Classical Music 405 Items

This collection of electroacoustic vocal and piano improvisations was recorded in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico in the midst of the hottest month in recorded Puerto Rican history (it has since been replaced by a more recent date). While it is certainly not traditional piano and vocal improvisational performance by the strictest definition, in many ways this series of recordings acts as a return to fundamentals in spontaneous sonic exploration with very minimal processing in post-production. With piano and voice being the first instruments learned by the artist as a child, much of these improvisations act as a vehicle of a positive form of musical regression. The challenge at hand is to create a sound as full and textural as that of a fully electronic production across tens of channels, but only through three: piano, voice, and granular synthesis. This is a series of improvisations surrounding the topic of 21st century austerity, focusing specifically on the liberatory nature of certain technological innovations that most in the Global North now take for granted. How can you create art when you're worried about whether the food in your fridge will remain fresh past the evening when the power has been out all day? How can you remain in constant contact with your family and friends when all communications providers are at capacity in the midst of a Hurricane or other natural disasters? As there is no telling how long the power grid is going to remain functional in the oldest colony on the planet, it’s crucial that digital art and performance be produced here and now with the tools available, right up to the very point when they no longer are. Pianovoz Electroacústica places this nowness front and center, it can speak for itself as creative music, but illustrates the need to continue working even as the safety nets surrounding you begin to crumble all the more. More importantly, this series of improvisations acts as a warning: the Global North will only be able to ignore these realities up until the point at which they arrive at their doorstep. The time to make prepar

Conceived At The Heel Of Italy's Boot-Shaped Peninsula In Apulia, Patrick Belaga's Blutt Makes Music For The Unruly Imagination. The Title Is An Old German Word For 'Naked', 'Bare', But It Can Also Mean 'Blood' When Spelt Blut. Take Away Another Letter And It Makes 'Butt'. None Of These Definitions And Adaptations Were What Prompted The Classically-Trained Composer And Cellist To Name His Second Album With A Word Simulating The Sound Of A Punctured Artery. That Came Later. Blutt's Nine Woozy Compositions Are Inspired By A Contemplative Road Trip With A Friend, And The Mysterious Muffled Music Heard From An Unidentified Source. It Was A Combination Of Jazz And Classical Music That Haunted Belaga's Wanderings Through The Byzantine Town Gallipoli, And Soon Infected His Dreams Of Long-Gone Civilizations. This Record Is Its Outcome, Where Organic Instrumentals And Electronic Production Merge Into A Sound That's Both Contemporary And Ancient. Samples Of Mewing Incantations And Tape Hiss Sway Atop The Waltzing Thud Of Piano Chords On "Sigh". Composite Layers Of Belaga's Cello Play In Downcast Harmony On "Rust". There's A Wistful Sense For The Romantic, In The Eerie Rhythm Of A Piece Like "Momentum". The Quarter Tones Of An Eastern European And Middle Eastern Folk Scale Probe A Profound Melancholy Via Kai Knight's Violin. Its Notes Are Haunted By A Field Recording Of Running Water On "Unsoft", Echoes Of Panpipes And A Jew's Harp On Opener "Lilt". As A Consummate Composer And Performer Known For His Work With Artists Wu Tsang, Boychild, Josh Johnson And Asma Maroof, Belaga's Blutt Is Itself Marked By Flawless Collaborations. Vocalist And Instrumentalist Jazmin Romero Sings And Composes The Surreal Melodies Of "Grey Eye". Multidisciplinary Dance Artist And Producer Riley Watts Contributes To The Muted, Motorik Movement Of "The Tunnel Is A Tower". Together, The Record Plays As A Stunning Soundtrack To The Strangeness Of Sleeping, And The Heartbreaking Transience Of Time. Like An Intense Dream Half-Remembered, The...