“I will go to a place and prefer to be overdressed. It’s just nice to have fun with things like that,” says 23-year-old Ari Scott, a cello player who’s finishing her master’s degree in music performance at DePaul. “I love to dress up for recitals. It’s a great excuse to go all out and wear […]
Tag: cello
Cellist-fronted metal trio Grayceon implore humanity to fight for a survivable future
In their nearly 15 years as a band, San Francisco’s Grayceon have reimagined the traditional shapes of metal with challenging song structures, thought-provoking lyrics, and a sound that often feels orchestral despite being largely produced by a trio of cello, guitar, and drums. On their fifth album, Mothers Weavers Vultures, the group make a plea […]
Cellist Judith Hamann summons a multitude of voices on two new paired albums
With almost identical moonlit cover images and similarly intimate recordings of her cello, voice, and electronics, Judith Hammann’s two new albums are a matched set. Both releases present dialogues between the peripatetic Australian-born musician’s main instrument and her body. On the LP Shaking Studies, whose program she performed in Chicago two years ago, she activates […]
Old comrades Peter Brötzmann and Fred Lonberg-Holm reunite on Memories of a Tunicate
German reeds player Peter Brötzmann turned 79 in March, so it would be developmentally appropriate for him to take a look back. But memories are a mixed blessing for a devoted practitioner of improvised music. While they can build up a shared understanding between partners, making it easier for them to come up with something […]
Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis releases a second record with his all-star quintet
When you want to put together an improvising ensemble whose interactions will be unpredictable as well as satisfying, it helps to recruit someone who has your back and someone else who isn’t afraid to push the music somewhere you didn’t think it would go. For one night in December 2018, Chicago alto, tenor, and baritone […]
Cellist Helen Money explores grief on her meditative new album, Atomic
California-born Chicagoan cellist Alison Chesley, aka Helen Money, studied at Northwestern, played in 90s indie-rock band Verbow, and often collaborates with the likes of Sanford Parker, Bruce Lamont, and Russian Circles. As a solo artist she’s cut her own road through the hills of heavy music, drone, and avant-garde. Her brand-new album, Atomic (Thrill Jockey), […]
Charles Curtis revisits the first acoustic piece by composer Éliane Radigue at the Art Institute of Chicago
Though her work is often characterized as minimalist, composer Éliane Radigue is a category unto herself. During the 1950s and ’60s, the Paris resident worked as an assistant to the originators of musique concrète, Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. But the music she composed after leaving their orbit employed long tones obtained from microphone feedback, […]
Icelandic cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir performs music that reflects nature and exile
Cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir performs with orchestras and smaller ensembles all around the globe and teaches at the University of Washington in Seattle. But Vernacular, her new CD on Sono Luminus, affirms her Icelandic roots even as it acknowledges her geographic distance from her native land. Thorsteinsdóttir has lived outside Iceland most of her life, and […]
Phil Minton and Audrey Chen plumb the pre- and post-language possibilities of the human voice
Phil Minton—one of world’s greatest vocal improvisers—performs with duo partner Audrey Chen for the first time in Chicago.
In Rotation: Cave’s Cooper Crain on a mind-blowing Chilean DIY label
Current musical obsessions of Cave’s Cooper Crain and Scott McGaughey of Chandeliers
Earl Sweatshirt’s humane, heartbreaking Doris and 14 more record reviews
Earl Sweatshirt’s humane, heartbreaking Doris and 14 more record reviews
12 O’Clock Track: “Two to Your Right, Five to Your Left,” a chunk of loud, visceral cello music from Okkyung Lee
A piercing, visceral improvisation from the South Korean cellist.
Wire’s gooey-sweet Change Becomes Us and 15 more record reviews
Reviews of 16 fresh releases from all over the map: Wire, Aosoth, Julia Kent, DJ Koze, Pedrito Martinez, Sax G, and lots more
Music of the hemispheres
The CSO’s Katinka Kleijn premieres a duet for cello and brain waves