Engineer's Daughter: Music

Music

January 08, 2021

soundhouse: intimacy and distance

Looking at visual art online has proved a thoroughly unsatisfying pandemic experience for me, but thankfully the same is not true for my experience of music and sound. London's Barbican has prepared an engaging online iteration of their Soundhouse series that specifically addresses how the isolation and social distancing of the past year has affected our listening habits. Curators Arlie Adlington, Ariana Martinez, and Axel Kacoutié have selected podcasts and other audio works that play on continuous loops in three online "rooms" that the virtual visitor can move among almost as if they were in the Barbican galleries themselves. The site also includes extensive notes and links out to the audio sources, so you might just discover a new favorite podcast or sound artist.

Soundhouse: Intimacy and Distance

Posted at 12:13 PM in Art, Music | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 29, 2020

12 streams of serious

Another excellent way to pass the time this week, promotion company Serious has selected 12 standout performances from their 2020 productions for your streaming pleasure. Highlights include composer and percussionist Sarathy Korwar leading his new band in a gig at London's Total Refreshment Centre, and an online ensemble led by Orphy Robinson where people joined in from their homes to perform and record in a sort of virtual jazz club situation. But really all the streams are fantastic. Also keep an eye on the Serious site for their 2021 shows, much to look forward to on the horizon.

December 28, 2020

bang on a can marathons on demand

Bang on a Can has given us a wonderful present to help get us through this dreadful limbo time in between Christmas and New Year's, the gift of 24 hours of music and conversations recorded live during their online marathons this past year and available to watch for this week only. The list of musicians and composers who participated in the 2020 pandemic marathons is simply mind-boggling and includes Meredith Monk, George Lewis, Alvin Curran, Iva Bittová, Nicole Mitchell, Annie Gosfield, Rhiannon Giddens, to name just a few. You can skip directly to your favorites or proceed through the roster in the order provided (as I have been doing) for maximum surprise and delight. And don't forget to donate to Bang on a Can, so that they continue to pay artists and commission new work!

December 25, 2020

an ill considered christmas

How I like my holiday music: either utterly traditional, or blasted in from another dimension. This recent session from UK out-jazz trio Ill Considered falls decisively into the latter category, and as they reinterpret classics like "Ding Dong Merrily On High" and "Auld Lang Syne" the energy is undeniable. UnEvensong indeed. Ill Considered is Idris Rahman on sax, Emre Ramazanoglu on drums, and Liran Donin on electric bass, and you can find them on the New Soil record label.