I’ve heard several performances of Tashi Wada’s work before, and it is always beautiful.
The forms he works with are always, on the surface, quite simple, yet the outcome is anything but. Yik Yak recently released a recording of a work of his called Alignment, a canon in 8 parts for violin, with all parts performed by Marc Sabat. The record has a beautiful symmetry to it: one side begins with a descending scale, and ends in a murky area of sustained interference. The other side begins that way, and ends with a single ascending scale. Madison Brookshire wrote a much more intelligent and informed review of it than I could ever manage, so I would encourage you to read that.
In pop music, I keep hearing rumors that Glasser is hugely popular right now. Well, I’m very happy to hear that. Cameron is a wonderful person, and her music is quite beautiful. The first time I heard her play live she was singing along to an iPod with her boyfriend playing guitar as backup. Now she has a full band, and on her album Ring she has re-recorded some of her songs with the full band backing, as well as new songs. I feel conflicted about the backing band — there was something wonderful about the cold and sterile yet inexplicably personal about the sound of the computer-created music on her earlier recordings, which is now lost. Still, a beautiful album of bizarrely personal pop music.
John Krausbauer came down from Portland to play a few shows in the area, including one at the Wulf. with Ezra Buchla and Julia Holter. I’ve heard his music several times now, each with different musicians and in different spaces. Droning and dense, it’s played extremely loudly. In fact, too loudly for me. Every time I’ve heard his music I’ve had to leave the room, because my ears hurt. I’m always surprised that, stepping outside, his music is quite beautiful. There’s something kind of wonderful about a music that is best heard from outside the room it is being made in.