#4364, Twisted Drones
Listen to interesting ways of deploying drone for this show by French band Super Parquet, Brooklyn cellist Clarice Jensen, and drone music built around the sounds of bats from Field Works, aka Stuart Hyatt.
From France, listen to the latest by the band Super Parquet, who combine bagpipes called cabrette, from the Auvergne region of France, and banjo, along with many kinds of drones and electronics. It’s a little bit dark twang and drone, some part pulsing electronica, and an added twist of Steve Reich. Then, take a listen to the latest drone-driven release from English musician and producer Jon Hopkins, made only with Tibetan singing bowl and electronics. He describes it as feeling “pure” due to the single acoustic sound source of the 100 year old metal bowl, and that there is “a magic in setting this generative system in motion then just letting the vibrations of this bowl create their own world.” (Pitchfork)
Listen to new music by Brooklyn-based cellist Clarice Jensen, from her latest record, The experience of repetition as death. The title of this magisterial layered creation is “Holy Mother,” which is also the English translation of the Tibetan name for Mount Everest (Qomolangma.) In it, there are layers of what sound like cello processed to be almost cathedral organ in timbre, and at other times like an ominous all-male choir readying for battle.
There’s also music by Grammy-nominated artist and musician Stuart Hyatt who, when working in an experimental vein, operates as Field Works. His latest collaborative release under that moniker is a bat-themed double LP called Ultrasonic. Using field recordings of the endangered Indiana bats, he modulated and amplified their echolocation frequencies so they could be heard by the human ear and then sent the recordings to various artists to play with. Hear Christina Vantzou’s contribution, a dark ambient piece of unsettling drones, bat sounds, and menacing, intrusive vocals, called “Music for a room with vaulted ceiling.” Music inspired by Tibetan Buddhism rounds out the show with a work by New Zealand composer and producer, David Parsons. In his “Maitreya,” hear traditional Tibetan chant and instruments in an electronic soundscape. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4364, Twisted Drones (First aired 5/8/2020)
ARTIST: Super Parquet
WORK: Octobre [1:20]
RECORDING: Super Parquet
SOURCE: PAGANS PAG020
INFO: pagans.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Jon Hopkins
WORK: Singing Bowl (Ascension) [4:20]
RECORDING: Singing Bowl (Ascension)
SOURCE: Domino Record Co.
INFO: https://smarturl.it/SingingBowlAscension
ARTIST: Super Parquet
WORK: Octobre [10:54]
RECORDING: Super Parquet
SOURCE: PAGANS PAG020
INFO: pagans.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Clarice Jensen
WORK: Holy Mother [10:59]
RECORDING: The experience of repetition as death
SOURCE: 130701 / FatCat Records
INFO: claricejensen.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Field Works ft Christina Vantzou
WORK: Music for a room with vaulted ceiling [6:10]
RECORDING: Ultrasonic
SOURCE: Temporary Residence Ltd.
INFO: fieldworks.bandcamp.com/album/ultrasonic
ARTIST: David Parsons
WORK: Maitreya [12:03]
RECORDING: In Retrospect 1980-2003
SOURCE: Celestial Harmonies #13214
INFO: harmonies.com
