Anthony Pateras Presents His New Music

Originally posted on November 4, 2008

Who is Anthony Pateras? He’s from Australia, is pretty young, and he composes contemporary music for ensembles and electro-acoustic music, which combines natural musical and extra-musical sounds and alters them electronically and/or simply juxtaposes them in different ways. He has a new CD, Chromatophore (Tzadik), and it gives the listener a good idea of what the new Post-Classical concert music can be about. It probably would not appeal to someone looking for the familiar and safe. It’s avant and so one must be prepared to open one’s ears. What it IS should be listened to by anybody wanting to know what’s going on at the edge.

There is a percussion quartet that emphasizes sound as direct sensuality and also other works that present interesting combinations of instruments, voices, and electronic and natural sounds. This is music. It is good music, appealing even, if one opens one’s mind. On Election Day, one’s thoughts and hopes open up to the future. The future will begin to arrive by the end of the day but this music brings the future to you at this very moment. Like it or not, that future will not go away. We must act and embrace it, and by doing so help shape it. Listen and vote.

Rush Keeps Their Creative Edge

Originally posted on November 3, 2008

Quietly, year by year, the power trio Rush has logged in a track record for longevity that is matched by few rock groups. Judging by the CD Snakes and Arrows (Anthem), released last year, they show no signs of diminishing creativity.

The songs have strength, the instrumental togetherness remains intact, and vocals are what you expect. If you already like them, this will not disappoint. I’ll admit I’ve ignored them for years. Now I think that might have been a mistake. If you like wall of sound rock with some melodic content that does not muck around in banality, this CD might be for you. Don't forget to vote tomorrow. [Ed note: Well, that was the case. Obama was elected, duh.]

Ukranian Gypsy Punk from Gogol Bordello

Originally posted on October 31, 2008

There’s a group out there called Gogol Bordello that dubs its music gypsy punk and they are headed by a guy who grew up in the Ukraine. Their music has a traditional Eastern European component, only it’s electric and aggressive. The first one of theirs I've heard, Super Taranta (Side One Dummy), is assuredly something unusual. Since it follows in the wake of the music from Borat (but without some of that politically incorrect content) could you say that there is a trend here? I don’t know about that but I like Eastern European stuff generally anyway, so it does appeal to me.

Are these folks the Eastern European answer to the Pogues? Not exactly, but not exactly not either. There are some nice moments for electric guitar fans, unexpected and skillful injections of metal into the mix.

The Debut Recording by blld

Today, blld's debut recording. Called Materia Prima (IAPETUS), it is a fertile collaboration between drummer, range bassist and vocalist 05Ric and touch guitarist/producer Markus Reuter.

Beyond those basic facts blld comes up with an EP that combines soundscapes, drumscapes and total-world musical spaces that are dramatic, alternatively blazing and contemplative, and always very interesting. They are in the lineage of musicians that build on the legacy of King Crimson and related groups.

There is some incredible drumming, musically enriching vocal passages and spatially expansive cosmic guitar work. It all molds together as a total gestalt that moves the mind and heart decidedly into the new decade.

A short but very fascinating musical program! If you like progressive/post-progressive channels of musical creativity, you’ll find this a very good listen. I look forward to their second.

Peter Garland and His Presentational Sound Events

Originally posted on October 30, 2008

If my revised blog heading [that is, for my other "guitar" blog, see www.gapplegate.com/musicalblog.htm] seems a little whimsical, it is. I wanted to make it clear that the daily entries are guided by open-ended attention to any or all aspects of music today, not just related directly to guitars. There are bass players out there, other instrumentalists too, obviously, and all kinds of music. I don’t know of any kazoo players worthy of mention right now, but if I did I might mention them [my heading whimsically referenced Kazoo cadenzas for a few days, but I ditched that in the sober light of a Monday morning].

Guitar-related topics will still hog a large portion of the subject matter. I am not forcing the issue though to make this blog an adjunct to guitar sales. If something comes up related to that, fine. If not, not. If there was somebody over me calling the shots they would probably get rid of this blog. There isn’t, so it stays, a conduit to some thoughts and free for you to read or not as you choose. . .

John Zorn’s non-profit Tzadik label is one of the most far-reaching and adventurous concerns today. Literally all possibilities can be and are represented by their disks. So I’ve grabbed some of the summer-fall recordings and will be taking a look at them on and off in the next couple of weeks.

First up is a disk by composer and music conceptualist Peter Garland. Three Strange Angels is a 1992 recording long out of print which represents the early work of this minimalist oriented music maker. It varies from solo harp to small ensemble pieces. There are Amerind and Mexican traditional influences, adapted to Garland’s eclectic palette of presentational sound events.

I can’t say that this recording will convert anyone to experimental minimalism. It has moments of sheer aural tapestry that can intrigue, sometimes in a purely musical way, sometimes with an only-to-be-guessed semantic agenda. It is challenging music, even to those used to challenging music, because Garland’s vocabulary is his own (in a quasi-"ethnic" way) and you must learn it to “read” the meaning.

Like a few other modern american composers of the old-fashioned Yankee pioneering sort, Lou Harrison, for example, there is a bricoleur-like accessibility that is juxtiposed with a certain esotericism that transforms the music to another plane and causes the listener to think. Good. Where this music stands becomes clearer only after a bunch of listens. It's music that is difficult because it turns out to be easy and you didn't expect it to be that. It's easy only after you've gone through figuring out what it IS. Does that makes sense?

The Black Keys Show Depth and Immediacy

Originally posted on October 29, 2008

The Black Keys have a bluesy-rock sound that comes as a needed antidote to anything out there too slick or polished to cut through the muck and stale, room-needing-an-airing quality of the situation we find ourselves in the later ‘00s.

The latest album that came out a little earlier this year (Attack and Release) (Nonesuch) has the electric guitar-drums lineup of previous outings, with a bit more of the multi-tracked extra instruments and so a thicker texture. It still gives you the primal group sound and has a strong sequence of songs that gives the lie to the idea that Rock has somehow seen its final days. It hasn’t, of course.

Pianist Adam Birnbaum: Substance and Swing

Originally posted on October 28, 2008

The mainstream represents a good portion of all jazz recordings released over the world in any given year. Of course not all of them are worthy of one’s attention. Some are watered down into a “smooth jazz” blend, some just do not represent talent worthy of notice.

Pianist Adam Birnbaum’s Travels (Smalls) has neither fault. It’s a trio date augmented on some cuts by alto-soprano sax newcomer Sharel Cassity. The disk has plenty of bite to back up the growl. Birnbaum can be energetic or gentle, and plays with a driving panache that his group reinforces. There’s a good program of originals and some unexpected twists, like an adaptation of a Robert Schumann song. The pleasurable listening quality of the set is not made possible by a loss of integrity. This is jazz with honesty and a dedication to substance and swing.