The full stylistic and geographical range of contemporary Western art music is on display in this podcast, with Bolivian chill, British minimalism and Indonesian acousmatica in the spotlight. We sample new orchestral music by Tyondai Braxton and Martin Stauning, a John Zorn miniature for acoustic guitars, plus fresh improv tracks from Illegal Crowns (with Mary Halvorson and friends), Kaze (with guest Ikue Mori), Scott Fields (channeling Butch Morris) and the Eva Novoa Trio. A young Manchurian electronicist might remind you of Björk, while our 50 years ago in the avant-garde feature reminds us of the 1973 American zeitgeist that spawned hip-hop, speech synthesis, lexical music, talking percussionists, and a pair of works by Lou Harrison and Éliane Radigue that debuted in California on successive days.
Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world, with host Michael Schell. Originally aired April 30, 2023.
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Flotation Device 2023-04-30: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: International movement [0:00]
1. [1:37] Kaze, Ikue Mori: Motion Dynamics. From Crustal Movement (Circum-Disc/Libra Records, 2023) with Ikue Mori (electronics), Kaze: Christian Pruvost (trumpet, flugelhorn), Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Satoko Fujii (piano), Peter Orins (drums)
2. [6:28] Tim Parkinson: 1. Overture - Light Nothing Music, 21. Long balletic, 15. Procedural, 11. Very light. From Piano Trio 2020 (Bandcamp, 2022) with Plus Minus Ensemble: Mira Benjamin (violin), Alice Purton (cello), Mark Knoop (piano), Newton Armstrong (recording engineer)
3. [14:11] Martin Stauning: Harp Concerto (excerpt). From Harp Concerto (Dacapo, 2022) with Zachary Hatcher (harp), Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Joshua Weilerstein (conductor), Mikkel Nymand, Morten Mogensen (recording engineers)⠀
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SET 2: Scott Fields [17:44]
1. [19:25] Scott Fields: Sand 6, 8 (excerpts). From Sand (Relative Pitch, 2023) with Scott Fields Ensemble: Daniel Agi, Norbert Rodenkirchen (flutes), Frank Gratkowski (clarinet), Salim Javaid (alto saxophone), Matthias Schubert (tenor saxophone), Udo Moll (trumpet), Matthias Muche (trombone), Melvyn Poore (tuba), Tal Botvinik, Sergio Sorrentino, David Stackenäs (electric guitar), Shiau-Shiuan Hung, Arturo Portugal (percussion), Axel Lindner, Carolin Pook (violin), Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg (viola), Katharina Hoffmann, Scott Roller (cello), Jonas Gerigk, Miles Perkin (contrabass), Tamara Lukasheva, Hanna Schörken, Sophie Tassignon (voice), Scott Fields (conductor), Reinhard Kobialka (recording engineer)⠀
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SET 3: 50 years ago in sound and text [31:38]
1. [34:02] Suliaman El-Hadi: The courtroom. From At Last (Blue Thumb, 1973) with The Last Poets: Suliaman El-Hadi, Jalal-Uddin Mansur Nuriddin, Umar Bin-Hassen (poets), Claude Lawrence (alto saxophone), Casa Burak (piano), Duke Cleamons (bass), Philip King (drums)
2. [36:32] Charles Amirkhanian: Just. From 10 + 2: 12 American Text Sound Pieces (1750 Arch, 1975, reissued 2004 by Other Minds). NOTE: Composed 1973
3. [41:04] Vinko Globokar: Toucher. From Perishable Structures (New Focus, 2020) with Bonnie Whiting (speaking percussionist). NOTE: Composed 1973
4. [50:33] Charles Dodge: Speech Songs - When I Am With You. From Any Resemblance Is Purely Coincidental (New Albion, 1992). NOTE: Realized 1993 at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ
5. [52:11] Charles Dodge: Speech Songs - He Destroyed Her Image. From Any Resemblance Is Purely Coincidental (credits as above)
6. [54:14] Outro with George Russell: New York, N.Y.
7. [1:00:02] Illegal Crowns: Triple Fever. From Unclosing (Out of Your Head, 2023) with Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Benoît Delbecq (piano), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Greg Di Crosta (recording engineer). NOTE: Composition by Benoît Delbecq⠀
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SET 4: Music of three continents [1:02:55]
1. [1:05:18] John Zorn: Bagatelle #19. From John Zorn's Bagatelles Vol. 10 (Tzadik, 2022) with Julian Lage, Gyan Riley (acoustic guitars), Marc Urselli (recording engineer)
2. [1:07:00] Eva Novoa Trio: Rectangles. From Novoa/Kamaguchi/Cleaver Trio - Vol. 1 (577, 2023) with Eva Novoa (piano, Fender Rhodes, Chinese gongs, whistling), Masa Kamaguchi (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums), Jeremy Loucas (recording engineer)
3. [1:10:48] Lou Harrison: Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra - 2. Andante (Siciliana in the form of a double canon). From American Mavericks (SFS Media, 2012) with Paul Jacobs (organ), San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor). NOTE: Premiered April 30, 1973, San Jose State University
4. [1:12:56] Lou Harrison: Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra - 4. Canons and Choruses. From American Mavericks (as above)
5. [1:16:09] Tyondai Braxton: TK1_Overshare. From Telekinesis (Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, 2022) with Metropolis Ensemble, Andrew Cyr (conductor), Tyondai Braxton (electronics, celeste), Ryan Streber (recording engineer)
6. [1:23:40] Yikii: Tragic Sublime 悲剧性崇高. From The Crow-Cyan Lake 鸦青湖畔 (Unseelie, 2023) with Yikii Tong AKA Yikii⠀
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SET 5: Chill music from unexpected places [1:27:18]
1. [1:31:36] Cergio Prudencio: Ámbitos. From Works for Piano (Kairos, 2022) with Daniel Áñez (piano), Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1998
2. [1:40:10] Otto Sidharta: Pass. From Kajang (Sub Rosa, 2023). NOTE: Composed and realized 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia
Outro with Éliane Radigue: Arthesis [1:53:52]
Photo credits: Tyondai Braxton by Dustin Condren, Autobiography by Tim Parkinson, Illegal Crowns (Tomas Fujiwara, Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson, Benoit Delbecq) by Julian Parker-Burns, Kaze (Satoki Fujii, Natsuki Tamura, Christian Pruvost, Ikue Mori, Peter Orins) by Eckhart Derschmidt, Yikii via the artist, Charles Amirkhanian by Michael Karibian, Eva Novoa Trio (Masa Kamaguchi, Eva Novoa, Gerald Cleaver) by Jeremy Loucas, Martin Stauning by Caroline Bittencourt, Bonnie Whiting via the artist, Otto Sidharta by Irnie Wanda, The Last Poets (Umar Bin-Hassen, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, Suliaman El-Hadi) by Edmund Watkins, Scott Fields by Helmut Hergarten, Cergio Prudencio via Kairos Records, Éliane Radigue by Yves Arman.