John Cage loved his toy pianos for good reason. Those instruments, with their simple construction and even simpler range, invite chance with every plink — sour notes, rusty mechanics, and so on. And the one-man toy-piano band known as Twink (born Mike Langlie) milks those industrial-design eccentricities for all their textural value.
Just check out his […]
News, Quick Links, Good Reads: (1) Art by Orb/KLF member James Cauty was removed by municipal workers in Brighton, England, when it was mistaken for graffiti (nytimes.com, ink-d.co.uk). … (2) The Guardian on noise abatement and urban soundscapes: “Visual aesthetics are a major part of the planning system with strong guidelines determining what is acceptable […]
Quote of the Week: “It is hard to leave the subject of Minimalism without mention of Count Basie, master of the art of leaving out.” That’s Bernard Holland in his entry as part of a roundup, last week, of the New York Times’ classical-music critics’ take on recorded milestones in minimalism (nytimes.com). The list of […]
The passing of film director Michelangelo Antonioni this week brought many things to mind, many of them sound-related. This is in part due to Antonioni’s pop instinct, as exemplified by the rollicking soundtrack to his film Blow Up (1966); in part due to Brian De Palma’s remake of Blow Up, the film Blow Out (1981), […]
Quote of the Week: The eminent comics artist Ben Katchor writes and draws a single-page comic for the last page of each issue of the magazine Metropolis. The July/August 2007 entry, “Peabald’s Field Guide to the Air-Conditioners of North America,” imagines a couple whose hunt is disturbed by birds: “Damn those cerulean warblers! I can’t […]
Score is a new album collecting background music by someone who has recently been pursuing a spot in the foreground. It’s a retrospective compilation by Herbert (born Matthew Herbert and aka Doctor Rockit) of pieces he’s written over the years for film, cues of churning, introspective textures by someone whose modus operandi of late has […]
Quick Links, News and Good Reads: (1) In the early 1960s, Yoko Ono was an interpreter for Japanese novelist Kobo Abe (Box Man, Woman in the Dunes), translator Donald Keene recounts in his ongoing memoir in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper (yomiuri.co.jp). Ono’s new album, Yes, I’m a Witch (Astralwerks), is due out this Tuesday, February […]
Quick Links, News and Good Reads: (1) Excellent interview with soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone, ever cantankerous and reticent to share (guardian.co.uk), though he does take the time to (advisedly) criticize Hollywood’s distinction between composing and arranging: “In the history of music, composition is instrumentation.” … (2) A review of a solo show by William Anastasi […]
Quick Links, News and Good Reads: (1) Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians” has been posted for free download by the BBC as part of (yeah, you guessed it) a remix contest. The winning track, to be selected by Reich, will appear on a Nonesuch release, along with remixes by Four Tet and Alex Smoke. […]
Quick Links, News and Good Reads: (1) Just closed at the Migros Museum in Zurich, Switzerland, the exhibit “While Interwoven Echoes Drip into a Hybrid Body: an Exhibition about Sound Performance and Sculpture,” curated by Heike Munder and Raphael Gygax, and featuring work by Banks Violette, Dave Allen, Mileece*, Paul Etienne Lincoln, Peter Coffin, Seb […]