Wohl, Halo, & Holter @ Ecstatic Fest 2013 (more by David Andrako)

As mentioned, Laurel Halo and Julia Holter played the Ecstatic Music Festival over the weekend (2/23). The performance, a collaboration with Daniel Wohl's new-music ensemble Transit, featured new compostions from Halo and Holter. The show was broadcast by WQXR and that stream has just been put online. Listen below.

The Ecstatic Music Festival continues Wednesday night (2/27) with a collaborative performance from Arnold Dreyblatt and Megafaun. Tickets are still available.

Continue reading "listen to Laurel Halo, Julia Holter and Daniel Wohl's Ecstatic Music Fest performance"

photos by David Andrako, words by Andrew Sacher

Daniel Wohl, Laurel Halo, and Julia Holter

"So you were there in a car and the windshield shattered," are the first words you heard at Laurel Halo and Julia Holter's collaborative set with electroacoustic composer Daniel Wohl and his TRANSIT orchestra at the Merkin Concert Hall on Saturday night (2/23), as part of the ongoing indie-classical Ecstatic Music Festival. The line was quietly sung by Laurel, only to be sung by Julia the second time around, and finally for a third "verse," the two singers harmonized in unison, and their voices sound great together. The lyric was sung during a piece titled "Enter the Void," the first of three original pieces composed by Laurel, Julia, and Daniel played during the first set of Saturday's concert. The setup primarily featured Laurel and Daniel on electronics, as Daniel led his orchestra, and Laurel and Julia on vocals. All three musicians also had keyboards.

The pieces were heavy on vibes, never fully committing to drone, ambient IDM, modern classical or avant-garde, but pulling characteristics from all of those things to create drifting, floating atmospheres that were entirely their own. Vocally, the deliveries were bold and kind of the one thing that kept you grounded on earth. Both Julia and Laurel sang in similar styles to their respective 2012 albums, Ekstasis and Quarantine, restoring a sense of familiarity each time they chimed in over the electronics and orchestra swells' ability to emerge the listener into the unknown. One of the pieces was written on the setlist as "Corps Remix," and presumably has its roots in Laurel Halo's remix of Daniel Wohl's "323," from his Corps Exquis project (who Laurel once shared a bill with in Brooklyn).

After leaving the stage for a short intermission, the musicians returned for a second set, which featured three songs performed as one continuous piece. It began with Julia literally whispering spoken word into the mic and Laurel eventually joining her on contrasting parts. The whispering was followed by some sparse moments of singing into more depths of weirdness. But as a finale to the medley, they brought everything back home with a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David-penned tune, Don't Make Me Over," ending with Julia and Laurel powerfully chanted in unison, "Accept me for who I am, accept me for the things that I do."

An archived recording of the show will eventually be available at WQXR. More pictures (including one of the setlist) below...

Continue reading "Laurel Halo, Julia Holter, and Daniel Wohl collaborated at Ecstatic Music Festival (pics, review)"

Ecstatic Music Festival 2012 (more by David Andrako)

As discussed, the indie/classical Ecstatic Music Festival is returning to the Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center this year and it begins Friday (1/25) with a show from My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The festival also includes shows with Clogs, Laurel Halo and Julia Holter, Deerhoof, Megafaun, and more. The full schedule is below and tickets for select shows are still available.

However, you've also got a chance to attend for free because we're giving away a pair of tickets to a show of your choice. Contest details and the Ecstatic Music Festival schedule, below...

Continue reading "Ecstatic Music Fest kicking off (win tix to show of your choice!)"

Julia Holter at Bowery Ballroom in August (more by Amanda Hatfield)

The Ecstatic Music Festival is returning to the Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center in 2013 from January 25 to March 21, where it's happened in past years. Over the course of the approximately two month-long period, the festival will be presenting eleven shows, with multiple collaborations between artists that blur the lines between indie and modern classical. The collaborations include Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus; Sarah Kirkland Snider with vocalists DM Stith, Padma Newsome (of Clogs), and Shara Worden; DJ / rupture and Zs; Deerhoof with Dal Niente and Marcos Balter; Laurel Halo and Julia Holter with Daniel Wohl; Arnold Dreyblatt with Megafaun; Simone Dinnerstein with Tift Merritt; a Bang on a Can concert, and more.

Individual tickets and festival passes go on sale today (11/27).

Full schedule is below.

Continue reading "Ecstatic Music Festival 2013 announced 2013 (Julia Holter, My Brightest Diamond, Laurel Halo, Megafaun, Deerhoof & more)"

photos by David Andrako

When not inciting mass hysteria in children, Dan Deacon keeps it fancy, and that was the vibe last night at Merkin Concert Hall, his first of two fancy NYC shows this week. Tuesday's show was part of the Ecstatic Music Festival which continues with a show Saturday featuring John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats (which will stream live). Dan was joined by Mark Dancigers, Daniel Wohl, and new music groups NOW ensemble and Calder Quartet on a bill which featured a series of new works (setlist below). if you missed it, WQXR will have an archived stream, and here are some pictures.

The Ecstatic show before Dan's was with Oneida and Rhys Chatham, and that show is now able to be streamed.

This Monday (3/26), Dan plays another classical show, but this time at Carnegie Hall as part of a Celebration of composer John Cage.

More pictures from Dan's show below...

Continue reading "Dan Deacon played Merkin w/ NOW Ensemble & Calder Quartet (pics, setlist, streams), playing Carnegie Hall (Monday)"