86 Results for : dissonant
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Clameur
Inspired by the idea that music could be haunted by a speaking voice, Matthew Pollard and Peter Kenny's first collaboration This concert will fall in love with you was composed with unprecedented speed and intensity. Peter's first draught of the monodrama sequence arrived, Gothically enough, during the night of a full moon. It was only on meeting Matthew, however, did the strangely heartbroken persona Peter had created begin to find it's true context. After much collaborative discussion, the newly-revised monologues provided the basis for Matthew's spellbinding composition, the most recent addition to a small category of works combining spoken word with an instrumental ensemble. Mindful of the Sitwell-Walton Façade (1951) Matthew decided to directly relate the music to the texts, illustrating the monologues with rhythms and cadences derived from the impassioned tone of the words. Matthew accommodated Peter's voice either freely or within repeating 'episodes' of a few bars each. Matthew's unorthodox choice of instruments (piano, violin, marimba, vibraphone, speaking voice and mixed choir) allowed him to create a vivid variety of tone and texture with an orchestral range of pitch. Musically, the work divides the twelve monologues into three sections. The first and third sections use the theme in it's original, tonally consonant form. The middle section (Variations three to eight) employs an inverted version of the theme, releasing stranger, more dissonant harmonies and reflecting the slightly unhinged abstraction of the words at this point. Clameur (meaning a cry or a plea) is a setting for mixed choir and marimba of a poem from Peter's collection 'The boy who fell upwards'. If This concert will fall in love with you contains a voice somehow trapped inside a concert, Clameur continues the theme of confinement: 'I came to in a coffin/in London's riddled clay/crushed in a tube train/stuck in a tunnel'. The piece fell naturally into two parts. Part one opens with a vocalisation depicting the violent clamour of an Underground journey, with ostinatos driving the piece relentlessly through the labyrinth of the London Tube. This gradually unwinds into the second movement, where the tone is one of ecstatic nostalgia, reflecting the poem's escapist and homesick longing for Guernsey's granite cliffs. In Guernsey there is an ancient legal practice called Clameur de Haro. When a Clameur is raised (by declaiming the Lord's Prayer in French) all protagonists in a dispute must stop and take the matter to a higher authority. The Minotaur is the ultimate victim of confinement. This short poem is in the tradition of dramatic monologue going back to Robert Browning (via Modernists such as T.S.Eliot and Ezra Pound) and hovers between tragedy and comedy. For, almost wilfully, the Minotaur does not understand his own nature or that of the labyrinth in which he has been confined. Matthew completed the music for Minotaur on the morning of the recording and this is the first-and only-take. The right hand of Glen Capra's piano part describes a jittery, anxious surface, while the left hints at dark, subconscious motives. Together they create Minotaur's self-deceiving maze. Our sincere thanks to the choir: Jane Farrell, Tim Gillett, Tanya Izzard, Ric Morris, Anna Orchard, Basil Richmond, Tim Rose, Erika Schilsky, Gill Stephenson and Richard Wilson. Also to Simon Scardanelli location recording, sound engineering and mastering, Adrian Turner artist photos, and Phillip Adams of St Michael & All Angels Church, Brighton, where these recordings were made and 'This concert will fall in love with you' was given it's world premiere in 2010.- Shop: odax
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Scott Blasco: Queen of Heaven
In his lively polemic 'The Blind Watchmaker,' Richard Dawkins noted that there is a common cliché "which says that you cannot get out of computers any more than you put in." This cliché rings true for many musicians who, primarily due to the prejudice of training, look askance at computer-generated sounds and those who produce them. Since the mid-20th century, many musicians have therefore dismissed electronic music as so many beeps and bobbles that would never approach the realm of true art created by living musicians who put themselves into their performances. However Dawkins has an answer for that criticism immediately following his recitation of the platitude: "The cliché is true only in the crashingly trivial sense, the same sense in which Shakespeare never wrote anything except what his first schoolteacher taught him to write - words." I purposefully invoke Dawkins at the outset of these notes because he would chafe at the other touchstone for Scott Blasco's masterful Queen of Heaven - religion. Dawkins' screeds against religion began appearing in the 1980s, thirty years after musicians began rejecting not only electronically generated sounds, but religion's place in musical composition. This move reflected an increasing secularization and renewed focus on individualism throughout society that caused many cultural observers to predict that religion and participation in religious life would gradually dry up by the 20th century's end. That it has not is due in part (surely to Dawkins' chagrin and Blasco's delight) to art. As sociologist Robert Wuthnow persuasively argued in All in Sync, "One of the most important reasons that spirituality seems so pervasive in American culture is the publicity it receives because of it's presence in the arts." Scott Blasco is of a new generation of composers who are bucking long-held tenets that spirituality is off limits and objectivity reigns in electronic composition. Coming to his deeply held Catholicism following a degree in Theology and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary and years studying early Church history, doctrine, and canon formation, Blasco infuses his music with a perspective of the world as divinely inspired and infused but grounded in humanity. This focus on the human aspect includes regular pairing of electronics and human performers and surely drew Kari Johnson to commission Queen of Heaven and collaborate on it's creation. Johnson, a rising young pianist with a keen ear toward the nuances of merging acoustic and electroacoustic sounds, helped shape a work that is definitively a piano work that happens to interact with electronics. In each movement save the fifth, the electronics follow Johnson's pacing, giving the warmth and spontaneity expected in a live performance but rarely heard in an electronic one. Also breathing humanity into Queen of Heaven is Blasco's stated desire to "subjectively and symbolically express my study and experience of scriptural, liturgical and iconographic sources relating to different aspects of Mary's unique place in Christian theology." His deep reading of the Church fathers led to a structure that mirrors Mary's position in liturgical (Catholic) and iconographical (Orthodox) sources and mirrors his own hope for an eventual rapprochement between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, returning to a true catholic (universal) church. Movement 1, "Hail, Holy Queen!" details Mary's Assumption and Coronation. Dense, dissonant piano chords in the instrument and the electronics evoke the terrifying angelic voices before fading away to reflect on the mystery of Mary's position. Movement 2, "Full-of-Grace (Kecharitomene)," focuses on her Annunciation, particularly the two conceptions - Mary's Immaculate Conception and Jesus's virgin one. Blasco provides both conceptions with their own tonal, yet unresolved, melodies and interweaves them, showing their connection in our perception of Mary. Movement 3, "The Unburnt Bush," explores Christ's Incarnation through Mary's pregnancy. The sound of fire, at first unprocessed, but slowly taking on the electronics' sonorities (centered around the pitch B), is the fire that burns without consuming. By the time the piano also takes the B from the electronics, it is clear that the fire is also Christ's renewing the Imago Dei by reversing sin's destruction. Movement 4, "The-One-Who-Gives-Birth-to-God (Theotokos)," is Queen of Heaven's timeless movement, it's gently rocking piano ostinato creating both the awe and the peace of Mary's impression of Jesus's birth. But where the fourth movement suspends us in time with it's repetition, Movement 5, "The Woman Clothed with the Sun," with it's endless ringing bells and piano figuration, places us in a ritual, a liturgy of the woman in Revelation 12. With it's eight-beat pattern (a clear reference to eternity) juxtaposed against a nine-beat recurrence of chords (it's three times three length indicating the Trinity), the movement ends in a Messiaen-like fashion by pulling us into Heaven. With it's liturgical structure and careful balancing of the human and the electronic, Scott Blasco created a work that uses basic materials - the "words" of music - to rise above traditional clichés about electronic and religious music. Here is a work neither cold nor blatant, that convinces rather than browbeats. Blasco and Johnson persuade us that personal expression of deeply held religious convictions will always speak strongly, have a place in our culture, and bring us to new belief. It all leads me to conclude that Robert Wuthnow was not completely correct in his analysis of why spirituality is so tenacious in American culture. He neglected to note that music is perhaps the most powerful theology of all. S. Andrew Granade, January 2012 credits released 31 January 2012 Scott Blasco is a composer and sound artist currently residing in Washington state. He is a board member of the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA) and a founding member of and performer with the Kansas City-area electroacoustic new music ensemble The Digital Honkbox Revival. Scott currently teaches music theory, composition, and electronic music at Washington State University. He received his doctorate in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and studied music at Calvin College and Western Michigan University. He also holds a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. Kari Johnson is the Director of Keyboard Studies at Avila University in Kansas City. Ms. Johnson is an active performer, her playing is known for it's firm musicality and dramatic flair. She is a strong supporter of new music, and has been heard as a soloist and collaborator at festivals including SEAMUS 2010 and 2011, the ElectroAcoustic Juke Joint, and the University of Central Missouri and University of Nebraska-Kearney new music festivals. In 2011 she was a featured artist for the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance concert series and the 2011 Thailand International Composition Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She holds degrees from Central Missouri State University, Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.- Shop: odax
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Hejira
Hejira was recorded by the band during the fall and winter months of 2004/2005, and was mixed by Colin Stewart of the Hive at Vogville studio. The CD includes an array of eclectic original songs featuring richly layered and intricate arrangements. The new album is a follow-up to Hejira's first release, 'How to Land,' a five-song EP released in 2003. In 2002, Matthew McDaniel, Jeff Mettlewsky, and brothers Joel and Tim Rich met through mutual friends of bands in the local Vancouver music scene. Over the course of several writing sessions, the four recognized that the diversity of using instruments such as analog synthesizers, keyboards and guitars would become a focal point for the development of their songs. It was at this time that the band also made efforts to explore their own original form. Having the comfort to explore an entirely new set of songs at their own pace, the band entered the studio to record their first full-length album in winter, 2004. Their self-titled debut is sonically rich and is supported by well-crafted melodies and arrangements by the band. The recording contains dissonant moments driven by angular guitars, and also more spacious and atmospheric songs such as 'Lofty Towers'. In support of their release, Hejira is touring western Canada in the summer of 2005, with plans for the west coast during the fall. The band seeks to continue developing it's audience while maintaining roots in musical experimentation.- Shop: odax
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Variations on 1930
This album is comprised of piano gems from 1927-1933 incorporating compositions ranging from Kodály's ethnic explorations to Tatum's sparkling riffs on American music theater. My inspiration came from an offhand comment while talking with my friend, Bill Bordonaro, at Bethany Church (where I am the music director and this album was recorded). Bill mentioned that the sanctuary of the church, the last part to be built, was completed in 1930 - just after the start of the Great Depression. The time frame sparked a desire in me to explore how the historical events of this period affected the music of the time in the United States and globally. The true problem was culling the great works, there is music enough for many albums but I started here. This recital was performed in Toronto, February 5, 2013 at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheater's recital series where it received critic's pick and, subsequently, came home to Bethany Church in Chicago on May 11, 2013. Zoltan Kodály composed the piano version of Dances of Marosszék (Marosszéki táncok) in 1927 and decided it's colorful, folk-inspired music would adapt well to a full orchestration (completed in 1930). Kodály, like his compatriot and friend Bartók, devoted much time to the collection and arrangement of ethnic music. The six tunes used here were collected in Marosszék, a town in the Szekely region (formerly of eastern Hungary, currently of Romania). Kodály reveals in his notes for the orchestral version that the dances are originally from "Fairyland", otherwise known as Transylvania (Dracula and fairies...). The dances are quite a ride from heavy to creepy, finally to a swirling explosive coda. Poulenc is the perfect balm for the bombast at the end of the Kodály. The novelette in C major is the epitome of neoclassical piano beauty. Poulenc eschews his normally lush harmony for a more restrained palette which allows for the melody to come to the fore. One can almost hear Bach (C major prelude from the well-tempered clavier book 1) or Brahms (Op.117, #1) but with "Poulencian" wit. The second novelette in B flat minor is a scherzo humoresque, more typical of the whimsical side of Poulenc. I paired the novelettes with the valse-improvisation sur le nom de BACH, composed in 1932. The waltz, dedicated to Vladimir Horowitz, is a miniature with lush harmonies and wide melodic leaps, finishing with a bravura octave passage. Sergei Rachmaninoff arranged Bach's Violin partita in E Major in 1933, during a period of relatively little compositional output due to his extensive concertizing. His transcription consists of three of Bach's original six movements. Rachmaninoff follows the original Bach structure, but seamlessly fleshes the single line out for the piano in a way that is personal and satisfying. The prelude begins exactly as Bach's original with just with one line that gradually expands and finishes in a flurry of Rachmaninovian brilliance - an ending that is equal parts Bach and Rachmaninoff. The gavotte is a light, almost jazzy take on the dance with an elegant and controlled development and good use of contrast between piano registers. The gigue is contrapuntally dense and adds a fuller bass line. The three character pieces of Benjamin Britten were composed when he was 17 in his first semester at the Royal Conservatory. I describe the three pieces as restless arioso, bittersweet lullaby, and moto perpetuo - Britten lists only the tempo markings and dedications (informally to his school friends). When selecting these pieces, I played them for my musician friends and asked them to guess the composer/school in which they were composed. Invariably, the response was that the composer was French, and there was always great surprise when I revealed Britten as the composer. Fleurs de France are 8 miniatures that were composed in 1930 by one of Les Six - the only female composer, Germaine Tailleferre. The pieces are spare and concise, yet poignant and fluid. Tailleferre created these pieces in the midst of her most fruitful period of composition. Most of the pieces have a simple ABA form which is elegantly obscured by simple changes in harmonization and figuration. Each piece describes a flower: Jasmin de Provence, Coquelicot de Guyenne, Rose d'Anjou, Tournesol du Languedoc, Anthémis du Roussillon, Lavandin de Haute-Provence, Volubilis de Béarn, and Bleuet de Picardie. Copland's Piano Variations stands as a stark and stentorian presence between his earlier jazz influenced works and later populist works. I became acquainted with the work from my teacher in high school, Dan Plante. He recommended that I learn the variations for my senior recital. Always up for a challenge, I fell in love with the work. The economy of means, development, and declamatory piano writing resonated with me. The work became the backbone of many of my concerts. As I was researching these liner notes and the lectures I gave surrounding the recital, I came across this article that Leonard Bernstein wrote about the Variations contextualizing the piece and it's composer: In the fall of 1937 I had just begun my junior year at Harvard. Although I had never seen Copland, I had long adored him through his music. He was the composer who would lead American music out of the wilderness, and I pictured him as a cross between Walt Whitman and an Old Testament prophet, bearded and patriarchal. I had dug up and learned as much of his music as I could find, the Piano Variations had virtually become my trademark. I was crazy about them then--and I still find them marvelous today--but in those days, I especially enjoyed disrupting parties with the work. It was the furthest you could go in avant-garde 'noise,' and I could be relied upon to empty any room in Boston within three minutes by sitting down at the piano and starting it. The theme of the Piano Variations is made up of intentionally dissonant intervals, illustrating a tension between the major and minor thirds. The theme is declaimed in single notes using sympathetic vibrations to create ghostly sonic "after-images". Twenty variations follow, concluding with a massive rhythmically unsettled coda. Out of avant garde and swing emerged perhaps the greatest pianist of the 20th century, Art Tatum. His technique was a thing of beauty, impeccable and unimpeded. His style was absolutely his own: rococo, baroque, ornamental, witty and fast ... outrageously fast ... and he played this way mostly blind (cataracts at birth, assaulted in 1930). In 1993, J. A. Bilmes, an MIT student, invented a term that is now in common usage in the field of computational musicology: the Tatum. It means "the smallest perceptual time unit in music" and is a tribute to Tatum's pianistic velocity. He took stride piano and stretched it in every direction, improvising ornate cadenzas á la Liszt and making free use of colorful harmonic substitution. He was one of the major inspirers of bebop and many of the luminaries of the classical music world were avid admirers of Art Tatum's playing, in particular, Horowitz. At one point, Horowitz, so impressed by Art Tatum's playing, composed a set of virtuosic variations on Tea for Two, which he played Art Tatum. Tatum said "very good, I enjoyed it". Tatum then sat down and played his own set variations. Horowitz, stunned at the brilliance of Tatum's performance, asked "when did you come up with this?" Tatum said "Oh, I was just improvising". Horowitz then threw out his manuscript and vowed never to play Tea for Two in public again. There is debate over whether or not this story is true, regardless, it's a great story and shows the extent to which Art Tatum was admired by his virtuosic pianist peers. An album like this does not simply rise out of the ether and is not a solo creation. I am deeply indebted to the many individuals who helped make this happen: Nina Draganic, who programmed this recital in Toronto and came up with the catchy title, Bethany United Church of Christ and pastor Bill Bor- Shop: odax
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Symphony No. 1 & Other Works
Alexander Negerevich began writing Symphony No. 1 in September 2007 at his home in Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia and completed the four movement work after a prolonged illness in late 2008. The four-movement work aims at exploring the relationship between tonal and dissonant harmonic structures. The tonal elements of the Symphony contrast against the dissonant subject material, creating an almost 'love-hate' relationship. The First Movement (Moderato) begins with a melancholic theme doubled by oboes and trumpets. It is accompanied by underlying semiquaver woodwind passages that give way to brass and string flourishes. After a brief pause in the strings and horns, a short rhythmic figure is announced by the first trumpet and mimicked by other brass and woodwind instruments. This motif is explored and soon joined by slow ascending and descending glissandos in the upper strings, followed by horns. This is accompanied by similar glissandos in the lower strings. English horn and oboe then follow with brief lyrical melodies that give way to a new subject announced by the 1st and 2nd Violins. A triplet motif hovering on the same pitch appears above the strings and leads to an echo-like figure punctuated by the brass. Another detached three note rhythm is played by the 2nd horns and copied by various Wind and Brass instruments which leads into a crescendo chord with an underlying timpani roll that announces the Allegro Vivace. A change of key signature at this point, introduces dramatic string passages that are interplayed between Woodwind and Brass flourishes. After some jostling between parts a small fugue develops between opposing String voicing that eventually lead to a high pitched 4 note semitone cluster that is soon released by another new String triplet motif which soon leads to a brief Moderato section where the 1st Oboe nonchalantly remembers the opening theme of the Symphony. Immediately, the Allegro Vivace is then re-introduced and hurries towards a dramatic finale, with Timpani hammering along in high gear. With virtually no pause the Symphony progresses into the second movement (Adagio) by a long held sustained note introduced in the bass clarinet. Immediately, a five note bird-like motif, which is developed throughout this entire movement, is announced by the English horn. With continuous obstinacy this motif is re-introduced many times by different instruments. A second melodic motif is played by the Clarinet with a same pitch triplet that often is interrupted by minor second clashes in the background, that again argue between consonance and dissonance. The movement progresses to a second dramatic flourish which finally gives way to a receding minor fifth fall in the strings followed by a small bass clarinet solo which dies away completely to nothing. The Third Movement (Moderato) is introduced by a chord shared between woodwind and strings that quickly leads to a chorale style Brass passage. Each individual String part then announces a Canon-type motif, played in a minor key which bears the sound of "burgeoning optimism". When the lower strings finally take up the minor-theme, short triplet motifs are sounded by Flutes, Bassoons and Clarinets that lead to a long held Contra Bassoon and Timpani pause which introduces a delicate String tremolo section. After a "softly treading" pizzicato figure in the strings that accompanies French Horn solos, the Brass announce a new melodic figure which is expanded by all sections of the orchestra. An urgent crescendo leads to a loud spine-tingling climax within the movement. Lower Woodwind and Brass then develop a rousing Fortississimo, which drops in tension to a Flute flourish and English Horn solo. Finally the strings play a series of chords that are accompanied by Flutes and Horns which mimic the earlier pizzicato of the Strings. The fourth movement Allegro Moderato begins with an "urgent", "pressing" motif announced by Horns and Trombones whilst Timpani rolls thunder underneath. Wind and Brass announce short thematic motifs that are strongly accompanied by rapid broken chord passages within the Strings. A two-bar Timpani solo leads into a slowly expanding crescendo, of small semiquaver motifs, played by the Strings to a huge climax. Towards the conclusion of the movement a slower tempo change occurs heralded by a long Bassoon note which is joined by a small Bass Clarinet solo, reminding the listener of the second movement thematic material. Gradually the musical focus changes into a punctuated dotted rhythm with rising triplet flourishes that culminate in a dynamic ending. The Lament on Shattered Lives was composed in 2007. It reflects the tragedy of daily life for innocent Iraqi citizens going about their daily business in the unstable environment post Saddam Hussein. Influenced by the daily news reports filtered through the worldwide media, the Lament depicts the atrocities committed by terrorists and extremists, bent on causing mayhem and destruction. Upon listening to one such news report, telling of the deaths of more than fifty people killed by a senseless act of destruction, the composition aims at reflecting the belief that no religion can condone the death of innocents for any reason, nor can any human justification be given for such barbarism. The Lament is composed for String Orchestra alone. Cellos introduce a melancholy five bar melody which gradually is taken up by each section playing the same theme. The work then moves into a forceful passage of suspensions. After a climax of repeated notes, the tension is released and then interrupted by a surge of dissonance that depicts the peace of daily life being forever interrupted by shattering explosions. Another tonal cluster with each section appears in two bar intervals and grows in intensity into a frenzied rhythmic attack. This climax unwinds into a fading, but ominous sounding duet between the cello and double bass sections. New thematic material emerges in the middle section, with the theme being enveloped by tremolo and counter melodies. After a second round of dissonant triplets, the original theme returns in a new key and fades to a peaceful ending. The Manhattan Requiem was composed on the very day American citizens and the world witnessed the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. The composition is a tribute to those Americans and individuals of different nationalities who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks that occurred. The composition was originally conceived and written for Piano Quartet, but was subsequently reworked one year later for full String Orchestra with timpani in an expanded form. The work depicts the horror and tragedy of the day through long, drawn-out chord clusters with suspensions. The unison movement of the work portrays a chorale structure, reminiscent of a hymn. The work concludes with layered sections building towards a climax.- Shop: odax
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Long Dissonant Romance
The title implies that thing that makes music, and life, beautiful...dissonance. For without Dissonance there is no Resolution. This album is their most far reaching musically and includes scordatura tuning. Six tracks are dedicated to Piazzollas 'Contrabajissimo' plus original works and another mix of classical and modern music including never before heard (north of Mexico City) Mexican melodies. Solo cello music gets some new repertoire with this CD. From popular jazz favorites to beautiful Mexican ballad and polka. The Piazzolla work was written in 1984 and shows off the breadth of sound capable of the cello. This is the fifth album of six by the Bottom Line Duo to date. Cellist Traci Hoveskeland and Bassist Spencer Hoveskeland explore a myriad of repertoire from Bach to Piazzolla. This full length album includes original compositions, jazz, tango, Mexican folk, Baroque, and Romantic pieces. Long Dissonant Romance was recorded at Rainstorm studio in Seattle in 2002. It documents many of the pieces the duo was performing in the northwest and abroad at that time. It contains one original composition and other unique arrangements of popular music. Like each of the Bottom Line Duo's CDs, Long Dissonant Romance presents a mix of the traditional repertoire for these instruments with the new. The Bottom Line Duo is a touring and recording ensemble. They are heard on numerous movie soundtracks alone and as part of an orchestra. When not on tour they perform as soloists, duo, and larger ensembles in the Seattle area.- Shop: odax
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Ex-Squared
The Circuloid EP is the first release from Clark Sorley's Legacy label. The title track, EX-Squared, with it's speech effects and dissonant texture, nods to the darker tonality of drone whereas the other pieces have a more sympathetic air culminating in Serenity Then's hanging piano. Sorley is accompanied there and on Ode To John by Seonaid Aitken whose layered violins weave an acoustic tapestry around the otherwise grainy synthesis. If artists like Yared and Helios mean anything to you then Circuloid might too.- Shop: odax
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Firefly
'Firefly' is a daring album created by singer/songwriter Ashleigh Still and electric bassist Nick Salisbury. Abandoning conventional group formats, the duo recorded eight original songs and one cover with the unusual combination of only voice and electric bass. The minimalist approach is startlingly effective, allowing Still's intimate and mesmerizing vocals and sexy yet tender songwriting to take center stage. Without guitar, keys, percussion or programming, the arrangements are bare and yet complete, Salisbury's bass evoking everything from Fender Rhodes to a gentle blues guitar arrangement. "Firefly" is a debut album unlike any other. 'Firefly' CD Review, City Pages - Minneapolis/St. Paul: By Jeff Gage Wednesday, Apr 28 2010 Firefly, the debut album from local singer Ashleigh Still, is a work of subtle charms and private revelations. It's nine songs clock in at barely a half-hour, adding up to a collection of hushed ruminations delivered with such understatement that the music often feels as though it's about to wilt away. Within the fragility of Still's breathy performances, her friskiness reveals an inner strength and playfulness that belie the vulnerabilities she so openly puts on display. Still's soulful voice takes center stage on Firefly and she uses it to shade the songs' explorations of herself and her relationships. A single mother of two who was raised in a strict Presbyterian household, Still has a desperate desire for happiness and independence without the complication of commitment that leads to contradictory consequences. As demonstrated by songs like 'Good Time' and 'Just a Girl,' such hopes are tinged by the tendency to inadvertently grow attached to and be hurt by others, so the grace with which Still accepts these realities adds an almost tragic emotional heft to her convictions. The interplay between Still's vocals and Nick Salisbury's bass adds a sensual tension to Firefly. Salisbury's rippling textures blend intuitively with Still's vocals, the pair's warm, interlocking tones drawing the listener in closely as if to reveal a carefully guarded secret or make a romantic advance. At times the chemistry is such that Salisbury virtually finishes Still's sentences, and on 'Too Bad' the outburst of his dissonant, unhinged bass line contrasts perfectly with her outward cool. Firefly's intimacy is eventually suspended on the closing track, 'Creep.' Recorded live at the Dakota, the song finds Still laying her insecurities bare as she laments her physical and spiritual imperfections and longs to feel worthy of others. The audience's inclusion contrasts the song wonderfully from the rest of the album, not only in making her feelings public but also, thanks to the ovation she receives, offering the hope that Still knows better than to ever fall victim to her fears. CD review: Bass wraps vocals with musicality (Published May 27 2010) By: John Ziegler, Duluth News Tribune I've long admired outstanding bassists who can play the pivotal roles of both a solid foundation to whatever is layered over the top and a brilliant and melodic soloist who can match the frontline improvisers. From Victor Wooten to Ron Carter, from Les Claypool to Richard Davis, from John Pettitucci to Charles Mingus, these artists play a role not unlike a catcher in baseball: essential, often unsung, and not as glamorous as the singers and guitarists they back up. The most recent bassist I've come across in this category is Nick Salisbury who, with vocalist Ashleigh Still, demonstrates radar-like ears and superb technique on a brand-new disc called "Firefly." Fresh, innovative and entirely melodic, "Firefly" is just voice and bass. No additional instruments. Nothing to hide behind. Nothing to pad tunes with lengthy solos. No overly complex arrangements. It's just voice and bass. That takes courage and musicality. Still wrote virtually all the material (there's a bonus cover of Thom "Radiohead" Yorke's "Creep" as a hidden track), and it is very creative. Topics center on love (or the lack of it) and people (both real and imagined) and what they've meant to her through her life. She delivers her text with a tantalizingly expressive voice and good range. But even a quick listen will give evidence to Salisbury's quixotic bass figures and liquid lines under vocals that wrap around those words like a braided chain. Salisbury has taken the tunes and single-handedly created little bass symphonies distinct from one another that complement the voice and propel the tunes from beginning to end. On "Hey There," Still sounds like she's paying tribute to the late Hank Williams: "Hey there, good looking, whatcha doin' later? How's about a little somethin' somethin' with me." Salisbury's use of double-stops cunningly navigates the changes and his ride echoes the melody inscrutably. The title track begins with bass figures that remind me of Michael Mannring's fretless sound. Sleek legato lines elliptically create a mood before Still enters with a quietness that accentuates her look through lovesick eyes at a shining little creature that lights up the night. "She's A Good Time" shows that this duo can rock, even if in an understated style. "Too Bad" is a strutty little gem with some bass distortion giving the tune it's atmosphere. "I Remember You Well" is a clip-cloppy tale with reminiscences of someone Still wants to "run away (from) before I fall completely over the edge." Yorke's "Creep" is so different than Still's own writing - with it's references to being a "weirdo" and "I don't belong here" - that it's at odds with the rest of the disc but helps present a slightly fuller picture of this duo's possibilities. They met at an open-mic night at a club called Plums in St. Paul. Still was playing guitar as a solo and Salisbury sat in on a tune that was in the works. They've been a duo ever since. "Firefly" is deceptively well-crafted. The stripped-down arrangements are it's strength. Supple vocals, engaging lyrics and magically dexterous bass lines coalesce into something much greater than the sum of the individual parts. They come to town Friday night, check out the disc and the gig if you can. John Ziegler has worked in the music industry for 36 years as a radio host, interviewer, record producer and professional musician. Minneapolis Music Journalist Jim Walsh has this to say about Ashleigh Still: 'I've taken to introducing Ashleigh Still as "the Eva Cassidy of Woodbury," because her soul - even more so than her stunning voice - recalls the late great D.C.-area thrush's depth of feeling. Which is to say that Ashleigh sings from a deep place informed by her hardscrabble experience as a gospel-trained, church-raised single mother of two whose fashion photos could grace the cover of either "Bust" or "Glamour." (When asked how she knows so much about men, she recently said, "I don't! It's all imagination...") But beyond her outer beauty and the wisdom that comes from the day-to-day struggle of making a living for her and her kids, there is an inner flame that burns brightly and has something to say, something about what it's like to be a woman trying to dig out from the conformity of society, religion, and family. In that sense, Ashleigh also reminds me of Anne Sexton and Billie Holiday. Like those two express-myself-or-die classic talents, she manages to stop time when she opens her mouth/heart, and we're all the richer for it.' --Jim Walsh '....like the marriage of Ani di Franco and Carole King.' --A Stranger (who should've been kissed on the mouth)- Shop: odax
- Price: 23.79 EUR excl. shipping
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Blue Line
The Blue Line, a group of four guys from the D.C. area, knows no boundaries when it comes to making rock music. They grab influences from every popular rock generation and genre and throw it into their songs, creating their own new, catchy, electric rock style. The lyrics tell stories and are often poetic, the solos are intricate and can be played at 'love song' or metal speed, and the rhythm always carries a pure rock beat. 'When Washingtonians hear the words 'the blue line,' they should no longer think of the Metrorail. Instead, they should picture Ross Jacobson, Ben Payes, Nick Scialli and Dave Chaletzky - the four members of The Blue Line, an up-and-coming local band that's been charming fans with their rocking rhythms, catchy lyrics and charismatic style.' - The American University Eagle 'The Blue Line is a DC phenom, four rockers who met out of college and took their passion for music out of the garage and into the nightlife in Adams Morgan and U Street combining musical talents, rocking out with their own tunes to a driving, insistent beat that is at once passionate and musically adroit. The sleek tones and satiny vocals of lead singer and rhythm guitar Ben Payes synchronize with lead guitarist Ross Jacobson's intensely saturated riffs sending out a strong emotional energy. Nick Scialli on bass and Dave Chaletzky's percussion demonstrate strong command of their respective instruments to stand out in harmonic and sometimes dissonant counterpoint to create the band's unique sound. Aranoyas, Fantasy Girl and Underwater Dreams are first out of the box on the new CD. The band - sounding a high octane blend with mellow notes - creates a magical energy all it's own.' - Washington Off-Beats Arts Blog.- Shop: odax
- Price: 17.29 EUR excl. shipping
