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    Ross Bolleter – Crow Country

    April 4th, 2013

    Ross Bolleter - Crow Country

    Crow Country is a collection of crudely-rendered, avant-garde classical works spanning the years 1987-99 from the Australian composer Ross Bolleter (born 1946). “Unfinished Business” is played on a weathered, ruined piano and features a cacophony of plinks and plonks strewn about over a fat futon of thunderous tones supplied by pulling the bass (piano) strings. “I took hold of the fall to lift it. It was so rotten it came away in my hands. As I played, ants came out and journeyed in concentric circles on the front panel of the 1920s Jackson piano. I knelt to pull back the bass strings and released them—like firing off huge arrows. The piano roared and groaned…” Fans of John Cage’s prepared piano pieces may enjoy this.

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    Kenneth Gaburo – Tape Play

    April 3rd, 2013

    Kenneth Gaburo - Tape Play

    Tape Play is a heavily appreciated collection of Kenneth Gaburo’s 10 works for tape alone made from 1964-92. (He produced many more pieces for tape with instruments and multi-media.) “Fat Millie’s Lament” is a “collage, mostly of loops of percussion and voice sounds” with a processed and delayed Morgan Powell big-band climax in the middle. “The Wasting Of Lucrecetzia” is “a crazed, wild piece and is made mostly of scraps of screaming, percussion loops and sax playing. This is a delicious and thrilling piece. I certainly remember it being an inspiration to me when I was an undergraduate in that it used to give me permission to try similarly loud, crass, bad-taste pieces that stick their tongues out with denunciatory glee.” “For Harry” is for Partch and is just the opposite—a chopped-up yet almost relaxing array of notes played on a simple monochord instrument made by KG “showing how Partch’s timbral and pitch world could be derived from a single vibrating string with electronic transformation.”

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    If, Bwana – Clara Nostra

    April 2nd, 2013

    If, Bwana - Clara Nostra

    Clara Nostra is comprised of a single one-hour track “for 106,476 clarinets”. When I first read that, I busted up…laughing out loud. But, yep, it’s true. Mr. Al Margolis, leader of Pogus, has overdubbed four different tracks of clarinet and then bounced each of them back and forth like crazy and forever (speeding up some, slowing down others) until the end result really is 106,476 of the dang things quilting and billowing you a most unlighted and dense static drone of “I’m supposed to wake up and go to work in one hour” proportions. Clara Nostra is a most excellent 360 degree bib for you all-the-time-drooling, deep-freeze-dwelling patrons of the (big, slow f)arts. Way recommended.

    Label: Pogus Catalog Number: P21019-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 1 Total Time: 62:54 Country: United States Released: 1999 More: Bandcamp, Discogs, Official, Pogus, Soundcloud

    Text ©2003 Arcane Candy


    Leo Kupper – Ways of the Voice

    April 1st, 2013

    Leo Kupper - Ways Of The Voice

    Ways of the Voice is a collection of four works for the human voice composed by Leo Kupper (born 1935, Belgium) between 1984 and 1998. “All of the sounds on the album originate with the Brazilian singer Anna Maria Kieffer. Two works, ‘Anamak’ and ‘Amkéa’, have an ‘orchestral accompaniment’ composed of tropical bird songs. Making use of elements of electro-acoustic music and sound poetry, the music expresses wonder at Brazil’s tropical beauty and, ultimately, an intense love of the abstraction of words and musical forms.” Via granular synthesis: smeared, stretched and slowed-down vocal sheets provide the foundation for Anna Maria Kieffer’s overdubbed vocal extremities as she traverses the many moods of avant-garde throat sports—from silly, childlike chirping, twittering and gargling (which gets really hilarious on “Annazone”) to multi-layered chaos burritos, all the way to beautiful, unadorned laments. Perfect for fans of experimental vocalists like Cathy Berberian, Meredith Monk, etc.

    Label: Pogus Catalog Number: P21018-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 11 Total Time: 61:08 Country: United States Released: 1999 More: Discogs, Last.FM, Pogus, Sub Rosa

    Text ©2003 Arcane Candy