A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #34
Fluxus in the park, New Books, Ukrainian Field Notes, and more
Dear Listeners! Joseph here. Coming in a little past the deadline this week, but here we are. It finally feels like summer in Montreal, which means multiple neat events happening everyday. Truly an embarrassment of riches. Over the weekend my friend Esther Bourdages, as part of Collectif Radiance, organized a Fluxus bbq and concert in Montreal’s Parc Laurier, which was really just the perfect way to celebrate the start of summer. Earlier this year Collectif Radiance had done some performances of John Zorn’s Cobra, so moving from game pieces to text scores feels like a natural transition. The bbq faded almost imperceptibly into the performance, which, at least to my perception, began as Esther started to unroll a not so straight line of tape, which others followed. One member of the group performed a bilingual version of Giuseppe Chiari’s “Playing the city,” urging everyone to do just that, to use urban space not for capitalist extraction or practical activity but sheer playful enjoyment. This explicit celebration of uselessness gradually draws our attention to the other "performers,” running around Esther’s line, blowing occasional dissonant chords into a melodic or a melody on a tin whistle. This whole time Pablo Jimenez was polishing his upright bass, the most obvious traditionally musical instrument, but despite a few tentative plucks of the string the instrument was never formally played, but instead carried around and turned upside down. The reaction of the unexpecting onlookers was perhaps the most enjoyable part of this park intervention, which predictably climaxed by handing out noise makers to everyone in attendance, but which happily avoid simply snowballing into a wild crescendo, but instead slowly morphing and changing shape before winding down in elegant fashion.
Earlier last week, I interviewed both France Jobin and Cruel Diagonals for future episodes of the Sound Propositions podcast, season 4 of which is well into production. Both of those discussions were great fun, and I’m looking forward to sharing them in the near future. But first, with ten separate subjects, the long-awaited ACL anniversary episode is nearing completion, after which you can expect further episodes every two weeks. One of subjects of an episode in the queue is Patrick Nickleson, author of The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute. Patrick was in town for a book launch at Librairie Résonance, a music-centric bookstore that opened in Montreal last year. New bookstores are pretty rare these days, let alone one dedicated solely to music. I was pleased to finally make it over there for the event, which was celebrating the release of Aural Poetics, edited by Michael Nardone, with contributions from Gail Scott, Raven Chacon, Constance DeJong, Mitchell Akiyama, Marcus Boon, Niiqo Pam Dick, Dylan Robinson, and many others. Highly recommended.
Afterwards, we had a little show in my atelier nearby, and Esther graced us with an abstract turntablism performance. June hasn’t even started yet, but the next month is looking to be even more packed with activity than May was. The Suoni per il Popolo festival is about the begin, and this year’s line up is truly spectacular. Suoni is really more of an anti-festival, as I’ve argued in my coverage over the last decade plus of attending. The venues tend to be nearby, but distinct, and the programming truly spans a wide range of genres, from improv and free jazz to psych and punk to hip hop and noise and musique concrete and beyond. Performers this year include Maria Chavez, Sarah Davachi, Matana Roberts, Raven Chacon, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Hamid Drake, Homeboy Sandman, Ky, Joni Void, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, Andy Moor, Bread & Puppet Theatre, and more. Check the full program here.
Oh, and there will also be a public speak out on gentrification and the housing crisis, organized by Réverberations d’une crise: a sound inquiry on housing in Montreal. I think I mentioned in an earlier newsletter, but I worked with Hubert Gendron-Blais to co-produce a podcast last fall, organizing and editing contributions from the collective into an eight episode series. The collective also produced a film and album, and I look forward to carrying on this conversation with this public presentation of these works.
One last thing, with all this talk of books and records and performances, I’d like to recommend this recent post from Ted Gioia, “An Analysis of 47 Million Transactions Tells an Amazing Story about the Music Business.” Ok, let’s get on with it…
Another episode, another milestone with 200+ interviews in almost 15 months since the full-scale invasion. For n. XXIII, we start off in the States speaking to Erlena Dlu about contemporary classical music, before heading to Dnipro, Ukraine, to discuss the aftermath of the occupation of Mariupol with native Peshka.Back in Kyiv we take a soundwalk with Dima Levytsyi, go cycling with Silat Beksi and and listen to Sergey Russolo‘s experiments with ethnic music as well as Khrystyna Khalimonova on banjo.
Moving west we discuss loss in Lviv with Planet Bit before traveling south to Kryvyh Rih with Arph arriving eventually in Donetsk to meet Xota. Finally, we go out at sea with DeadSpacer, and on tour with Mykola Lebed, while Ezodis send us a postcard from Georgia and mesohorny sends us greetings from Canada.
To round things off we have the usual bunch of new releases by the likes of Hanna Svirska, Arthur Mine, Revshark, Luigi Lynch, and Volodymyr Gnatenko, as well as fresh EPs by Sunchase / Na Nich and XX.XX. Plus, we get a bountiful crop of sets and mixes by Koloah, Undo Despot, Na Nich, Vera Logdanidi, Udda, Vlad Fisun, Undo Despot, Bohdan, and Data Molfar, as well as a Sleep Radio special RÊVER LA GUERRE ⏤ dedicated to one year of war in Ukraine.
In the viewing room we get a handful of videoclips by Skofka, alyona alyona, Truffikss, and Океан Ельзи & KOLA bookended by two interviews with war reporters.
But to open proceedings, it’s a great pleasure for us to chat to Sunchase / Na Nich and Vera Logodnidi both about the first days of the full scale invasion, and their latest projects, in our monthly Ukrainian Field Notes podcast for Resonance FM. And, if Ukraine might not have won Eurovision this year, it still did take the Sound of the Year Award presented by Matthew Herbert in a ceremony at the British Library on May 11. You can hear the winning entry by Anton Stuk (“February 26 12.07 AM Chernihiv”) in our podcast as well as another shortlisted entry by Ihor Babeiev with “One Minute in Bakhmut.” [Another notable entry shortlisted in the category Most Unpleasant Sound, was Philipp Markovitch with a track from his album Silence of Sirens.]
RECENT REVIEWS
Reviews are at the heart of ACL. Here are (excerpts from) a few of my favorite reviews we posted on the blog in the last few weeks. And we have a lot of old friends in this round up.
Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Eva Ollikainen ~ ARCHORA / AIŌN
Over the past decade, Anna Thorvaldsdottir has slowly and steadily become one of the world’s finest composers ~ and she’s done it the hard way, without soundtracks or singles. After patiently expanding her body of work, she’s now released “CATAMORPHOSIS” (on Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s Atmospheriques) and ARCHORA / AIŌN a month apart. Consolidating her oeuvre, Sono Luminus has now released or re-released all of her orchestral works.
Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim ~ Starling
As the many pieces of music titled “Murmuration” demonstrate, the movements made by flocks of starlings have often inspired musicians. In Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim‘s album Starling the variety and complexity of murmurations was not the inspiration for the music but instead seemed to be an apt description of music already brought to life by the South Korean-born violinist and her trombonist, Kalia Vandever, and saxophonist, Alfredo Colón. The trio started from a series of prompts such as “play long tones” or “go against one another”, with rack titles such as “Further and Further”, “Drawing Out”, and “Passing By” indicating the depicted motion.
Matthew Herbert ~ The Horse
The album is structured from ancient to modern, so the early tracks sound the most primitive. They include tracks titled “The Horses Bones are in a Cave”, “The Horse’s Hair and Skin are Stretched”, “The Horse’s Bones are Flutes”, and “The Horse’s Pelvis is a Lyre”. If you’re not into experimental music these tracks may test your patience, but hold on because in the fifth track “The Horse is Prepared” and from here on we find ourselves in a more familiar sound-world. The eighth track, “The Horse is put to Work”, starts slow but turns into an absolute dance banger, only to be followed by another, the tenth, “The Horse Has A Voice”, which is truly irresistible. Penultimate track “The Horse is Close” deliberately offers an uncomfortable listening experience with field recordings from the corner of the Epsom racecourse where suffragette Emily Davison was trampled to death by the King’s horse. However, the breaths, snorts and whinneys in album closer “The Horse is Here” are utterly captivating. The horse is no longer disassembled; Herbert has brought it back to life.
Maud the Moth + trajedesaliva ~ Bordando el manto terrestre
trajedesaliva‘s Ultratumbo (2021) is one of the most unique recordings we’ve ever covered, boasting one of the strangest and most beguiling covers. This year, the duo has upped the ante in every way imaginable. Not only have they teamed up with Maud the Moth, they’ve signed to Time Released Sound, which means exquisite packaging ~ in this case, the choice of lathe cut, cassette, CD or art tin. The videos are even more powerful. AND it’s a concept album. Our collective cups runneth over.
Sarah Pagé ~ Voda
We have always been and will always be fascinated by water. It fills us and gives us life but can destroy us and all we love, so it’s no surprise that many of our myths revolve around water or the creatures that dwell within. Harpist Sarah Pagé explored many of these myths back in 2014 in collaboration with Ukrainian-Russian choreographer Nika Stein and during the lockdowns of more recent years used the time to revisit and rework the project that she had found so compelling. The result is Voda, a suite of nine lengthy pieces accompanied by twelve compelling art pieces by Elena Miroshnichenko.
V/A ~ These Clouds…
Congratulations to Athens label Sound In Silence, who has just reached its 100th release! (Wasting no time, the label released #s 101 and 102 the same day.) These Clouds… is only the label’s second compilation, on the very slow heels of 2006’s These Waves… While the genres vary, the mood is consistent throughout, a difficult feat with eighteen contributors.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
Kajsa Magnarsson ~ New Age Sound Aesthetics (Outerdiscs, 1 June)
Big Liquid ~ Loose Corner (sound as language, 2 June)
Bit Graves ~ Murmur (2 June)
Curtis Stewart ~ of Love. (New Amsterdam, 2 June)
The Far Sound ~ S/T (Centripetal Force, 2 June)
Josef De Schutter ~ Stillness (Moderna, 2 June)
Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim ~ Starling (2 June)
Kink Gong ~ Tasmania 2 (Discrepant, 2 June)
loket ~ All Ages EP (CWPT, 2 June)
Matte Black ~ Landscape (2 June)
Meredith Bates ~ Tessaract (phonometrograph, 2 June)
Mt. Fuyu ~ A Mirror to Weave (Danse Noir, 2 June)
Nina de Heney/Qarin Wikström ~ QOMOLANGA (OUTERDISK, 2 June)
Obelisk Ruins ~ Thought-Vision-Doubt (Katuktu Collective, 2 June)
Samuele Strufaldi, Tommaso Rosati, Francesco Gherardi ~ t (Elli Records, 2 June)
Sarah Pagé ~ Voda (Backward Music, 2 June)
Toumba ~ Janoob EP (Nervous Horizon, 2 June)
Tsuadatta ~ Preparation for Sleep (Astral Spirits, 2 June)
Henrik Meierkord ~ Geschichten (Audiobulb, 3 June)
David Toop & Lawrence English ~ The Shell That Speaks the Sea (Room40, 5 June)
Federico Durand ~ Tour Tapes (Home Normal, 5 June)
F/E/A ~ Anti (Sliptrick, 6 June)
Misticeti ~ Signals EP (Loci, 7 June)
Omar Ahmad ~ Inheritance (AKP Recordings, 7 June)
Garrett Sholdice ~ The Blue Light (Ergodos, 8 June)
Andy Stack and Jay Hammond ~ Inter Personal (Sleepy Cat, 9 June)
Bendik Giske ~ S/T (Smalltown Supersound, 9 June)
Broken Chip ~ Bells (Flaming Pines, 9 June)
Devin Gray ~ Most Definitely (Rataplan, 9 June)
Erin Rogers & Alec Goldfarb ~ Earth’s Precisions (Infrequent Seams, 9 June)
f5point6 ~ Clinical Trials (See Blue Audio, 9 June)
Gacha Bakradze ~ Pancakes (Lapsus, 9 June)
GNOM ~ Bitumenic (Don’t Look Back, 9 June)
Gridfailure & Interstitia ~ Sunyata Ontology (9 June)
Nico Gioris ~ Cloud Suites (Leaving, 9 June)
Nora Stanley & Benny Bock ~ Distance of the Moon (Colorfield, 9 June)
Piers Oolvai ~ Solace Shards (9 June)
Theodore Cale Schafer ~ Trust (Students of Decay, 9 June)
Werner Dafeldecker ~ Neural (Room40, 9 June)
Werner Daleldecker & Valerio Tricoli ~ Der Krater (Room40, 9 June)
Wobbly ~ Additional Kids (Hausu Mountain, 9 June)
Andy Cartwright ~ Below the Noise (Whitelabrecs, 10 June)
biochemy ~ sen (Whitelabrecs, 10 June)
Zohastre ~ Abracadabra (zamzamrec, 12 June)
Audion ~ The Return of Losing It (Ghostly International, 13 June)
Night Gestalt ~ Staring Light (Bigo & Twigetti, 13 June)
The Cry ~ S/T (Gizeh, 15 June)
No Fast Food ~ Coda(s) (15 June)
An Moku & Stefan Schmidt ~ Raum im Raum (Karlrecords, 16 June)
Boris Baltschun ~ Desert Dictionary (arbitrary, 16 June)
Caterina Barbieri ~ Myuthafoo (light-years, 16 June)
Daniel Paul Grody ~ Arc of Day (Three Lobed Recordings, 16 June)
Fredrik Rasten ~ Lineaments (SOFA, 16 June)
Gloorp ~ S/T (JOLT, 16 June)
Greg Foat & Gigi Masin ~ Dolphin (Strut, 16 June)
Iván Muela ~ Anamnesis (Sine Language, 16 June)
Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Muñoz ~ Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out, 16 June)
Luke Cissell ~ Serenade (16 June)
Massimo Magee ~ Networking (Orbit577, 16 June)
Near Stoic ~ Metamorphosis (Gated, 16 June)
Rone ~ L(oo)ping (InFiné, 16 June)
Samuel Sharp ~ Consequential (Blackford Hill, 16 June)
Snorri Hallgrímsson ~ I Am Weary, Don’t Let Me Rest (Moderna, 16 June)
Tracing Circles ~ First Contact (Candy Mountain, 16 June)
Ulrich Krieger ~ Aphotic I (Room40, 16 June)
Wild Up ~ Julius Eastman Vol. 3: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam, 16 June)
Amniote Editions and Male Junta Present ~ The Collective Capsule EP (Amniote Editions, 18 June)
Baldruin ~ Relikte aus der Zukurft (Buh, 19 June)
Antoine Hubineau ~ Dérives (Le Cabanon, 20 June)
GAŁGAŁ ~ Ich schwöre ich hab Angst (Abstand, 21 June)
Tom Schneider ~ Isotopes (Macro, 22 June)
Black Duck ~ S/T (Thrill Jockey, 23 June)
Blue Lake ~ Sun Arcs (Tonal Union, 23 June)
Dorisburg & Sebastian Mullaert ~ That Who Remembers (Spazio Disposable, 23 June)
Emily Kuhn ~ Ghosts of Us (Bace, 23 June)
Ex-Wiish ~ Shards of Axel (Incienso, 23 June)
Fires Were Shot ~ Siberia (It’s Only Me, 23 June)
Foster Neville ~ The Edge of Destruction (Subexotic, 23 June)
Jérôme Noetinger ~ Outside Supercolor (Room40, 23 June)
John Dikeman, Pat Thomas, John Edwards, Steve Noble ~ Volume 2 (577 Records, 23 June)
Om Unit + TM404 ~ In the Afterworld (Acid Test, 23 June)
6SISS ~ Bots (Micron Audio, 26 June)
Divide and Dissolve ~ Blood Quantum (Invada, 30 June)
Mondoriviera ~ Frenton Cantolay (Artetetra, 30 June)
MonoLogue and Matt Atkins ~ Homework (Flaming Pines, 30 June)
Pat Thomas, Chris Sharkey, Luke Reddin-Williams ~ Know: Delerium Atom Paths (577 Records, 30 June)
Pauline Oliveros, IONE, Christopher Willes, Public Recordings and Others ~ Resonance (Art Metropole, 30 June)
V/A ~ Echolocation: Resonate from Here (Brawl, 30 June)
Zeena Parkins ~ LACE (Chalkin, 30 June)
Machinefabriek with Monica Bugagny ~ Recytle (1 July)
Tony Buck ~ Environmental Studies (Room40, July 1)
Akira Uchida ~ Kurayami (IIKKI, 7 July)
Arvo Zylo ~ 333 (No Part of It, 7 July)
Autodealer ~ Circumstances (Somewherecold, 7 July)
Daniel Carter, Leo Genovese, William Parker, Francisco Mela ~ Shine Here, Vol. 1 (577 Records, 7 July)
The Dark Jazz Project ~ 3 (Irregular Patterns, 7 July)
Ireen Amnes / Chloe Lula ~ Synergy (Tresor, 7 July)
Penguin Cafe ~ Rain Before Seven… (Erased Tapes, 7 July)
Saloli ~ Canyon (kranky, 7 July)
shedir ~ Before the Last Light Is Blown (n5MD, 7 July)
Shoko Igarashi ~ Project TENORI (Faneka Music, 7 July)
Siavash Amini ~ Eidolon (Room40, 7 July)
Stefano Guzzetti ~ Letters from Nowhere – Piano Book Volume Three (Home Normal, 7 July)
Taylor Joshua Rankin ~ Sun, Will Grow (7 July)
The Titillators ~ That’s the Night (Noodle Factory, 7 July)
Yann Novak ~ The Voice of Theseus (Room40, 7 July)
Peace Flag Ensemble ~ Astral Plains (We Are Busy Bodies, 8 July)
Christina Giannone ~ Reality Opposition (Room40, 14 July)
CORIN ~ Lux Aeterna (UIQ, 14 July)
Hecq ~ Form (Mesh, 14 July)
Hyunhye Seo ~ Eel (Room40, 14 July)
Jeremy Rose ~ Project Infinity Live at Phoenix Central Park (Earshift Music, 14 July)
Philip Johnston ~ I Cakewalked With a Zombie (Earshift Music, 14 July)
Daryl Groetsch ~ Frozen Waste (18 July)
Daryl Groetsch ~ Gardens in Glass (18 July)
Kevin Daniel Cahill ~ Impossible Worlds (False Walls, 21 July)
Nilotpal Das & Enesai ~ A Synonym of Dust (Brahmancore, 21 July)
Underwards ~ Delve (Earshift Music, 21 July)
Wil Bolton ~ Red to Orange, Blue to Black (Home Normal, 25 July)
Wil Bolton ~ Södermalm In Autumn (Home Normal, 25 July)
Requiem ~ POPulist Agendas (Mutineer, 7 August)
Salò ~ S/T (Kuboraum Editions, 8 September)