Radio show 2010 Feb 9

Another radio show put together at the last second, on the fly, simply seeking songs from my existing library of "hey, this might work." Some old favorites, some new things.

Herald of Air --- mysterybear --- Elementals --- 16:05

A long drone abstract piece.

Sonores Aus Kugeln v.04 - Seetyca --- Seetyca --- Eternal Ice Melts - Voice Sphere Remixes --- 7:47

This is really powerful sounding, sustained voices while a groaning low dark sound and roaring echo-y noises permeate the background. This fits my emotions right now, though. I'm tired and grumpy. This is gets remarkably close to a kind of dark metal sound, without the drums and guitar and bass, but in its darkness and growling. Crazy.

The Sinking of the Titanic (Live Bourges 13-14 1990) (excerpt starting at 6 min mark) --- Gavin Bryars Ensemble --- The Sinking of the Titanic (Live) --- 1:00:19

It's not often you can say that this is positive and hopeful, but compared to the last piece, it is. It continues the theme of drones and undermixed spoken voices, though, so it's thematically similar. I love this piece, majestic and thickly textured and a repetitive drone that goes nowhere except down down down into the water's echo. Popping hull noises, the hymn Autumn played over and over, and a sense that time ends as the chamber music disappears into the depth. It's incredibly powerful. I like this recording of it because of the prominence of some instruments (Bryars himself is on bass, and a bit heavy handed, I think).

Homage to Jack Vanarsky --- Garth Knox --- Shsk'h Vol.05 - Solo Viola d'Amore : Garth Knox --- 7:52

Like the title says, this is solo viola. There's a lot of scraping and

Where All The Frozen Things Went/Remix (Overdub) --- Mick Harris aka Lull & Franziska Baumann --- Eternal Ice Melts - Voice Sphere Remixes --- 15:32

This reminds me of the rumbling darkness that is in the late Swans albums. Mick Harris (of Napalm Death and Painkiller?) is working with Franziska Baumann, whose vocal work I featured last week. This is a remix, and her vocals are pretty strongly processed. It starts really rough on the ears. (The custodian just came in to the studio and said "when I first came in, I thought there was a water leak or something." Great line.) Later into the piece, the vocals are more clear, but the underground unsettled rumble continues, and the chirps and blips of noise still skitter across the speakers.

In C --- Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble --- In C Remixed --- 20:43

After an hour of dark music, I'm trying to change moods. The short GVSU version of "In C" might fit that ticket. Who knows.

Terry Riley --- The Last Camel in Paris (excerpts from sections 5 - 8)

Organs interweaving and building huge walls of sound... not much to add, losing myself in the sound. Later on: wow, totally lost myself for a loooong time in this. Total surprise when suddenly it was ending. Eyes closed, swirling organs, slow bass pedal, and my breathing is in rhythm with it, my body sways with it, it's pretty intense.

In a Room --- John Luther Adams --- The Place We Began --- 8:35

This is a quieter drone, something to take the body back down after a long immersion in Terry Riley's late 70s ecstatic eastern meditation music. Lovely ending to a show...