Caroline Adelaide Shaw | M u s i c k

Othmar Ammann

Administrator — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:29:32 +0000

Last Thursday.

y e l l

Administrator — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:47:34 +0000

four pieces, from 2009-2011, for eight singers
live recordings from mass moca & the ecstatic music festival
allemande | sarabande | courante | passacaglia
roomfulofteeth.org

miskellanïïs musick for sunny days

Administrator — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:32:14 +0000

hauschka and hildur guðnadóttir: “#283″ (2011)
01 #283

dan trueman and brittany haas: “fosclachtha” (2012)
04 Fosclachtha

the caretaker: “a relationship with the sublime” (2011)
08 A Relationship With The Sublime 1

françois couperin via anonymous youtuber:
“les baricades mistérieuses” (1717/2005)

I posted another recording of this by Violaine Cochard two years ago, and I’ve listened to a bajillion other covers (mostly on youtube) of the piece, which is maybe the most perfect little morsel of music in the entire world. I just really came to love this version above – for so many reasons – truly, sincerely. it combines my love of upright pianos, human beings being amazing, youtube covers, fun-colored shirts, and Couperin.

two things you need in life sometimes

Administrator — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:03:20 +0000

The syntax of this whole situation is delicious.
Not sure what’s going on. For keys?
On the wall in the greenroom at Stanford Lively Arts
Palo Alto – March 2012

drawing jeff mangum

Administrator — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 06:33:26 +0000

Heading to England tomorrow night for Jeff Mangum’s ATP festival. (ACME quartet playing Gavin Bryars’ Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet and works by Ingram Marshall and Meredith Monk.)

We opened for Jeff in Boston last September, playing the Bryars. I made a few rapid sketches on the back of my music while he was sound checking in Jordan Hall. Plz excuse coffee stains.

realreelrielriil

Administrator — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 03:39:52 +0000

Recording session up in Hudson, NY.
With MONO and Wordless Music.
ANALOG.
Real tape. Real ribbon mics. Real strings.
These guys are committed.

teething

Administrator — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:38:46 +0000

Fun show last Saturday, with Roomful of Teeth + Glasser at the Ecstatic Music Festival (Kaufman Center, NYC). Works by Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs), Sarah Kirkland Snider, Cameron Mesirow (Glasser), Rinde Eckert, Judd Greenstein, and Bill Brittelle. We also did three of my own tunes — Allemande and Sarabande (new from August) and Passacaglia (old hat from 2009). Great audience. And this group of singers is kind of mind-blowingly wonderful and nuts.

Listen to the whole concert, thanks to WQXR/Q2. The first song is my wacked-out homage to Sol LeWitt and square dance patterns – Allemande. Followed by Merrill’s fearless, soulful Ansa Ya.
Full set list at left (click to view).

Some photos of the performance, via David Andrako. And a short video of rehearsal with Glasser:

And a few more random phone shots:

futurecipe

Administrator — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:07:11 +0000

Is this the future of cookbooks? Oh my gosh oh my gosh. Of course. The key here is that no one speaks a word. It’s just music, image, and the occasional listing of an ingredient. It’s like a little recipe card come to life. Thanks to the folks at Tiger in a Jar.

P.S. If The Joy of Cooking comes to vimeo, I call dibs on scoring the chapter on “Griddle Cakes and Fritter Variations”.

hint { foil . . .

Administrator — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:29:45 +0000

This. (A promotion for Onitsuka/Asics.) I found the origami artist Sipho Mabona‘s beautiful, detailed work online last month while prepping for Chicago (see last post), and I emailed him about his technique for getting such smooth and precise stop-motion animation with paper (naturally, the title of this sequence below is “In the Pursuit of Perfection”). I won’t reveal his secret here, but I’ll say that it helped a TON during the meditative hours upon hours of shooting my little film still-by-still. Mine was a simple effort, inspired by this amazing feat:

And this (below) is a perfect small thing. (thanks Marie!)
Scanned film pictures taken with a Nikon F65 and expired neopan film || music: Ólafur Arnalds “Elra’s Walz” (2009)

ritornello

Administrator — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:15:15 +0000

Recently got back from Chicago, where I spent two weeks in the loft of High Concept Laboratories in an operaSHOP residency (with fellow composer Elliot Cole and Opera Cabal mastermind Majel Connery). Long story short, I made a something in 10 days — an 18-minute piece called Ritornello, with film projections (stop motion animation alternating with ambient aerial shots), music with viola and voice, and a whimsical non-sequitur dance sequence (courtesy of choreographer Katelyn Halpern). Could use a bit more trimming and baking (will do down the road), but it came out alright in the end (two performances, at HCL and at the U of Chicago). Here is a brief program note from the workshop.

The trailer :

Some photos :
[more stills at LaraKastner.com]