New albums and old masters take the spotlight as we preview upcoming albums by Daniel Carter, Nicole Mitchell, Alexander Hawkins, Weston Olencki & Anna Webber, and continue our traversal of Dai Fujikura’s new album of East-meets-West with a composition for Japanese biwa. Meanwhile, Apartment House revisits Pauline Oliveros, the Maneri/Léandre/Taborn trio purveys its unusual variation on the piano trio format, Jesper Nordin screams for 15 minutes, Djuro Živković channels Orthodox mysticism, and Anna Meredith straddles stylistic borders.
Our 50 years ago feature checks in on the secondary market for fusion music as it stood in August 1973 with help from John McLaughlin and his mentor Miles Davis. We also dust off an obscure Luc Ferrari piece from that same timeframe which demonstrates the continuing influence of French acousmatic music on contemporary electronic montage praxis, as evinced by the latest album from our favorite Manchurian solo artist, Yikii.
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Flotation Device 2023-08-20: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Telepathic imaginations [0:00]
1. [1:20] Daniel Carter: Irregular Trial ([or]deal). From Electric Telepathy Vol. 2 (577, 2023) with Daniel Carter (flute, trumpet), Patrick Holmes (clarinet), Matthew Putman (keyboard), Hilliard Greene (bass), Federico Ughi (drums), Jeremy Loucas (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 2018
2. [7:25] Nicole Mitchell, Alexander Hawkins: Interlocking Imaginations. From At Earth School (Astral Spirits, 2023) with Nicole Mitchell (flute), Alexander Hawkins (piano), Pedro Subtil (recording engineer)
3. [9:29] Dai Fujikura: Half Moon. From Wayfinder (Minabel, 2023) with Akiko Kubota (biwa)
4. [13:06] Anna Webber, Weston Olencki: cooks (unlimited). From Several (Astral Spirits, 2023) with Anna Webber (saxophone), Weston Olencki (trombone)
5. [17:13] Mat Maneri, Joëlle Léandre, Craig Taborn: s. From hEARoes (RogueArt, 2023) with Craig Taborn (piano), Mat Maneri (viola), Joëlle Léandre (double bass), Maïkôl Seminatore (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded live February 12, 2022 at Festival Sons d'hiver, Théâtre d'Ivry Antoine Vitez, Ivry-sur-Seine, France
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SET 2: 50 years ago in fusion [24:52]
1. [28:52] Djuro Živković: Citadel of Love - Invocation. From Citadel of Love (BIS, 2023) with Norrbotten NEO: Sara Hammarström (flute), Robert Ek (clarinet), Cecilia Zilliacus (violin), Marco Fusi (viola), Nikolay Shugaev (cello), Mårten Landström (piano), Daniel Saur (percussion), Fredrik Burstedt (conductor), Marion Schwebel (recording engineer)
2. [36:06] Anna Meredith: Shill. From Nuc (Mercury KX, 2023) with Ligeti Quartet: Mandhira de Saram, Patrick Dawkins (violins), Richard Jones (viola), Val Welbanks (cello), Benedic Lamdin, Nick Watson, Peter Miles (recording engineers)
3. [38:54] John McLaughlin: Dream (excerpts). From Between Nothingness & Eternity (Columbia, 1973) with Mahavishnu Orchestra: John McLaughlin (guitar), Jerry Goodman (violin), Jan Hammer (keyboards), Rick Laird (bass), Billy Cobham (percussion). NOTE: Recorded live August 18, 1973 in Central Park, New York
4. [55:13] Outro with Miles Davis: Katia (full studio session)
5. [1:00:56] Location Location Location: 79 Beatdowns. From Damaged Goods (Cuneiform, 2023) with Anthony Pirog (guitar), Michael Formanek (bass), Mike Pride (drums). NOTE: Composition by Mike Pride
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SET 3: Acousmatic music, then and now [1:07:42]
1. [1:09:32] Yikii: The Crawling Stars. From 铃宕/Black Hole Ringdown (Bandcamp, 2023) with Yikii Tong AKA Yikii
2. [1:14:40] Luc Ferrari: Il était une fois. From Photophonie (Transversales Disques, 2019). NOTE: Realized 1973, commissioned by G.M.E.B (Groupe de Musique Expérimentale de Bourges). First commercial release
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SET 4: Horse and tree [1:31:56]
1. [1:34:12] Pauline Oliveros: Peace/Tree - 3. The Full Formation and Maturity of the Tree. From Sound Pieces (Another Timbre, 2023) with Apartment House: Mira Benjamin (violin), Anton Lukoszevieze (cello), Mark Knoop (piano). NOTE: Composed 1984
2. [1:39:25] Jesper Nordin: Röster (Voices) - Ärr (Scar). From Voices From the Past (BIS, 2023) with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Harding (conductor), Staffan Schöier (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2014
3. [1:54:26] Outro with Pauline Oliveros: Horse sings from cloud
Photo credits: Akiko Kubota via the artist, Anna Meredith via the artist, Yikii via the artist, Mahavishnu Orchestra (Jerry Goodman, Jan Hammer, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Rick Laird) via Wikipedia, Pauline Oliveros by David A. Cantor, Jesper Nordin by Freddie Sandström, Djuro Zivkovic by Elias Kreyenbühl, Joëlle Léandre by Jean-Marc Foussat, Telepathic Band (Hilliard Greene, Patrick Holmes, Matthew Putman, Daniel Carter, Federico Ughi) by 577 Records, Anna Webber by Peter Gannushkin, Nicole Mitchell via the artist, Luc Ferrari via the artist.