Category: Media that we like

This is where we look at things that happen in radio, video, on the web and such.

Aspects of British Experimental Music on Academia.edu

Virginia Anderson’s PhD thesis, ‘Aspects of British Experimental Music as a Separate Art-Music Culture’ (Royal Holloway, University of London, 2004) is available online on the site Academia.edu for free download: https://independent.academia.edu/VirginiaAnderson/Papers . This academic study of various aspects of the British experimental and systems music group has not been freely available before. Containing early versions of several of her articles and chapters on Cardew’s Treatise, English systems, text notation and the Scratch Orchestra (some of which are free to download on the same page), this paper might be of interest to those students of British experimental music.

Behind the Irritable Hedgehog

One of our regular go-to composers is the founder of Irritable Hedgehog Recordings, David D. McIntire. McIntire works on worldwide minimalism and postminimalism, totalism, and all the postmodern ‘isms’ anyone could want, from his base in Missouri. The official site of Irritable Hedgehog has music by a number of composers (pianism by R. Andrew Lee, design by Scott Unrein) is worth visiting: http://irritablehedgehog.com/Recordings.html . However, today we were perusing McIntire’s Soundcloud page, which includes a bunch of his Hedgehog tracks, plus E.I.O, a free improvisation group which McIntire co-founded. Well worth a little listen: https://soundcloud.com/irritable-hedgehog-music .

The Tortoise, His Journey — No Dreaming

The Tortoise and His Raincoat: Music for a Very Long Walk is an event created by Nat Evans, who is hiking the 2600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, creating environmental recordings and collaborating with composers along the way. Scott Unrein, a Portland-based composer who is associated with the Missouri-based minimalist recording company Irritable Hedgehog, has written episode 6: Nacre. You can hear it (if you listen carefully — it starts very softly!) here: https://soundcloud.com/natevans-1/the-tortoise-6-scott-unrein-oregon-nacre

Edited for errors. Really, we shouldn’t let admin try to write copy! (Virginia)

Jon Hassell trio on KCRW

Those fans of minimalism and ambient music might like this rare visit by Jon Hassell and his trio to Los Angeles’ KCRW programme, Morning Becomes Eclectic. The trio includes movie music guy John Von Seggern on bass and electronics and Cold Blue artist Rick Cox, whose guitar, electronics and sax work has been delighting postminimalist friends for decades. Interesting, jazzy stuff. We’re listening to it now….

http://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/jon-hassell-2014-07-16

Pritchett on Cage

James Pritchett has been adding to his blog series on Cage, now in six episodes: http://rosewhitemusic.com/piano/writings/cage-spirituality/ . This is a very useful addition to the thinking about John Cage’s work and ideas. Too often recent scholarship has stepped back from Cage’s spirituality as motivation for his work, preferring instead to focus on the nuts-and-bolts of his compositional technique. Pritchett, an expert in the philosophy and musical elements in Cage’s work, brings rich detail to his exploration. Very highly recommended.

New series of blogs on Cage

Cage fanciers will be thrilled with this new series on James Pritchett’s blog. Pritchett is one of the great writers on Cage: author of The Music of John Cage, and of the Grove Dictionary entry on him. Pritchett has written a lot on Feldman and others on this blog. Well worth checking out. See http://rosewhitemusic.com/piano/2014/05/31/cage-spirituality-still-point/

Sound Out Resonance Radio Tribute to Alec Hill

Carole Finer contacted us to share news that the show tribute to Alec Hill, Promenade Theatre Orchestra and Scratch Orchestra member, composer and clarinettist, is now available on Soundcloud. There are some lovely moments in this rather funny and very heartfelt tribute: Alec Hill’s whistle solo on the performance of Paragraph 1 (and 2) of Cornelius Cardew’s The Great Learning at the BBC Proms concert at the Albert Hall in 1972; the PTO playing Hill’s Large Change Machine (1972), and other pieces. Here’s where you can find it: https://soundcloud.com/resonance-fm/14-00-00-sound-out-320kbps-4?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook

Sound Out on Alec Hill

Just had word that this Friday, 21 February, at 2 pm (London time), on her great regular show, Sound Out, on Resonance FM, Carole Finer will be focusing on the former Scratch Orchestra and PTO performer Alec Hill, who tragically died last October. Guests will include John White, Hugh Shrapnel, and Christopher Hobbs — the other members of the legendary group the Promenade Theatre Orchestra — plus John Tilbury and Bryn Harris, who, with White, Shrapnel, and Hobbs, were in the Scratch Orchestra with Hill. This will be a landmark occasion, and a chance to hear from some of the most important figures in late-1960s and early 1970s experimental music and minimalism. They do not, at the time of this writing, have any details up on Resonance FM’s site, but here’s the link to the schedule: http://resonancefm.com/schedule . Resonance FM is a non-profit alternative music station run by the London Musicians’ Collective, with a large internet presence as well as their London-only FM broadcasts. If you have one thing to listen to this week, this is a good candidate!

Update: the tribute to Alec was affectionate, featuring John Tilbury, Bryn Harris, Carole Finer, and the surviving members of the PTO: John White, Christopher Hobbs, and Hugh Shrapnel. The broadcast will be repeated on Monday, 24 February, at 8 am GMT on Resonance.

Chant music

One of the rather lovely features of London’s Resonance FM is Sound Out, a Friday afternoon show hosted by former Scratch Orchestra member Carole Finer, back after a six-month hiatus. This time it’s American folk musicians, plus Michael Chant’s Fragrance of Flowers.
Sound Out is back on air after a six-month break.
Friday 10th January 2:00 to 2:45 Carole talking about and playing the music of Alice Gerrard and Beverly Smith. http://resonancefm.com/schedule or 104.4fm in the London area.