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Musicworks Issue 107 - Summer 2010 musicworks

Issue 107 Summer 2010

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FEATURE ARTICLES

Richard Marsella
by Matthew Pioro

Article Summary:
Whether organizing a noise parade for children or his more adult-oriented Friendly Rich Show, music educator and weirdo composer Richard Marsella brings a sense of anarchy and carnivalesque play to all of his projects. He has a new album and tour planned, which is sure to provoke audiences. Even though Marsella’s projects are infused with childlike zaniness, he is serious—serious about the music and serious about the humour.

Richard Windeyer
by Chris Kennedy

Article Summary:
This article is a profile of sound artist Richard Windeyer, and examines the way he approaches sound in relation to his work as a member of Bluemouth Inc., a Toronto-based interdisciplinary theatre collective. Influenced by musique concrète and soundscape composition, Windeyer discusses his approach to sound as gesture and the process of compositional counterpoint in relation to Bluemouth’s commitments to site-specific performance and audience interaction.

Psychotropic Sonics
by Jay Somerset

Article Summary:
New Age music, long the whipping boy of critics and contemporary music listeners, has finally shed its jazz-lite stylings, returning once again to the real almighty: sound itself, where drones and guitar pedals become portals to space, a vinyl record becomes a mandala—a threshold to utopia—and echoes, not gurus, are worshipped. Today’s New Age, as heard in Prince Rama of Ayodhya, Expo 70, Elodie Lauten, and others, reconnects mysticism with adventurous sound, inspired by, and for, deep listening.

PROFILE

Marilyn Lerner
by Ken Waxman

Committed to both song-oriented and highly abstract music, Toronto-based pianist–composer Marilyn Lerner has been expressing different parts of her musical personality for many years. Whether playing Klezmer music, traditional Jewish music, jazz, or free improv, whether performing solo or in a variety of ensembles, whether creating audio art or—more frequently—working in the highly praised trio Queen Mab, Lerner brings the same commitment and invention to each project. Having defined herself as a creative improviser—while acknowledging that her music is constantly evolving and changing—Lerner has also followed a side path into another interest, and works part of each week as a psychotherapist. Everything she does relates back to her concept of lifelong improvisation.

SOUND NOTES

Sonic Geography: Musician and bon vivant Jonny Dovercourt describes the sonic experience of southern US city Knoxville, Tennessee, a town that is reinventing itself both civically and aurally.

COMMENTARY: Patrick Burkart, author of Music and Cyberliberties, discusses open-source music-curation software and the importance of protecting the public’s access to online information.

IN THE WORKS: Electronics cowgirl, Darsha Hewitt, explains to David McCallum the origins of her circuit hacking.

SOUND BITE: Writer Richard Simas profiles Quebecoise composer Analia Llugdar.

VISIONS OF SOUND features visual artist Steven White’s sound sculptures, The Combine Project. Made from parts of an abandoned harvest combine, the kinetic sculptures produce a series of metallic soundscapes when animated by the onlooker.

DIY: Our resident techie, Rob Cruickshank teaches us how to build and use a set of binaural microphones for under $25!

Words on Sound: Susan Sontag

CD CONTENTS

Tronik Involutions
1 | Retreat 6:19
Tronik Involutions
2 | Encounter 5:31
STEVEN WHITE
3 | The Combine Project (Excerpts / extraits) 4:57 Download MP3:    (5.66MB)
RICHARD WINDEYER
4 | Death by Water (Excerpt / extrait) 9:31
NATIONAL EXIT STRATEGY
5 | Wolfblitz/Broken Sleep 5:45
FRIENDLY RICH
6 | Baba Yaga 2:19
7 | Excerpts from Clue the Musical 4:03
JONNY DOVERCOURT
8 | Soundscapes from Knoxville, Tennessee 4:09
DARSHA HEWITT
9 | Experiment (Excerpt / extrait) 4:43
MARILYN LERNER
10 | Backtack 13:53
11 | Wild Analysis 6:24 Download MP3:    (7.29MB)
ANALIA LLUGDAR
12 | La Faim Artaud Download MP3:    (6.54MB)

RECORDINGS
Debashis Sinha’s
Anudrutam
Lori Freedman’s
Bridge, on Collection QB
The Element Choir’s
At Rosedale United, on Barnyard Records.

WORDS

Stuart Broomer. Time and Anthony Braxton on The Mercury Press.
Tim Lawrence’s Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992 on Duke University Press.

EVENTS
Valiquet reports on the Sonic Acts Festival XIII in Amsterdam.
The Netherlands and Jonny Dovercourt reports on The Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee.