JONATHAN BADGER
VERSE
"This melancholic, mosaic record . . . shuffles nimbly between extremes of darkness and light the way an Olympic figure skater transitions from twirls and spins to Lutzes and Axles, a suite of fluid, involving instrumentals that draws from disparate genres to arrive at a sort of post-ambient survey course." – Baltimore City Paper
Jonathan Badger is a composer and performer based in Baltimore, Maryland. Formally trained as a classical guitarist, he went on to study music theory and composition at Duke University and arranged and composed music for theatre and dance. He then studied in Guitar Craft, a guitar school founded and guided by Robert Fripp of King Crimson.
He has toured extensively, performing his riveting style of “guitaristic” electronic music, processing guitar through an assortment of customized software and hardware - folding and weaving signals together into complex patterns of interlaced rhythm, harmony and texture. The resulting aesthetic is an ambient, avant-rock hybrid with DIY sensibilities.
Here is his account of his performance process: “My guitars generate two signals: one analog and one digital. Both signals are fed into a computer, and the digital signal controls a homegrown sample base I made of hundreds of recordings of acoustic instruments such as viola, cello, flute, the human voice, piano, and so on. So in addition to conventional guitar tones there is a wide palette of organic sonics. This audio is judiciously processed in the computer in a fashion that causes the music to swerve between acoustic chamber flavors to full-on noise explosions. The processing takes place in a MAX/MSP environment of my own design.”
You can hear a track from the album here:
https://soundcloud.com/cuneiformreco...r-october_2014
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...e-spc-394.aspx
THE CELLAR AND POINT
AMBIT
"A brainy, yet highly engaging septet.... should come as a delight to fans of the Claudia Quintet's ethereal chamber-prog." – Time Out NY
"The Cellar And Point is the chamber-like enterprise of a productive partnership..." – The New York Times
The Cellar And Point is an adventurous 'garage chamber' band, developed and led by childhood friends Joseph Branciforte and Christopher Botta. They had long imagined a fluid synthesis of their wide-ranging interests: the detail of modern concert music, the improvisational sensibilities of downtown jazz and the emotional directness of rock, combined with the production values of hip-hop and electronica.
Might it be possible to draw equally upon these influences, while transcending mere collage and to present it in the context of a working ensemble, not just a studio project? After 3 years spent composing and recruiting an impressive cross-section of talent from New York City's classical, jazz and new music scenes, Ambit, the group's impressive debut album, is one answer to those questions.
The group consists of seven musicians:
Joe Bergen - vibraphone
Christopher Otto - violin
Kevin McFarland - cello
Terrence McManus - electric guitar
Christopher Botta - acoustic guitar and banjo
Rufus Philpot - electric bass
Joseph Branciforte - drums
The album features 9 compositions, 7 of which are either written or co-written by Branciforte and Botta, as well as two compositions from the modern classical repertoire: Fünf Cannons I, Opus 16 by Anton Webern and Étude XV by György Ligeti.
You can hear a track from the album here:
https://soundcloud.com/cuneiformreco...r-october_2014
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...e-spc-376.aspx
HAPPY FAMILY
MINIMAL GODS
Happy Family first appeared in the early 1990s as part of the explosion of exciting, underground bands that came roaring out of Japan at that time, such as Ruins, Bondage Fruit, Tipographica and Boredoms.
An instrumental quartet of keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, they released two albums of over-the-top, metal, King Crimson & Magma influenced avant-progressive rock in 1995 (Happy Family) & 1997 (Toscco) and then fell silent...until now!
Reforming with 3 of the 4 members of the group who appeared on Tossco:
Kenichi Morimoto - keyboards
Takahiro Izutani - guitar
Keiichi Nagasse - drums
and with new bassist Hidemi Ichikawa, 15 years later, they are back with a fantastic new release,and just as heavy and intense as they ever were and they still sound like no one else except Happy Family!
You can hear a track from the album here:
https://soundcloud.com/cuneiformreco...r-october_2014
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...e-spc-393.aspx
ROB MAZUREK AND BLACK CUBE SP
RETURN THE TIDES
Return The Tides is a deeply felt tribute and requiem for Rob Mazurek's mother, who died 2 weeks before this recording session. Black Cube SP features Rob's group São Paulo Underground plus additional musicians:
Rob Mazurek - cornet, electronics, voice
Mauricio Takara-drums, cavaquinho (Brazilian ukelele), voice
Guilherme Granado-keyboards, synths, sampler, voice
Thomas Rohrer-rabeca (Brazilian folk fiddle), electronics, soprano saxophone, voice
Rogerio Martins-percussion, voice
Rodrigo Brandão-voice
The sound of Return The Tides is a hazy, gauzy collision of electronics, avant-garde jazz, tropicalia post-rock and noise, with a deep spiritual vibe that matches the subject matter.
You can hear a track from the album here:
https://soundcloud.com/cuneiformreco...r-october_2014
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...e-spc-399.aspx
ANTHONY PIROG [with Michael Formanek / Ches Smith]
PALO COLORADO DREAM
"[Palo Colorado Dream] covers a sprawling musical terrain–avant jazz, atmospheric soundscapes, earthy Americana, math-rock...with an arsenal of effects hardware and studio production techniques..." – JazzTimes
"Pirog’s electric guitar . . . involves careful chords and explicit, jazz-related harmonies but also and more often a freaky action-painting of effects and textures by means of a dozen or so digital pedals." – The New York Times
Washington, D.C.'s jazz and experimental music scenes wouldn't be quite where they are today without Anthony Pirog. The guitarist, composer and loops magician is a quiet but ubiquitous force on stages around his hometown. With fearsome chops and a keen ear for odd beauty, Pirog has helped expand the possibilities of jazz, rock and experimentalism in a town long known for its straight-ahead tradition.
Anthony's roots as a guitarist are in the work of D.C. guitar heroes Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan, and their virtuosic technique that blended all styles of popular music.
He has taken and built upon those roots, working in straight and experimental jazz, improvisation and electronics/looping, and he somehow takes these styles, all of which he has mastered and makes them all work together and also makes them all his own.
You can hear a track from the album here:
https://soundcloud.com/cuneiformreco...r-october_2014
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...e-spc-398.aspx
DYLAN RYAN / SAND
CIRCA
"Dylan Ryan is a drummer adept at combining his jazz skills with adventurous rock, resulting in music that maintains the cerebral and viceral qualities of both. Sand finds him in a trio... the set is split almost evenly between the drummer's compositions–engaging guitar melodies delivered with the heft of prog rock–and group improvs that succeed whether they're gentle or vicious..." – JazzTimes
"In his new band, Sand, Ryan couldn't have found a better guitarist than Tim Young, who could be mistaken for Bill Frisell, if Frisell enjoyed punching random people in the face. With an ass-kicking palate of sonic texture, Ryan, Young and bassist Devin Hoff offer something in between John Zorn's raucous free-jazz and the romantic stylings of Black Sabbath." – L.A. Weekly
Two years after the release of their impressive debut Sky Bleached, Dylan Ryan / Sand release Circa, a purposeful continuation of the aesthetic that the group had fostered on its first record. Circa, which features guitarist Timothy Young (David Sylvian, Reggie Watts, Wayne Horvitz), bassist Devin Hoff (Nels Cline Singers, Yoko Ono, Cibo Matto) and leader/composer/drummer Dylan Ryan (Herculaneum) has a wholly unique styling, which ranges from the fearlessly improvisational to the tender; the abrasive to the understated.
You can hear a track from the album here:
https://soundcloud.com/cuneiformreco...r-october_2014
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...e-spc-397.aspx
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