Monday, February 6 2012
Nils Frahm: Felt
The felt itself is an additional instrument, a scrape of percussion as each key is played and released.
Tuesday, November 1 2011
Paul McCartney / London Classical Orchestra: Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom
"Ocean's Kingdom" is Paul McCartney's first stab at scoring a ballet, but it glows with the same energy and suffers from the same shortcomings of his other classical works.
Monday, October 17 2011
Benjamin Thigpen: divide by zero
Five satisfying doses of atonal, arrhythmic racket. This is what your computer hears when it breaks.
Monday, October 3 2011
Adolf Wölfli: The Heavenly Ladder: Analysis of the Musical Cryptograms
In an impressive undertaking, Belgian composer Baudouin de Jaer tries to musically decode the disturbed drawings of Adolf Wölfli. Too bad the music isn't the most compelling part.
Tuesday, August 23 2011
Nathan Davis/International Contemporary Ensemble: The Bright and Hollow Sky
Composer Nathan Davis is at the mercy of his instruments and his players – and he's just fine with that.
Tuesday, May 31 2011
Amjad Ali Khan and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Samaagam
Like an essay built around the regular insertion of aphorisms.
Thursday, April 28 2011
Hauschka: Salon Des Amateurs
Salon Des Amateurs is great fun and probably the most floral piece of belle époque kitsch you’ll hear all year: perfect background music for your Baudelaire reading group, but it might be a bit much for less adventurous ears.
Wednesday, March 30 2011
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Live at Nassau Coliseum ‘78
Everyday mediocrities may be swept away by time, but great atrocities must never be forgotten.
Tuesday, September 28 2010
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano/Out of Noise
For Ryuichi Sakamoto, a lifelong career of electro-pop and film scores have pointed the way to a hypnotizing double album of piano solos and reflective experiments. Uncork the champagne.
