“In terms of digestible nuggets of Harry Partch recommendations to listen to, I’d say the ‘Eleven Intrusions’ are a good introduction. My dad recommended it to me while we were out record shopping. I thought it was fucking weird. I literally hadn’t heard anything like it before and I think that’s what was so striking. It sounded completely cosmic and exotic. On the cover was this bearded old man, but I put it on and found this rich exotic sound. Harry Partch was just really before his time in a lot of ways. He’s interesting to ...

PATRICK WOLF is one of those crazy talented musicians who can play everything from a ukulele to a viola to a grand piano. A mix of classical training and self-taught skills means that his music is constantly evolving and maturing, as he does. WOLF originally hails from Central London and he released his first E.P (self-produced [...]

More details have been confirmed for Live Vortex at The Space . Filming of the three concerts involved will be completed later this month and in June to go live on thespace.org, the Arts Council/BBC-backed website. Accessible on the site from 2 July the project, a first of its kind for the Vortex, rolls out over 15 weekly episodes, which feature extracts from the gigs along with musician interviews and archival delvings, exploring the featured musicians and bands' influences, musical and otherwise. The gigs are: Sol6 (23 May) – improv pioneer pianist Veryan Weston and Dutch bassist Luc Ex’s ...

Continuing our series of monthly columns, John Fordham picks out his musical milestones from the past few weeks. Tell us in the comments section below if there's things we've missed, plus what you'd like to see John covering in next month's column 1) An anniversary: Herbie Hancock's Takin' Off Thanks to those who posted comments on last month's Take Five – including nilpferd's suggestion that Herbie Hancock's 1962 Blue Note debut Takin' Off would make a fitting 50th anniversary classic for May. I couldn't agree more. Chicago-raised Hancock was just 22 when ...

Nico Muhly - ‘Part IV’ from Piano & Drones Commissioned by the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Piano & Drones is an upcoming EP from composer Nico Muhly, p roduced Valgeir Sigurðsson.   It’s an experimental recording where Muhly performs drones  with assistance from Joan K. Sharda on viola and  the New England Conservatory of Music,   for pianist Bruce Brubaker. “I started writing the Drones pieces as a method of developing harmonic ideas over a static structure. The idea is something not unlike singing along with one’s vacuum cleaner, or with the subtle but constant humming found in most dwelling-places. We ...

On his new album, Saltarello , the adventurousviolist creates surprising musical juxtapositions.

Some very majestic electro-acoustic soundscapes featuring guitar, violin, viola and cello.

The composer will be joined by performers Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh on viola and Ed Devane on his homemade monochord for the third performance of his dronefield work.

A delightfully creative work, Floratone’s second effort presents soundscapes that trigger wonder and a drive to spot the allusion. Guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer-percussionist Matt Chamberlain turn Chinese in “The Bloom Is On” (don’t miss Jon Brion’s weird, echoey keyboard flares), lay down the best instrumental Roxy Music never wrote in “More Pluck,” and stretch New Orleans second line with exquisite drama in the segue from the spectral “Snake, Rattle” to the sunnier “Parade.” For rocking out, try “Move”; for funk, traverse “Do You Have It” and the Ry Cooder on Mars-styled “Gimme Some”; for hard, electric ...

Yesterday, we posted the first part of our chat with keyboardist Rob Barraco , which focused on the past, present and future of the Phil Lesh Quintet. Today, we pick up where we left off as Barraco tells Chad Berndtson how he became a member of Dark Star Orchestra, why DSO is starting to play shows from the late ’60s, what will become of Dragonflys an more. [Photo by Adam Kaufman ] Hidden Track : Switching gears, Rob, to Dark Star Orchestra, it’s been about seven years you’ve been playing with them now, correct? Rob Barraco : I started playing with them ...

A trace of various examinations of questions I have had about melody, beauty, tradition. This is not the degenerate case, but rather it is about the degenerate case. 4 tracks of viola, minimal editing, some reverb, extended technique and mechanical preparation $51 student viola, piezo element from a $2 radioshack buzzer used as a pickup, recorded through a built in intel sound card, multitracked in ardour the large dynamic range is intentional

A few weeks ago , I detailed the artists and a few collaborators on Wes Anderson's newest film soundtrack, Moonrise Kingdom .   Click HERE for a Spotify playlist of the Soundtrack which is limited due to a large amount of the songs being original pieces.  A few of the movements on the Spotify playlist are the correct song but will be preformed by different composers.  Speaking of which, here is the first taste of an  Alexandre Desplat original for Moonrise Kingdom . Finally we get a look at the actual track list which is as follows: 01 Leonard Bernstein & the   New York ...

So, will "Beautiful Creatures" be the next "The Hunger Games"-sized Young Adult hit? That's what Warner Bros. is hoping for as they are putting the final casting pieces in place for the big screen adaptation of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's novel. Kyle Gallner, probably best known for his role in Kevin Smith's "Red State," has joined the film that will see him play along a pretty solid cast including Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann and last minute replacement lead, Alden Ehrenreich. Written and directed by Richard LaGravanese ("P ...

Wes Anderson 's new film Moonrise Kingdom is due in theaters May 25th and stars Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDortmand and Tilda Swinton, and today we see the release of the tracklisting fro the soundtrack. It features a 7 part suite by Alexandre Desplat (of Harry potter, The Kings Speech and Twilight fame), part of which you can check out over on Pitchfork as well as some very good Hank Williams tracks. Tracklisting: 01 Leonard Bernstein & the New York Philharmonic - "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34: Themes A-F" 02 Peter Jarvis and His ...

Has he DONE IT AGAIN ?! Full story at Pitchfork : Moonrise Kingdom tracklisting: 01 Leonard Bernstein & the New York Philharmonic – “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34: Themes A-F” 02 Peter Jarvis and His Drum Corps – “Camp Ivanhoe Cadence Medley” 03 English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten – ”‘Playful Pizzicato’ from Simple Symphony, Op. 4” 04 Hank Williams – “Kaw-Liga” 05 Trevor Anthony, Owen Brannigan, David Pinto, Darian Angadi, Stephen Alexander, Caroline Clack, Marie-Therese Pinto, Eileen O’Donovan, Chorus of Animals, English Opera Group Orchestra, Merlin Channon, Norman Del Mar – “Noye’s Fludde, Op. 59: ‘Noye, Noye, Take Thou Thy Company ...