this is one of the best listenings I had in time

Canto Ostinato is the new volume of classical minimalism from musician and producer Erik Hall. Written for four pianos in 1979 by Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt, the piece is freshly framed as an intimate, hour-long solo performance consisting of multitracked grand pianos, electric piano, and organ. Modern yet warm, ethereal yet tangible, Hall’s Canto Ostinato expertly bridges a revered piece of meditative concert repertoire with a tactile and highly personal studio setting.

Chicago-born and Michigan-based, Erik Hall is known as a multi-instrumental pillar for the groups NOMO, Wild Belle, and his own songwriting moniker In Tall Buildings. He has composed music for feature films, and as a producer/engineer he has shaped records for Natalie Bergman and Western Vinyl labelmates Lean Year. In a 2020 creative pivot, he chose to reinvent composer Steve Reich’s monumental contemporary classical masterpiece Music for 18 Musicians as a solo undertaking, applying the piece’s score to the familiar keyboards, guitars, and synthesizers in his studio. “At the time I think I was working through my identity as a musician and an artist,” Hall explains, “and on a level there was some sort of exorcism of a long held pop spirit.” The album was celebrated for being “freshly thrilling” and “legible in history but assertive of the moment” (Pitchfork) and “beguiling, meditational, and magical” (Electronic Sound). It won the 2021 Libera Award for Best Classical Record, and it quickly joined the canon of the piece’s quintessential recordings.

“There is a pseudo-meditational benefit to working on a longform piece that’s built on repetition,” Hall says. “Every stage— from internalizing the music, to executing the performance, to editing and mixing the record— requires deep and sustained presence of mind. I’ve always been drawn to a hallucinatory combination of harmony and repetition, and I found the entire process addictive.”

An apt second chapter, Canto Ostinato is inherently vast, and its score gives great creative license to the performer. Comprising 106 sections, complete freedom is given to repeat each one as many or as few times as desired. Additional leeway is given with regard to dynamics, articulation, and even instrumentation. On the heels of his previous, rather maximal arrangement, Hall chose to limit this album’s palette to three foundational keyboards of his studio: a 1962 Hammond M-101 organ, a 1978 Rhodes Mark I electric piano, and his family-heirloom 1910 Steinway grand piano. “This particular piece brought the added challenge of rekindling my dexterity as a pianist, something I haven’t maintained in earnest since I was a teenager,” he admits. The ensuing five-note rhythmic motif— the piece’s primary building block— is steady and workmanlike, forgoing virtuosic flare for depth, texture, and resonance, and eventually giving way to the stunning gratification of a gorgeously lyrical left turn.

As with Music for 18 Musicians, Hall employed no loops nor quantization nor any programmed or sequenced instruments of any kind. Every part was performed live in a room and captured with microphones, one at a time, each informed by, and reacting to the last. In this way the record breathes with interplay and an organic humanity, complete with flaws, noise, and the faint sound of turning pages. The recording quality is nonetheless toneful and saturated, characteristic of Hall’s production style and straying from the usual transparency of classical albums by using gear with tubes, transformers, and various stages of compression in the signal path. Always there is unmistakable realism and the feeling of being present in the room, sitting among the keys, hammers, and tines.

Ten Holt said: “Time, patience and discipline are the prerequisites for making a genetic code productive." His landmark composition provides Hall once again with a wondrous space in which to reverently embody this sentiment and deftly convey the elegant beauty of this music.

Erik Hall - "Canto Ostinato - Sections 17 - 30"

A tale of a forest.

Limited edition boxes with photographs and wooden stick USB: https://bit.ly/48DxCev

Meierkord’s trademark rich, textured cello is punctuated with Ni!'s meandering saxophones, clarinet, and trumpet, mirroring both the sturdiness and ornate beauty of the woodland.

Ekosystem

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Henrik Meierkord & Ni! - Болото / Träsk

The Veil

Imogen's Theme

Turtle Remix of Matt Emery's 'L For Luna' as part of 'Empire Remixes' EP

You can purchase the track here: https://injazerorecords.bandcamp.com/album/empire-remixes

For more from Matt visit:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Matt-Emery…1727?ref=profile
Twitter: twitter.com/mattemerymusic
Soundcloud: @mattemery

For more from Turtle visit:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weareturtle?fref=ts
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/weareturtle

Matt Emery - L For Luna (Turtle Rework)

indecisive - sped up

Rott - Eai

Special thank you to NASA for use of images on artwork.

Radius

An improvisation as part of Erased Tapes 10th birthday celebrations at the Southbank Centre on Friday 8th September 2017.

Watch the video on YouTube here - https://youtu.be/h9Txg7mgyCo

https://www.facebook.com/michaelpricemusic/
https://twitter.com/michael__price
https://www.instagram.com/michael__price
http://www.michaelpricemusic.com

Southbank (Feat. Peter Gregson)

https://innesti.bandcamp.com ... https://jacobnewman.bandcamp.com
Harmonic oscillations, floating voices, textured melodic environments...
Releases April 26, 2020
Written, Recorded and Mixed by Innesti + Jacob Newman.
Mastered by Jacob Newman.  
Photograph © 美撒郭. Used with permission. Design and layout by Innesti.

Innesti + Jacob Newman - Spoke Of Several (Preview Snippets)

Track taken from the upcoming album 'Hearts full of sorrow, souls full of hope, we look to the west...'

www.fluidaudio.bigcartel.com

Hearts full of sorrow, souls full of hope, we look to the west

infinite blanket

e & i - infinite blanket

This is a series of sketch-like works that arose out of the need for me to create an atmosphere when working in the studio. A loop would be made then I'd start the prep work for that session. The loop may even inspire the output and work created for that day.

The release is pay what you like and I'd appreciate if you took a moment to go over to Dewtone and check this out.

Many thanks and I really hope you enjoy this small and beautiful release with artwork from photographer Courtney Smith and mastering by Pheek over at audioservices.studio.

Hope you enjoy it.

'Untitled Quiet Loop #1' - Quiet Loops - [Dewtone Recordings, 2020]

Focusing on experimental genres, we aim to provide a space to share in the creative process and spread the experience of inner exploration through musical expression.

e & i - infinite blanket

Fluid Audio

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