Author: musicforcougars

H. Takahashi – Pearl

Pearl kicks off the excellent second installment of UK-based label Where to Now’s minimal ambient series Where to Be, which invited artists to

create works of total ambience, incorporating the idea that the power of the music presented is in that which is barely there, embracing space, silence, cyclical repetition, and minimalism. The music is to help us function – it’s music to work to, to sleep to, to help us find a sense of space and oneness within a world that is increasingly wild and untameable. [sic]

I am obviously not the only one to have taken notice, as the cassette pressing of that release is sold out, though if you can I’d recommend taking a listen and purchasing the digital version. A bit earlier in 2015 he released Sea Meditation through the label Entertainment Systems, which promises “practical audio solutions to everyday living,” which is available on cassette on their Bandcamp site.

Siavash Amini – Fading Shadows of Dusk

Fading Shadows of Dusk is the lead track off Flaming Pines’ upcoming compilation of experimental music by Iranian artists. It comes from Siavash Amini who also released an LP, Subsiding, with Futuresequence (aka the good folks who brought you Madeline Cocolas’ debut). I’ll admit I was drawn to this based on the extensive coverage of Iran in recent months, but Amini, in an essay introducing the collection, offers an interesting counterpoint to that impulse:

The tracks collected for this compilation are a perfect example of art that is not “newsworthy”. And in this way they act as a gateway to the ignored and overlooked landscape of experimental electronic music in Iran. It is helpful to listen to all of the pieces in this compilation in contrast to the established language of what is now an Iranian musical mainstream. This Iranian mainstream is not that disconnected from the global mainstream, and the philosophy, politics and the lifestyle this manifests. The mainstream in Iran is not only what the government endorses but it also consists of very shallow imitations of various musical genres, cleared of any signs of cultural or political resistance, backed and released by private labels and companies.

The artists presented here, including myself, are people who are constructing our musical language as part of our lives – a project which is no less of an experiment than the music itself. We are the voices who choose to be absent from the news and the musical mainstream (and in some cases from the city of our birth) in order to express the complex range of emotions and ideas which make up our lives, as honestly as we can.

The compilation is slated for release in February and is available for pre-order on Bandcamp. In addition to the digital release, it will be released as a CDr with the first 30 receiving a poster.

Experimental Music Studio Interview

Nolan Vallier
Graduate Assistant for Sousa Archives, PhD student in Musicology

Scott W. Schwartz
Archivist for Music and Fine Arts and Director
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

I’ve been a little behind posting track of the day because the holidays snuck up on me and in part because I’ve been trying to put together this interview post in a way that was informative, interesting, and as accurate as could be. I sat down with Nolan Vallier and Scott Schwartz of the Sousa Music Archives at the University of Illinois to discuss a recent exhibit they had put together documenting the development of the Experimental Music Studio at the University of Illinois.

Throughout the interview, we discussed the EMS’ role in the development of experimental music in the United States during the middle of the 20th century. We also discussed some of the challenges of telling a story like this within the context of an exhibit. Throughout I have attempted to assemble recordings or relevant information about the composers and compositions discussed. The Sousa Archives are currently displaying an exhibit on Partch as well as displaying a working replica of the Harmonic Tone Generator which is a real treat to play, so if you have the time I suggest you check them out. More info can be found here.

I began the interview by asking how the EMS first developed by making use of the ILLIAC I which was completed in 1952 and represents the first computing device constructed and controlled entirely by the University. It is this computer which serves as the foundation for the establishment of the EMS, which came as the University of Illinois prepared to unveil the ILLIAC I’s successor, ILLIAC II:

Continue reading “Experimental Music Studio Interview” →

Mississippi John Hurt – Pay Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVoiHcwp8Bo

 

In keeping with many masters of delta blues, Mississippi John Hurt did not receive much recognition until later in his life, though he is revered as a master of the style to this day. Pay Day comes off his 1966 Vanguard release Today!, released the same year (1996) as Skip James Today!. Like Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt was a self-taught fingerpicker from (you guessed it) Mississippi whose recordings for Okeh records in 1928 met with little success. His music career seemingly over before it started, he spent the next forty years sharecropping and playing local shows and bars and dance halls. Inclusion on the Smithsonian’s Anthology of American Folk Music revived interest in his work and the man himself, who was located in part because one of his few early singles contained lyrics suggesting his hometown was Avalon, MS.

Riding a renewed wave of interest in American roots music throughout the 1960s, Hurt recorded a number of albums first for the Smithsonian and then for Vanguard, Piedmont, and Gryphon. John Fahey memorialized him in the first track from his Requia release, Requiem for John Hurt, which was released following Hurt’s death in 1966. You can see Hurt perform Lonesome Valley here on an episode from Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest, a short lived television show hosted by Seeger devoted to folk music. For more info on Hurt’s life and music career, check out this website run by his nephew.

Sergius Golowin – Die Weisse Alm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEWATxwpw4M

Though Golowin would be lauded primarily for his writing in the area of folklore and esotericism, Golowin turned out a real psych-infused treat with1973’s Lord Krishna Von Goloka. With help from Klaus Schulze (of Tangerine Dream fame),Golowin’s only record certainly captures the blend inviting psychedelia and electronic experimentation, perhaps best on this track. I first heard this release on Soul Jazz Records’ fantastic Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2 compilation. What stands out on this track and others on the album is the blending of acoustic jamming worthy of any flower child with enchanting vocal experimentation. In many ways it reminds me of something like Popol Vuh’s Song of the Earth. Though most versions feature the cover above, check out the cover of the Italian quadrophonic release.
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KéPA – Lies Lies Lies

KéPA hails from Bayonne, France though you’d perhaps be forgiven for thinking he hails from somewhere near the Mississippi Delta. Lies Lies Lies is taken from his most recent Low-Low Wind release and he’s got more solo blues stuff over at Bandcamp. According to his website he draws inspiration from the likes of Abner Jay which I can definitely hear in Lies Lies Lies along with the falsetto of John Jacob Niles. You can find out more about seeing him perform on his website or on Facebook. I’d elaborate more on Abner Jay and John Jacob Niles, but I’m planning more elaborate posts on them in the future so just enjoy the tunes ya dingus!

Madeline Cocolas – I Can See You Whisper

 

Australian-born composer Madeline Cocoloas’ debut record Cascadia is set to be released in January from Future Sequence, and it’s gorgeous. Much of the material arose from a project she undertook where she created a song a week for a year. It was fittingly called the “Fifty Two Weeks” project, and lucky for us that material has been repurposed, repackaged, and refined for our listening pleasure. I Can See You Whisper was actually the final installment of the 52 weeks project, which she celebrated by releasing a video for the song. Blending her classical training on piano and (I’m guessing) violin/cello with subdued synth drones, she has composed original soundtracks to Hitchcock’s The Birds as well as for site-specific art installations. For more information and to hear past installments in the Fifty-Two Weeks saga, check out the blog she set up for the project or check out her website. You can also hear more of her music over at Soundcloud. I’ll have to remember this project when I get a bit lazy with the Music For Cougars stuff, because it’s not as good and it seems to take twice as long.

WARM – This is What I Became

 
Most of these posts are meant to pretty relevant regardless of when some future person might stumble upon them, but this one has got a tinge of urgency because Gap Dream (aka Gabe Fulvimar) is selling downloads of his entire discography for just four dollars! Four. Measly. Dollars. This includes the release which contains today’s track, Florian, which was released under the moniker WARM. What a steal! For the price of something that costs four dollars, you can get all this excellent musics!

I first heard Gap Dream’s self-titled release a couple years ago and purchased the cassette, which I have essentially worn through. I wasn’t aware that he’d been releasing instrumental material under various names, and pretty much all the releases I’ve heard are excellent. For a full accounting of his releases, check out his Bandcamp. While the WARM material is available only digitally, physical releases are handled by the estimable Burger Records out of Fullerton, CA. Before his solo work got started in earnest, he performed with the Black Keys, appearing on their 2002 The Big Come Up release. While he writes and performs all the instruments himself for the WARM releases as well as on the first Gap Dream release, he was joined by Bobby Harlow of Conspiracy of Owls fame for Gap Dream’s sophomore effort Shine Your Light. I’d encourage you to take advantage of this amazing deal while it lasts, but if you’re one of those future people for whom this deal no longer applies, still buy it using whatever currency the future space government will accept. Bitcoin? Straight barter? Idk, just do it.

HOME – New Machines

 

This track comes off the debut record Odyssey from electronic artist HOME (aka Randy Goff). It was released in 2014 by Midwest Collective, and it’s only a dollar so I strongly suggest snatching it up because from start to finish it’s a treat. He released a second record Before the Night (also on Midwest Collective) that is in the same electro future funk vein as Odyssey so if you dig this I’d recommend checking this out. In addition to Bandcamp, he’s got a presence on Soundcloud where there is some material that is not present on either full-length releases.

 

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Nouns – Wreck

This was a tough one to pick just one track from. It comes from nouns’ sophomore record still and let me tell you it’s a treat on repeat. The group formed in high school in Conway, Arkansas. Much of still is informed by the band members’ experience with mental illness, according to an interview with the band’s lead songwriter Hunter Clifton Mann conducted by Mark Garza, who runs the label/site Funeral Sounds:

Q: Mark was telling me there were stories behind Still and I’m not sure if that means musically or lyrically or? I notice for example with all the lyrics are attributed to a different person. I was curious about that.

That is an interesting question. I wasn’t sure how people would take that. I pitched this a month or two before the record came out. Once all the songs had been really fleshed out we kind of noticed, like I wrote all the lyrics and they’re all honest, we were adamant about making something honest but all the lyrics seemed very jumbled. And then, my roommate and I were talking about it. I live with two other people who have severe bipolar disorder and I have bipolar disorder as well and kind of what happened with the record is that the different names attributed to the songs are kind of personas I’ve created in my mind for my most immature state of mind that’s vengeful and angry and completely cynical, then the more mature part of me that some days understands that life isn’t shitty and I’m not cynical about it but at the same time is this complete understanding that I don’t wanna fucking be here. Then there’s the fourth persona on the record who is Oliver and his songs didn’t actually happen, but they were obsessions of mine in high school so Oliver is kind of the most innocent of my personas but also, I don’t know man, I was just obsessed with this one idea in high school that I ended up talking to a lot of people about it over the last year and then it kind of hit me that I should write a fucking song about it and we ended up writing two songs about it just to see if people would relate to it. And, I don’t know. What was the question again?

Mann is joined by Kyle Parker on guitar, Keyton Gill on bass, and Austin Clark on the drums. still was released in 2014 by three different labels, Known Pleasure Records, Funeral Sounds, and Broken World Media on vinyl, with each label producing a different color variant, which is a pretty neat idea. The whole album starts at a buck for a digital download, which is pretty nice, so I’d suggest snapping it up. If your headed down the Ozark way, they update their Facebook with info about shows, which I bet are pretty fun too.