Kronos Quartet - what's essential?

[Sunhillow]

I've just randomnly bought a Kronos Quartet album that was offered cheaply on Discogs, and it happened to be one the more darker albums of Kronos Qt, 1990's 'Black Angels'. It centers around the hugely 'modern' (though that word is beginning to sound like a Back To The Future Pt 2-reference) work, very dark and disturbing, though I 'like' it a lot. Though I also think the using of all kinds of percussion and voices is a bit annoying, yet I very much like the distortions and the idea that the music is sometimes very far away, and at other time quite in-your-face.

Here's one piece of it:



The same disc has DSCH's 8th SQ, and pieces by Tallis, Ives and Marta. Now my question for this board: who owns more Kronos Quartet-albums, where should I go next, and are there other string quartets with a discography like this quartet?

[Digital_Man]

Pieces of Africa is very good and worth getting. Other than that I don't know them that well. I actually heard one of the tracks from that album in a movie but I don't remember which film. I would also recommend a band called the Penguin Café Orchestra. Not that similar but probably in the same ball park.

[Totemist]

Though I also think the using of all kinds of percussion and voices is a bit annoying

in the section between 1:22 to 2:04 there is no percussion. They use their bows to hit the strings, and the body of the instruments. This is done occasionaly in this kind of music.

Toward the end there is one gong hit - well I guess it's a real gong. or a sort of cymbals.

I Owned another CD in a similar vein, but less dark - short stories. Compositions from John Zorn - Cat O' nine tails, Steven Mackey (with an electric guitar - very hounting), and Scott Johnson - Soliloquy from how it happens (where the music responding to a voice of one person giving a lecture), really good.

I'm not very familiar to other stuff like that, but it seems you can't fall with a Kronos quartet CD.

[bob_32_116]

Not sure about the comparison to Penguin Cafe Orchestra. I did see Kronos Quartet live once, at an outdoor amphitheatre concert, and I seem to recall lots of unusual percussion.

PCO's first album, Music from the Penguin Cafe, is highly recommended, though I'd suggest previewing it first if possible. it's pretty strange stuff and might not be to everyone's taste.