It’s that time of the month on New Sounds to check out some music that caught the ear for November of this year. Hear new releases (or those new to us) by Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond) for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and ICE, Toronto sax player Joseph Shabason, and new music from Dead Can Dance.
Hear a work composed by Shara Nova for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, as part of their collaborative record, Silent Voices, written for the 25th anniversary of the chorus, and featuring the ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble.) Nova’s piece, “Blind to the Illness” was written in the summer of 2016, in response to the many killings of blacks in America. The project gives voice to those that have been silenced or marginalized while taking on important topics to the choristers: like the Syrian refugee crisis, women’s rights, the process of gentrification and displacement, and features music by several composers: Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Mary Kouyoumdjian, and Toshi Reagon.
Hear cinematic music from multi-instrumentalist and drummer Eiko Ishibashi from her new record, The Dream My Bones Dream. Also, there’s a soundscape by composer Paula Matthusen and visual and textile artist Olivia Valentine, featuring highly-processed sounds of lace-making and live electronic music. Speaking of ambient acoustic soundscapes and cinematic tone poems, there’s music by New York based quintet SUSS – who make music at the crossroads of ambient music and country-western , perhaps as if Brian Eno had produced the Western film scores of Ennio Morricone. Also, preview new music from Hawaii-based, German-born producer Markus Sieber, aka Aukai from his forthcoming 2019 record, Reminiscence.
Listen to music by Toronto saxophonist and composer Joseph Shabason, featuring recorded sound of interviews of Shabason’s mother, Anne. It’s something of a “tonal essay on degenerative illness” (Bandcamp) – she has Parkinson’s Disease, with lovingly produced pieces where Shabason plays the sax, alto flute, ocarina, percussion and uses field recordings. There’s also new music from Dead Can Dance, whose arty goth electronic dark pop draws on Bulgarian singing, Middle Eastern percussion, and electronics. We’ll hear a bit from their new record, Dionysus. Plus, hear music from a reissue of 1980’s German composer, pianist, and broadcaster, Hans Otte, who was deeply inspired by Eastern mysticism and though, which informed his work, The Book of Sound. -Caryn Havlik
Program #4178: New Releases, November 2018 (First aired 11/30/2018)
ARTIST: Dead Can Dance
WORK: Dionysus Act II - The Forest [1:30]
RECORDING: Dionysus
SOURCE: Pias Recordings PIASR440
INFO: deadcandance.com
ARTIST: SUSS
WORK: Late Night Call [4:47]
RECORDING: Ghost Box expanded
SOURCE: Northern Spy NS 105
INFO: northernspyrecs.com
ARTIST: Aukai
WORK: La Joya [3:37]
RECORDING: Reminiscience
SOURCE: aukai.bandcamp.com
INFO: Due out Jan. 18, 2019
ARTIST: Dead Can Dance
WORK: Dionysus Act II - The Forest [5:10]
RECORDING: Dionysus
SOURCE: Pias Recordings PIASR440
INFO: deadcandance.com
ARTIST: Brooklyn Youth Chorus and ICE
WORK: Shara Nova: Blind to the Illness [4:11]
RECORDING: Silent Voices
SOURCE: New Amsterdam NEWAM 105
INFO: brooklynyouthchorus.org
ARTIST: Eiko Ishibashi
WORK: A Ghost In a Train, Thinking [5:54]
RECORDING: The Dream My Bones Dream
SOURCE: Drag City
INFO: eikoishibashi.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Paula Matthusen and Olivia Valentine
WORK: 07_12_16, 4_00 pm, Rabun Gap, GA (real-time [insects, summer breeze, bobbins, feedback]) [6:00]
RECORDING: Between Systems and Grounds
SOURCE: paulamatthusenandoliviavalentine.bandcamp.com
INFO: betweensystemsandgrounds.com
ARTIST: Joseph Shabason
WORK: Fred and Lil [6:51]
RECORDING: Anne
SOURCE: Western Vinyl
INFO: josephshabason.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Hans Otte
WORK: Part 1, excerpt [6:40]
RECORDING: The Book Of Sounds
SOURCE: Reissued by Beacon Sound
INFO: wearebeaconsound.com