The 2012 Kontact sonoreS started out with an intriguing set by Polish group Karbido, The Table. Four guys are seated around an amplified table, and no ordinary table, either, but one designed to make different sounds in different places, supplemented by many and various noise makers. Unfortunately, after about four minutes of some really delightful explorations of the table’s sonorities, the group settled in to some quite ordinary 70s rock n roll, including one song–yes, they sang, too–that mentioned some 70s bands by name. That lasted for at least until I finally gave up and left.
writing about music for people who like music
Kontact sonoreS 2012
Asymmetry archives (1): Ultima 2009
[Asymmetry has quite a backlog of material on concerts and festivals, going back to 2008. We have pledged to get caught up with that material in 2012 and to stay caught up with current happenings in the world. But we don't want that material from years past to be lost just because it's not current. ...
March’s Modern Music Month
Monday evening, the fifth of March, was the start of Portland's month-long celebration of modern music. Celebration and cerebration, as this evening's events included a panel discussion with a few of Portland's prominent musical thinkers. But first, Robert McBride introduced a "performance" of John Cage's 4'33" ...
Feldman’s 2nd in Portland
On Friday the 24th, around two hundred people took advantage of a rare opportunity to hear at least some of the four hour performance of Feldman's 2nd string quartet that Third Angle put on in the Ellyn Bye Studio of The Armory ...
Favorite Releases of 2011
Sometime around last October, I was thinking about all the CDs I'd acquired that year and wondered how many of them had been released in 2011. I discovered, to my chagrin, that most of the CDs I got in 2011 had been released in 2010 or 2009.
Who Put John Cage on the Guestlist?
Who put John Cage on the Guestlist? is the 2011 release of Hemmelig Tempo, a Norwegian project of Doktor Døv, Professor Waffel, and Professor Fokuda-san. With the exception of tracks five and six, which merge into each other, each track on this CD ...
M. Cristina Kasem
Asymmetry: So I hear that you won first prize in the Bourges' competition. Which category? Kasem: Musique electroacoustic with formal esthetics. Asymmetry: Without instruments. Kasem: Yes. Well, there are instruments in the mix, but not in real time. Asymmetry: When did you start composing? Kasem: At twenty-four or twenty-five ...
Festival Densités 2009 and 2010
Asymmetry visited the '09 and '10 Festivals Densités in Fresnes-en-Woëvre, once as Michael E. Karman and once as Michael S. Karman. This fortunately confused no one. Densités is a very bright, very tight little festival. High-powered music making with some of the most talented musicians ...
New Jersey Laptop Orchestra
The New Jersey Laptop Orchestra's first CD is called The Willingness to be Touched, which is also the title of the second track. And seriously, look at that album cover--that picture with those words? Who could resist? I've heard several laptop ...
Futura ’09
Futura '09 was the second Futura festival Asymmetry has been able to attend. It is a short festival, only a weekend, but it is jam-packed with electroacoustic goodness. The initial draw for me in '09 was the chance to hear another Bokanowski piece live ...