2024, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

Here is my annual rundown of things I managed to give more than a cursory listen to in this year of MOOG dreams and political nightmares. As always, this is NOT meant as my “Best of” list or anything other than an experiment in exhibitionism and voyeurism. I do it because I enjoy reading about what others are listening to and so I’d like to reciprocate. There was a personal project that came to fruition and I’ve included it in my list since it consumed so much of my actual listening time. There were also many happy and welcome returns to action after extended absences, including new music from Jon Anderson, Laurie Anderson, Kim Deal, The Decemberists, Beth Gibbons, and Kim Gordon.

As always, YMMV.

• Jon Anderson/True

• Laurie Anderson/Amelia

• Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Paul Dooley: Masks & Machines

• Suzanne Ciani/Buchla Concert at Galeria Bonino NY (1974)

• Dan Cook/Pedernal’s Ashes

• Cornelius/Etherial Essence

• Kim Deal/Nobody Loves You More

• The Decemberists/As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

• Peter Garrett/The True North

• Beth Gibbons/Lives Outgrown

• David Gilmour/Luck & Strange

• Kim Gordon/The Collective

• Hammock/From The Void

• Roy Hargrove/Grande-Terre

• Jon Hopkins/Ritual

• Jean-Michel Jarre/Paris Stadium Live

• Jazz @ Lincoln Center/The Music of Max Roach

• Jazz @ Lincoln Center/The Shanghai Suite

• The Jesus & Mary Chain/Glasgow Eyes

• Kendrick Lamar/GNX

• Sean Ono Lennon/Asterisms

• Los Angeles Philharmonic/Ortiz: Revolución diamantina

• Flying Lotus/Spirit Box

• Yoann Loustalot/Flower District

• John Lurie/Painting with John (Soundtrack)

• Chrystabell & David Lynch/Cellophane Memories

• The Mavericks/Moon & Stars

• Rob Mazurek & Nick Terry/C6Fe2RN6

• Pat Metheny/Moondial

• Willie Nelson/Last Leaf on the Tree

• Camera Obscura/Look to the East, Look to the West

• Kate Pierson/Radios & Rainbows

• Pixies/The Night the Zombies Came

• Deep Purple/=1

• Ellen Reid/Big Majestic

• The Smile/Cutouts

• The Smile/Wall of Eyes

• Four Tet/Three

• Deap Vally/(ep)ilouge

• Vampire Weekend/Only God Was Above Us

New Bandcamp release announcement: Thermals (Collected Demos 2020-2022)

“Ah, not to be cut off,
not through the slightest partition
shut out from the law of the stars.
The inner — what is it?
if not the intensified sky,
hurled through with birds and deep
with the winds of homecoming.”

— Rainer Maria Rilke Aus: Die Gedichte 1922 bis 1926 (Paris, Sommer 1925)

Thermals collects remastered composition demos from just before the pandemic, leading into the 2020 American Presidential election, through the summer of 2022 and the US Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision. This group of pieces represents an attempt on my part to make sense of the world, nothing else. Following the completion of my brass quintet in the fall of 2022, my focus began to shift away from writing about current events. Please share. Thanks…more to come.

Clean Blue Sky, Revised Version

The revised version of Clean Blue Sky is now available. I have rescored the brass so that there are now two Horn parts instead of four and I have removed the 3rd Trombone part. I have added a 2nd Flute part and adjusted some of the ranges throughout the ensemble. There are also new percussion parts, including a four drum timpani part and a bell and crash cymbal part.

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Discover The Night: The Backbone of Night Remastered

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It’s International Dark Sky Week and to celebrate I’m looking back at my 2017 chamber symphony, The Backbone of Night. It is a piece about astrophilia and the loss of the night sky in our urban centers. The title is taken from a painting by Jon Lomberg. The work is in three sections. The first imagines a cityscape with its flashing neon lights and all of the hustle and bustle of modern life, but with a night sky devoid of stars due to ever-present skyglow. The second section imagines a trip to the outskirts of the city where skyglow is no longer a factor and the wonders of the night sky are clearly visible. The final section imagines a modern city that has figured out how to manage its light pollution without diminishing its sense of security or all of the activities that a modern society currently enjoys.

Earth Day 2022: Blue Remembered Earth Remastered

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To celebrate Earth Day, I’m looking back at my 2018 symphony for wind ensemble, Blue Remembered Earth. Early drafts were floating around as far back as 2011. It was the need to bring closure to this work that prompted my going back to school for more education. I am grateful for the guidance provided by James Syler at UTSA. The insights he provided helped me organize this material into a much more cohesive package. I’ve written many things since then, but this remains the piece I am most proud of. I hope to get the chance to hear it performed someday.

Clean Blue Sky, First Listen

Clean Blue Sky is a three minute work for concert band. It is a modern take on classic ballads for winds such as Balladair by Frank Erickson. I wanted to write a piece for students that would represent musically the build up and removal of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. I settled on using additive chord tones (7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths) to create tension and to build up the thicker textures needed to represent the build up of atmospheric pollutants. The piece begins with a standard 3-pitch major chord in Bb Major and ends with the open, clean interval of a Perfect 5th (Bb/F). Another pedagogical goal of the piece was to develop rhythmic understanding of the dotted-quarter note. It is used in multiple ways throughout the piece by every instrument. Ranges are all within beginner to intermediate level with doubling throughout. 

This audio is of the original orchestration. An updated version will be available May 2022.

2021, sketchy.

Here is my annual rundown of things I managed to give more than a cursory listen to in this year of inspiration, disillusionment, and improvisation. As always, this is NOT meant as my “Best of” list or anything other than an experiment in exhibitionism and voyeurism. I do it because I enjoy reading about what others are listening to and so I’d like to reciprocate. One thing I’ve noticed about my list this year is that is more detached from current pop music than in previous years. Part of that is a result of not feeling like attending any new festivals this year, some of it is seeking comfort in old friends, and some of it is a natural tendency to age out. I usually try very hard to avoid this, but I just didn’t have the heart this year for some reason. Maybe next year. As always, YMMV.

Here’s to realized campaign promises and renewed global cooperation. 

In alphabetical order.

Aimee Mann, Queens of the Summer Hotel

Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Enigma

Asleep at the Wheel, Half a Hundred Years

Billy F Gibbons, Hardware

Ceramic Dog, Hope

ChVrches, Screen Violence: Director’s Cut

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers, Imposter

Deap Vally, Marriage

Deep Purple, Turning to Crime

Dennis DeYoung, 26 East, Vol. 2

Dropkick Murphys, Turn Up That Dial

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Hunter and the Dog Star

Explosions in the Sky, Big Bend

Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, The Reset

Hammock, Elsewhere

Mogwai, As The Love Continues

Jean-Michel Jarre, Amazônia

José González, Local Valley

Olga Neuwirth, Solo

Pat Metheny, Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raise the Roof

St. Vincent, The Nowhere Inn

Steve Cropper, Fire It Up

Styx, Crash of the Crown

Tangerine Dream, Probe 6-8 (2021)

Terence Blanchard, Absence

Terri Hendrix, Pilgrim’s Progress Project 5.5

The Joy Formidable, Into The Blue

Tune-Yards, sketchy.

Tyshawn Sorey, For George Lewis

Vikingur Ólafsson, Mozart & Contemporaries

Willie Nelson, That’s Life

Wynton Marsalis & JLCO, The Democracy! Suite

Yes, The Quest

Willow, Final Version

These are the completed lyrics to Willow, a soon to be released work for male voice choir (TTBB) and low brass quartet (tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba)

I will bend to your will

and you will bend to mine

when the time comes

We will cherish the tapestry

that was woven on bended knees

when the water comes

There will be money to buy

all the food in the world

when the famine comes

We'll have seeds a-plenty

to plant all we need

when the drought comes

Clamorings for freedom

will prevent the cure

when the plague comes

Feeling your strength

mindlessly

bullying 

chuckling 

you fell by

the bit of the axe 

thrust into me 

with past's clarion call

Roots dug deep

wounded on bended needs

when the time came

Those in orbit around us

will sing hosannas eternal

when the darkness comes