[Moshe]

http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/me...-3322132.shtml


Bang on a Can brings modern global sound



By: Nash Roberts, Staff Writer

Posted: 4/14/08

A genre-defying blend of musical compositions by the Bang on a Can All-Stars challenged audience members' perceptions of musical form Saturday at Memorial Hall.

The show was highlighted by original compositions from guest performers such as Burmese pat wang master Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo and Glenn Kotche, drummer for rock group Wilco.

"We're not trying to do a sampler," said Evan Ziporyn, clarinetist with the group. "We believe in all the music we do, and in this case, the music traveled about as wide as music can travel - from a Burmese drummer to Wilco's drummer."

The first half of the show featured traditional Burmese pieces and original compositions from Naing played on the pat wang. The pat wang is a traditional Burmese percussion instrument constructed with rows of drums tuned to different pitches that produce a sound unlike anything heard in Western traditional music. The sound can best be described as a xylophone made of drums but played with the hands.

"He's this incredibly gentle and meek person, but he knows exactly how he wants his music to go, and he doesn't settle for less in any way," Ziporyn said of Naing.

Naing's performance as a whole was intensely orchestrated and intricate, each piece demanding the utmost skill and musicianship.

The second half featured the world premiere of compositions from Ranaldo and Kotche.

"Ranaldo's piece was really in-your-face intense noise, but the guitar provided unique direction," said Grace Kennerly, who attended the performance.

The composition featured Ranaldo playing guitar with both a bow and a screwdriver and was reminiscent of his dissonant sound found in Sonic Youth's music.

Ranaldo screamed above the din of the band to keep the musicians on beat as he attacked his guitar without mercy.

"I think it was some of the thickest, most intense music I've heard in a while," said audience member Tripp Gobble.

The sound even drove some unprepared for his furious and brooding music out of the auditorium.

But others in attendance, such as Brian White, said they were willing to give the abrasive music a chance.

"It was a little challenging at times but a nice mixture of Southeast Asian music and noise," he said.

And while some were critical of the avant-garde nature of the performance, Ziporyn had his own thoughts on how to make the music easier for audience members to digest.

"I would have ended with Lee's piece because it's so overwhelming," he said.

Kotche's pieces featured intricate rhythmic exchanges between Kotche and Bryce Dessner, another drummer. The pieces' melodies seemed to cautiously tread between the broken and fluctuating beat of the drums.

In comparison to Ranaldo's performance, Kotche's pieces were warmer and more accessible.

"I thought it was a widely ranging concert," said Allen Anderson, professor of music composition at UNC who attended the performance. "It's interesting to hear musicians writing for completely different ensembles, so it was a very eclectic evening."

And that eclectic nature is what allows Bang on a Can All-Stars to push the limits of what people have come to expect from modern music.

"I enjoyed the program selections, both the ethnic and contemporary pieces," said audience-member Kristin Blank. "I enjoyed the cacophonous noise of the contemporary compositions."

[andrei]

Thanks for the info Moshe. Now i just hope a recording will surrface...

[threelobed]

for those who are into such stuff, here is a copy of the evening's handbill for the set, including lee's performance - http://senduit.com/82d5c6 (link good for one week)

[andrei]

thanks for that!

[pbradley]

So what can anyone tell me about this Epic Soundtracks dude?

[andrei]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Soundtracks

[drrrtyboots]

YES! Gonna be such a great Bang On A Can this year and actually manageable to catch the whole thing, being 12 hours as opposed to last year's 27 hours.

[Moshe]

http://timesunion.com:80/AspStories/...&category=ARTS


You'll get a bang out of Bang On a Can

By GREG HAYMES, Staff writer
First published: Sunday, July 20, 2008
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- No one was actually banging on a can, but drummer David Cossin was flailing away on a bunch of traditional Balinese gongs during the opening suite of music from "ShadowBang," and by the end of the evening's program pianist Ning Yu was dragging a heavy metal chain across the strings inside her Baldwin grand.

Back for their seventh annual Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, the Bang On a Can All-Stars treated adventurous listeners to a wild ride on Saturday night at MASS MoCA's Hunter Center, and if you were looking to hear something out of the ordinary, you certainly weren't disappointed.
The six-piece ensemble featured founding member and clarinetist Evan Ziporyn, along with BOAC veterans Cossin and bassist (and Capital Region native) Gregg August, as well as relative newcomers Felix Fan on cello, Ning Yu on piano and Derek Johnson on eight-string electric guitar. It's a unique sound that fuses together elements of a contemporary avant-garde classical ensemble with the power and fury of a rock band without ever quite sounding like either one.
The centerpiece of the program was the closing number, in which the All-Stars were joined by special guest guitarist Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth in a performance of his composition "How Deep Are Rivers (A Map is a Good Piece of Paper)." Beginning with snippets of telephone messages looped and laden with echo, the piece morphed into a extended guitar solo, in which Ranaldo played his guitar in seemingly every manner except the traditional way. Holding it gingerly by the neck, he dragged a violin bow across the bass strings, sculpting a deep, low-end sound that fought against a delicate balance of feedback.
The rest of the ensemble kicked in somewhere around the eight-minute mark, layering on progressive rock filigrees and a throbbing rhythmic foundation, which built to a climax of joyous, ecstatic noise.
But that was just the finale. The BOAC All-Stars opened the concert by exploring Balinese gamelan music with Ziporyn's "ShadowBang" suite, the delicate, meditative wash of the second movement ("Ocean") and the thoroughly rocking closing section ("Head") gave Ranaldo's piece a run for its money as the highlights of the night. Along the way, the All-Stars also dove head-first into free jazz with Ornette Coleman's "Haven't Been Where I Left," conjured a mutant strain of polyrhythmic Afro-pop with Lukas Ligetti's "Glamour Girl" and served up Julia Wolfe's "Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary," which seemed to be one suspenseful, tension-building chord that grew more harrowing with each pounding of a concert bass drum that literally rattled the seats of the theater. Music reviewTHE BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS with Lee Ranaldo When: 8 p.m. Saturday Where: MASS MoCA's Hunter Center, 87 Marshall St., North Adams, Mass. Length: Two hours Musical highlights: Ranaldo's "How Deep Are Rivers (A Map is a Good Piece of Paper)" and Ziporyn's suite from "ShadowBang" Upcoming: The Bang On a Can Summer Institute at MASS MoCA continues with free performances throughout the galleries at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. daily. The festival concludes with the Bang On a Can Marathon features the All-Stars, students and acclaimed contemporary classical composer Terry Riley at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Hunter Center.

[Moshe]

http://jmoyer.livejournal.com:80/9266.html

[Moshe]

http://www.nysun.com/out-and-about/t...acation/82452/

The Bang on a Can Sonic Vacation

By AMANDA GORDON | July 23, 2008

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A performance with Bang on a Can brought poet and musician Lee Ranaldo — most famously of the band Sonic Youth — to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Mass., during the weekend.

Click Images for Slideshow

 

Leah Singer & Lee Ranaldo with their children Frey & Sage.






The concert, with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, was part of the New York-based music collective's July residency at the museum, which has featured two recitals daily and concludes Saturday night with an appearance by Terry Riley.
Mr. Ranaldo started with a solo (a welcomed, last-minute addition to the program) in which he played a message from his iPhone and made cool sounds with his guitar by taking it off its strap, moving it around, tapping on it, and playing it with a bow. Then he brought in the band, including cellist Felix Fan and percussionist David Cossin, for a physical, riveting sound experience.
The gig was also a family getaway. Before the show, Mr. Ranaldo had dinner at Café Latino, a restaurant on the museum's premises, with his wife, Leah Singer; sons Frey and Sage; artists Thomas Lail and Tara Fracalossi, who run the gallery at Hudson Valley Community College, where Mr. Ranaldo and Ms. Singer have a show opening in October, and artists Charlie and Kathleen Tesnakis (Ms. Tesnakis designs accessories made from salvaged clothing).
The adults had watermelon salad and fish tacos, while the children had chicken fingers and corn on the cob.
The children watched Mr. Ranaldo's performance, and they weren't the only family members of musicians present: Bang on a Can founder Julia Wolfe's parents sat in the front row for the debut of a composition by her.
After the concert musicians headed to local bar the Mohawk, where they drank beer and jammed.
A highlight of the week's recitals was a three-minute performance in which Malina Rauschenfels hung upside down playing her flute while another musician played standing upright beside her. Ms. Rauschenfels wrote the piece after having a dream in which she played upside down, which she said may have been inspired by the upside-down trees in the courtyard at the museum (an art installation, "Tree Logic," by Natalie Jeremijenko).
"I am careful about keeping tempo, because the maximum time I can hang upside down is three minutes," Ms. Rauschenfels said.

[atsonicpark]

hot

[viewtiful_alan]

Sounds very cool

[pbradley]

I found a youtube video of Ranaldo's bang on a trash can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odpo64ObZrQ


(not really, just a Doug video)

[Moshe]

Saturday, September 27 at noon
Colwell Playhouse
Flex: 28 / SC 23 / Stu 19 / UI & Yth 14
Single: 30 / SC 25 / Stu 21 / UI & Yth 16

Buy Tickets Online

Bang on a Can Marathon
Bang on a Can All-Stars with special guests Glenn Kotche and Lee Ranaldo with the School of Music New Music Ensemble

Part rock band, part classical ensemble, part jazz sextet, the Bang on a Can All-Stars emerged from the energy and excitement of New York’s now legendary Bang on a Can Festival. The New York Times describes it as “a fiercely aggressive group, combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble.” The All-Stars routinely perform in their local venues Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, as well as mounting more distant stages—the BBC Proms, the Sydney Opera House, the Venice Biennale, and Paris’s Théâtre de la Ville.

The Krannert marathon will be an eclectic 12-hour smorgasbord with listeners coming and going as they please and many staying straight through as the All-Stars perform with Glenn Kotche, percussion phenom of indie rock’s Wilco, and Lee Ranaldo, co-founder of Sonic Youth. Where else but Krannert are you going to get up close and personal with these guys—all day long?

The group’s instrumentation hints at its aesthetic. Clarinet, cello, keyboard, electric guitar, bass, and drums—the line-up was chosen to give voice to a huge range of musics and styles, and the players have the backgrounds and expertise to match. Each performer is completely at home with new music but has lived somewhere else as well: collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, leading a gamelan, backing Mikhail Baryshnikov, touring with Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. The musicians bring such “otherworldly” experiences back to their life with the All-Stars, and this mixing creates intense, hard-rocking performances.

There is not yet a name for this kind of music. Strap yourself in for a joy ride through the sound of a new generation!
For more information, visit:
www.bangonacan.org/

[pbradley]

I feel guilty for my Doug video. Sorry everyone.

[TheMadcapLaughs]

I thought this thread was about lee fucking damo suzuki or something! but i guess that just doesn't add up does it?

[Moshe]

Members of Wilco and Sonic Youth turn avant-garde at Krannert

Bang on a Can all-stars breaks boundaries

Sep. 25, 2008 - by Eric Heisig – buzz Writer


http://the217.com/site_media/images/...84_l.jpg?w=300 Glenn Kotche

As much as it may seem so after Pygmalion, CU isn’t quite over with music festivals for the year.
Come Saturday, September 27, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts will be host to the Bang on a Can Marathon. The 12-hour festival will bring a host of music, ranging from classical to avant-garde to just about any other genre imaginable.
The festival will feature the Bang on a Can All-Stars, a classical/avant-garde/minimal/catch-all ensemble, performing with various groups, including composers and performers from the University.
However, the marathon will also showcase the likes of Glenn Kotche, drummer for Wilco, and Lee Ranaldo, guitarist for Sonic Youth, both abandoning their discipline in rock in favor of unexplored oppurtunities in avant-garde compositions.
“I have had a genuine desire to explore these areas,” Kotche said in reference to his composition work. “I love being in a rock band, but there is this other side of me that likes to do things on my own. I wouldn’t be happy if I wasn’t in a rock band, but I wouldn’t be happy if I couldn’t do these other things.”
Kotche, who holds a music performance degree from the University of Kentucky, will be performing his composition entitled “Snap” alongside pieces from his 2006 solo effort, Mobile.
“When we started recording the last Wilco record, I got into listening soul music,” he said. “I was listening to a lot of Stax Records (a soul label founded in Memphis, Tenn.) from the ’60s and ’70s. I got the idea to use that as a jumping-off place [for ‘Snap’].”
What resulted was an 11-minute piece that came from certain parts of Stax songs. Kotche said he would lift a melody line from one song, a bass line from another and a drum rhythm from yet another. What resulted was “a piece that sounds nothing like that music.”
On the other hand, Ranaldo’s piece, entitled “How Deep Are Rivers? (A Map Is a Good Piece of Paper),” may be more akin to the music of Sonic Youth. “There is a serious kind of tone to it,” he said. “It goes through a few different moods, from heavy and serious to more rocking sections.”
The music is based around different tonalities that build and build in intensity as the piece moves on. “One of the players likened the score of my piece to MapQuest directions,” Ranaldo said. “There are a lot of structured sections, but there are free-flowing sections as well. You know you have to hit a chord at a certain part, but there is a lot of room for open-ended playing.”
Ranaldo and Kotche are just two of the pieces of the Bang on a Can Marathon’s puzzle. Evan Ziporyn has been with the Bang on a Can All-Stars since 1992 as a clarinet (of many kinds) player and said the idea for the marathon came from having a festival where boundaries are shattered.
“What we found when we do these things is that it gives people a chance to check out different kinds music, to listen in a different way,” Ziporyn said.
Ziporyn said he and the rest of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, which includes Robert Black on bass, David Cossin on drums and percussion and Mark Stewart on guitars, basically act as a “house band” for the marathon shows.
“Our basic commitment is to have an adventurous spirit,” Ziporyn said. “Whether it’s contemporary classic or minimalism, indie rock, electronic or jazz. There is no real aesthetic principle other than we are looking for people who are looking to push boundaries.”
The Bang on a Can Marathon will take place at the Colwell Playhouse of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, at 12 p.m. Sept. 27. The performance will also feature works by Brian Eno, Steve Reich and Ziporyn himself, among others.


http://the217.com/articles/view/members_of_wilco_and_sonic_youth_turn_avant_garde_ at_krannert/print:true

[Moshe]

http://www.sj-r.com/features/x459462...n-a-rare-treat

Some of the music was bizarre, though no less fascinating. Lee Ranaldo, co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth and the other featured guest musician, conducted a noisy exploration of his pink electric guitar. He started the piece by pulling out an iPhone, calling up his voice mails and holding the device up to the instrument’s over-gained pick-ups. Pedals and effects processors rendered the messages into an otherworldly soundscape. Then it got weird