by BBG

Matmos with Kronos Quartet last year

The Chiara String Quartet and NOW Ensemble come together Friday, May 6 at (Le) Poisson Rouge for a joint album release concert, celebrating two fresh albums from New Amsterdam Records with some of the foremost performers and composers of this emerging self-reliant generation: NOW Ensemble's sophomore statement, Awake (with compositions by ensemble members Judd Greenstein, Mark Dancigers, Patrick Burke, and commissioned work by Missy Mazzoli, Sean Friar, and David Crowell), and Jefferson Friedman: Quartets, performed by the Chiara String Quartet and special guest, electronic duo, Matmos.

Both Awake and Jefferson Friedman: Quartets are out now via New Amsterdam (congrats to both groups). As stated above, Matmos will join in to assist in the performance of the latter at the show, which will also house a screening of the new animated film Plan Of The City "about the architecture of New York City blasting off into outer space and resettling on Mars". Whoa, far out bro. Check out a teaser for that film below, and get you tickets for the May 6th show at LPR while they are still available.

Matmos is also scheduled to head out to the Manchester International Festival in July to join Marina Abramovic, Antony Hagerty, Willem Defoe (yes, Green Goblin from Spider Man) and more as part of the stage production of The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic:

Manchester International Festival and Teatro Real Madrid present the world premiere of a startling new piece for the stage: The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, a biography of the godmother of performance art, re-imagined by visionary director Robert Wilson.

The show features scenes from Abramovic's life and career, from her Serbian childhood to her work as a performance artist. Featuring original and traditional music, including songs written and performed by the incomparable Antony (Antony & The Johnsons), this ground-breaking show brings together the worlds of theatre, art and music to thrilling effect.

No word on if the pieces compsed for the production will ever see the light of day outside of the UK.

In semi-related news, the ever-collaborative Matmos has worked with members of The Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) in the past and the collective will play 92YTribeca TONIGHT. PLOrk will bring an "evening of wildly innovative electronic music, live 3D video and hacked video game hardware." Tickets are still available.

Matmos is hitting the road in Europe in May much to the semi-disappointment of Matmos member Drew Daniel:

"Drew is very sad that he will be missing Maryland DeathFest this year, but touring Europe with Jay Lesser and John Wiese will make up for missing Corrosion of Conformity's reformation of the Animosity lineup." - Matmos

Turn that frown upside down Drew, you can still catch the Animosity lineup on tour (they play Brooklyn Bowl on 7/20, tickets go on sale at noon today).

Tour dates for that Matmos trek, the Plan of The City Teaser video and more, below...

Continue reading "PLOrk is here, Chiara String Quartet & NOW released LPs, Matmos playing with them, won't be at Maryland Deathfest"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Sonic Youth - The Eternal (montage) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Percussion - "June"(MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Percussion performing Steve Reich's "Drumming, Part Three" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Percussion - "Melody Competition" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Percussion - "Fast"(MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Percussion - "Go" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Percussion - "March" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Percussion - "Work Slow Life"(MP3)

Bang on a Can All-Stars...

New work by Dirty Projector David Longstreth is OFF THE PROGRAM for the Bang on a Can All-Stars People's Commissioning Fund (PCF) concert on April 2nd at Merkin Hall. Maybe it has something to do with Longstreth currently playing Europe with Dirty Projectors, or the host of other shows the band has planned (including the Longstreth new-composition debut scheduled with Björk at Housing Works Bookstore & Café on May 8th).

The spot on the April 2nd concert is being filled by a piece composed by guitarist and Downtown muscian Fred Frith...

Fred Frith, the English guitarist and composer...is one of the more respected figures in the gray area of music where rock meets the avant-garde. A Dadaist improviser with a streak of the mystic in him, Mr. Frith, like that granddaddy of avant-gardists John Cage, finds music in everything that clanks, squeaks, rattles and hisses. He can turn just about anything lying around the house into a musical instrument. And in one sequence, he and some friends give an impromptu backyard performance of bossa nova music using rhythm instruments made of empty bottles and other household debris. [NY Times]

Tickets for the event are still on sale. Also on the bill for that night is "How Deep Are Rivers? (A Map is a Good Piece of Paper)," the "New York Premiere of a live collaboration with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth." Full program below.

The next scheduled Bang on a Can event (this time in collaboration with Wordless Music) takes place at LPR on April 22nd, with So Percussion performing as part of supergroup Signal. Tickets are available for the show, which will feature Bang on a Can founder Michael Gordon's Trance played in its entirety. Later this spring, both the Bang on a Can All-Stars and So Percussion will play the Look & Listen Festival 2009 in New York (May 1-3).

But before that, So Percussion plays at the MATA Festival (for young composer new-works) on Saturday, April 4th at (Le) Poisson Rouge. (Tickets are on sale.).

The group then performs with Matador band and Björk collaborators Matmos (and special guests PLOrk, the Princeton Laptop Orchestra) at The Kitchen on Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th. Tickets for both Friday and Saturday are on sale: "All three [acts] will share the stage to preview songs from an upcoming collaborative album, as well as new arrangements of music from Matmos's Supreme Balloon and So Percussion's Amid the Noise."

Program for the April 2nd concert and videos from 1990 avant-doc on Fred Frith, Step Across the Border, below...

Continue reading "Longstreth drops off PCF, Matmos playing w/ So Percussion "