Official Piano Day 2018 Playlist

Happy Piano Day!

Piano Day 2018 Playlist

STRINGS & KEYS

New private playlist

melodies

Daniel Cavanagh_Joseph Geraci | Within (Part 2)

'Penelope On The Boredom Bridge' by FareWell Poetry
///
'(...) Light crawls up the buildings like fast and gilded ivy,
Fireworks to the foggy eye, fencing the fickle season,
My mind still buoyed in alcohol.
Penelope on the boredom bridge: decision severs the withered extension, and I am a little lighter, lighter and a little lonely, wed to my wise words.'
///
Jayne Amara Ross : poetry
Frédéric D. Oberland : harmonium, banjo, piano, e-bow, field recordings
Eat Gas : electric guitar &amp; bass
Colin Johnco : mpc, analog feedbacks
Stanislas Grimbert : cymbals &amp; percussion
Gaspar Claus : cello
///
All instruments were recorded &amp; mixed by FareWell Poetry @ Magnum Diva studio, Paris, France, during the Fall of 2010
Field recordings were captured in Ísafjörður, Iceland, Summer 2010
Mastered by Pierre Favrez
///
http://www.farewell-poetry.com

Penelope On The Boredom Bridge

Beirut | Ibrahim Maalouf | بيروت‎

Ноябpь (nah - YABR)

We Move Lightly

This set primarily contains samples from 8Dio Upright Studio PIano - a deep-sampled Upright Piano virtual music software instrument (VST/AU/AAX) by www.8dio.com

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/8dio.productions
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/8dio 
Follow us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/8dioproductions

8Dio 1901 Upright Piano: "Questions and Answers" by Troels Folmann

When Darkness Spoke - Salem's Secret

Electric Counterpoint, by Steve Reich
Performed and arranged by Dan Lippel
Engineered by Ryan Streber and Michael Caterisano

Electric Counterpoint mvt. 1 -- Steve Reich

Recorded for Piano Day, 28th March 2016.


Moment Passing

It's Piano Day!
So here is a new track to celebrate - enjoy!

For more on Piano Day: http://www.pianoday.org/

Note To Self

Art has a feature of avoiding straightforward statements. 

More precisely, those thoughts originality of which requires an artistic language are rarely simple or straightforward. In this case, a musical statement becomes a metaphorical one. 

But what features - linguistic and stylistic - are inherent to this kind of statement? And what tasks as a result appear before the performer, the interpreter? 

Sometimes we expect a metaphor to be something complex, deliberately ambiguous, but if by the statement we gain new ways of understanding, a metaphor survives. It becomes obvious and natural like a long-time proven assertion in mathematics, which over time has become a well-known theorem... 

But then a new layer of metaphors appear. It comes naturally as a new coil of what was proven in the previous turn… Maybe there again is a choice appearing in front of the artist? What should the artist do, take part in the pursuit of the evolution of the metaphorical language, or hide, using seemingly familiar tools and forming a completely new context? 

The author, obviously, selects the second. 

Of course, this makes his music defenseless and extremely vulnerable to the performance. The slightest inaccuracy of the interpretation could trigger a completely different association and a metaphorical statement will be destroyed... 

I hope that we were able to uncover the author's intention in his modern sound where archaisms, modern expression and avant-garde ideas give birth to a new dramaturgy. 

Ilya Hoffman
__

Polina Osetinskaya: piano

Composed by: Sergey Akhunov 

Recorded by: Alexei Barashkin 
Recorded at: The D. D. Shostakovich Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonia, Large Hall, 31 May – 4 June, 2016 
Edited by: Alexei Barashkin 
Mixed, mastered by: Alexander Mikhlin 
Cover photo by: Anna Zyabreva

Sketches

Buy CD | FLAC | MP3

Sergey Akhunov - Sketch VII (Performed by Polina Osetinskaya)

Bruno Sanfilippo​ - 'Unity' 
Label; Dronarivm 
Cat #.: DR-51
Release date: 16 Feb 2018

Bruno Sanfilippo’s newest album, Unity, is an emotionally evocative collection that moves the listener through moments that exalt the senses. Through cyclical and minimalist sound, the composer creates visceral experiences that are both ethereal and hauntingly beautiful.

Buy CD / DL

BRUNO SANFILIPPO - Lux

Ólafur Arnalds  | Day II - Raein

Live improvisation on February 14th 2018, released for Piano Day 2018.

Recorded at Bakermoon Studios by Ed Bentley: www.bakermoon.com

Tom Adams: Piano & Vocals
Mattis Keating: Synthesisers & background noises

Mixed by Tom and Ed

LIVE Improvisation @ Bakermoon Studios

S.O.L Best of Album is out 16.3.2018 !
finally, physical CD and digital release is availabe in all major stores

I am so happy to announce that finally you can get and order my physical Best of CD in all major german stores. Even better, many markets already have them on stock. Here is the list:

Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann Berlin
Media Markt Berlin
Saturn Braunschweig
Saturn Bremen
Saturn Frankfurt
Saturn Hamburg
Saturn Köln
Saturn Magdeburg
Hot Rats Magdeburg
Media Markt Ulm
JPC

For all my fans outside Germany you can of course get your copy on my website (dirkmaassen.com)or on amazon. Also the album is ready to stream and to download on all digital stores around like spotify, deezer, apple music, amazon, google play, and many more.

Skin on Skin // Dirk Maassen

Small piano song inspired by subtle scene.

Stone in the Stream (Piano Day 2018)

Happy Piano Day 2018!

Middle Names is original released by Devendra Banhart on his 2016 record "Ape In Pink Marble" (Nonesuch Records).

Middle Names (rework by Nils Frahm)

Nocturne 14 (Piano Day 2018)

Released on March 29 in celebration of Piano Day 2018.
Pre-order the album 'Persona' here: http://phonofile.link/rivalconsoles-persona

Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles has announced his fourth full length album 'Persona' will be released on 13th April via Erased Tapes.

The title 'Persona' was inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s film of the same name, specifically a shot in the opening credits of a child reaching out to touch a woman’s face on a screen, which is shifting between one face and another. This powerful image struck Ryan and it inspired the album’s main theme — an exploration of the persona, the difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us, the spaces in between; between states, people, light and dark, the inner persona and the outer persona. 

"My music is generally is generally inward looking. I like finding something about the self within music, that doesn't have to be specific but maybe asks something or reveals something. This record is a continuation on the self through electronic sounds. Like Legowelt once said ‘a synthesiser is like a translator for unknown emotions’, which I think sums up what I am trying to do. I think all these emotions we have make up our persona. So in a way by finding new ones you alter or expand your persona. And that is what I want my music to try to do. I deliberately aimed to be more sonically diverse with this record. I wanted to experiment more. I wanted to create new sounds and new emotions.”

Recorded at his studio in south-east London, ‘Persona’ benefits from Ryan’s exploration of a dynamic production process that combines analogue-heavy synthesisers, acoustic and electric instruments with a shoegaze-level obsession with effect pedals. A greater depth of emotion and confidence can be heard across the album. From the deconstructed movements on ‘Unfolding’ that starts the album with a snap of delayed snares, the apocalyptic drones of the title track and thundering drums in ‘Phantom Grip’ to more  restrained ambient feels of ‘Dreamer’s Wake’, ‘Rest’ and ‘Untravel’. The latter transverses six beatless minutes of undulating melodies representing “a limbo space, a feeling of ennui, of not really ever being known to others and others not ever really being known to you”.

'Be Kind' reveals a musical connection with fellow Erased Tapes artist Nils Frahm, with its minimal approach and improvisational nature. On the more complex sounding ‘I Think So’ Ryan aims to replicate a colour collage with sound. Like a musical kaleidoscope, a flashing and convoluted mass. Written after he saw Slowdive perform live last year, ‘Hidden’ builds from whispers to landscapes of controlled noise. In an interview with XLR8R magazine, Ryan explains: “once you start trying to make a sound loud, then you turn your back on thousands and thousands of sonic possibilities. One of the best things to do is to start a track with a really quiet, weak sound.” Taking this idea to its ultimate conclusion, ‘Fragment’ closes the album as an innocent sounding ambient piece, almost nursery rhyme like, yielding time for reflection on how the persona has changed.

'Persona' follows the success of a series of releases — the ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Sonne’ EPs, long player ‘Howl’, and 2016’s mini album ‘Night Melody’ — that saw Ryan mature into what Pitchfork has called a “forward-thinking electronic musician with his own ideas about sound”. Atypical of instrumental-electronic music, Ryan has achieved a signature sound that’s unmistakably identifiable as Rival Consoles. Going beyond typical electronic music production, Ryan defines it as “songwriting with an electronic palette of sounds”.

The increasingly dynamic live audio-visual show, born from bespoke performances at the Tate and for Boiler Room at the V&A Museum featuring self-programmed visuals in Max/MSP, has propelled him to play around the world. Ryan launches ‘Persona’ at London’s XOYO on 12th April with further dates to be announced.

Persona

Be Kind

Buy 2LP/CD/DL

Rival Consoles - Be Kind

Words To September For Piano Day 2018

Waltz for Shanti

JJ – Still Dre

Lapsus Records proudly presents the third release in its “Perennial” series, dedicated to reissuing contemporary electronica classics from established artists. 

The third release is from Christopher Scott Leary, who over the last two decades has produced a plethora of material under his pseudonym, Ochre. 2019 marks 15 years since the original release of “A Midsummer Nice Dream” in 2004; on British label Toytronic, which pushed Leary to the forefront of the experimental electronic music sphere. To celebrate the releases’ fifteenth anniversary, Lapsus Records will reissue a special collector’s edition of this IDM classic in the form of a double tri-colour vinyl release, re-mastered by John McCaig (panicStudios). It will also include a full-colour print of the new artwork, re-designed by Portland (Oregon) illustrator Nathaniel Reeves, who has worked alongside Ochre for almost a ten years. 

This special deluxe reissue entitled “A Midsummer Nice Dream (15th Anniversary Edition)“, features unreleased material from the same period and includes three bonus tracks on its vinyl version, six on its digital version, making it a truly unique release. It therefore offers a golden opportunity to rediscover an album that navigates through several genre domains such as ambient, IDM and experimental electronica in its purest form, stylistically reminiscent of the likes of Autechre, conveying a sound considerably ahead of its time. In its entirety “A Midsummer Nice Dream” is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable electronica glitch albums to be released in the 2000s, when the genre experienced its zenith, largely thanks to the advent of significant breakthroughs in digital production tools.

You can order your copy at www.lapsusrecords.cat

A Midsummer Nice Dream (15th Anniversary Edition)

Ochre - A Midsummer Nice Dream (15th Anniversary Edition) | Perennial Series #03

Here' a preview track from my new solo piano album, now available at iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/im-not-buying-it-solo-piano/id582662042

... also at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Buying-Solo-Piano-Improvisations/dp/B00AFTW4KU/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354322109&sr=301-2

"Tink Buzz Brush Strum" finds me playing the piano strings in addition to the keys. On this song, improvised live in one take, I'm also using Mardi Gras beads, a nylon drumbrush, and my Samsung cellphone placed randomly on some strings. Enjoy!

From the album...

DAVID BRUCE SMITH
I'm Not Buying It
(solo piano improvisations)

Since the final Christmas season that I worked in retail sales (back at age 29), I have purposely avoided shopping on "Black Friday" - the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, I usually plan something specifically creative to do instead on that day each year.

2012 has been no different. I planned a time of jamming with my good friend and music colleague Cy Fleming. In recent years we have had several of these piano sessions, and we always seem to get some great music out of it.

We met in the afternoon, talked over some musical philosophy - especially related to the piano - and then took turns playing. We ended up playing 20 total songs, 10 each. Then we went to dinner at a small locally-owned restaurant (the only sensible thing to do on "Black Friday").

With the exception of one "cover" that I played, all of the songs were composed spontaneously and were true improvisations. This album contains all nine of my original songs from that session, with no corrections, edits, or false starts. We simply sat down and played, the way we've done before. For most of these tunes, I had absolutely no preconceived ideas until I pressed the "record" button and moved two steps to the piano bench, trusting Music to converse with me.

So that's the meaning of this album's title: I'm Not Buying It. By not going shopping on the biggest shopping day of the year, I ended up creating and recording these songs instead instead. There's also another meaning to the title which I offer for its ironic humor: I'm offering this album for sale now.

Knowing that improvised solo piano music certainly isn't for everyone, I trust that appreciative listeners will be attracted to these songs. As I was preparing them for this release I realized that they are a very accurate reflection of my current range of playing.

Special thanks for the friendship and inspiration of Leszek Mozdzer, Ethan Iverson (with The Bad Plus), and especially Victor Wooten and his team of instructors & bandmates. And as always, I have continued gratefulness for my most frequent and valued musical collaborators - Toni Schlemmer, DeWayne Segafredo, Cy Fleming, Matt Stanton, Cam Marburger, Seth Beck, and for the full faith and support of the Calvin Church staff and congregation, and The Strand Theater.

recorded 11/23/12
on the Baldwin grand piano
at Calvin Presbyterian Church
Zelienople, PA

recording: Zoom Q3HD (internal condenser microphones)
software: Zoom HandyShare and Apple GarageBand
produced, engineered, mastered by David Bruce Smith

Tink Buzz Brush Strum

I had piano lessons from the age of 6 and studied piano at Otago University in New Zealand (not that it necessarily shows). 

These days I like to play my own humble compositions which are in a neoclassical style. I recently recorded my debut solo piano album in Berlin, where I now reside. 

I am greatly inspired by Nils Frahm, Hania Rani, Max Richter, Ludvico Einaudi and Philip Glass, to name but a few.

I have a solo electronic project called Broad Oak: https://soundcloud.com/broadoak and I'm in a band with my son: https://soundcloud.com/cosmoandthecosmonaut

I also have a band project called The Mung Beings: https://soundcloud.com/themungbeings

Waltz for Shanti

Nigel Braddock