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Flotation Device explores Henry Threadgill’s two new albums—one featuring his Zooid band, and another showcasing a trio with Vijay Iyer and Dafnis Prieto. We also hear from Northwest standouts Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb (both on solo piano) and Marc Barreca (dark ambient meets Finnigan's Wake), and sample the latest offerings from Anna Clyne (in a holiday mood), Beatriz Ferreyra (the doyenne of French acousmatic music) and Simon Nabatov (channeling his inner Ustvolskaya). We continue our exploration of Heiner Goebbels’ unsentimental setting of Thoreau’s Walden, preview an upcoming Seattle appearance by percussionist Bonnie Whiting that pursues Ancient Greek themes, and honor Thea Musgrave for the 50th anniversary of her Rorate Coeli (and the revival by San Francisco Opera's revival of her Mary, Queen of Scots). It’s also the last week of KBCS’s Fall Fund Drive, so we hope you’ll support our loyal home for 25 years by going online to KBCS.FM and contributing whatever you can!
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Flotation Device 2026-09-20: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell - PART ONE
Intro and SET 1: Zooid at 25 [0:00]
1. [1:38] Henry Threadgill: Tickled Pink. From Up Popped the Two Lips (Pi, 2001) with Zooid: Henry Threadgill (flute), Liberty Ellman (acoustic guitar), Tarik Benbrahim (oud), Dana Leong (cello), Jose Davila (tuba), Danis Prieto (drums), Robert Musso (recording engineer, Orange Music)
2. [8:32] Henry Threadgill: Snow Bones. From Cut You Where You Was (Pi, 2026). Zooid: Henry Threadgill (flute, alto saxophone), Liberty Ellman (acoustic guitar), Jose Davila (tuba, trombone), Christopher Hoffman (cello), Elliot Humberto Kavee (drums), Rene Allain (recording engineer, Scholes Street Studio)
3. [10:24] Henry Threadgill: Lightnin'. From Cut You Where You Was (credits as above)
4. [12:10] Henry Threadgill: Last Night. From Fifteen (Nonesuch, 2026) with Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone), Vijay Iyer (piano), Dafnis Prieto (drums), Ryan Streber (recording engineer, Oktaven Audio)
SET 2: Xenakis and Whiting [17:28]
1. [21:17] Bonnie Whiting: …perishable structures that would be social events - 4. Varèse. From Perishable Structures (New Focus, 2020) with Bonnie Whiting (voice, percussion)
2. [24:50] Iannis Xenakis: Kassandra. From Xenakis Edition 7: Percussion works (Mode, 2006) with Philip Larson (voice), Steven Schick (percussion), Josef Kucera (recording engineer, Warren Studios UCSD). NOTE: Composed 1987
SET 3: Born in the USSR [45:34]
1. [49:06] Simon Nabatov: What My Grandfather Could Tell Me - All the sorrows. From Getting Personal (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2026) with Simon Nabatov (piano), Angelika Niescier (alto sax), Pascal Klewer (trumpet), Shannon Barnett (trombone), Axel Porath (viola), Nathan Bontrager (cello), Roger Kintopf (bass), Alex Parzhuber (drums), Stefan Deistler (recording engineer)
2. [1:01:12] Outro with Galina Ustvolskaya: Symphony No. 4 "Prayer" (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Christian Karlsen)
3. [1:08:42] Beatriz Ferreyra: Sourires d’automne. From A Distracted God (Room40, 2026). NOTE: Realized 2006, premiere recording
Flotation Device 2026-09-20: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell - PART TWO
SET 4: Water music [1:12:42]
1. [1:13:51] Robin Holcomb: The Mill. From Echos of Casa Console (Other Room, 2026) with Robin Holcomb (piano), Bill Molloy (recording engineer, Oakwood Studios)
2. [1:16:51] Heiner Goebbels: Walden - 3. The Ponds. From Walden (ECM, 2026) with Bob Rutman (voice), Ensemble Modern Orchestra, Peter Eötvös (conductor), Udo Wüstendörfer (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed and recorded in 1998. First release of the full orchestral version
3. [1:25:19] Wayne Horvitz: The Waterfall. From Echos of Casa Console (as above) with Wayne Horvitz (piano), Bill Molloy (recording engineer, Oakwood Studios)
SET 5: A Musgrave revival (with Mary, Queen of Scots) [1:30:48]
1. [1:36:2] Thea Musgrave: Rorate Coeli. From The Voices of Our Ancestors (Lyrita, 2020) with New York Virtuoso Singers, Harold Rosenbaum (conductor). NOTE: Composed 1973, premiered September 26, 1976, Greenwich, UK by The Tallis Scholars, Philip Simms (conductor). Text by William Dunbar
2. [1:49:11] Marc Barreca: Vialds. From A Penchant for the Useless (Palace of Lights, 2026)
3. [1:55:42] Anna Clyne: Mother's Lullaby. From Hearth (Pentatone, 2025) with Miró Quartet: Daniel Ching, William Fedkenheuer (violin), John Largess (viola), Joshua Gindele (cello), Da-Hong Seetoo (recording engineer)
4. [2:01:08] Outro with Marc Barreca: Unvisited
Photo credits: Iannis Xenakis via Les Amis de Xenakis, Fifteen (Dafnis Prieto, Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer) by Michael Wilson, Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz by Lisa Hagen Glynn, Thea Musgrave by Bryan Sheffield, Bonnie Whiting via the artist, Anna Clyne by Christina Kernohan, Simon Nabatov by Florian Ross, Heiner Goebbels by Olimpia Orlova, Marc Barreca via the artist, Beatriz Ferreyra by INA grm.
Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with hosts Michael Schell and John Seman, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://linktr.ee/MichaelSchell