New Sounds from WNYC

New from November 2014, listen to some new music featuring the piano--two contrasting pieces by composer/pianist Tomasz Trzcinski.  There's also Philip Glass' Piano Etude #17 performed by Maki Namekawa to celebrate his recently completed 20 etudes, and the "Undine" movement from Anthony Davis' Balinese gamelan inspired "Wayang V," featuring the composer on the piano with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Then, cross over to the other side of the world to hear some trios. Trio Mediaeval, a group of female vocalists based in Norway, performs its new arrangement of the Office of St. Thorlak, the Icelandic saint from the 12th century. Listen also to a hypnotic track from a trio called Equilibrium, comprised of a Norwegian vocalist, Belgian clarinetist, and Danish guitarist. Rounding out this special edition of New Sounds is a new track by bass guitarist Matt Skellenger and his band. PROGRAM #3667 November 2014 New Releases (First aired on 12/1/2014)   ARTIST(S) RECORDING CUT(S) SOURCE Maki Namekawa Philip Glass: The Complete Piano Etudes Etude No. 17, excerpt Orange Mountain MusicAmazon Tomasz Trzcinski Piano Exploration, Vol. 1: Sounds & Waves Waves, Episode 6 [2:35] SilkNote RecordsAmazon Maki Namekawa Philip Glass: The Complete Piano Etudes Etude No. 17 [6:26] Orange Mountain MusicAmazon Tomasz Trzcinski Piano Exploration, Vol. 1: Sounds & Waves Sounds & Waves [4:21] SilkNote RecordsAmazon Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) Anthony Davis: Notes from the Underground Wayang V II. Undine [4:08] BMOP/soundbmop.org Trio Mediaeval Aquilonis Vespers antiphon & psalm I, II, III [7:11] ECM 2416Amazon Equilibrium Liquid Light Statolith [7:37] Songlines Records SGL 1608-2songlines.com Port Mone Trio Thou Meeting [6:34] HevhetiaAmazon Balkan Clarinet Summit many languages – one soul Saverni atski danz [4:30] Piranha Musik 2857 Not available for purchase yet Stay tuned Matt Skellenger New Radio 15out [3:54] Matt SkellengerAmazon

For this New Sounds show, listen to music redolent of the near East, with echoes of Turkey, Israel, and Iran. Hear music from the French-born Klezmer clarinetist Yom, and his record “Silence of the Exodus.” The music tells the story of the departure of the Jews from Egypt by way of the sounds of Iranian percussion, the double bass and the clarinet, and modal cellos. Also, listen to Montreal-based chamber post-rock band Esmerine, which includes the likes of Sarah Neufeld (of Arcade Fire), members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and a quartet of Turkish musicians. Hear music from the Iranian-American trio Niyaz, featuring vocalist Azam Ali. Plus, there’s music from the Touré-Raichel Collective, a collaboration between Malian musician Vieux Farka Touré and Israeli producer/keyboardist Idan Raichel. PROGRAM #3662 Music With Echoes of the Near East (First aired on 11/18/2014)   ARTIST(S) RECORDING CUT(S) SOURCE Esmerine Dalmak Lost River Blues I [7:26] Constellation Records 096cstrecords.com Yom Le Silence de l'Exode Silence Exode 12 (Silence) [5:52] Buda Musique / Festival d’Ile de France budamusique.com Niyaz Sumud (Alevi-Bektashi poet Ashik Dertli) Arzusun [6:24] Six Degrees 657036 1187 2sixdegreesrecords.com Yom Le Silence de l'Exode Silence Exode 2 (Rouge) [7:21] Buda Musique / Festival d’Ile de France budamusique.com Toure-Raichel Collective The Tel Aviv Session Azawade [8:11] Cumbancha CMB CD 22cumbancha.comtoureraichel.com

For this New Sounds, sample some recent releases of world music, including a brand new offering from Chancha via Circuito, the Argentine DJ and producer who merges Brazilian rhythms, Paraguayan harp, Andean mysticism and remixes South American folksong - all focused through his own futuristic lens of post-dubstep. There’s also brand new music from Indo-Canadian singer Kiran Ahluwalia, who has recently incorporated the groove of “desert blues” into her Indian music.

Hear so-called “indie classical” works on this New Sounds - music which is at home in both the contemporary classical music world and the indie rock/pop music halls, basements, and dive bars. Listen to the “NYC garage-chamber septet” The Cellar and Point, who use acoustic instruments and electronics to create a sound that is winningly melodic, thoughtful in its balance, groove-heavy, sometimes glitchy, and delightfully unpredictable as the septet straddles all kinds of genres. Members of the group also currently perform with JACK Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Signal, and Mantra Percussion.  

For this New Sounds, hear all sorts of drummer-led bands and ensembles, including music from composer/percussionist Susie Ibarra, alternative/avant-jazzer Jim Black, Afrobeat progenitor/drummer Tony Allen who played with Fela Kuti, and many others. There’s music from the brand-new record, “Drum Codes” by Electric Kulintang, which features co-leader Susie Ibarra on those traditional metallic gong-like percussion instruments of the Philippines and her percussionist/programmer husband, Cuban-American Roberto Rodriguez.

Listen to small ensembles (septets or smaller) with a big sound for this New Sounds show. Hear music from a film score for a comedy featuring small ensemble music by English guitarist/pianist/composer James Blackshaw. The noirish score includes bowed guitar and bass, violin, vibraphone, flute, drums and electronics, and draws from Brazilian guitar music, musique concrete, and French impressionist composers.

For this New Sounds, dig into a wide variety of sounds, all coming from electric guitarist/composers, like the ambient electronic texture of Noveller to the pulsing minimalist shimmer of Empyrean Atlas. Guitarist and composer Sarah Lipstate, uses lots of looping devices and records under the name, Noveller. Listen to her “Glacial Wave” and “Almost All Right” built only around the sound of electric guitar, looped together to create sonic landscapes.   Then, hear music by Brooklyn-based composer and instrumentalist David Crowell, who uses guitars, and saxophone textures to create motoric minimalist creations, with the band Empyrean Atlas.

For this New Sounds, listen to some non-classical music from classically-trained musicians, including an acoustic music quartet that is neither classical nor jazz - The 442s, comprised of members of the St. Louis Symphony, and jazz musicians. There’s also new music from Shara Worden, who records as My Brightest Diamond, from her brand-new EP, "None More Than You" scored for vocals, brass and percussion – something that can be performed with say – a marching band! Then, hear music by Andrew McKenna Lee with members of the Knells, some very cinematic work by the French-born London-based Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, and more music from the L.A.-based collective, wild Up. Plus, something from electronic musician/ sound designer/ producer/ programmer Michael Hammond, aka No Lands, as well as a tune from cellist Erik Friedlander. And more.

New Sounds airs new releases from June 2014 for the world to hear. Listen to abrasive industrial-ish music by Ben Frost, and some playfully layered music from the Australian group, Rabbitsss, along with some Mali-pop from the NYC-based outfit, Benyoro.  Plus, hear hauntingly gorgeous music from SANS, a quartet made up of zither, duduk, bass clarinet, saxophone and fujara accompanying Finnish runo songs as well as some music from the flavorful and hypnotic Hungarian Serb tambura band, Sondorgo. 

There’s a world of world music for this New Sounds.  Listen to an electric distorted version of West African trance music from Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara, along with a powerful song of praise that explores the links between India and the Balkans from Sheeli Bringi. There’s also music from Maracatu New York, who are a band steeped in the maracatu band music of northeast Brazil.  Their sound manages to fuse Brazilian rhythms with those of traditional New Orleans Second Line music and the Mardi Gras Indians.

This New Sounds is another musical melting pot program, but tonight, we’re coming at it from a jazz and blues angle. Listen to the Swedish guitarist Torbjörn Ömalm bringing western jazz, Swedish folk and the Finnish kantele together on his record, “Tih.”  The word "Tih" means "stop and listen" in meänkieli, one of the minority languages of Lapland and the Tornevalley.  Next, hear the gifted vocalist/composer Kavita Shah, who on her latest, “Visions,” (co-produced by the renowned Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke) combines a jazz quintet with Indian tablas and the West African kora.

For this New Sounds Podcast, listen to new music from Norway, including a live set by the serene and transcendent Tord Gustavsen Quartet.  Gustavsen, whether solo, with a trio, or in this quartet formation, delivers piano-based works of contemplation and stillness that simply captivate a listener.  To be sure, the music is capable of transporting one to a private Nordic mind-palace.

New Sounds takes a beating with music from Mantra Percussion, a superhuman group committed to pounding out new works and expanding the percussion repertoire.  Listen to “Science is Only a Sometime Friend,” a ringing chiming work for percussion and organ by Aaron Siegel.  Then listen to something new from percussionist/composer David Van Tieghem who has worked with Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Talking Heads, and the Love of Lilfe Orchestra, to name a few.  His latest venture was based on recorded improvisations on a series of objects, which he then distributed to ten musicians.  They, in turn, manipulated the recordings and returned them to Van Tieghem, who then finished them into compositions.  Have a look-see, below.

On this New Sounds, listen to new music from American composer Chris Campbell. On his latest, “Things You Already Know,” homemade instruments of propane tank drums, bowed psaltery and singing bowls are combined with guitars, cellos and drums to creep, scrape and eventually burst, then string melodies soar, and jams are proverbially kicked out.

For this New Sounds, listen to new music from violinist and vocalist Caleb Burhans. His latest release “Evensong” explores both the secular and sacred, along with works both instrumental and choral. Listen to his "The Things Left Unsaid," one of the instrumentals on the record. Also, hear music by Nico Muhly, which draws from both the minimalist tradition and Anglican hymns. Plus, an ambient-sounding work from Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti. Special thanks to our hardworking New Sounds Assistant, Isabel Kim, for making this podcast possible.