Introducing Nathalie Joachim: Liquid Music Artist in Virtual Residence 2016.17 / September 23, 2016 by Liquid Music

Liquid Music is excited to introduce flutist and composer Nathalie Joachim (eighth blackbird, Flutronix) as virtual artist in residence for its 2016.17 season. Over the course of a year, the virtual residency will give audiences an inside look at the development of Joachim's newest and perhaps most personal project, Fanm d'Ayiti. To be premiered by Liquid Music in the 2017.18 season, Fanm d'Ayiti explores Haitian song and the cultural role of women's voices in Haitian music. Below, Joachim shares how her heritage and the strength of Haitian women inspired the creation of Fanm d'Ayiti. Check out her playlist at the bottom of the page for a taste of the musical styles that influenced the project.

Follow the Liquid Music blog for updates throughout the season, including sneak peak video and audio clips!

“Critics hail the Brooklyn born Haitian-American artist for creating a unique blend of classical music, hip-hop, electronic programming and soulful vocals reminiscent of neo-R&B stars like Erykah Badu.” – The Wall Street Journal on Nathalie Joachim

NJ: Today, as I begin this journey of exploration of my Haitian heritage and the women who have impacted the small Caribbean nation’s music culture, I cannot get the image of my grandmother out of my mind. It was a year ago almost to the day when she left this world for another, and I still feel her spirit around me, as warm and welcoming as only a grandmother’s hug can be. She had an infectious laugh, a calming presence, and a beautiful voice. And it is that voice that has led me to surround myself this season with the voices of the Fanm d’Ayiti (translation: Women of Haiti). It is my grandmother’s voice that has compelled me to seek out and understand all that is captured in the voices of Haitian women.

Haiti isn’t so different from many nations in its way of being male dominated, yet silently steered by women. There are many reasons why this is this case – politics, culture, tradition, opportunity, etc. – and yet, it was striking to me to discover so few Haitian women at the core of a very rich musical history. To me, Haiti has always been synonymous with the concept of matriarchy. My experience and internal sense of the nation goes hand in hand with the representation of strength through women, and of course attributes an essence of magic and fearlessness to them.

Together, through Fanm d’Ayiti, we will explore some of the most prominent female voices represented in Haitian music from the 1930s through present day. We will learn about the country’s musical influences from Africa, France, Cuba and even the United States. And we will learn the stories behind these roots – stories of political exile, cultural affirmation and independence. As connected as I am to my Haiti, I genuinely believe that this will be as much about discovery for me as it is about exposure for you, and everything about that excites me.

FANM D'AYITI PLAYLIST

Toto Bissainthe (1934-94)

Toto Bissainthe was a Haitian actress and singer known for her innovative blend of traditional voodoo and rural themes and music with contemporary lyricism and arrangements. Recognized as a champion of Haitian music abroad, Bissainthe was a founding member of the first African theater company in Paris. From the time she left home to pursue studies abroad in the early 1930s, Bissainthe was an artist in exile and was unable to return to Haiti until the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") in 1986. Bissainthe's music reached acclaim in the 1970s and she was celebrated for representing the black diaspora.

Lumane Casimir (1917-53)

Known as the "Emperatrice of Haitian Music", Lumane Casimir was one of the first singers to break through the Haitian music industry. Casimir began her career singing in the streets of Port-au-Prince and was soon singing with some of the most famous bands in the city. Casimir wrote most of her own songs, inspired by her love for Haiti. Her repertoire includes some of the most well-known patriotic and cultural songs of Haiti.

Carole Demesmin (1951-)

Carole Demesmin was one of the most popular solo artists in Haiti in the 1980s. Her songs celebrated Haitian culture and history in addition to ridings national consciousness about the value of Kreyol as a language. She lectures about Haitian culture around the world and is an advocate for the rights of Haitian artists through her organization United Haitian Artists.

Emeline Michel (1967-)

Referred to as the "Joni Mitchell of Haiti" Emeline Michel's songs merge native Haitian compas and rara music with jazz, pop, bossa nova and samba. She is an accomplished dancer in addition to her work as a vocalist, songwriter and producer. Michel runs her own production company, Production Coeval de Feu, in NYC. She is an advocate for social issues surrounding women and children worldwide.

Fedia LaGuerre (current artist)

Fedia LaGuerre is part of a generation of great female singers including Annette "So An" Auguste, Myriam Dorismé, Farah Juste, Toto Bissainthe, and Carol Demesmin. They all participated in the anti-Duvalierist struggle and viewed Martha Jean-Claude as a model and pioneer. LaGuerre's songs originally expressed concern for democracy and social and political changes. She now sings religious songs.

Martha Jean-Claude (1919-2001)

Martha Jean-Claude was known for creating original compositions that inspired Haitians struggling against dictatorship. She wrote a play, Avrinette (1952), which led to her imprisonment by Haitian President Paul Eugene Maggiore for "disrespecting" the government. Jean-Claude fled to Cuba, where she became a star on the stage, radio and television. She became known as the "daughter of two islands", a symbol of the fraternity between Haiti and Cuba. Jean-Claude was in exile for almost three decades and did not return until the fall of Baby Doc.

Farah Juste (current artist)

One of Haiti's premier singer/songwriters, Farah Juste writes provocative political songs championing the rights of Haitians. Popular in the 1960s, Juste was exiled for speaking out with politically charged songs against Papa Doc’s dictatorship and exposing his reign of terror. Now a resident of Miami, Juste was arrested in 2015 for protesting an election believed to be fraudulent.

Daniele Thermidor (current artist)

Daniele Thermidor is a celebrated voice in Caribbean and African communities with a voice that commands attention whenever she takes the stage. Thermidor left the music scene to study at Columbia University and raise her family. She returned to her vocal career with the release of her latest album, I'm Back Fanm Vanyan (2010).

Follow Nathalie Joachim:
Website: nathaliejoachim.com
Facebook: facebook.com/nathalie.joachim.39
Twitter: @flutronix (twitter.com/flutronix)
Instagram: @njoachim (instagram.com/njoachim)
Youtube: youtube.com/c/nathaliejoachim

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Podcast: Liquid Music Playlist

Interview w/ saxophonist Colin Stetson / September 13, 2016 by Liquid Music

Colin Stetson is a saxophonist who pushes his instruments and himself to the extremes. In addition to producing his bold and visceral solo albums, Stetson has toured and recorded with a wide range of bands including Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Tom Waits, Feist, The National and many more. Stetson’s most recent album, Sorrow, is titled a “reimagining of Górecki’s Third Symphony". Górecki’s 1977 work, also known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, is renowned for its profound simplicity and emotional resonance. Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta’s 1992 recording of the work became the No. 1 selling classical record of all time, outselling albums by Michael Jackson and Madonna released that same week. Stetson’s thoughtful adaptation of Górecki's Third Symphony enlists a rare group of twelve musicians including drummer Greg Fox (Z’s, Liturgy), violinist Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre) and Stetson's own sister Megan Stetson, an acclaimed mezzo-soprano.

Last week Colin spent some time speaking about his work and new album with Twin Cities saxophonist Cole Pulice (Six Families, Sonny Knight and the Lakers). Liquid Music’s 2016.17 season will open with Sorrow on September 30, co-presented with the Walker Art Center.

Cole: What drew you to working on Gorecki’s Third Symphony?

Colin: I must of heard it around 1993-94, my freshman year of college. I think for everyone, especially musicians, we expose ourselves to so much new music at that point, just discovering thing after thing. Gorecki’s Third imprinted on me pretty severely, it stuck and it was something I couldn’t really shed. I started thinking about different arrangements for it maybe as early as ‘95-’96 and that idea blossomed a bit more throughout ‘99-’00. At that time my sister and I were both living in San Francisco and we were making plans to do this project together ever since then. We have, more or less, always been going in the direction of what we eventually created, but it definitely took time to build. A few years ago, I sat down with myself and made a pact, a general goal, as to accomplish all the projects I’ve been dwelling on and back-burnering for decades and Gorecki’s Third was first on the list. So this is my new policy of ‘Get it done, for real’.

Cole: Was conceiving of this record as a “reimagining” your intention from the beginning? Or was there a progression from realizing you wanted to present this piece and then understanding that you were doing was something you considered a reimagining?

<a href="http://colinstetson.bandcamp.com/album/sorrow-a-reimagining-of-goreckis-3rd-symphony">SORROW - a reimagining of Gorecki&#39;s 3rd Symphony by Colin Stetson</a>

Colin: When I first started talking about this we never got close to words or a title. It was really just me making notes in the score, listening to the record, discussing it with friends and my sister. So when it finally came time to present this to people, that’s when the terminology became an issue. Adaptation seemed overly bookish, rendition, I just don’t like. So, reimagining seemed like the only way to accurately voice my ideas. I didn’t want to give the wrong impression. Anyone who knows the original piece intimately and then listens to my version can hear that there’s really no modifications done to the notation. I’ve pushed and pulled some of the phrasing and dynamics and drastically changed the sonic timbre. I’ve inserted moments of breathe and quasi-improvisation where I thought they could be used. But really there’s really no serious alterations to the notation so reimagining seemed like an apt description.

Cole: The careful consideration of the terminology seems important when thinking about presenting this work to different audiences, especially considering all of the different musical communities this project touches from classical audiences to people who have listened to your previous records.

Colin: Well I didn’t really tackle this issue until very late in the game. I only realized a few years ago how commercially successful the original recording was. I knew it was a very world renowned piece but I didn’t know that it was the highest selling classical record of all time. I was talking about the original to someone recently and thinking how the original is many things: it’s gorgeous, it’s a profoundly deep and honest exploration of certain base human conditions and truths. But it is not a challenging or difficult piece of music. It is intentionally and profoundly accessible and it’s immaculately beautiful. My version doesn’t take advantage of that innate accessibility. With the instrumentation and musicians involved, I’ve made the sound of the piece unique but perhaps less universal. The arrangement was always about asking myself, how can I most honestly present this music, filtered through my own collective musical and life experiences.

Cole: Your arrangement has a really interesting cast of characters on it. Was this project made for these specific people or did you choose musicians who you thought would best serve your ideas?

Colin: The arrangement I made developed in part with certain people in mind. My friends are inextricable from who I am musically at this point. It’s not that I’m trying to be particularly exclusive, but music is like friendship in that I really value relationships that I find important and worthwhile. Some of these musicians I’ve known for many years: my sister I’ve known forever, some of the other sax players on the album I’ve known since high school and college. Working with my sister has been an extremely positive experience. Every time my sister steps up on stage she knocks it out of the park, destroying minds, melting faces and hearts. She’s really the MVP of this project. Greg Fox [drummer of Liturgy, Z's}, was most recent addition. I had always loved his playing and aesthetic but meeting him and playing with him in the group Liturgy was really what tied this project together. Greg has so much facility on his instrument, not only within the confines of black metal but also everything his does in his improvisational practice. Specifically, the way he approaches blast beats, time and the manipulation of space help put the final sheen on this record that I’ve been conceiving of for so many years.

<a href="http://liturgy.bandcamp.com/album/aesthethica">Aesthethica by Liturgy</a>

Cole: Working on this over the course of so many years, must have been difficult or presented some interesting challenges.

Colin: The idea for this project was something that was more or less adrift in a sea of ideas. I’d have a serious binge with the piece for weeks here and there, sitting with it, making notes and thinking about what it could be. And then I would drift off from it and not see it for a few years. Meeting other musicians along the way helped solidify it piece by piece. For example, I met the guitarists Ryan Ferreira and Grey McMurray when I was new to New York in 03’-04. They have very specific, unique sounds and approaches to their instruments which was then absorbed into my imaginings of the piece. It all happened organically, kind of piece-meal for many years. The actual process of rehearsing and recording happened very quickly though. Almost everything was recorded live with the full group and comes from a single take.

Cole: "Live-ness" seems to be a central theme in your recordings from the New History of Warfare Records or the duo project with Sarah Neufeld. What is it about "live-ness" that makes it so important to your process?

Colin: The avoidance of loops and overdubs is important in my work because I found that by decreasing the options, I vastly increase my drive for unique solutions. If I allow myself to solve certain musical problems by overdubbing another part or throwing in a pad of synths, it removes the impotence for searching further. If my only option is that everything has to come from this instrument at the same time from my body, you start to think about options outside of the boxes set before you.

Cole: How has working on this large group project differed from your previous solo work?

Colin: Well you have the best players of their particular instruments all together. They’re all incredible sight-readers and team players. Although they are all incredibly talented, virtuosic musicians, this project hasn’t been a showcase for any one individual. This project feels like having a group of the fastest thoroughbred horses just simply walking through the park. You can see how muscled they are and you think “Oh my god, I bet you they could just rip-roar”. But rather than accomplishing these incredible feats of virtuosity, it feels like everyone is using their individual talents to support the simple and beautiful wholeness of this piece. On a personal and selfish level, it’s great for me to have a group like this to contrast the isolation and high stakes of solo work. It’s great to be able to rely on eleven of the best players I know. Solo work is the greatest joy but also the deepest fear. I’m utterly addicted to it, but it’s not necessarily a thoroughly positive experience.

Cole: Yeah, it’s incredibly precarious but that’s what makes it exciting, right?. Everything is resting on you. So moving forward, do you see yourself doing more large/small group work or more solo material?

Colin: All of the above. There’s solo records being worked on. I’ve also been doing film scores recently and write those as they come up. There’s a couple of new smaller groups that are at different stages of development. This Gorecki group is going to continue performing on a case by case basis throughout the next year or two. I’m also trying to focus on and record more of my improvised music which is a practice I’ve been working on since I started playing music. I’m hoping to make a series on my label of just improvised music, either duo or trio improvised moments. It come as quickly as I can make it happen.

Cole: I just have one last saxophone nerd question about the lyricon.....

See Colin Stetson's Sorrow
Live at the William And Nadine McGuire Theater
Friday, September 30, 2016 at 8PM

FOLLOW COLIN STETSON:
Website: http://www.colinstetson.com/
Twitter: @colin_stetson (twitter.com/colin_stetson)
Instagram: @colinstetson (instagram.com/colinstetson)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Colin.Stetson.Music

FOLLOW COLE PULICE:
6families.org
dronebandx.bandcamp.com
blackmarketbrass.com

FOLLOW LIQUID MUSIC FOR UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
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Poliça and s t a r g a z e: Summer in Berlin / August 18, 2016 by Liquid Music

Three months and ten days. Audiences in the Twin Cities are counting down until the world premiere of Music for the Long Emergency, the culmination of our year-long virtual residency with Poliça and s t a r g a z e. This July, the two ensembles spent valuable time together in Berlin collaborating, jamming and bonding over schnitzel and soccer.

Drew Christopherson, one of Poliça's two drummers, shares his words and thoughts on this exciting, new collaborative experience.

This week at Funkhaus might have been the most thrilling experience I’ve had making music. It was hard not to feel overwhelmed by every little aspect. We were in Berlin to make music, which has been a life-long dream. The building itself is so rich with stories and history that Chris [bassist in Poliça] and I would spend our breaks reading the wiki about the place. The one small restaurant in the building served the best schnitzel we had ever tried. The rooms and studios we explored throughout the massive complex were incredible works of architecture and design, and the room we spent four days rehearsing in felt as close to church as anything ever has.

The way the members of s t a r g a z e discuss music is totally foreign to me, and I loved to hear them talk through an idea, section, or whole song, discuss a few changes, and then execute those changes effortlessly and flawlessly. Like I said, it was thrilling.

We ended the week with a cookout, watching the Germany vs France Euro semi-finals and listening to records deep into the night. We are all very excited about the next rehearsal with our new friends in s t a r g a z e, and to watch Music For The Long Emergency come together in full.

The most outstanding part of it all was finally hearing s t a r g a z e in their full form, and to watch the way they work together. The level that each of them are operating on is absolutely chainless, and I was happy to sit there all day listening to them work out ideas, with Ryan of Poliça and André of s t a r g a z e trading off directing and leading the rehearsal. The sound of the room was so crisp and loud that some of us in Poliça were timid about playing out, but by the second day we had all found a balance and it became very fun to just ride out ideas with everyone improvising. — Drew Christopherson

See the premiere of Music for the Long Emergency:
World premiere
Copresented with The Current
Friday, November 18, 2016, 8pm (Purchase Tickets)
Fitzgerald Theater, Saint Paul, MN

Keep up with Music for the Long Emergency on the Liquid Music Blog:
First Look
Tables Turned: André de Ridder interviews Channy Leaneagh
Catching up with s t a r g a z e: Weekender Festival, Berlin 2015
Virtual Residency Mini Doc Part I
Meet s t a r g a z e
From Virtual to Reality: s t a r g a z e + Poliça's First Musical Meet-up
Music for the Long Emergency: Naming the Virtual Residency with Poliça and s t a r g a z e
Podcast interview with Channy Leaneagh on Liquid Music Playlist
Music for the Long Emergency Indiegogo Campaign

Follow s t a r g a z e:
Website: we-are-stargaze.com
Twitter: @wearestargaze (twitter.com/wearestargaze)
Instagram: @we_are_stargaze (instagram.com/we_are_stargaze)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wearestargaze/
Vimeo: vimeo.com/wearestargaze

Follow Poliça:
Website: thisispolica.com
Twitter: @thisispolica (twitter.com/thisispolica)
Instagram: @thisispolica (instagram.com/thisispolica)
Facebook: facebook.com/thisispolica
Youtube: youtube.com/user/polica

Celebrating National Poetry Month with Saul Williams, Mivos Quartet, Ted Hearne and Jace Clayton / August 9, 2016 by Liquid Music

By J.P. Merz

On April 26, 2016 at the James J. Hill Reference Library in St. Paul, Minnesota, Liquid Music and the Givens Foundation for African American Literature presented Saul Williams and Mivos Quartet: No One Ever Does, which included the Minnesota premiere of NGH WHT, a collaboration between Williams and composer Thomas Kessler, world premieres by composers Ted Hearne and Jace Clayton, and Moonblood by Mario Dias de Leon.

Excerpts from No One Ever Does

Ted Hearne's The Answer to the Question that Wings Ask uses Saul William's poem of the same name. In the poem, Saul asks asks a never ending series of questions that intensify and seamlessly weave between religion, reality, sex, morality and many other topics. The music echos this relentless questioning through a circular but somewhat confounding chord progression. But for Ted, the power of the poem is not found in the themes of the specific questions as much as in the way Saul portrays the unrelenting interrogation of self. Check out our interview with Ted to learn more.

The world premiere of Ted Hearne's "The Answer to the Question that Wings Ask".

The title and libretto for Jace Clayton's .d.u.s.t..s.t.a.r.c.h..m.e.a.t.s. comes from N.H. Pritchard, an experimental black poet who lived on NYC's Lower East Side from the late 60s to early 70s. Pritchard was a part of the Umbra magazine group and distinctively employed language as material, using unusual typography to strip away semantic meaning and syntax. Clayton's version operates in a similar way, using the first piece of music that each member of Mivos Quartet ever memorized as musical building blocks to interweave and deconstruct. Our interview with Jace dives further into these topics and more.

The world premiere of Jace Clayton's ".d.u.s.t..s.t.a.r.c.h..m.e.a.t.s."

FOLLOW LIQUID MUSIC FOR UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
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Highlights from Daniel Wohl's evolving Holographic / July 19, 2016 by Liquid Music

This February, composer Daniel Wohl and visual artist Daniel Schwarz spoke to us about their inspiration and collaborative process for Holographic, a multimedia work commissioned by Liquid Music, Baryshnikov Arts Center, MASS MoCA, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul that seamlessly blended acoustic and electronic sounds. This highlight video, created by Patrick Pelham, includes excerpts from the performance at the Ordway Concert Hall featuring Mantra Percussion and Holographic String Quartet, alongside excerpts of the interviews with Schwarz and Wohl.

Holographic was released on New Amsterdam Records in January 2016.

<a href="http://danielwohl.bandcamp.com/album/holographic">Holographic by Daniel Wohl</a>

And was documented at various junctures throughout last season.

A live performance at the Baryshnikov Arts Center

New Music Box's feature and interview for Holographic.

HOLOGRAPHIC NEWS:
A new orchestral arrangement of "Replicate (Part 2)" from Holographic will be premiered by the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on September 8, 2016.

Third Angle New Music in Portland, Oregon just announced that they will present Holographic on January 20, 2017. Be sure to check it out if you are in the area.

"Source" from Holographic was selected for NPR's "100 Favorite Songs of 2016 (So Far)".

MORE ABOUT HOLOGRAPHIC:
This past season, Liquid Music joined forces with pioneering organizations MASS MoCA, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Indianapolis Museum of Art and Film Society of Mpls-St. Paul in commissioning and presenting Holographic, a new album and performance series created by Paris-born composer Daniel Wohl. Critics have celebrated Wohl’s work as a “boldly surreal aural experience” (New York Times) and applauded his aptitude for crafting music that can “transport, unsettle and delight all at once" (NPR). Wohl’s sophomore album, produced by Paul Corley (Oneohtrix Point Never, Ben Frost, Tim Hecker) expands his lush sound world through collaborations with guest artists Lucky Dragons, Olga Bell, Caroline Shaw and ensembles Bang on a Can All-Stars, Mantra Percussion, Mivos Quartet and Iktus Percussion. For the Liquid Music iteration of Holographic (Feb 2016), Wohl called on the talents of Mantra Percussion and the Holographic String Quartet (featuring members of Flux Quartet and String Noise), blending the virtuosic talents of his performers and a newly commissioned visual component by artist Daniel Schwarz with rich electronic creations to bring his spellbinding multimedia work to life.

The Faces of Liquid Music's Adventurous Audience: Pt. 3 / July 13, 2016 by Liquid Music

by Karla Brom

At Liquid Music we think and talk a lot about the audience for new music. Our patrons inspire us creatively and in many ways shape our course. With this blog series, we decided to go directly to the source and ask our audience members what draws them to new music, and especially to Liquid Music. In this third part of our series we talk to three couples who enjoy Liquid Music together, despite (or because of?) very different upbringings and backgrounds with music.

Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Anne Carayon (Liquid Music Advisory Council Member) and Dan Pennie (SPCO board member), Liquid Music subscribers and supporters

Tell us something about yourselves: Anne: I’ve had an interest in the arts from a very young age, especially artists “on the edge,” those that may trigger controversy. I grew up overseas and moved around a lot as a child; I lived in Tahiti from age 6-11, and the art we were exposed to there was not Gauguin. It was more indigenous, more primal art. I then lived in the high plateau area of Madagascar where there is an important cultural influence from the (South Asian) Indians who had settled there. Last, I lived in Cameroon until I was 19. Then I moved back to Paris and was there during the late 60s, which were, of course, a tumultuous time. I liked that the art reflected that tumult, it wasn’t always easy to see or listen to. I recently retired from teaching at Macalester College on contemporary cultural trends in France, with a particular interest in the contemporary visual arts as “bridgers” of an increasingly pluralistic society. I currently serve on the board of the Alliance Française and the Film Society of Minneapolis-St Paul.

Dan: I was born in Boston while my father was in the Air Force during WWII. We moved back to Minnesota when I was young since all of our family is here. My father loved classical music and this had a big influence on me. When my parents were away I would often blast Beethoven, lying on the floor between the speakers listening to it. I also sang in the church choir. Through a nice twist of fate, I ended up going to Exeter, then Harvard and then worked as a journalist at the Providence (RI) Journal. I studied law at the University of Minnesota and lived and practiced law in Belgium for many years. When I finally moved back to the Twin Cities in the late 70s I was looking for a way to become involved in the local community and a friend introduced me to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. I’ve been involved ever since and have been the chair of the board twice. I’d describe myself as a “new music grouch” – the new music we were hearing in the 60s and 70s was often discordant. I like to be nourished and energized by listening to music, not pained by it.

Anne: Yes, but the concept of discordance is a break from harmony – it is not about like or dislike, but about experiencing something not yet experienced, being surprised.

Dan: For me, music is an island of humanity in the midst of what is often not a very humane world.

How did you first hear about Liquid Music? What appealed to you about the series?
Anne: We heard about Liquid Music through friends. I have been to a lot of classical music concerts, and maybe I was becoming tired of it, I’m not sure. Liquid Music was so different! There are no parameters, there is a sense of being off-balance, and I like that. You experience the whole performance for what it is, you’re surprised. I don’t love everything I’ve seen and heard but that doesn’t matter. Not knowing what to expect is exciting.

Dan: I immediately loved it. This is not the discordant new music of the 60s and 70s. There is often a connection to the past, there is music from improbable sources. The multimedia aspect of Liquid Music is also very appealing. It’s as if someone asked you to reinvent music – what would you do? There is a lot of looking to nature now with fresh vision, imagination, and technology.

Anne: All of the musicians are incredibly well trained, you can sense their artistry. The classical aspect is integrated in a very appealing way. I also enjoy moving from one venue to another as it adds a different dimension to the experience. The sound and space are very different in each venue.

Dan: The projects are always exploring new musical forms, concepts, and collaborations. It breaks down the barrier between high and low art.

How many performances have you attended?
Anne: We started attending in the second season and have seen most of the performances since.

Miranda Cuckson at Amsterdam Bar and Hall

What are some of your favorite Liquid Music performances?
Anne: It is hard to go too far back in our memory these days! One of the recent performances we really enjoyed was Kid Koala: Nufonia Must Fall. That performance was magical. I also enjoyed Miranda Cuckson and Nina Young at the Amsterdam – the composition and soundscape in that performance was wonderful.

Dan: Daniel Wohl: Holographic at the Ordway. We loved the collaboration between music and the visual experience.

What kinds of music do you listen to at home?
Anne: All sorts. We listen to Classical MPR and jazz stations. I particularly like Tom Waits.

Dan: The Beach Boys, Beatles, Buffy Sainte-Marie. In fact, these days when Anne is gone and I am blaring music, it is usually the Beatles instead of Beethoven!

What other arts activities do you take advantage of in the Twin Cities?
Anne: Jungle Theater, 10,000 Things Theater, the Walker, some dance and lots of film – at the Walker Cinema and at the Minneapolis Film Society.

Nancy Coppa and Mark Warnken, Liquid Music subscribers and supporters

Tell us something about yourselves:
Nancy: I grew up on a farm in Koochiching County, Minnesota and attended a small school with about 20 kids per class. We didn’t have access to entertainment or even good books, but we did have Mom and Dad – they both sang and mom was a pianist, so music was our entertainment. I played the B flat clarinet and bass clarinet beginning in fifth grade and all of my friendships seemed to revolve around music. We had no TV, very little radio reception, and no access to outside music events, so when I was turned loose on the world, I soaked up all of the music I could find! I still do that. I now have four kids and nine grandkids and they all sing and play instruments.

Mark: I’ve always had a restless sense of curiosity, especially with respect to the arts - I thrive on stimulation. Whether I like something or not, it is interesting to me. I am always curious about why I like or don’t like something – it is important to observe that and learn from it.

That sounds very Buddhist…
Mark: Funny that you say that! I grew up in Burma (now Myanmar) and was very influenced by the culture there. My father was there to set up the psychology department at the University of Rangon, so I grew up with people from all over the world. I was pretty much self-educated in high school – I found it more interesting to travel and explore than go to school.

When and how did you first hear about Liquid Music?
Mark: I used to go to Engine 408 concerts of the SPCO. They were non-traditional, new music concerts held in smaller venues 2-3 times a year. The vibe was kind of similar to Liquid Music. We’ve been attending Liquid Music programs ever since the first season.

What appealed to you about the series?
Nancy: You never know what to expect! The performances are always a surprise and an adventure. There is great quality and variety to them.

How many performances have you attended?
Mark: Probably 95% – we do a lot of juggling of cultural schedules to make sure we get to Liquid Music and if we miss a performance it's usually because we're out of town.

What are some of your favorite recent Liquid Music performances and why are they favorites? Nancy: We just saw Kid Koala: Nufonia Must Fall and loved it! I loved that it all happened in front of the curtains, and I especially liked the bingo warm up. The music was awesome and didn’t get swallowed in the overall production.

Mark: I had no idea what to expect from the performance, and I was unsettled afterwards. It was like opera without singing. And remember unsettled isn’t bad, just worth examining…

Nancy: We also really enjoy the Zola Jesus performance at the Amsterdam. We were completely surprised by the mix of drama, music, and personality - a total experience. There was lots of talk about it afterwards, which is always a good sign.

Mark: Glenn Kotche and Third Coast Percussion: Wild Sound at the SPCO Center was a fascinating performance - watching them literally construct the instruments in order to make the music. There was also a lot of interaction with the audience in that performance which made the artists feel closer. The small venues Liquid Music often uses means that it is more about personality than performance –there is eye contact between the audience and the artist.

What kind of music do you listen to at home?
Mark: All kinds of music. I especially like female folk singers or singer-songwriters like Kate Wolf, Iris Dement, Stacy Earle and Emmy Lou Harris.

Nancy: I also like all kinds of music (except Western). I especially enjoy the blues, like Scottie Miller and Ruthie Foster. I suppose I like most music, as long as it’s on key!

What other kinds of music do you go to hear live?
Nancy: The events we attend run the gamut from opera to folk. I like to hear new and different music and prefer solo or smaller groups over large groups. I like to hear voices rather than cacophony and I like to hear kids who are still learning.

Do you also attend SPCO concerts? Are you a classical music fan?
Both: Yes and yes!

What other arts activities do you take advantage of in the Twin Cities?
Mark: A little bit of everything – theater, opera, history, The Baroque Room, Minneapolis Institute of Art... When we are traveling we go out of our way to see and hear music - our favorite music venue in New York is Juilliard.

Amanda Keillor and Patrick Pelham, Liquid Music subscribers and supporters

Tell us something about yourselves:
Patrick: I grew up overseas, in Brussels, and sang in a children’s opera company. Classical music was pretty pervasive there.

Amanda: I grew up in Askov, MN, a town of 300 where all of the street signs are also in Danish. I came to the Twin Cities to go the University of Minnesota, where I studied journalism.

How did you first hear about Liquid Music? What appealed to you about the series?
Amanda: I have friends who work at the SPCO so I feel like we might have heard about the series from them, but maybe the way we got hooked was the Jherek Bischoff performance at the Fitzgerald.

Patrick: Yeah, we are both Polica fans, and heard that Channy Leaneagh was going to perform, plus I’m a fan of Sondre Lerche and heard he would be there too. That night was really special – we got to the Fitzgerald and saw a lot of people we knew. It was serendipitous to find that out that they also knew about Liquid Music.

Patrick: It’s meant a lot that many of Liquid Music’s events are in St. Paul. We live in St. Paul, have a fierce attachment to the city, and like to support the arts here. People who don’t know think that everything new and interesting is happening in Minneapolis, but there is a lot undiscovered here.

Amanda: Liquid Music performances are sometimes uncomfortable or challenging, but that is part of what we like.

Patrick: Yes, it pulls you in, your senses all firing on all cylinders…

How many performances have you attended?
Amanda: We have season tickets and last year I think we attended almost everything. We’ve been to most of the programs this year unless we are out of town.

What are some of your favorite Liquid Music performances?
Amanda: Nils Frahm! My mom played the piano, so I grew up with piano music, but this was something else. He was playing multiple keyboards and modifying the piano itself with other instruments. I’ve never seen anyone play piano strings with a toilet brush, for example.

Patrick: He was boundary breaking in a good way – showing the possibilities of this instrument without being gimmicky. It was not unconventional just for the sake of it, but for creating new sounds that are worth hearing. We bought CDs after that concert and have listened to them a lot. The music grows on you the deeper you delve into it. Another favorite of mine was Daniel Wohl: Holographic. You experienced new sounds being born in front of you, coming from an instrument processed through a computer. It was also multi-sensory – I loved the music and video interaction. The visuals were not always directly in sync with the music, they sometimes took you on a detour, but they were still in an interesting dialogue with the music. The Ordway Concert Hall is a special venue as well. You can hear everything more vibrantly there, experiencing the full spectrum of sound.

Amanda: Glenn Kotche and Third Coast Percussion: Wild Sound, for seeing the unique percussion instruments and sounds being created right in front of you. That performance was technically impressive yet intimate – there was even an audience interaction component. This was another of the first performances we saw and it was in St. Paul and we recognized a lot of friends again.

Patrick: We felt invited in by the whole evening – the audience, the performers. This is true of so many Liquid Music performances, even at the Ordway. You feel a relationship with the artists that you’re not used to feeling at most shows. There is such a generosity on the part of the artists. I imagine this is also a gift to them – they can get off of their pedestal in ways that they can’t elsewhere; this requires trust on both sides.

Helado Negro:  Island Universe Story at the Ordway — Helado Negro: Island Universe Story at the Ordway

Amanda: Also - Helado Negro, for so many reasons. I studied in Spain so I appreciated that so much of lyrics were in Spanish. I loved his tinsel dancers. Roberto was saying challenging things but made you feel good at the same time. It was melodic fun, everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves – it was a very cool collaborative jam session with friends.

Do you also attend SPCO concerts? Are you a classical music fan?
Amanda: I am from a non-classical background and found classical music intimidating. I didn’t speak the language. But I know classical musicians and have a personal connection to classical music. We are members of the 2030 Club and that has made trying out classical music accessible.

Patrick: I've had more exposure to classical music growing up in Europe, it is all around you. Liquid Music is a nice balance between classical concerts and rock concerts – the music is not treated overly casually but there is still the energy of the connection with the musicians.

Amanda: Yes, at an SPCO concert maybe I’m more of a spectator. The artists aren't experimenting as much, you just let the music sweep over you.

Patrick: Liquid Music has a cool connection to the SPCO though – you see an instrument at an SPCO concert and then you see that instrument played differently or used to produce different music at a Liquid Music concert. It has the double benefit of making you see the classical version differently.

Amanda: Yes, it gives a new perspective on classical music and maybe makes you appreciate it more.

Patrick: Both types of music need each other. With Liquid Music you are not just listening to a beginner or some random performance. It is very calculated, thought out, and built on a foundation of classical training. There are all sorts of layers… As a photographer and videographer, I do a lot of work with musicians and artists, which adds a whole different level of understanding to the experience. I always have to be alert, my senses are heightened.

What other arts activities do you take advantage of in the Twin Cities?
Patrick: We try to get to the Minnesota Opera. Living in downtown St. Paul, we make ourselves get out and take advantage of so much stuff that we can easily walk to – the St. Paul Art Crawl, rock shows at Amsterdam Bar & Hall, jazz at Vieux Carre.

Amanda: I’m a big fan of dance – I used to work at the Southern Theater and was exposed to a lot of different dance there so I see lots of dance. In Minneapolis, we also get to the Walker and MIA for our visual arts fix.

FOLLOW LM FOR UPDATES AND EXTRAS:
TWITTER: @LIQUIDMUSICSPCO (TWITTER.COM/LIQUIDMUSICSPCO)
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Interview with Orpheus Unsung Director/Producer Mark DeChiazza / June 13, 2016 by Liquid Music

by Libby Holden

Libby Holden is a Schubert Club board member and has been a member of Theoroi, the Schubert Club’s young professionals group, for the last four years. She credits her grandmother, Harriet, for encouraging her love of the performing arts and volunteering. Libby lives with her partner and their rescue dog in Minneapolis.

We asked Libby to interview Orpheus Unsung producer/director Mark DeChiazza in preparation for this week's world premiere performance of the work at the Guthrie Thursday through Saturday. Orpheus Unsung casts the electric guitar as the disembodied voice of Orpheus, who seeks to reverse fate and regain an irrevocably lost Eurydice. In this wordless opera, the myth is shattered and ultimately re-made within a space that fragments story and identity, and hangs in teetering balance between solidity and hallucinatory illusion. Orpheus's journey is illuminated in new musical/visual/theatrical language, as sound collides and fuses with the expression of the body, cinematic imagery, and transformations of physical space. Read last week's interview with Orpheus composer Steven Mackey here. Special thanks to Libby for putting this interview together for us.

Hi Mark. Y our website and other materials suggest that this has been a long, meandering road to be able to present this work with you and Steven.

It has been a long, meandering road. I can illuminate that for you.

This was the first project that Steve and I ever talked about doing when we first met. That was 2009, at the Ojai Music Festival. We were both involved in major productions there, and liked what each other were doing, respectively. So, that was when Steve and I first agreed to make a piece with electric guitar and dance. We didn’t have any sort of venue or producer and ended up making a lot of other projects together before this ever could possibly happen. That’s part of the meandering.

It has been seven years in development, though. How do you stay excited about something that takes that long, from concept to delivery?

It’s interesting. I mean obviously the piece has been something that Steve and I have talked about a lot, but we hadn’t ever talked about the fear of the piece.

The fear?

The fear of the piece. Yeah - this is a really ambitious work for each of us. It calls on both of us, in our own way, to go deeply back into something that we did before, and to bring it into conversation with the work we are doing now. Until we had our residency at Carleton College, where we did an initial showing of Orpheus Unsung, it felt very successful. People responded to it, and we felt like, “okay, we did this thing.” Then we went out for coffee and we both confessed to each other that this piece has been something that has been terrifying us for years. When something feels deeply personal and important, then the stakes are much higher. Both of us felt like this was a push into the unknown. The other projects we had done together, I wouldn’t say they were unambitious, but they didn’t feel nearly as ambitious as this.

That makes a lot of sense, so there’s this fear driving you guys, in addition to the art.

Yeah, fear and desire, together.

I think that is actually a part of the Orpheus myth.

We didn’t have the Orpheus myth to begin with. It felt like this was the Orpheus myth for each of us, in a way, because we’re both going back to works we did in our past, trying to bring them into the present, and make them relevant and new. With the hubris and the necessity of that, it’s all of those things together.

You and Steven could have taken Orpheus Unsung anywhere. Sure, it has some of its creative juice in Northfield, but you could have debuted this in really any place. Why Minneapolis?

People love this piece. They love what we’re doing with it. Talking about it, before we made it, was very difficult. You can’t show people something until you get a chance to make something, but Kate Nordstrum and Liquid Music gave us a chance to make something. She had the faith in us and what we were doing, to trust us and to let us do something. That’s huge, and that’s why Minneapolis.

There’s already a lot of other interest in it, but that outside interest wouldn’t have happened if Orpheus Unsung hadn’t gone to Minneapolis first.

What’s your next seven-year project? It sounds like projects like this don’t come up often in a director’s life.

I had a career as a dancer, before that I was a filmmaker and set designer and visual artist. I didn’t start as a dancer, but a substantial part of my career was as a dancer. Then, as I built my career as a director and I started working in music and film again, I never really went back into dance. But, I always use what I learned in dance, in filming; I use it in editing; I use it in everything.

With Orpheus Unsung, I’m going back to this thing that I really, consciously left behind and trying to bring it back into the present again, bring it back with me. And that was an incredibly fearful experience. I set it as a task for myself, on purpose, because I knew that it kind of scared me, and I thought it was appropriate for this project that I should do that. But, the discovery that I had in the process was really incredible. I think that I re-learned what is special, what is challenging, what is beautiful and what is difficult about dance. Things I once knew but forgot. This project brought that part of my history back into my practice in a more concrete way, and I think that it will probably stay there.

That’s so cool.

That’s what I think changed, and that was not what I expected when I started this.

SEE THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ORPHEUS UNSUNG LIVE AT THE GUTHRIE THEATER THURSDAY JUNE 16, FRIDAY JUNE 17 AND SATURDAY JUNE 18 AT 7:30PM

Follow Mark:
www.markdechiazza.com

Follow Shubert Club/Theoroi:
@TheoroiProject
@schubertclub
http://schubert.org/
http://schubert.org/theoroi/
https://www.facebook.com/schubertclub/

Orpheus Unsung interview with composer Steve Mackey / June 3, 2016 by Liquid Music

"IT'S THE MOST AMBITIOUS PIECE I’VE EVER WRITTEN FOR ELECTRIC GUITAR."

American Composers Forum President John Nuechterlein spoke with Steven Mackey about the June 2016 world premiere of Orpheus Unsung, copresented by Liquid Music and the Guthrie Theater. Labeled a “guitar opera,” the work is a collaboration with Jason Treuting of Sō Percussion and director Mark DeChiazza. The conversation explored how the work was conceived and created, and how the audience might put the various elements into context.

Hear more about the making of Orpheus Unsung at Music in the Making: Steven Mackey with Jason Treuting and Mark DeChiazza at the Guthrie on June 13 at 7:00pm (FREE).

JN: Can you summarize the legend of Orpheus for us and why it appealed to you for this project? Where did the idea come from?
SM: I had the idea for a theatrical piece for guitar and dancer when Mark and I first met in 2009. After several other collaborations Mark came up with the idea of using the Orpheus myth as the skeleton for our original guitar/dancer idea. Orpheus, the son of Apollo, was known for his extraordinary ability to play the lyre. It wasn’t difficult to consider the electric guitar as a modern version of the lyre, and in fact, using the instrument as the story teller for the ancient legend.I’ve written several pieces for electric guitar and orchestra, but never a piece for the electric guitar as an orchestra unto itself. I was fascinated by the concept. The story is classic: Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, who is bitten by a snake, dies, and falls into the underworld. Orpheus uses his skill on the lyre to convince the gods to let her come back to earth, but sadly he fails a critical test at the last minute and she returns to Hades. The twists of the story fit well with the topography of my music, and I jumped at the chance to find ways of using the guitar to express such a wide range of emotion. It also made sense that if we were going to do an “unsung opera” we should use a familiar story.

Work-in-progress showing of Orpheus Unsung at Carleton College

An opera without words is an unusual form. Tell us how the story gets told.
The guitar itself does the singing. I use a wide range of musical ideas to characterize the many different elements of the story and electronics (effects pedals and loopers) expand the sound palette of the guitar into something more orchestral. Combined with Jason Treuting’s brilliant drumming I don’t think it is much of a stretch to imagine the music as a grand, operatic narrative that follows the story quite closely and linearly. Mark has created an amazing tableau of movement that at times parallels the musical action but generally is less literal, at times cutting against the music’s narrative and at times runs obliquely to it. Video imagery also helps set the stage, and I think it all works really well together.

I take it there are no supertitles if there are no words?
For a while we actually considered inventing words for the guitar’s “arias" but in the end we think the story has the right amount of clarity without them.

Most operas begin with a libretto, but clearly that didn’t happen here. How did the process work?
Mark literally gave me a two-page synopsis of his understanding of the plot points in the Orpheus myth. I surprised both of us by following that “script" closely. In the beginning, Mark and I each worked separately on our vocabularies - our lexicon of materials. Then we started putting them together to see how they worked in tandem. Once we added the dancers it became a process of understanding the timing of each section.

Have you done anything like this before?
No! It’s the most ambitious piece I’ve ever written for electric guitar, and it’s been a thrill ride!

SEE THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ORPHEUS UNSUNG LIVE AT THE GUTHRIE THEATER THURSDAY JUNE 16, FRIDAY JUNE 17 AND SATURDAY JUNE 18 AT 7:30PM

Follow Steve Mackey:
Website: www.stevenmackey.com
Twitter: @mackeysteve

Music for the Long Emergency: Naming the Virtual Residency with Poliça and s t a r g a z e / May 20, 2016 by Liquid Music

By Lauren McNee

Over the course of the 2016.17 season, Liquid Music’s virtual residency with Poliça and s t a r g a z e has given audiences the unique opportunity to see the blood/sweat/tears that go into creating an artistic project. We’ve seen members of Poliça and s t a r g a z e jet back and forth between the Twin Cities and Berlin, and share sounds virtually across the ocean. And now it has a name: Music for the Long Emergency. Inspired by James Howard Kunstler’s book, The Long Emergency, about the long-term social consequences of oil scarcity and climate change, the name refers to the beauty of destruction. In the words of Poliça's drummer Drew Christopherson, “we can have bright happy moments too amongst the dark and chaotic moments in our lives”.

“If it happens that the human race doesn't make it, then the fact that we were here once will not be altered, that once upon a time we peopled this astonishing blue planet, and wondered intelligently at everything about it and the other things who lived here with us on it, and that we celebrated the beauty of it in music and art, architecture, literature, and dance, and that there were times when we approached something godlike in our abilities and aspirations. We emerged out of depthless mystery, and back into mystery we returned, and in the end the mystery is all there is.”
– James Howard Kunstler, The Long Emergency

On November 18 of 2016, the world premiere of Music for the Long Emergency will take place at the historic Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, MN in partnership with The Current. You can help support this project by making a contribution to Music for the Long Emergency's Indiegogo campaign here. And don't forget to check out the Work In Progress Conversation on Sunday, May 22 at the Fitzgerald Theater! André de Ridder from s t a r g a z e will be in town to talk about the project onstage with Poliça. Bring your curiosity and your friends.

Keep up with the Virtual Residency:
First Look
Channy Leaneagh Interviews André de Ridder
Tables Turned: André de Ridder interviews Channy Leaneagh
Catching up with s t a r g a z e: Weekender Festival, Berlin 2015
Virtual Residency Mini Doc Part I
Meet s t a r g a z e
From Virtual to Reality: s t a r g a z e + Poliça's First Musical Meet-up
Podcast interview with Channy Leaneagh on Liquid Music Playlist
Music for the Long Emergency Indiegogo Campaign

Follow s t a r g a z e:
Website: we-are-stargaze.com
Twitter: @wearestargaze (twitter.com/wearestargaze)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wearestargaze/
Vimeo: vimeo.com/wearestargaze

The Faces of Liquid Music's Adventurous Audience: Pt. 2 / May 19, 2016 by Liquid Music

by Karla Brom

At Liquid Music we think and talk a lot about the audience for new music. Our patrons inspire us creatively and in many ways shape our course. With this new blog series, we decided to go directly to the source and ask our audience members what draws them to new music, and especially to Liquid Music. In this second part of our series we talk to three fans who are involved with Liquid Music in multiple ways.

Read pt. 1 here.

Jon Oulman, LIQUID MUSIC Advisory Council Member, owner of Amsterdam Bar & Hall (a Liquid Music venue) and man about town

Tell us something about yourself:
I'm very interested in how you can create communities with culture. Music is an integral part of, or way to engage, a community.

When and how did you first hear about Liquid Music?
I first heard about it when Kate Nordstrum and Philip Bither visited the Amsterdam scouting a location for Ben Frost. The Amsterdam had only opened recently and I was planning on presenting music but was still figuring out what types. I immediately liked the idea of Liquid Music, and was definitely interested by Ben Frost since I’ve been a big consumer of that kind of music since the 70s – had been listening to electronica and kraut rock.

What appealed to you about the series?
I liked everything about it, including the connections to the SPCO and Walker Art Center. See my comment about music and building community.

How many performances have you attended?
Almost all of them! Probably about 90%

What are some of your favorite Liquid Music performances and why are they favorites?
I really liked that Ben Frost concert – it was “sheer noise” in the best sense. Dawn of Midi because they created an atmosphere – the music was hypnotic. Tim Hecker because it was written, arranged and produced to be sonically visual. Glenn Kotche because it was intimate – he got to show us how he saw music from a percussionist’s perspective.

What kind of music do you listen to at home?
I listen to a mix of contemporary electronic music, 70s-80s syntho pop, ambient music, some singer-songwriter stuff. I like late 70s to early 90s kraut rock, Danish, Dutch, Belgian music…

How did you find all of this stuff?
It may have started with listening to Tangerine Dream, not sure. I like Robert Fripp, Eno, Bowie. When I was a kid my friends and I would go to these high end stereo equipment stores because we were really interested in hearing music on those systems, which we couldn’t afford (until now!).

What kind of music do you play for a party?
It depends on who is there – I usually know what kind of music they like and sometimes I play the opposite kind of music, as a way to “counter” or provoke them. My parties always end with dance music.

What other kind of music do you go to hear live?
I like listening to bluegrass live because it’s better that way. I used to go to Pitchfork all of the time because they promote independent musicians and curate what should be important. They also book acts that influence new musicians, so you get a live sense of where this new music is coming from. They are educational and trend setting.

Do you also attend SPCO concerts? Are you a classical music fan?
I like some classical music, and go to the SPCO occasionally. I prefer chamber music to big orchestral pieces – there is just too much information to process with those. I can’t sit back and relax and let the sound wash over me – I like to hear the instrumentation and when there are 20 violins it’s just too much to track.

What upcoming Liquid Music events are you most looking forward to?
All of them! I really enjoyed last weekend's Devendra Banhart and Friends...

Follow Jon's upcoming happenings here: www.jonoulman.com

deVon Gray, composer, Producer and musician

Tell us something about yourself:
I’m a composer, multi-instrumentalist (keyboard, flute, sax, bassoon) and producer. I've been a keyboard player for 20 years in my band Heiruspecs. Favorite instrument (that I can play) – acoustic piano. But I also love strings – viola and cello. If I weren’t a composer I’d be a poet, but music chose me.

When and how did you first hear about Liquid Music?
I’ve known [Liquid Music curator] Kate [Nordstrum] since her days at the Southern Theater when she was programming music. Adam Levy and I programmed a music festival there at the same time, called Southern Songbook, featuring local artists making their way through the American Songbook. Then we collaborated with Kate on the String Theory Music Festival. We’ve kept in touch ever since, and Kate has become a sounding board for me. When Jace Clayton (DJ/rupture) was coming to town for Liquid Music’s Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner she recruited me to be one of the keyboard players.

You’ve been gigging all over the world for the past several years – what are some of your favorite performances and why?
I played at the Capetown Jazz Festival three years ago (right before the Julius Eastman performance). I was there with Brother Ali and we were in Capetown for a week but only had to play in the festival for a couple of hours. The rest of the time we traveled around, met great people and saw amazing things – I swam in a cage next to great white sharks! That was all about the place and the people. Another great gig was with Chastity Brown in the UK – we met Damien Rice there and also connected with Jools Holland who liked us so much we ended up performing on his show.

What are some of your favorite Liquid Music performances and why are they favorites?
The Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner, of course. That was two grand pianos and two acoustic uprights and Jace was managing the sound with a sufi plug in. We had two half days to rehearse and everything came together in the first few hours. That was a beautiful performance and the audience was great – such a diversity of people came out. I liked the Jherek Bischoff concert for its collaborative aspects and the variety of artists involved, including some SPCO musicians. The Reid Anderson collaboration at SPCO center was gorgeous – he had these amazing visuals. Most recently I really enjoyed [William Brittelle's] Spiritual America. I loved hearing Michi Wiancko's music and learning about Wye Oak and Bill Brittelle and I really like that venue. For me it is the overall experience – setting, lighting, people, visuals, mood – that makes the performance, not only the music. I like the Liquid Music series overall because of that.

What other kind of music do you like or go to hear live?
When I was growing up I compartmentalized my music experience. I liked classical music because I played the bassoon. I liked jazz because I played the sax. I liked church music because of my mom. And my friends introduced me to whatever they were listening to at the time. Now I listen to everything all the time and accept it for what it is.

Do you also attend SPCO concerts? Are you a classical music fan?
I do go to SPCO concerts. I have liked classical music since day one and everything else since day two.

Jayme Halbritter, Liquid Music fan and photographer

Tell us something about yourself:
I'm a photographer and photojournalist. I met Kate [Nordstrum] during university when we both worked at the Minnesota Daily. I've also worked at the Boston Herald, and was in New York City for 9/11 and documented that in photos.

When and how did you first hear about Liquid Music?
I’m a longtime friend and collaborator with Kate, and have followed her music curating since she was at the Southern Theater.

What appealed to you about the series?
Liquid Music has a knack for putting together artists that I’ve never heard of before, and I always like them.

How many performances have you attended?
I think I’ve been to almost all of them! Mainly because I’m there working, but I would attend otherwise – I am super proud of what Kate has done with this series.

What are some of your favorite recent Liquid Music performances and why are they favorites? Third Coast Percussion Wild Sound was fascinating – I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was choreographed improv, visually and sonically awesome, a great mixture of performance and music. I also liked Helado Negro's Island Universe Story at the Ordway; I liked the whole production, the use of the new Ordway Concert Hall space, the flow of the evening, his persona. The Dawn of Midi and Nils Frahm split bill was great too – such a contrast between the two performances!

What kind of music do you listen to at home?
If I’m working I usually listen to electronica, something down tempo with no words since I find words distracting while I work.

What other kind of music do you like or go to hear live?
I think I was listening to alternative music before there was a genre called alternative. In the early 90s I was into the Grateful Dead and my musical palette has always been pretty broad – I like bluegrass, electronic, beats, Umphrey’s McGee – everything from punk rock skateboarder to metal.

Are you a classical music fan?
I rarely listen to classical music, though I’ve recently gone to a few Minnesota Orchestra concerts and Schubert Club performances. I really enjoyed Ashley Bathgate when she played for Liquid Music.

What other arts activities do you take advantage of in the Twin Cities?
A little bit of everything, mainly off the beaten track. I’m into poetry and songwriting and there are some great local groups that organize around that. Outside of the Twin Cities, I’ve been to Burning Man several times.

Thanks to Jon, DeVon, and Jayme for telling us a little about their relationship to Liquid Music. Maybe you will be on pt. 3?

Follow LM for updates and extras:
Twitter: @LiquidMusicSPCO (twitter.com/LiquidMusicSPCO)
Instagram: @LiquidMusicSeries (instagram.com/liquidmusicseries)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SPCOLiquidMusic/

Extra-Curricular Listening pt. 7 - Devendra Banhart and Friends / May 12, 2016 by Liquid Music

By JP Merz and Patrick Marschke

As purveyors of contemporary chamber music with a growing and increasingly adventurous audience, we are wholeheartedly committed to the creation and cultivation of new and diverse types of music. An essential part of this process is providing bridges and context for new listeners to discover and appreciate what could sometimes be considered "challenging" music. Context that we will attempt (<—key word) to provide through our 'Extra-curricular Listening' blog series.

For each concert we will provide some extracurricular listening (or watching) and some rabbit holes for LM followers to excavate and discover their own exciting but perhaps obscure corner of the music world.

For this particular project—Devendra Banhart's Wind Grove Mind Alone, copresented with the Walker Art Center—rather than suggest related/tangential artists to check out, we thought that digging into the treasure trove of artists involved in this weekend’s shows would be exploration enough. Each artist is well deserving of their own LM show and we can’t wait to see how they coalesce onstage this weekend. In no particular order:

William Basinski

William Basinski is an experimental, ambient electronic musician with a classical music training based in New York and more recently California. His compositions primarily use a single, short tape loop, which repeats with infinite variations. Basinski intentionally selects tape loops that have no clear beginning or end. In this way the tape loop can act metaphor for timelessness, seeming to loop onto and into themselves. He is also interested exposing the materiality of this obsolete, analog technology. This can be heard in the Disintegration Loops, which documents the process of digitizing a tape loop over and over again, until the magnetic tape itself falls apart.

Lucky Dragons

Lucky Dragons is the collaborative project of LA based artists Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck. Their work uses multiple mediums (music, performance, instrument design, installation, visual art) to investigate ideas about participation, dissent, perception, and attention. One notable example is their “make a baby” project, which is an instrument that responds to low voltage signals created by audience members making skin contact. The resulting composition is dependent on the participation and choices of the audience, creating an unique social ecology/dynamic within the performance space.

Harold Budd

LA-based composer and pianist, Harold Budd makes music that incorporates elements of drone music, free-jazz, minimalism and ambient music. Budd is an essential part of the West Coast minimalist movement, which had Cal Arts, where Budd started teaching in 1970, as one of it’s epicenters. He has collaborated with other luminaries such as Brian Eno, James Tenney, Jon Gibson, and many others. In the 1980 collaboration between Eno and Budd, Ambient 2: The Plateax of Mirror, Eno would set up a sonic landscape for Budd to perform on piano and electric piano. Budd’s tender, sparse, and lyrical playing moves freely between composition and improvisation and Eno’s addition of effects and textures clarifies the dreamy sound world of the album.

Jessica Pratt

The Haunting voice of Singer/Songwriter Jessica Pratt is affiliated with the infamous “freak-folk” scene; familiar to Banhart followers - though her ‘freak’ might be a little softer around the edges than early Devendra. The rawness of her voice and the familiarity of her simple acoustic orchestrations easily lure the listener into a haze and it will be interesting to hear her delicate and ghostly vocals in a larger ensemble setting. Her work brings to mind the sinewy songwriting of Joni Mitchell and the distinct vocals Joanna Newsom. Check out her solo KEXP set here:

Helado Negro

Liquid Music’s dear friend and collaborator Roberto Carlos Lange aka Helado Negro returns for the first time since his premiere of “Island Universe Story (Cuentos del Universo Solitario)” at the Ordway last year–and he has been busy since. He just put out a new limited edition vinyl of the work along with a new album earlier in the year. We wonder if he brought any tinsel to town this time :). “Young, Latin & Proud” is one of our favorites from Roberto’s recent work.

Rodrigo Amarante

How to pin down Rodrigo Amarante? Whilst being a part of Los Hermanos, Orquestra Imperial, and Little Joy, Amarante is somehow able to work on his own material - sweet, multilingual, lullaby-esque songs that have a youthful joy and innocence. Check out Amarante’s recent NPR Tiny Desk Concert:

Hecuba

Performance artist Isabelle Albuquerque and musician/designer Jon Beasley make up the art-pop duo Hecuba and it is easy to hear how their various art practices seep into their musical project. It is dancey, quirky, and it can get pretty weird–just how we like it. Here is a video collaboration with MOCA filmed entirely on an iPhone 5:

Devendra Banhart

You all know him right? Why don’t you tell us YOUR favorite tracks in the comments below?

FOLLOW LIQUID MUSIC FOR UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Twitter: @LiquidMusicSPCO (twitter.com/LiquidMusicSPCO)
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Extra-Curricular Listening Pt. 6 - Saul Williams & Mivos Quartet / April 21, 2016 by Liquid Music

by Trombonist/Composer Christopher Misch-Bloxdorf

In preparation for next Tuesday's show at the James J. Hill Reference, composer/trombonist Chris Misch-Bloxdorf delves into the world of Saul Williams on the Mivos Quertet:

Blackalicious - Release

The first time I heard Saul Williams was on this track by Blackalicious. The song begins with a classic hip-hop track with a ‘boom bap’ figure that spurs on the rhythmic undulation provided by Blackalicious. The drumbeat dissipates into a mesmerizing collage of wind blowing through wind chimes while a quiet drum pattern fades in and out leading to a cello and synth dancing around melodies that provide a cohesive pattern in which Saul begins to speak over. The contrast between Blackalicious’ rapid fire verse and Saul’s slow and metamorphic poem gave me insight into the depth and diversity of the world of hip-hop.

Kronos Quartet - Howl, U.S.A.

The Mivos quartet are musical descendants of a long line of stringed avant-gardists - redefining traditional notions of the quartet in a very similar fashion to the prolific Kronos quartet. The Mivos quartet's collaboration with Saul Williams is reminiscent of the music written by Lee Hyla set to a reading of Allen Ginsberg’s iconic biography Howl. In a similar fashion, composer Ted Hearne will be setting music to Saul’s poem from his collection of poetry US(a.) entitled “the answer to the question that wings ask.” The goal of a composer in such a collaboration is to create a sonic landscape in which the words and music are reflective of one another capturing the mood and context of every syllable.

Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd - Holding it Down: Veterans' Dream Project

In the rapidly developing catalog of music and spoken word collaborations, pianist Vijay Iyer and wordsmith Mike Ladd focus on providing veterans of recent conflicts an outlet through artistic expression specifically centralizing around narratives that have been inspired by US veterans’ dreams. One of the common threads of artists Ted Hearne, Jace Clayton, and Saul Williams is their commentary on social, economic, and political structures told through a narrative that teeters on the edge between fiction and non-.

Clipping - Midcity

Stalwart cast member of the revolutionary Broadway musical Hamilton, MC Daveed Diggs paired with producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes create the group known as Clipping. Clipping is a band that blends a world of complex noise-influenced production paired with Daveed’s virtuosic rhythmic stylings that never reach verbosity. Much of the music composed by Ted Hearne and Jace Clayton deals with the aesthetics of noise music, often coupling field recordings and a slew of samples to achieve their vision. This ties directly into Saul’s most recent release MartyrLoserKing, in which much of the production is an amalgam of field recordings from areas in Africa contextualized through modern alt-rock and hip-hop forms.

Sun-Ra - The Sub-Dwellers

Sun-Ra is arguably the most prolific figure in approaching music through the lens of Afrofuturism and often expressed these ideas through musical and verbal improvisations. Weary of any label that could potentially restrict the artistic process, Saul deals with his own constructs within Afrofuturistic ideals. In Saul’s most recent release MartyrLoserKing, he molds a universe that runs parallel to our own focusing on the life of a hacker from Burundi. This project utilizes repetition as an emphasis on an idea rather than the normative “hook” mentality. A phrase that generates power through repetition allows for the artist to adjust the drama of a piece leading to more spontaneous performances.

Def Jam Poetry - Saul Williams "Coded Language"

The Def Jam Poetry TV show influenced many young writers and artists. In the first season of the show, Saul is featured performing his piece “Coded Language”. This piece in many ways encapsulates Saul’s ideas of culture, all-encompassing Art, and fluidity of our individual trajectories. He challenges people to escape from the complacency of mediocrity that has been established by modern media outlets. This point is emphasized by a list of prolific contributors to culture that is used as a call to arms for the listeners. Saul’s view is one of optimism - he believes that collectively “we” understand the value of quality in art, but currently the “powers that be” are diluting our content. However, “we” are capable of creating and consuming art worthy of merit and Saul is reminding us that “we” are always evolving and can affect the expectation of quality on a daily basis.

The Rabbit Hole

Roc Marciano
Trent Reznor
Shabazz Palaces
Milo
Open Mike Eagle
Aceyalone (The Freestyle Fellowship)
Busdriver
Ambrose Akinmusire
Jay Electronica

Catch SAUL WILLIAMS AND THE MIVOS QUARTET LIVE AT THE JAMES J HILL REFERENCE LIBRARY TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016 AT 7:30PM

Follow Saul Williams:
saulwilliams.com
@SaulWilliams

Follow Chris Misch-Bloxdorf:
chrismisch-bloxdorf.bandcamp.com

Interview w/ composer Ted Hearne / April 18, 2016 by Liquid Music

By composer JP Merz

Ted Hearne is composer and performer whose music is infused with a love of pop, hip-hop, jazz, noise, rock and musical theater, often creating a raw sense of energy and urgency. His large-scale works deal with current political issues, such as oratorios about Hurricane Katrina (Katrina Ballads) or Chelsea Manning and WikiLeaks (The Source) which both set text from primary source documents surrounding the events. I wrote these questions for both Ted and Jace Clayton, who is also composing a work for this concert, and tried to address themes that draw connections between their works. You can see/compare/contrast Jace’s answers here.

In this interview Ted discusses his inspiration from Audre Lorde, the intrigue of Saul Williams and shares some of his favorite music.

JP: How did you first get involved with Saul, Mivos, and Liquid Music?

Ted: This is my third time at Liquid Music—I love coming up to Minneapolis and really love the programming and audience at Liquid Music. The last time was I came up was two seasons ago with Timo Andres, Gabriel Kahane and Becca Stevens in "Work Songs," and before that I had a new piece premiered with Ashley Bathgate and Ian Ding in 2013. Mivos and I go way back from our time together in the new music community in New York, and I've been a Saul fan for a long time, so am thrilled that we're working together for the first time.

Work Songs 2014 Liquid Music performance — *Work Songs* 2014 Liquid Music performance

JP: A huge variety of musical genres will often exist side by side within one of your pieces, placing familiar sounds in unfamiliar contexts. What interests you in this recontextualization and in drawing on such a broad musical palette?

Ted: The thing I love about music is that it communicates a place and a time, a perspective and a cultural context, without ever relying completely on the limiting specificity of language. De/recontextualization of sound from its origin, and the mixing of different mediums and genres, can cause us to re-examine governing frameworks we often take for granted.

There's a power to be found in the difference between genres or styles of art, and in the difference between the cultures they represent. Audre Lorde said: "Difference must not be merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic." I'm drawn to explore the ways music can point at, or even harness, those differences, as a spark.

JP: What aspects of Saul’s work do you find particularly fascinating, inspiring or moving?

Ted: Saul sings when he talks, and the rhythm of his performances seems to imbue his words with a meaning I wouldn't have gleaned if I had merely read them and not heard them. To be a musician who lives by the word—that fascinates and moves me, and it mystifies me because I'm not a poet.

Also, Saul is an artist who confronts and embraces the world around him, with all its problems, and that's just inspiring.

JP: Text is often an essential element in your work. How did you approach the use and role of text in this piece? Does it differ than the ways you’ve approached text in previous works?

Ted: Yes definitely, it differs. I often use texts as lyrics, but have never before worked with a poet who will be performing as part of the piece. Saul's text was not only written by him, will be performed by him, and the music I'm writing is completely tied to his performance of that text. So in that way it's like writing for an improvising musician (which in many ways Saul is)—there are many rhythmic and melodic elements of the piece that must be left up to him, in the moment, because they are his words, and he knows how to deliver them better than anybody.

JP: You worked with Saul’s poem “The Answer to the Question that Wings Ask” which asks a never ending series of deconstructing questions while weaving seamlessly between religion, reality, sex, morality and many other topics. What is this poem about for you and what themes were you drawn to?

Ted: The poem does weave and bob. And yes, it asks a series of questions. For me, the power of the poem is not found in the themes of the specific questions as much as in the way Saul portrays the unrelenting interrogation of the self. I feel bare when I read it, and I think part of its purpose is to strip away the artifice self-consciousness creates by confronting it head-on.

The music I wrote is based off a circular but somewhat confounding chord progression, sort of like the series of Saul's questions. There are many repetitions, but each is colored differently, implying slightly skewed modalities or tonal centers. And I tried to think of the string quartet's bowing motions as an image in a mirror–what would it mean for bowings that were first moving in lock-step to split apart and do their own thing? Can a path of individual discovery be mirrored in the physicality of Mivos's playing? (We'll see, I guess.)

JP: What are you listening to lately and what do you find interesting about it?

Ted: Jürg Frey, for dissected and disembodied sonorities; Tim Hecker, for a noisy but comforting continuum; Clipping for noisy and not exactly comforting; Robert Glasper In My Element for totally genre-bending and with the best voicings, Becca Stevens for always classy intellectual songwriting; Mingus, Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is so rich and rhythmically complex.

JP: What’s next?

Ted: I want to write a bunch of songs for me myself to sing...

SEE THE PREMIERE OF Ted'S COMPOSITION FOR SAUL WILLIAMS AND THE MIVOS QUARTET LIVE AT THE JAMES J HILL REFERENCE LIBRARY TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016 AT 7:30PM

Follow Ted Hearne:

Website: www.tedhearne.com
Blog: www.tedhearne.com/mutterings
twitter @hearnedogg
instagram @hedtearne
bandcamp
soundcloud

Keep up w/ composer/sound artist JP Merz:
jpmerz.com
facebook.com/jpmerzcomposer/
@merz_jp
soundcloud.com/merzjp

From Virtual to Reality: s t a r g a z e + Poliça's first musical meet-up / April 14, 2016 by Liquid Music

By Lauren McNee

Liquid Music artists in virtual residence Poliça and s t a r g a z e have certainly been keeping themselves busy in the past few months. The stars aligned back in Feb when Poliça was on tour in Berlin for their new album United Crushers, and the two met to make sounds together for the first time. s t a r g a z e musicians Maaike van der Linde and Marlies van Gangelen gave us an inside look into the collaboration with a diary-style narrative on the creative process.

Don't miss the virtual residency Work-In Progress Conversation at the Fitzgerald Theater on Sun, May 22!

Check out Channy Leaneagh's podcast interview on Liquid Music Playlist to hear about Poliça's thoughts on the collaboration

2016 Berlin

11 Feb
Poliça, Kantine am Berghain

On Thursday night we went to see Poliça performing at the Kantine am Berghain. They did a great job and we loved it! For most of us it was the first time seeing and hearing them play live. Whilst we were listening we got excited thinking of the possibilities and how to add s t a r g a z e sounds to their soundscapes. Channy has a beautiful voice and the band played very nicely attuned. It was a really nice surprise when bass player Chris started singing too. Almost all of the s t a r g a z e musicians play several instruments and like to alternate between playing and singing. Chris has a special voice and we will definitely ask him to sing with us! Maybe we can create backing vocals for Channy?

12 Feb
Workshop

On Friday we had breakfast with Poliça at André's place. It was nice to get to know the musicians better personally. After a cup of coffee we were ready to make some noise. Ryan prepared sound tracks, specifically for this Poliça/s t a r g a z e collaboration and we started to improvise along it. We played drones and invented minimal patterns. Our viola player Justin created a melody, accompanied with long notes by Maaike on bass flute and Marlies on cor anglais (English Horn). André played a groove on violin that connected nicely with one of Ryan's tracks. We had several go's at the improvisations and it really went into all directions from very romantic and lyrical to underground noise played on classical instruments. The great surprise is that we don't know what Poliça will use from the recordings, and how! Poliça liked our sounds and spontaneously applauded after our first improvisation. We are looking forward to the continuation of this project!

2016 Amsterdam

19 March

Today we recorded music for Poliça. We planned two sessions in Amsterdam in Maaike and Marlies' house, to create new material. We started off with listening to the 'song' track that Ryan sent us, and we started arranging the electronic piece on our instruments, it's really catchy. Besides this we also worked on finding new harmonies for the melody, for a new version and we made a start of a completely different B part. We also had some completely free improvisation which we recorded and listened back to in the next session. Marlies also used her Delta Harp for this, and Romain brought his electronic set-up. There was one part of an improvisation that we particularly liked and which we want to work out further. So this is what we'll do in the next session!

Keep up with the Virtual Residency:
First Look
Channy Leaneagh Interviews André de Ridder
Tables Turned: André de Ridder interviews Channy Leaneagh
Catching up with s t a r g a z e: Weekender Festival, Berlin 2015
Virtual Residency Mini Doc Part I
Meet s t a r g a z e
Podcast interview with Channy Leaneagh on Liquid Music Playlist

Follow s t a r g a z e:
Website: we-are-stargaze.com
Twitter: @wearestargaze (twitter.com/wearestargaze)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wearestargaze/
Vimeo: vimeo.com/wearestargaze

Interview w/ composer Jace Clayton (DJ/Rupture) / April 8, 2016 by Liquid Music

By composer JP Merz

Jace Clayton is an artist who exists between the cracks of DJing, art music, media art, and theater, among other disciplines. The themes of his projects are specific as an obscure, experimental musician or as grand as the U.S. terrorist threat level system to thoughtfully weave together issues of politics, identity, and the role of technology. If you want to get a better sense of of the breadth of Jace’s work - you can hear him speaking about it in a beautiful, concise way in his Creative Capital artist talk:

In this interview we touch on some of the most inspiring aspects of Jace's work while learning about Jace’s brand new piece for Saul Williams and the Mivos Quartet to be premiered at the next Liquid Music show on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 7:30pm at the James J. Hill Reference Library in Saint Paul, copresented with the Givens Foundation for African American Literature.

JP: How did you first get involved with Saul, Mivos, and Liquid Music?

Jace: I actually used a Saul Williams track on my first mixtap–mixed live to cassette back in the day! The one where he's rhyming over a kind of mournful cello line, that begins "I will not rhyme on a track--niggers on a chain gang used to do that." I have yet to meet Mivos or Saul personally, but am very much looking forward to working with them. This is the second time I participate in a Liquid Music event. The first was my 'Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner' performance.

JP: You often work with a huge variety of musical genres which will often exist side by side within one piece, placing familiar sounds in unfamiliar contexts. What interests you in this recontextualization and in drawing on such a broad musical palette?

Jace: Genre guidelines are increasingly irrelevant and ideas of historical lineage are falling by the wayside. It's a fascinating time to be making music. The question is: what to do with this freedom? And at a very pragmatic level, the question becomes: who comes out to hear your work, and how? Music isn't political (unless it's propaganda like anti-war sing-a-longs or jihadi rap) but the site of its production always is, because you're talking about gathering bodies and manifesting in a place.

JP: Politics, social justice, surveillance, power structures and identity are topics that are common throughout your work. Do you see your music as a response to these issues, do you feel like music can actively influence politics, or does your music do something else entirely?

Jace: Something else entirely! One way to put it would be: people doing the hard work of organizing for social justice is a very necessary, very particular thing. Music is something else entirely. It is a meeting ground and a place where the past and future share a moment. If politics asks the question 'how are we to live" music slips in at another level, wondering "how much can happen in a moment." So it is sensual and philosophical all at once. Basing a politics on identity is just as bad as basing one's music on some identity. Music interrupts tidy edges. The idea is to stay plural. To stay as open and flexible and tender as a folksong.

JP: Text is often an essential element in your work. How did you approach the use and role of text in this piece? Does it differ than the ways you’ve approached text in previous works?

Jace: I'm asking both Saul and Mivos to speak the texts, which I'm excited about. I love incredible world-class vocal performers, and I also love asking people who don't read in public at all–gathering different voices with different relationships to vocal authority is fascinating to me. Part of the text is from N.H. Pritchard, an experimental black poet from late 60s/early 70s NYC. I'm treating a few pages of his highly idiosyncratic poems (that play with typography and layout) like scores, in part because you can't simply read them aloud without adding layers of your own interpretation. Like with my Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner performance (dealing with Julius Eastman), I do value engaging with lesser-known artistic figures from the recent past whose work has a certain restlessness and power. It's good to add complexity to the historical record.

JP: You asked the musicians for the first piece of music that they memorized as a child and composed using that material as a starting point. I see this process as relating to your work as DJ: discovering a fixed sound which can carry so many cultural associations and implications and then placing it in a new context, through the lens of your own musical voice. Do you see this process as relating to your work as DJ and how do these musical memories shape the sound world of this piece?

Jace: I'm interested in rethinking classical composer-ly structures. In the classical world it's fully expected that you'll write music for musicians you haven't met, who will have to play it whether or not they even like it. That's quite alien to my way of working. I prefer dialog and negotiation. I actually don't like giving commands to musicians. So a simple beginning for me was to ask musicians for their earliest memorized piece, and use that as little DNA fragments that seed my creation.

JP: What are you listening to lately and what do you find interesting about it?

Jace: My essay on Vince Staples for The New York Times Magazine last month is a good place to begin!

JP: What’s next?

Jace: This summer my debut book will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It's called Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture. I can't wait for you to read it! I'm curating an event series this summer that I'm extremely excited about, but that's hush-hush until we finalize the schedule in a few weeks.... And of course, I'm working with another string quartet for a performance at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art this May, for a festival called Medialive.

See the premiere of Jace's composition for Saul Williams and the Mivos quartet LIVE AT THE James J HIll Reference Library Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 7:30pm

Follow Jace Clayton:

Website: www.jaceclayton.com
Blog: www.negrophonic.com
Twitter & Instagram: @djrupture
soundcloud.com/djrupture

Keep up w/ composer/sound artist/musical massage therapist JP Merz:

JP’s next project is also at BMoCA’s Medialive where he is making a series of computer-controlled, musical massage chairs - attempting to create an intimate human experience mediated through technology.

jpmerz.com
facebook.com/jpmerzcomposer/
@merz_jp
soundcloud.com/merzjp

The Faces of Liquid Music's Adventurous Audience: pt.1 / April 7, 2016 by Liquid Music

By Karla Brom

At Liquid Music we think and talk a lot about the audience for new music. Our patrons inspire us creatively and in many ways shape our course. With this new blog series, we decided to go directly to the source and ask our audience members what draws them to new music, and especially to Liquid Music. Our questions were always the same: How did you hear about Liquid Music? What are some of your favorite recent performances? What kinds of music do you listen to at home? Are you a fan of classical?
But the conversations went all over the place...

David Dybiec AND ALBERTO FIERRO, Liquid Music subscribers

Tell us something about yourselves: Alberto: I am a Mexican citizen and have been a diplomat for 23 years. My responsibilities have always been promoting cultural awareness and cultural affairs and now I am the Consul of Mexico in Minnesota (there are 200,000 Mexicans living here). I became a cultural promoter because I love the arts but I’m not an artist myself.

David: I lived in Minnesota from the age of 6-18 and this is the first time I am living here since then. I’m an arts educator (mainly for primary school students), painter and sculptor. We moved to Minnesota almost 3 years ago, during Liquid Music’s first season.

When and how did you first hear about Liquid Music? David: When Alberto accepted the post in Minnesota, we were very excited. Our last posting was in Orlando and the cultural scene there was not as diverse as we knew the Twin Cities would be. We started googling everything about culture in the Twin Cities and found Liquid Music that way.

What appealed to you about the series? Alberto: We have pretty adventurous musical appetites and have been exposed to new music before – we attended a new music festival in Ottawa, which was our first exposure. Mexico also has an interesting new music festival. We are music lovers, but not experts or academics, we like to be surprised.

How many performances have you attended? David: We’ve been to at least 80% of the performances – the only reason we’ve missed any is because we were out of town when they happened!

What are some of your favorite recent Liquid Music performances and why? Alberto: They’ve all been wonderful in different ways. The series feels like a laboratory – music in the making. Our expectation is that we’ll see something performed for the first and maybe the only time. Some favorites are Glenn Kotche and Third Coast Percussion – we were delighted that something that outlandish could happen – here we were literally watching music being made [Wild Sound included Third Coast Percussion constructing their own instruments]. We don’t imagine hearing or seeing it again.

David: We liked the Timo Andres program, the way it was structured with his work at the end. Ethel: Documerica for the imagery – the vocabulary of visual and musical overlap. Julia Holter because of her ethereal voice.

Alberto: We don’t do research on the artists before seeing a show, usually have no clue about them unless they are famous. So we don’t know what to expect, but we trust the Liquid Music brand. We love the intimacy of many of the venues and the diversity of the audience. This isn’t music you can hum along with, like you can with classical music (and that’s a good thing!) – you have to listen from within – it is all about letting yourself be taken.

What kind of music do you listen to at home? David: We are happy to have such great public radio available in the Twin Cities – we’re often tuned in to 99.5 (classical) or 88.5 (jazz). Otherwise the music we listen to depends on the mood. If it’s a party it is going to be something like Tito Puente!

Do you also attend SPCO concerts? Are you a classical music fan? Yes and yes. We are so lucky to have two great orchestras in the Twin Cities, and we go to the SPCO frequently. Classical music is a totally different experience – you know what to expect, you usually know the music already.

What other arts activities do you take advantage of in the Twin Cities? A little bit of everything. We live close to the Walker so we go there for performing arts. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Soap Factory, Minneapolis Film Society, Schubert Club, contemporary dance. We love TU Dance!

Kaitlin Frick, Liquid Music patron and volunteer

Tell us something about yourself: I am an arts administrator currently working at Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Uptown, Minneapolis. I love working with artists and creative types, and spend most of my free time checking out new music – recorded and live music. I hit a personal landmark last year by attending 100 shows over the course of the year! I’m always on a quest for newness – I do a lot of reading and listening.

How did you hear about Liquid Music? What appealed to you about the series? I was working at the SPCO in 2012, when Kate Nordstrum started there. I had followed her work at the Southern Theater and was immediately intrigued by her desire to present innovative music programming.

I play violin – I was trained classically from a young age, and had spent a lot of time with classical music throughout my teens and in college – so much time that I kind of burned out on the traditional classical music experience. The work that Kate was doing blew my mind – the fact that concerts were being programmed in non-traditional venues and blurring the lines defining musical genres. To hear work performed by artists who are drawing from all sorts of inspirations and backgrounds in classical, folk, electronic, spoken word, rock, etc. was inspiring to me and sort of refreshed my interest in classical music – allowing me to listen with new ears. I’ve probably been to 2/3 of the Liquid Music shows.

What are some of your favorite recent Liquid Music performances and why? The Dawn of Midi/ Nils Frahm show was a wonderful pairing. I had been a fan of Nils Frahm for a while and was so pleased to see he was coming to town in a venue so intimate as the Amsterdam! It was incredible to see him at the helm of his multi-keyboard setup. But Dawn of Midi I had not heard of and was really quite floored by what they do – an acoustic trio that sounded like minimalist electronic music! It was like they were physically looping their sound. When I closed my eyes, I couldn’t always tell which instrument (piano, drums, bass) was making which sound.

The Helado Negro Island Universe Story show was also a highlight for me. I had seen Roberto play for something like 20 people, opening for Sinkane the previous fall at the Turf Club. So I was so thrilled to see that his Liquid Music show could catapult him onto the national music scene the way it did when he sold out the Ordway Concert Hall last spring. This show exemplified for me one of Liquid Music’s strengths: the ability of the series to allow for unbridled collaborations, which serves audiences and the musicians – as the artists are able to take their work into new territories, audiences are able to discover new music. For example, after this show, I started listening to Stereolab and Laetitia Sadier, started listening to Wilco with new ears, and I was turned onto the techno stylings of Oliver Chapoy aka Certain Creatures!

I also very much appreciated the collaboration of Son Lux, Serengeti and Sufjan Stevens as Sisyphus. The talk at the Walker with these guys and the artist Jim Hodges was fascinating. We were working on a print with Jim at Highpoint at that time, so it was really cool to hear him talk about the role music plays in his artistic process.

What kind of music do you listen to at home? What other kind of music do you go to hear live? I listen to lots of different kinds of music, as well. In terms of rock music, I really love post-punk – Protomartyr is one of my favorite newer bands, and the band Shopping was also a favorite discovery from last year. I also, not surprisingly, love music that crosses genres, like The Soft Moon, which is a post-punk band which is post-punk but also darkwave and electropunk. Liquid Music alum Noveller opened for them last year at the Entry. I’m also very into electronic music, my favorite album of the year was by a local group called Beat Detectives. Super fresh sounding innovative art-house/ outsider house group.

I see a bit of everything, I mostly stick with small venues in town for intimacy and also affordability, so I usually end up seeing lots of shows at the (7th Street) Entry – also some underground venues like house basements and I’ve been exploring the underground techno scene as well. I’ve been to Pitchfork twice and also made it to Decibel last year. I’m more an urban festival goer than someone who is going to camp out for the weekend to listen to music.

Billy Elliot, Liquid Music subscriber

Tell us something about yourself: I’m a huge music fan and save all of the stubs from performances I’ve been seeing since 1976. I have about 1700 ticket stubs which is something like 43 shows a year. Also, I had my name about 40 years before the movie came out!

How did you hear about Liquid Music? I used to go to the Southern Theater all of the time and that is how I heard about Liquid Music. I’ve been going since the first season and try to go to all of the shows if I can. I like that it is quirky and eclectic, that it is not part of the mainstream, that it is off the wall. Also, each venue has a different feel and different acoustics and that adds to the performance. I never look up artists to listen before the performance – I like to be surprised when I get there.

What are some of your favorite recent performances? Nils Frahm – I loved the way he played multiple pianos. Nadia Sirota swept me away. Ethel: Documerica – I liked the way they transformed some old rock and roll songs. Miranda Cuckson was amazing.

What kind of music do you listen to at home? I like progressive rock and roll, jazz. I’m a big Tangerine Dream Fan.

Are you a classical music fan? Yes – Stravinsky’s Firebird Suites or Mussorgsky for example. I like string quartets and the viola.

What other kinds of arts activities do you take advantage of in the Twin Cities? I’m a member at the Walker; go to a lot of theater – Theater in the Round, Guthrie, Mixed Blood, Gremlin Theater. I probably see one modern dance performance a year.

Thanks to David, Alberto, Kaitlin, and Billy for sharing their stories with us. Tell us about your Liquid Music experience(s) in the comments section and be sure to follow us for updates and announcements and Liquid Music artists' happenings:

Twitter: @LiquidMusicSPCO (twitter.com/LiquidMusicSPCO)
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Extra-curricular Listening Pt. 5 - Tristan Perich/Surface Image / March 22, 2016 by Liquid Music

By Patrick Marschke

In preparation for this Thursday's Surface Image copresented with the Walker Art Center's Sound Horizon series we delve into the world of Tristan Perich.

One Bit Symphony

An important predecessor to Surface Image is Perich’s 1-Bit Symphony:

“Tristan Perich's 1-Bit Symphony is an electronic composition in five movements on a single microchip. Though housed in a CD jewel case, 1-Bit Symphony is not a recording in the traditional sense; it literally ‘performs’ its music live when turned on. A complete electronic circuit—programmed by the artist and assembled by hand—plays the music through a headphone jack mounted into the case itself.”

“I don’t really think of it as a limitation. I have a beef with the idea of limiting your options and exploring that. I think of it more as writing for simple voices. As you go down the sampling bit rate, when you get down to one bit, every value is zero or one. There is no volume control, there’s no timbral adjustment, it’s a really raw, beautiful electronic tone.” - Tristan in The Wire Magazine

If the sounds in 1-Bit Symphony and Surface Image sound faintly familiar, you might recognize traces of “chiptune” or early video game music. The technology at that time meant that the game soundtracks had to take up as little space as possible. Video game composers stretched the limits of this limited digital space to make some of the most iconic sounds of their time. Tristan has repurposed these sounds and elaborated on their potential in incredible ways throughout his career.

Check out Koji Kondo or Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (nostalgia warning) for some early examples of chiptune.

Oval

Oval is arguably the origin of glitch music—a genre oriented around the idea of “aesthetic failure”; pushing digital devices to their physical limits and recording/sampling the audio artifacts. While that sounds like a very abrasive/violent process, the sounds that Oval arrives at are actually quite warm and ambient—somehow finding the humanness in the inaccessible insides of our devices—all in 1995! Oval and Surface Image test the limits of digital sound and both end up creating entirely visceral and immersive worlds with their incredibly restricted mediums.

Ryoji Ikeda

Japanese sound/digital artist Ryoji Ikeda uses comparably “raw” digital sounds to Perich, that similarly create a very distinct feeling of digital space.

Like Ryoji, Perich also works in a visual realm. Check out Perich's entrancing “wall drawings”:

Lesley Flanigan

"Lesley Flanigan is an experimental electronic musician living in New York City. Inspired by the physicality of sound, she builds her own instruments using minimal electronics, microphones and speakers. Performing these instruments alongside traditional instrumentation that often includes her own voice, she creates a kind of physical electronic music that embraces both the transparency and residue of process — sculpting sound from a palette of noise and subtle imperfections.”

Here again in Lesley Flanigan’s music we find deep emotional content derived from electronic sound manipulation, in Leslie’s case paired incredibly effectively with the human voice. Leslie uses feedback, hand built speakers, and loop pedals to craft engulfing sonic spaces.

Philip Glass

Surface Image is not exactly “minimal” what with the 40 speakers and incredibly intricate machine coding processes, but one can pick up traces influences of the early minimalist in its dense aural landscape. The seemingly boundless kinetic energy of Surface Image can be similarly heard in Philip Glass’s frenetic “Spaceship” from Einstein on the Beach.

SEE SURFACE IMAGE LIVE AT THE WALKER AT CENTER GALLERIES THURSDAY, MARCH 24 (FREE)

Follow Tristan:
www.tristanperich.com/
Twitter: @tristanperich

Follow Vicky Chow:
www.vickychow.com/
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Twitter/Instagram: @vcpianos

Meet s t a r g a z e / March 10, 2016 by Liquid Music

Over the course of the season, there's been a lot of noise about Liquid Music's Artists in Virtual Residence, Poliça and s t a r g a z e. In November of 2016, musicians from s t a r g a z e will travel across the pond to perform onstage at the Fitzgerald Theater with members of Poliça. Now that you’ve had a chance to meet André de Ridder and Channy Leaneagh, our interview mini series continues with introductions to the musicians who form the core of s t a r g a z e.

Up Next: Meet Chris Bierden, Ben Ivascu and Drew Christopherson from Poliça!

Aart Strootman, Guitar

How did you become involved with stargaze?
I met Bryce Dessner when I was playing a piece he wrote for Bang On A Can with a Dutch ensemble called Luna Park. He was there and we talked endlessly about the music by Steve Reich and so forth. After the concert he asked my details so I could replace him during a festival by Nico Muhly in the Barbican. There I played his solo part in his double guitar concerto, conducted by, indeed, André de Ridder. That's where it all started!

If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be?
A completely unknown (so I wouldn't know where it's located yet!) little church, with a wooden ceiling. Authentic and just the most lovely acoustics. I mostly prefer these places over pop-venues.

What was the last piece of music you listened to?
Nine Inch Nails - Copy of A

If you found $10 on the street, what would you do?
Call a friend and have a coffee or 2 at the cosiest spot I know around

When you first heard that Poliça and stargaze would be collaborating for a Liquid Music show, what was your first reaction?
(...) Ohhhh YEAHHH!

Marlies van Gangelen, Oboe

How did you become involved with s t a r g a z e?
Through the french horn player Morris. He was asked to join the ensemble and then they needed an oboist as well.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Ow, this is an easy one: it would definitely be Wadi Rum - also known as The Valley of the Moon. It's a desert in Jordan. I would live as a bedouin musician with three camels and a telescope.

What is your favorite word or phrase?
Noemarou. It's not a real word, it's made up to express amazement.

What was the last piece of music you listened to?
This morning while waking up i listened to W H O K I L L by TuNe-YaRds! I can't think of a better way to start the morning.

Maaike van der Linde, Flute

How did you become involved with stargaze?
I was studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London when I met André after a Villagers concert in the Barbican Centre. I did a fantastic master's degree which was mainly focussing on developing creative musical ideas, cross art and community projects and with a very open approach to very diverse musical genres. We were talking about how it was to be trained as a classical musician but always wanting to play in bands too. Back then André was just starting with stargaze and collecting people from all over Europe, there was no flute player yet and I was the lucky one... the first show I did with stargaze was with Villagers at Haldern Pop and I never left.

What did you eat for breakfast today?
I'm now in Amsterdam but this morning I was still in Berlin at André’s place. I was there to meet the people from Poliça and have a first jam and listening session! It was really great, yesterday we visited their concert in Berghain Kantine and this morning they came over for late breakfast at André’s place where Justin, Marlies and I were staying too. I had croissants and grapefruit and cappuccino for breakfast.

What is your favorite word or phrase?
Petrichor: The smell of rain after a long period of drought and heat.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I'm really happy in Amsterdam actually... I love this city and I live in an amazing apartment in the centre, it's kind of a commune where everyone has their own apartment. In this house live people who used to squat this place - a former school building - in the early 80's. Everyone is much older than I am and I really like that... It's not like it's a house full of moms and dads, just great friends with more life experience and good advice. I travel a lot for concerts and projects and that is very easy from Amsterdam too. But if I would have to move.... I think I would move to a simple cottage in the mountains and in the forest because I do miss being in nature a lot. I would love to live in a place where there's no light and sound pollution and where I am surrounded by sounds from nature. I would love to have a fireplace too!

When you first heard that Poliça and stargaze would be collaborating for a Liquid Music show, what was your first reaction?
YES!!! And now that I've met them and things become real, I'm even more excited and I think everyone is!

Follow Aart Strootman:
http://aartstrootman.com
Youtube

Follow Marlies van Gangelen:
http://marliesvangangelen.com
Twitter: @MarliesGangelen

Follow Maaike van der Linde:
http://maaikevanderlinde.com

Follow s t a r g a z e:
http://we-are-stargaze.com
Twitter: @wearestargaze
Facebook
Vimeo

Keep up with the Virtual Residency:
First Look
Interview with André de Ridder
Interview with Channy Leaneagh
Catching up with s t a r g a z e: Weekender Festival, Berlin 2015
Virtual Residency Mini Doc Part I

Extra-curricular Listening pt.4 - Jake Rudh on Laurie Anderson / March 3, 2016 by Liquid Music

We asked friend of Liquid Music, DJ, and host of 89.3 The Current's weekly show Transmission Jake Rudh to help us explore the ever-unfolding world of Laurie Anderson as part of our extra-curricular listening series in prep for Anderson's performance on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 8:00pm. Dive in and see what you find.

Laurie Anderson is one of America's most celebrated (and daring) creative pioneers working in the worlds of art, theater and music. For over five decades she has pushed the boundaries of what those worlds are and can be and luckily for us, continues to do so today. Because of Laurie's expansive talent over multiple mediums, her work means different things to many different people. I was honored to have been asked by the SPCO's Liquid Music Series what it means to me and to share a few personal highlights of her work.

O Superman

"O Superman" ... the song that introduced much of the world to Laurie Anderson and can be found on her debut album "Big Science" from 1981. It was so popular in the UK, that it actually hit the #2 spot on the singles chart. An influential piece to many, you can find it covered, remixed and quoted in many different places. One place I was happy to see it was on permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

As an extra treat, you can find footage of David Bowie covering this song during his 1997 "Earthling" tour online.

Peter Gabriel + Laurie Anderson: Excellent Birds

Outside of her own expansive catalog, Laurie has collaborated with some of the world's most respected artists crossing many different genres. From William S. Burroughs and John Cage to Jean Michel Jarre, Philip Glass and Peter Gabriel.

Laurie Anderson PSA

One thing I've always enjoyed about Ms. Anderson is her humor. For as serious of topics as she covers with her work, there is often a lighter tone that is always appreciated.

The Puppet Motel

Though she has over 30+ years of exceptional material to choose from, I wanted to include "The Puppet Motel" from 1994's "Bright Red" release as it's a personal favorite (both song and album). It's produced by Brian Eno and his genius is felt throughout. As is often with both artists, the magic is in the subtleties.

In Our Sleep (featuring Lou Reed)

Laurie began dating Lou Reed back in 1992 and was married to him from 2008 until his death in 2013. There's no doubt they supplied each other much creativity and inspiration, and it's our good fortune that they decided to record some of it.

Heart of a Dog

One of Laurie's latest works is a documentary called "Heart of a Dog" touching on subjects such as death, loss and most importantly unconditional love.

Follow Jake Rudh:
Facebook
Twitter: @JakeRudh
transmission-music.com/
Transmission Radio: Every Thursday 10 p.m. 89.3 The Current

Keep up with Laurie Anderson:
www.laurieanderson.com
Twitter: @OnlyAnExpert
Facebook

Surface Image: Interview with Vicky Chow / March 3, 2016 by Liquid Music

By Lauren McNee

We had a chance to catch up with pianist Vicky Chow following our in depth conversation with composer Tristan Perich earlier this week in preparation for the Twin Cities premiere of Surface Image. Below Chow answers a few of our questions about collaborating with Tristan Perich, her pre-concert rituals, the creative process of commissioning music and the magic of Surface Image.

Don't miss the free show on March 24, copresented with the Walker Art Center's Sound Horizon Series.

Photo Credit: Kaitlin Jane Photography — Photo Credit: Kaitlin Jane Photography

Favorites

What are 3 things you can't live without?
My dog, the beach, noodles
or
My family, my piano, my iPhone
or
Sushi, my Murakami books, bathrobe
...I think it'll depend on the day you ask me

What is your first memory?
When I was 2 years old living in Hong Kong, I remember my aunt always picking me up and washing my feet in the bathroom sink because I'd always run around with my bare feet.

Favorite pre-concert rituals?
Getting a good night's sleep the day before, a good meal, and stretching.

Favorite cocktail?
I like bourbon straight up, neat. Not really a cocktail person.

Best advice you ever received?
Everybody's winging it.

When do you feel the happiest?
Late at night in my apartment in Brooklyn, and everyone's asleep. It is calm and I can finally hear my own thoughts.

Who are your musical heroes?
Nik Bartsch, Maria Chavez, Martha Argerich, Steve Reich, John Cage, Shara Worden, Glenn Gould

Day in the Life

At what moment did you realize you wanted to become a professional musician?
I knew the moment I started piano when I was 5 that this is what I wanted to do. I reconfirmed it when I had to write down what we wanted to be when we grew up in class when I was 8. I knew I wanted to attend Juilliard and move to New York and be a pianist.

What does a typical day of practicing/rehearsing look like for you?
Wake up, caffeinate, walk dog, procrastinate, emails, fb, meal, tea, procrastinate, clean my apartment, do laundry (if there’s dirty clothes), and finally when I’ve done all the mundane stuff, I can sit down and immerse myself at the piano. For some reason I have to organize my physical space and life before I can concentrate. I get distracted by all of the things that are out of place. I think it is because I know that once I do that, I will fail to clean my apartment for a while so I need a clean slate before I do anything like that. These days, I’m barely home, usually only coming back for 2-3 days before having to leave for the next thing. So I always do a sweep, laundry, and practice before I leave again.

What was the last piece of music you listened to?
My Brightest Diamond "This is My Hand"

Arrangements of Shara Worden "This is My Hand", New Music Detroit

Creative Process

Tell us more about the creative process of self commissioning this piece. Did you have any specific sounds in mind when you started to work with Tristan? How did the piece evolve as you worked together?
I just knew after I discovered Tristan’s music that he was someone I really wanted to work with. His musical sound, his medium, his voice, was something that resonated very strongly with me. I was always fascinated with electronics and with him being also a pianist, he understood the capabilities of the instrument extremely well and was able to push and challenge my virtuosity as a performer. One of the satisfying and rewarding things about working with a composer is that they understand who you are as a performing artist and they can incorporate and write things that will push me and highlight my strengths and abilities on the instrument. Tristan was aware of the things that I could do really well and he went that route when proceeding with writing Surface Image. I think it also helps that his pianistic interests kind of line up with what I also like doing and do well. I think with working on this scale in number of speakers and with such a powerful instrument, it allowed Tristan to explore some sonic areas that some of the other instruments are incapable of. The sonic canvas is a lot larger.

When was the first time you heard Tristan’s music and what inspired you to commission a piece from him? Are there certain aspects of his compositional style that resonated with you?
I first heard Tristan’s music when he released his 1-bit symphony album. I was a big fan. I remember going to all of his shows and introducing myself to him. I had also just joined Bang on a Can All-Stars as their pianist and our paths naturally crossed more and culminated on this collaboration. I think we were in mutual agreement that we both wanted to work together. For me, it was one of those unexplained moments in life when I felt it was necessary for it to happen and that it will happen. I’m not sure if you call these things fate or not, but it felt very powerful when the idea came to me to work with Tristan. I was riding in a car going up to MASS MoCA in July for the summer festival there. I remember texting Tristan about it and I think he had a similarly positive reaction. He may have a different story, but this if mine and I’m sticking to it!

What advice do you have for performers looking to commission projects from composers?
When you hear a piece of music and it sends chills down your spine and makes you feel joyful from deep inside, that is probably a person you should work with. Listen to your instinct. Work with composers whose music moves you deeply. That is when a truly meaningful collaboration will take place.

Coming October 28th on New Amsterdam Records Pre-order here: https://newamsterdamrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tristan-perich-surface-image Surface Image was recorded and produced at EMPAC - the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Producer: Argeo Ascani. Mix Engineer: Jeffrey Svatek. Recording Engineers: Jeffrey Svatek and Stephen McLaughlin. Video filmed at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music.

The Magic of Surface Image

Surface Image has been described as a "minimalist tesseract comes to life" (I Care If You Listen) and a "sonic landscape not all that distinct from the music of Philip Glass, Steve Reich, La Monte Young, and Terry Riley" (Bandcamp). Do you classify this piece as minimalist? What stylistic characteristics point to why or why not?
Surface Image is a minimalist piece. It is at the scale of works similar to Reich’s Music for 18 and Glass’s earlier keyboard works. The musical material, the patterns and process, are somewhat apparent but the changes are very subtle. It is in several distinct sections and each musical motive is constantly shifting ever so slightly, flickering and dancing around the patterns. Before you know it, it somehow moved to the next section. There’s something very magical about it when that happens. This piece is unlike the processes of Reich in the music like his counterpoints/phases, or with Glass’s literal numerical additions in repetitions. I would compare this to some of the music of David Lang - in it’s great beauty and intimate delicacy and somewhat fragile dance my fingers have to make while performing Surface Image in some of the sections. I wouldn’t compare this to Riley’s keyboard works.

Surface Image seems to require a high level of virtuosity and mental stamina - what do you do to prepare yourself mentally and/or physically before a performance of this piece?
The more I get to perform Surface Image, the easier it gets. However, there are still moments that gets to me depending on my mental/physical state. These places either come easily or are a struggle. It is a way for me to monitor what state my body/mind is at. I need to be well rested to perform this work. If not, one could easily get lost!

Surface Image has gotten a lot of ink since the album’s release on New Amsterdam Records in 2014, including being named #4 in Rolling Stone's 20 Best Avant Albums of 2014. What about this project has allowed it to play out so successfully?
There is something about Tristan’s music that is so compelling. This was the reason why I was drawn to work with him in the first place and I think this is why others feel the same. This piece exists now in this world and I think it has caught the attention of so many music lovers because it really is unique. There is no other piece of music that I know of that is like this. It is a piece that marries the classical piano genre with the electronic art world perfectly.

You’ve had the opportunity to perform Surface Image at many different venues across the country since the Brooklyn premiere in 2013. What makes the Liquid Music/WAC show unique?
First of all this performance on the Liquid Music Series at the Walker Museum will be a premiere and it is always exciting to be able to present a work for the first time anywhere. The recording of the work on New Amsterdam was beautifully produced by Argeo Ascani and recorded by Jeff Svatek up at EMPAC but the live experience of this work is a lot different than listening to this through a pair of speakers in your home or in your car. In a beautiful gallery, you will see all of the speakers displayed, flanked beside the grand piano. The visual presentation is just as important as the musical journey it takes you. Each 1-bit sound is produced by one speaker. In a recording they are all mixed down to two channels. In this setting, you will hear and see the physical vibrations of each individual speaker. With a live gallery setting, the different sonic blend of the acoustic piano with the 1-bit electronics changes depending on where one stands in the space. It is almost like an installation, as the audience gets to move around and experience different perspectives of this work.

See Surface Image live at the Walker at Center Galleries Thursday, March 24 (free)

Follow Vicky:
www.vickychow.com/
Facebook
Twitter/Instagram: @vcpianos