I Love You Always Forever,” an irresistible bit of romantic treacle that launched Welsh singer Donna Lewis to global success in 1996. Same goes for “At the Beginning,” the uplifting
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Christina Vantzou, by Julie Calbert Christina Vantzou + CC CaranaTime Out New YorkAug 8–14, 2013 The ability to write music that can seize attention or fade into the background equally well is a unique skill, and Christina Vantzou has it in abundance—no surprise for a creator who started in visual art, film and animation. Originally
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Jordan Klassen (Photograph: Rachel Pick) Live preview: Jordan KlassenTime Out New YorkAug 1–7, 2013 “Let me give, let me talk, let me live in your pillow / Kill your fear, whisper words in your ear,” Jordan Klassen intones reassuringly on “Go to Me.” Slipping easily between intimacy and grandiosity, the track is the first single from Repentance,
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Anne Guthrie and Richard Kamerman (Photograph: Billy Gomberg) ErstAEU ShowcaseIssue Project Room; Sat 25 For some time now it’s been possible to labor under the impression that electroacoustic improvisation (or EAI) is exclusively available on import, primarily the domain of Japanese, German and English performers. Actually, that’s never been the case; Americans have contributed to
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Charles Gayle in 'Rising Tones Cross' JazzizJuly 1999 The early 1980s were a period of transition for the avant-garde fringe in New York. The loft scene – the days in which Ornette Coleman's hom on Prince Street and Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea provided workshops for experimenters to develop their art –was drawing to a close,
Night After Night 