WNYC's New Sounds

Special Podcast: Orchestra of Tetouan, live (First aired on Tues. 9/22/09) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:00 GMT

The Orchestra of Tetouan, Morocco, performs classical Arab-Andalusian music live in our studio. The north Moroccan port city of Tetouan, just a few dozen miles by sea from the southern tip of Spain, became a refuge for Sephardic Jews and Muslims escaping the demise of the culturally rich Al-Andalus and the fall of Granada (the last Muslim city in Spain), in 1492. The music comes from centuries before that – as far back as the 9th Century - and can be traced to an Afro-Arab musician and poet, Ziryâb, a descendant of Persian slaves of African heritage. The Orchestra of Tetouan is still versed in the form of Andalusian classical music, the nawbat, a vocal and instrumental suite, which also incorporates European classical string instruments, like violin and viola. All members of the ensemble sing the centuries-old breathtaking love poetry with its complex beats and fluid melodies. Here's an excerpt of the text in translation- "Your absence has increased my yearning and sleep has deserted my eyes. My character is still tender, until love makes it mortal."

Special Podcast: Global Pop (originally aired 7/14/09) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:07 GMT

For this New Sounds, listen to an hour of recent recordings of world music, including Guinea’s electric kora player Ba Cissoko and Tibetan émigré singer Soname. There’s also music from Gnawledge, a collaborative project featuring 16 musicians, exploring the roots of flamenco and Arab music. Plus music by Salaam, Afro-Jewish jazz from Oran Etkin, and Balkan party horns from Goran Bregovic. Note: This podcast does NOT include the Frank London/Lorin Sklamberg recording cited in the playlist

Special Podcast: Unexpected Instruments (originally aired 8/31/09) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:05 GMT

Listen to some recent recordings that feature a strange assortment of music-making devices. From music boxes, a choir that whistles, and the Chinese double-reed woodwind instrument called the suona, we'll hear from Bill Frisell, John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble, Beat Circus, and more. Not to be outdone, there's something from Gordon Grdina’s East Van Strings which showcases the oud, Arabic lute, paired with Western strings.

Special Podcast: Indie Chamber Music, with Victoire (originally aired 5/28/09) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:40 GMT

Victoire, a quirky Brooklyn-based band founded by composer Missy Mazzoli, combines strings, clarinets, keyboards and lo-fi electronics (including samples of sewing machines and answering machine tapes) to create their "minimalist, post-rock bliss.” As much a child of composer Philip Glass as of instrumental post-rock ensembles Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Sigur Ros, the "band-semble" Victoire joins host John Schaefer for this New Sounds program to perform their electro-acoustic indie-classical music live in our studio.

Special Podcast: Death Jazz Piano Trio (Originally aired June 16, 2009) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:01 GMT

For this New Sounds, London-based death jazz bandThe Neil Cowley Trio stops by the studio on their first US tour. Listen to their incredibly tight and thoughtful originals like "His Nibs" and "She Eats Flies" performed live on this program. It's some groove-based post-jazz with an Eastern edge that demands your attention. RIYL: the Bad Plus, Shostakovich, Madness, thrash-punk, Thelonious Monk, The Sex Pistols, Philip Glass.

Special Podcast: Chimes and Strings (originally aired 6/11/09) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:40 GMT

For this New Sounds, sample the chiming guitars of James Blackshaw and Ben Reynolds, along with the striking music of whale sounds and guitar from Randall Myers. Also, hear something from the Texas-based guitarist Darrin Kobetich, who is part of the guitar tradition of the late American John Fahey. Plus, live electronica from guitarist Julia Crowe, and more.

Special Podcast: Piano Workouts (originally aired Feb. 21, 2008) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:51 GMT

Considered both a percussion and a stringed instrument, and often part of the rhythm section, the piano can be responsible for many textures, depending on how it is struck, bowed, caressed, or danced upon. On this edition of New Sounds, we'll hear from Barcelona-based Francesco Tristano, who draws from both the all-night rave scene and his classical training, dancing, pounding on and processing the piano on his recording "Not For Piano." Plus, listen for the Bill Evans-meets-Messiaen stride Balkan stylings of Ionel Petroi. Also, more piano and piano-based works by Max Richter, Christopher O'Riley, Marco Benevento, and others.

Special Podcast: New Choral Works (originally aired April 16, 2009) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:57 GMT

Hear the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, conducted by Kent Tritle, performing "On Photography" by English composer Gavin Bryars for this New Sounds. The performance was recorded live at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in February 2008 as part of the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series. There's also "Gauze Vespers" by gifted American composer Oscar Bettison. And much more. Correction: John Schaefer announces that the Bryars work was sung by Musica Sacra. The artists are actually the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

Special Podcast: Donnacha Dennehy & The Crash Ensemble (originally aired 4/11/07) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:46 GMT

From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy presents the American debut of the large electro-acoustic Crash Ensemble,in a piece that also uses tradition Irish sean nos singing; plus a work for piano and live electronics.

Special Podcast: Harmonic Presence (originally aired 11/15/06) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:35 GMT

Vocalist, composer, and overtone-singing pioneer David Hykes joins us on this New Sounds to preview new works for harmonic singing. Hykes has a long immersion in Eastern and Western sacred music, cosmology, and yogas of sound. He was the first westerner to connect deeply with the "throat-singing" traditions of Mongolia, Tuva and Tibet, and employ overtones which govern all spatial and mathematical relationships. And as always, much more.

Special Podcast: Jon Hassell's Sound World (originally aired 2/9/09) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:04 GMT

Trumpeter, composer and electronic pioneer Jon Hassell helped shape the nascent "world music" movement in the late 70s. For this New Sounds, he joins us to present his newest works from his latest release (the first for ECM in over 20 years), "Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street." Otherworldly, melodic and sensual, Hassell's effort is a blend of African violin - suggesting the Middle East, Norwegian guitar playing and live sampling, understated pulses of percussion, improvised music and electronics, which result in some astounding real-time soundscapes.

Special Podcast: Provenance (originally aired 10/29/08) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:28 GMT

Maya Beiser & friends perform live music in our studio for cello and electronics, featuring works by Raz Mesinai, Douglas Cuomo, and Djivan Gasparyan, among others. Inspired by the glory of Spain's Golden Age, when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together peaceably in a centuries-long flowering of commerce, culture, and art, the music draws on various Middle Eastern traditions and incorporates original Arabic and Hebrew poetry as well as poetry by Rumi. Hear Raz Mesinai’s “The Echo of Decay,” Douglas Cuomo’s work, “Only Death,” inspired by Andalusian Sufi chanting, and “Memories,” a work for solo cello by Armenian composer Djivan Gasparyan.

Special Podcast: Guitar Multiples (originally aired 5/21/08) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:18 GMT

For this New Sounds, we'll listen to Jeremy Peyton Jones' "18 Guitars," a work that lands somewhere between Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists and Glenn Branca's symphonies for electric guitars. Listen also for the hypnotic aural panoramas generated by the duo Hammock, from their latest Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow. Plus, the Canadian guitarist and composer Tim Brady's chamber work for piano, guitar and electronics, entitled "Frame 1 - Resonance." And more.

Special Podcast: The Cloud of Unknowing (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:53 GMT

The anonymous monk who penned "The Cloud of Unknowing," a 14th century work of Christian mysticism, could not possibly have known that 700 years later, his work would be inspiring new music. On this New Sounds, we’ll hear works by English guitarist James Blackshaw, drummer John Hollenbeck and his Claudia Quintet, Norwegian saxophonist/composer Jan Garbarek, and Alaska composer John Luther Adams – all inspired by (and titled after) this medieval work.

Special Podcast: Things With Strings (originally aired 1/27/09) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:38 GMT

For this edition of New Sounds, hear new music for strings. There’s music from Russian composer Anton Batagov, Estonian composer Arvo Part, and Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson, and Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Andrew Bird. The deluxe edition of Bird’s latest effort, “Noble Beast” is packaged with a companion album of adventurous instrumentals called “Useless Creatures.” We’ll hear selections from this companion record, built mainly around the sounds of Bird's looped violin, although sometimes he harnesses the space of his barn and several amplifiers for drone-like ambience. At other times Bird collaborates with other musicians, like upright bass player Todd Sickafoose and drummer Glenn Kotche, as on “The Carrion Suite,” and occasionally he incorporates the West African rhythms that drive his songs with words (“Banking on a Myth”, “Dear Dirty”) on tracks like “Hot Math.” All this and more.

Special Podcast: New Sounds Live with So Percussion (first aired 12/13/07) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:26 GMT

From the New Sounds Live concert series at the World Financial Center. So Percussion plays the US premiere of "Fratres" by Arvo Pärt in a new percussion arrangement, and the New York premiere of a 10-part cantata for percussion by Paul Lansky.

Special Podcast: Stories from the City at Night (originally aired October 23, 2008) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:41 GMT

Composer/guitarist Pete M Wyer presents "Stories from the City at Night" for this New Sounds program. The work is a unique mix of storytelling, song, sound design and scored music, with help from pianist Matthew Shipp, cellist Matthew Sharp, and actress Jenny Agutter, alongside many cameo appearances (including one by host John Schaefer!)

Special Podcast: 23 Constellations of Joan Miro (originally aired Nov. 11, 2008) (New Sounds)

listenerservices@wnyc.org — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:05 GMT

From the New Sounds Live Concert Series, recorded in October at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, hear the American premiere of Bobby Previte's set of musical miniatures - "The 23 Constellations of Joan Miro." It's an ambitious and colorful work by the composer/drummer Previte, where painting, poetry and music all come together, bringing to life a series of small canvases that Joan Miro painted during World War II. Listen to Joan Miro's texts, read by actor David Patrick Kelly, and Bobby Previte's musical responses the paintings.