Fractured Recordings: "Recovery" offers breathtaking Vinyl Charm
Fractured Recordings are just days away from making an impressive start. Specialising in “one-off editions and artists’ projects”, the label’s first release “Recovery” will bring together a who’s who of the experimental scene for twenty cover versions. Housed in an amazing box set comprising of ten 7’’ Vinyl discs, commissions were extended to the likes of Fennesz, Ryoji Ikeda, alva noto and Matmos, with absolute freedom to select a song. The only condition to the project was that the tune was of personal importance to them. The results are as eclectic as they are suprising. Ikeda went for a rendition of AC/DC’s “Back in Black”, Barbara Morgenstern recorded her take on “Temptation” (originally by New Order), while Robert Lippok teamed up with Leeds-born singer and current Mancunian Caroline Thorpe for what surely will amount to an insightful rendition of Wham’s smash hit “Freedom”. With only 500 copies available, “Recovery” looks like it might be sold out from Fractured Recordings before actually becoming available officially from mailorders and stores.
Christian Tezlaff: Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto online
Violinist Christian Tetzlaff has entered the digital world by exclusively releasing his rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto online as part of a new series by Deutsche Grammophon. Entitled “DG Concerts”, these web-albums will present the public with fresh live performances by some of the label’s top notch artists: Christian Tetzlaff, for example, performed the Tchaikovsky as recently as December of 2007 at Birmingham. Joined by the City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner for the Concerto, Tezlaff then goes on to offer the “Gavotte en Rondeau” from Bach’s “Partita for Violin Solo No.3 in E, BWV 1006”, before allowing the orchestra to bring things to a triumphant close with Mahler’s first Symphony. The album makes perfect use of the digital medium, capturing a program which could otherwhise only be made available as an expensive 2CD set. At 20 Euros (approximately $31), the release is now more than reasonably priced. After spending a four month stint as an iTunes exclusive, it will become available at Webstores worldwide afterwards.
Jim O'Rourke: Long Night, Long Wait
Experimental Guitarist Jim O’Rourke has shed a little light on the current state of his new album, which he has now been working on for a full seven years. Talking to Josh Ronsen for the free and fantastic Austin-based magazine “Monk Mink Pink Punk” in what could be his first interview in ages, O’Rourke stated that he’s “been slowly working on my record, which is driving me batty”, stressing the fact that he had purposely confined himself this time: “I got in this mode, where I can actually make all the decisions, and I don't mean that in a control sense of the word, but where every aspect really does have to reflect how I see it. Working with other people is great because it puts you in places you wouldn’t head towards while giving you a different perspective on it than you would have on your own, it’s a very different situation, and a real different way of working.” For the moment, however, he was still revelling in the pleasures of his new home Japan, studying the language and watching movies.
Discos Basura: Free Sampler delivers tasty Argentinian Underground Rock
Argentinian Weblabel Discos Basura is offering a compilation of local Experimental Rock music for free download. “15 recetas alternativas” offers an exciting glimpse at the Argentinian underground scene, otherwhise all but exclusively clouded in mystery and a lot of Spanish. With material ranging from the abrasively chopped riffs of Juventud Suicida and the dark poetry of Marioneta Mundana to the glowing electro-step of Fer Mercadal, the selection is as eclectic and energetic as it is entertaining.
Luca Francesconi: First, there was no Word
On his latest album, Italian composer Luca Francesconi goes all the way back to the beginning. “Etymo” contains four compositions for a variety of line-ups, including voice, acoustic instruments and electronics, dealing with such essential questions of what constitutes language and what the world would be like without it. Speaking about “Etymo” in the linernotes, Colin Roche writes: “What is there before the word and what is it that shapes language? And finally, what is it that permits us to transcend language? In the beginning was pre-language, its premises. Etymo, a work with “great white wings”, begins in the first babbling of language, in phonemes. Nothing intelligible, alliterations that roll and slide (or sail) and an orchestra that seems suspended, as though it were waiting. These phonetic and musical particles aggregate in contrapuntal superposition, finally exploding in a sea of profundity from which the first words rise.”
Manuel Göttsching: Old Boy meets Young Girl at the Movies
The ties of Manuel Göttsching to the worlds of Film Music and the Movies are becoming closer by the day. On Ilona Ziok's prize-winning musical film "Kurt Gerron's Karussell" (a co-production with European broadcaster ARTE), completed in 1999, he accompanied famous German actor Ben Becker on Piano, as the latter delivered a raw and unpolished “Ode to Berlin”. The movie is now being shown on German TV, offering audiences a rare look at a stripped-down, minimal and intense performance, as Göttsching’s chords pierce the air like the floating monoliths in Kubrick’s “2001” epic. “Karussell” furthermore features Ute Lemper, Bente Kahan, Coco Schumann, Max Raabe, Schall & Hauch – a veritable who’s who of the German entertainment biz. Manuel Göttsching was an important factor for the movie’s success, producing the seminal soundtrack (and the related CD) for Warner. The film will be aired on TV station Phoenix on August 23rd - on a Saturday at prime time (8:15pm) - with plans of turning it into a musical immanent. In further news. Göttsching is host to an event at the Ufa Fabrik in Berlin, dedicated to the music, life and times of Korean soundtrack composer Shim Hyun-jung.
Stift Heiligenkreuz: Gregorian "Chant" leads Cistercian Monks straight into the charts
Within just a few months, the Cistercian Monks of the Stift Heiligenkreuz Monastery have shot to International fame. After sending an email with links to some of their recordings, Universal Records almost instantly offered them a deal, recording the music to the monks’ “Chant” in just three days. Two weeks after its release, the collection of 29 pieces of Gregorian chant has now shot to the upper regions of the charts in Germany, charting at number five and making history in the UK. Nestling in between stars like Madonna and Amy Winehouse, “Chant” landed at nine in the British Pop charts, while topping the classical department – an unprecedented event in the annals of the music business, even taking into consideration the major success of “Canto Gregoriano” by EMI a couple of years ago. Father Karl Wallner, selected by Stift Heiligenkreuz as the only official spokesperson denied speculation that this could turn the singers into a veritable commercial act – or even a “boy group” of sorts: “We are certainly not going to be pop-stars. Why should the CD change our lives? After all, what is recorded on the CD is nothing more than what we do from dawn to dusk: sing, praise, meditate…”
Erwin Schrott: Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz, Gounod, Meyerbeer and a Baby
Uruguayan Bass Erwin Schrott has finally ended the wait. After already establishing himself as one of the leading singers of his generation, Schrott will publish his debut album of arias with Decca. The record will contain songs by Verdi, Berlioz, Gounod and Meyerbeer and a special focus on Mozart – with no less than three cuts taken from the latter’s “Don Giovanni” and “Le Nozze di Figaro”. After being discovered by no one less than Placido Domingo as early as 1998 and some noteworthy engagements in the United States among others, a CD long seemed immanent, but Erwin Schrott carefully waited for just the right moment to present itself. This way, the occasion remained special: “It was a wonderful challenge for me and a completely new experience, because I’d never previously stood in front of a microphone.”, Schrott said, “My only aim was to present myself as good as possible.” On the twelve arias of his studio premiere, he now has the chance to put this dream into action.
No Man & Fear Falls Burning: Two Concerts added to "Schoolyard Ghosts" tour
Progressive Rock duo No Man have announced two more dates to complement their restless touring schedule. On the 3rd of September, the band will hit the stage in the Dutch town of Zoetermeer at the “Boerderij” and just a day later, they are slated to perform at the “Savoy Theater” in Düsseldorf, a former cinema turned concert- and eventspace. On both occasions, No Man will be accompanied by Dirk Serries of Fear Falls Burning, making for a progressively contrasting and excitingly complementary line-up. For Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson of No Man, these two concerts will represent the acme of their recent live actvities, furthermore including an already sold-out gig at Bush Hall in London on August 29th which will constitute the basis for a forthcoming DVD project.
Helge Lien Trio: Hello Troll! Hello Award!
Norway’s Jazz scene has come toa decision: Helge Lien and his trio are the new kids to watch on the block. On the last day of the renowned Kongsberg Jazz Festival and in between concerts of the Nigel Kennedy Quintett and the Wayne Shorter Quartet, the jury awarded the prize, weighing in at 100.000 Danish Kroner (that’s almost 15.000 Euros or just over $20.000 respectively) to the long-standing ensemble. Half of this sum will be used to organise an impressive concert in 2009 to celebrate the achievement. The DnBNor Musicians Award is easily one of Europe’s most prestigious signs of recognitionm, previous winners including Bugge Wesseltoft and Nils Petter Molvær. For the Helge Lien Trio the award comes as an acme to the first seven years of their career, which have turned them into feted celebrities at home, welcome guests all over Europe and veritable stars in Japan.
Kent Nagano: Festival Bel Canto translates torments of the human soul
Conductor Kent Nagano is offering a double boon to all fans of bel canto. Together with his colleagues of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia as well as the Operastudio of Renata Scotto, he will treat classical music fans to highlights of the genre in no less than two festivals within close chronological proximity. The “Festival Bel canto” will begin in Knowlton/Kanada on August 15th. On the 24th, it will take a short break, before heading over to Rome on the 12th of May for another two weeks of performances. Kent Nagano could hardly contain his enthusiasm when announcing the event, while at the same time emphasising the cultural importance of the project: “Among all the musical instruments, the human voice occupies a very special place,” Nagano said, “It is considered by many the most beautiful of instruments, capable of translating the passions and torments of the human soul in the most eloquent manner. For my colleagues at the OSM and myself it is important to honour, to share and to bring to life the great tradition of Italian bel canto today.”
CSS: Donkey to gallop on Subpop July 21st
Brazilian ElectroPop sensation CSS are preparing for the release of their new studio album “Donkey”. Right in between the next full-length and the first single off the record, the first South American signing on famous Independent label Subpop look ready to broaden their fanbase even more. After covering 90s alternative superhit “Cannonball” (courtesy of The Breeders), CSS announced the release of “Left Behind”, a magnetic discotrack pushed forward by a stubborn analogue bass line and irresistibly dreamy vocals. Scheduled for a worldwide release on July 21st, “Donkey” will be the follow-up to the band’s debut “Cansei de Ser Sexy” (“I got tired of being sexy”), which was ravingly received by the International press, hosted the highest charting single by a Brazilian band in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was followed by tours with popular acts like Gwen Stefani, Ladytron and Klaxons. Two years later, CSS are impatient to present the world with their second coming, as their poignant confession on their MySpace account proves: “We can't stand waiting anymore”.
Osvaldo Golijov: Composes with Francis Ford Coppola
Only shortly after the announcement that director Francis Ford Coppola had asked contemporary composer Osvaldo Golijov to write the score to his latest film project “Youth Without Youth”, the soundtrack has now been made available on Sony Classical. The movie was a liberation for Coppola, who struggled to complete another opus magnum of his, “Megalopolis” but found himself in a creative cul de sac. When the novel “Youth Without Youth” by Mircea Eliade miraculously dropped into his lap, he was immediately spell-bound, realising the flic in no time. His choice of Osvaldo Golijov was motivated by two criteria. On the one hand, Golijov is half-Romanian himself (his other parent coming from the Ukraine), despite spending large portions of his life in Argentina and the Ukraine. And secondly, he has turned into one of the most succesful and sought-after composers of the 21st century thanks to collaborations with the Kronos Quartet, award winning pieces and a string of succesful CD releases.
Nodar Artist Residency: A Rural Portuguese Multimedia Project
Between July 11th and 18th, Portuguese Non-Profit organisation Binaural will present an exhibition collecting video and sound work created in the Nodar Artist Residency Center. In an effort of combining and extending visual and sonic arts, the aim of the Nodar Artists Residency is to further interdiscplinary work on the one hand and to integrate state-of-the-art technology into an essentially traditional environment. The exhibition will be held at the Grão Vasco Museum in Viseu and include work by musicians and composers John Grzinich (USA/Estonia), Xesús Valle (Spain), Pali Meursault (France), and Martin Clarke / Alicja Rogalska (UK/Poland), as well as videos courtesy of Maile Colbert (USA), Suzanne Caines (Canada), Christine Niehoff (Germany) and Evelyn Müürsepp (Estonia). The cross-over character of these pieces is underlined and fortified by the fact that some of the artists on the roster are actually consistently working with both sound and images in their oeuvre.
New Albion Festival: Contemporary Compositions at Bard College Summerscape
New Albion Records are once again putting the finishing touch to their annual celebration of contemporary composition, as their “festival within a festival” will take place between August 1st and 10th. Taking place during Bard College Summerscape, the New Albion Festival will present works by the likes of John Cage and Morton Feldman, John Adams and Henry Cowell, as well as performances featuring Bassist Jeffrey Roden and laptop artist Carl Stone, Deep Listening muse Pauline Oliveros and Turkish Guitar magician Erdem Helvacioglu. Programs will often comprise of various acts, allowing audiences to compare different thematically connected interpretations and disover music they may never previously have heard of. Situated at the Spiegeltent, this year’s edition will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Festival which has by now built a reputation akin to that of the label in the field of 20th and 21st century music.
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