Night After Night

New audio: Noveller, ARTIFACT

"And you can tell everybody that this is your song…"

Just out from Noveller – a.k.a. guitarist/looper/soundscaper Sarah Lipstate – is ARTIFACT, a new compilation of 12 short solo tracks, each created for an individual who purchased a copy of the limited-edition DVD box set of the same title that Lipstate released in 2011.

The set was originally offered in an edition of 50 copies; in the end, only 20 were made. I'm glad to have purchased one, and proud to see that my personal loop – with the best (and only?) possible title! – is now track #9 on this new audio-only collection, available for download via Bandcamp. Lipstate produced a limited-edition tour CD-R version of the album last year, and I believe that a double-LP set is still planned, but this is the first general release for this music.

Personally, I couldn't be more pleased with "Night After Night," whose muzzy, indistinct rumble reminds me (oddly enough) of the similar cello murk at the very start of King Crimson's "Fallen Angel," and whose sunny, half-buried melody makes me think of Sonny Sharrock's solo-guitar music.

Thanks, Sarah – I'm happy to share my song with the world.

Playlist.

Michael Pisaro - asleep, forest, melody, path - ensemble/Greg Stuart (SoundCloud)

Various artists - *AND (Parlour Tapes+)

Gustav Mahler - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; Kindertotenlieder; Rückert-Lieder - Christian Gerhaher, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal/Kent Nagano (Sony Classical)

Antonio Vivaldi - Concertos for Two Violins and Strings I - Dmitry Sinkovsky, Riccardo Minasi, Il Pomo d’Oro (Naïve)

Trabajo / Madrugada - split CS (No Kings)

Journey of Mind - Soma String (Field Studies)

Nite Lite - Pepper People (Tape Drift)

John Luther Adams - Inuksuit - Doug Perkins &c. (Cantaloupe)

Digital Natives - Long Homesweetened Entry (DNT)

Robert Rich - Morphology (Anodize > Bandcamp)

Autumn of Communion - Autumn of Communion 2 (Anodize > Bandcamp)

Autumn of Communion - Autumn of Communion (Fax > Bandcamp)

Anders Hillborg - Vaporized Tivoli - New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert; Andrew Norman - Try - New York Philharmonic/Jayce Ogren; Poul Ruders - Oboe Concerto - Liang Wang, New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert; Unsuk Chin - Gougalon - New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert (New York Philharmonic/iTunes)

Eraldo Bernocchi - Omnipresence (Anodize > Bandcamp)

Ishqamatics - Earthbound (Anodize > Bandcamp)

Within Reason - Transient Broadcasts (Anodize > Bandcamp)

Michael Finnissy - The History of Photography in Sound - Ian Pace (Metier)

Josh Mason - Timecode Beach (Digitalis)

Je Suis le Petit Chevalier - Those Vermillion Sands (NNA)

Heinz Riegler - Sleep Health (A Guide to Saints)

Aja Vjiior / Coventry Music - split CS (Hobo Cult)

Derek Rogers - Open Windows (Hobo Cult)

Nag Dolly - Albie's Toe Tie (Hobo Cult)

Dry Valleys - Mayall's Object (Hobo Cult)

Nathan McLaughlin - Karen Studies (Scissor Tail)

Kate Soper - Songs from the Killing Jar - Wet Ink Ensemble (Vimeo; part 1, part 2)

Jean Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 6 and 7; Tapiola - Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Robert Spano (ASO Media)

Nick Hennies - Flourish (Consumer Waste)

Stars of the Lid - Music for Nitrous Oxide (Sedimental)

Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (Kranky)

Justin Walter - Dark Matter (Life Like > Bandcamp)

Linear Bells - Over and Over (Subterranean Tide > Bandcamp)

Robert Fripp - 17 April 2004 (DGMLive)

Dennis Johnson - November - R. Andrew Lee (Irritable Hedgehog)

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Brooklyn Babylon (New Amsterdam)

Johann Sebastian Bach - Goldberg Variations - Jeremy Denk (Nonesuch)

Gene Clark - No Other (Elektra/Rhino)

Stars of the Lid - The Balasted Orchestra (Kranky)

Justin Walter - Lullabies and Nightmares (Kranky)

Dawn of Midi - Dysnomia (Thirsty Ear > Bandcamp)

Liza Lim - Tongue of the Invisible - Omar Ebrahim, Uri Caine, Ensemble musikFabrik/André de Ridder (Wergo)

Keeril Makan - Afterglow - International Contemporary Ensemble (Mode)

Michael Pisaro - The Middle of Life (Die ganze Zeit) (Gravity Wave)

Michael Pisaro - The Punishment of the Tribe by Its Elders (Gravity Wave)

Nick Hennies - Psalms (Roeba)

Michael Pisaro - Hearing Metal 1 (Edition Wandelweiser)

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Ballade for a Cold Moon (Hooker Vision > Bandcamp)

Jürg Frey - Relikt - Cristián Alvear Montecino (Bandcamp)

Mark Wastell - Caressed on the Brow by Unseen Hands (Confront Recordings)

Rebekah Heller and Ryan Muncy at Spectrum, December 14, 2013

Morgan Krauss and Rebekah Heller

Rebekah Heller and Ryan Muncy at Spectrum, December 14, 2013
Night After Night exclusive

I first encountered the music of Morgan Krauss almost exactly one year ago in Chicago, during the valiant "(Re)New Amsterdam" benefit concert organized by Marcos Balter and Doyle Armbrust at the Empty Bottle. The day was long and there was a lot of worthy music to take in, but I recall being positively jolted by by the freshness and originality of Krauss's Gravity of Shadows, played by a chamber group then known as Ensemble Vulpine Lupin, now Fonema Consort.

Krauss, currently a doctoral student at Northwestern University, is part of a rich, vibrant and thriving new-music scene in Chicago, but I don't recall having many opportunities to hear her music played here in New York. Needless to say, it was a welcome surprise to learn that two excellent musicians, International Contemporary Ensemble bassoonist Rebekah Heller and Ensemble Dal Niente saxophonist/director Ryan Muncy, would offer a Krauss premiere at Spectrum, Glenn Cornett's cozy and increasingly essential new-music loft on Ludlow Street.

Heller and Muncy, in case you blinked and missed them, released two of this year's most impressive recital discs, 100 Names and Hot, respectively. The idea that they'd be compatible was a no-brainer, I'm sure; anyone would be fortunate to write for this pair, and would almost certainly have fun in the process.

Welcoming a respectable gathering that braved Saturday night's slush to attend, Krauss described the piece she wrote, Divide Its White Laughter into Two, as a song cycle. I feel more than a little derelict in my off-duty duty to have missed the name of the poet whose work she cited as an inspiration, but here's a bit of useful text from the Spectrum website:

Divide Its White Laughter into Two is a work that aims to unveil the malleability of two sonorous bodies in their solitude and in their merging. It is comprised of three movements – two solos and a duet for bassoon and 
baritone saxophone. The framework for the piece lends itself to the sonic realizations of the instrumentalists' 
physical awareness in relation to the space they occupy, stamina, their relationship to the musical material
 and the physicality of the gestures in addition to what that may demand during a performance.

[Update, Dec. 15, 2013, 6:05pm: Morgan has kindly reminded me that the poet who words inspired her piece was Hollace Metzger.]

Starting the piece alone, Heller alternated between brief sung notes and short, sharp puffs of air through her horn. A ruminative soliloquy unfolded slowly: smeared, undulant, awash in disparate breathy textures and jagged contours. Her control, stamina and fearlessness were tested in roughly equal measure in a litany of gurgles, growls and multiphonics, subtly employed.

I wasn't timing the performance precisely, but roughly 15 minutes into what I'd guess to have been a 40-minute piece, Muncy rose from a nearby sofa and joined Heller at center stage for a busy yet low-key and intimate duet. His exacting technique and broad timbral range were well-matched to Heller's qualities, and Krauss made much of their similarities and differences.

Ryan Muncy and Rebekah Heller

Around halfway through the duet, Muncy left Heller's side, pacing slowly and deliberately around a semi-circular arrangement of music stands behind her. As he stopped to play at each station, new aspects of space and trajectory emerged in the music. I didn't see the score, but assume that some degree of improvisatory liberty and spontaneity was involved, at least during the passages Krauss designated as "white noise." (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Rebekah Heller and Ryan Muncy

As Muncy completed his circuit and returned to center stage, Heller departed, leaving him to finish the performance alone. Muncy's unaccompanied song differed from Heller's in several key ways; in particular, he never sang literally, and asserted a quiet undercurrent of jazzy swing as he played. At the work's conclusion, the three participants eagerly accepted a grateful audience's warm approval.

Krauss, Muncy and Heller

Even with just the one piece on the evening's agenda, this was a lot of musical information to take in all at once. Krauss's language is distinctive and demanding in its poetic use of complexity and noise. Happily, the concert was recorded – whether for Krauss's SoundCloud page or for something more permanent, I don't know. And as happily, Heller and Muncy will play Divide Its White Laughter into Two again in New York City on March 4 at 10pm, during "ICEstorm at The Stone," a six-night series the International Contemporary Ensemble will present at, yup, the Stone.

Playlist.

Giuseppe Verdi - Falstaff - Regina Resnik, Cloe Elmo, Licia Albanese, Martha Lipton, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Leonard Warren, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Fritz Reiner (Sony Classical)

Clime - Paleochannels (S.I.N.K. CDs)

Nectar of the Moon - Synthetic Perceptions/Neural Oscillations (S.I.N.K. CDs)

Nathan McLaughlin - Karen Studies (Scissor Tail)

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Ballade for a Beaver Moon (Hooker Vision)

Giuseppe Verdi - Simon Boccanegra - Astrid Varnay, Richard Tucker, Leonard Warren, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Fritz Stiedry (Sony Classical)

Giuseppe Verdi - La Forza del Destino - Zinka Milanov, Richard Tucker, Leonard Warren, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Fritz Stiedry (Sony Classical)

Derek Rogers - Signifying Memory (A Giant Fern)

Mark McGuire - Along the Way (Dead Oceans; due Feb. 4, 2014)

Giuseppe Verdi - Macbeth - Leonie Rysanek, Carlo Bergonzi, Leonard Warren, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Erich Leinsdorf (Sony Classical)

Giuseppe Verdi - Nabucco - Rosalind Elias, Leonie Rysanek, Cesare Siepi, Cornell MacNeil, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Thomas Schippers (Sony Classical)

Giuseppe Verdi - Aida - Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry, Carlo Bergonzi, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Thomas Schippers (Sony Classical)

Geryon - Geryon (Gilead Media > Bandcamp)

Richard Wagner - Der fliegende Holländer - Astrid Varnay, Set Svanholm, Sven Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Fritz Reiner (Sony Classical)

Rolling Stones - Toronto Phoenix (Live 2005) (Rolling Stones > Google Music)

Rolling Stones - Brussels Affair (Live 1973) (Rolling Stones > Google Music)

Richard Wagner - Lohengrin - Astrid Varnay, Kerstin Thorberg, Lauritz Melchior, Alexander Sved, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Erich Leinsdorf (Sony Classical)

Richard Wagner - Tannhäuser - Astrid Varnay, Margaret Harshaw, Ramón Vinay, George London, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/George Szell (Sony Classical)

Rolling Stones - Roundhay Park (Live 1982) (Rolling Stones > Google Music)

Richard Wagner - Das Rheingold - Margaret Harshaw, Set Svanholm, Lawrence Davidson, Hans Hotter, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Fritz Stiedry (Sony Classical)

Nathan McLaughlin - Riding the Bronc (Nada)

Cenote Glow - Palmetto Rose (Worn Habit)

Vitrazh - Ritual Hostility (Hooker Vision)

Villages - Sun Control (Sacred Phrases)

King Crimson - Ulster Performing Arts Centre, Kingston, NY, Nov. 14, 2003 (DGMLive)

Richard Wagner - Die Walküre - Kirsten Flagstad, Marjorie Lawrence, Lauritz Melchior, Julius Huehn, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Erich Leinsdorf (Sony Classical)

Richard Wagner - Siegfried - Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Karl Laufkötter, Friedrich Schorr, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Artur Bodanzky (Sony Classical)

Yes - Close to the Edge (Panegyric; 2013 remix)

XTC - Nonsuch (Ape House; 2013 remix)

The North Sea - It Was the Puritans Who Drank Our Blood (Bandcamp)

Richard Wagner - Götterdämmerung - Marjorie Lawrence, Dorothee Manski, Lauritz Melchior, Friedrich Schorr, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Artur Bodanzky (Sony Classical)

Kenny Garrett - Pushing the World Away (Mack Avenue)

Nova Scotian Arms - Into Silver Mind Layover (Cloud Valley)

Ambulette / Burial Shroud - split CS (VAALD)

Terminals - Terminals (VAALD)

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Remixes (Tabs Out Cassette Podcast > Bandcamp)