Fall 2015

issue # 123

Sound notes

The Friendly Exchanges of Germaine Liu

When percussionist Germaine Liu performs, there’s more to her approach than simply striking a snare drum with a wooden stick.   Liu seeks a deeper intimacy with her [...]

Read more » Mary Dickie »

Anna Pidgorna's Invented Folk Songs

ORNAMENTS OF SORROW

With its balance of bold colour palettes, strong melodic profiles, and unexpected performative elements, composer Anna Pidgorna’s work has been catching eyes and ears of late. Her [...]

Read more » Nick Storring »

Christine Sun Kim Explores the Politics of Sound

SILENCE OBLIVIOUS AS EVER

“Low frequencies just being abstract and shit — High frequencies be like anal and micromanaging for no good reason — Silence oblivious as ever” [...]

Read more » Christopher Willes »

Di Mainstone Fashions a New Sonic Future

THINKING BIG

Di Mainstone, inventor of the Human Harp, describes herself as a “bridge botherer.” But to be accurate, her bridge-bothering activities are fairly recent. Before bridges (the Human [...]

Read more » Louise Gray »

Features

The Expanding Universe of Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

YOUR TASK: ROCK OUT

I HAD BEEN GRIPING TO ALASKA B, cofounder of the creative ensemble YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN, that Bloordale didn’t have any decent pizza. I’d recently[...]

Read more » Zack Kotzer »

Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society

BY WAY OF THE GUIMBRI

THERE'S AN ENGAGING CATCH-AS-CATCH-CAN LOOK to Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society, something that immediately conveys a certain spontaneity, yet disguises—slightly—the[...]

Read more » Stuart Broomer »

Fresh Moves in Music Therapy

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT

One hundred and twenty kids, seated on benches and gym mats, are beaming as they beat out a pulsating rhythm on small percussion instruments. Their ecstatic expressions match that[...]

Read more » Lawrence Joseph »

Visions of sound

The Retro Aesthetic of Le Révélateur

THE OCEAN RECEDES INTO THE DISTANCE, awash in thick bands of golden-purple sunset hues. Its surface ripples in loose synchronization with a burbling synthesizer score. Suddenly, a shimmering [...]

Read more » Greg J. Smith »