A shitty morning (biting my lip hard enough to draw blood and pouring an entire cup of coffee on my lap, resulting in wet underwear at work) offered a good excuse for an Amoeba run. Today's stash turned out to be awfully new-musicky:
Amy X Neuburg, Residue. Amy rocked the house all the way down at the Other Minds Festival last year. She shared the program with percussionist Evelyn Glennie (who gave an extraordinarily focused and intense performance) and the Onyx String Quartet doing some Ge Gan-ru (unmemorable piece; memorable playing, but not in a good way). But even so I dithered on whether to get her album because I was worried that her amazing, virtuosic one-woman show, which features live triggers of loops and samples, many of which are being recorded as she's performing, wouldn't translate in my living room. I listened to it tonight over dinner, and indeed some of the impact of the live show is missing. But "My God" alone is worth the price of the CD (especially when it's on sale used at Amoeba). Does she practice Islam? You'll have to listen to find out. Please go see Amy if she comes your way! She makes me think about singing in totally different ways, and puts on a good show too.
Eric Whitacre, Complete A Cappella Works 1991-2001. Haven't opened the shrinkwrap on this one yet because I must admit I don't know anything about it. Whitacre's name came up in a conversation with Maestro G- about Toby Twining a month or so ago, and I've been curious ever since.
Ethel. Yes, it took me this long to get a copy; cheapness forces me to the back of the pack yet again. This was the first album I put on this evening. Some very fine string quartet playing -- no wonder the buzz has been so strong and incessant. I'll pay more attention tomorrow (when I'm not cooking), but on first listen John King's Sweet Hardwood and Evan Ziporyn's Be-in stood out. I'm so bummed I'll be missing this New Sounds Live concert at Merkin by a week. I really like Phil Kline's Zippo Songs too.
Arnold Dreyblatt, The Adding Machine. Piece by piece the whole Cantaloupe catalog is being gathered. I'm going solely on recommendations here; I know nothing about this album.
Meredith Monk, Atlas. I listened to Facing North again; I hadn't heard it since an American Mavericks concert at the Symphony back in 1999. It was as delightful today as it was live. So many marvelous and evocative sounds! And that Arctic Bar movement had me laughing like a fool, standing in front of my desk with headphones on, waiting for my pants to dry. There's hardly ever any Meredith CDs available used at Amoeba, but Atlas was there today so I picked it up.
Del Sol String Quartet, Short Cuts. I think I heard about these folks from two different sources on the same day last year. I went to a recital they did at USF with M. H- and Mme H- (back when Mme H- was still Mlle H-) and they played a George Antheil quartet that was surprisingly fun -- quirky and stylistically all over the place. I heard just the other day that they're planning to release a whole album of Antheil quartets. The album I picked up today is just three tracks, but for $1.99 clearance I figure it's worth it; I wanted to hear the Keeril Makan track anyway.
eighth blackbird, beginnings. I'm kind of weirdly fanatic about these guys. Like, when I noticed that Matthew Duvall was playing in the Cabrillo Music Festival orchestra, I got a little excited, as though it were a star sighting or something. They played a fantastic show here for San Francisco Performances a season or two ago, one of the high points of the year as far as I'm concerned. Interesting music, engaging presentation, superlative playing. SF Performances has brought them back this season, for a concert in the hall at the new JCC. In fact, I'm going to put Round Nut Tool and Thirteen Ways in my bag right now for tomorrow's listening.
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