I hate to post yet another review of something, but creation is simply not on the plate right now. I promise something original soon.

In the meantime, I recently bought Owen Pallett’s latest album entitled Heartland. If you haven’t heard his music, check it out! He was previously performing under the name “Final Fantasy”, but has since decided to use his own name.

Heartland is a combination of orchestral sounds, synth, and his violin and voice. The result is spectacular. There is a lot of heart in this cd. The music is well mixed, well produced, and builds upon his previous work. I’ve never gotten to hear him live, but I’m told it’s great. The music here reminds me of 1980’s pop rock, with a heightened sense of taste. I get everything I love: the complex timbres of orchestral instruments, voice, and synth sounds to boot. The background sometimes also reminds of the odd tracks created by Mark Mothersbaugh for Wes Anderson’s films, as well as Jon Brion’s film scores.

I don’t have much more to say about it, other than do check out him and his music. (http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/owen-pallett/) The new album is on iTunes as well (if you’re into that).

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Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010 | No Comments »

Utilizing a custom instrument called (as one might expect), a ‘Terrafon’, the performers ‘play’ the Earth beneath them. Brought to us by the artistic duo Olle Corneer Martin Lübcke.

A traditional ensemble picks up an enormous tone arm and transducer and, through back-breaking labor, drag it across arable fields. It’s part sound art and performance, part agriculture. But it certainly counts as a gramophone – it’s just a really big one that reads the grooves of the earth.

Video is here: http://vimeo.com/5075042/
4 minutes on a loop.
Performed by the Alunda Church Choir, conducted by Cantor Jan Hällgren.

(I have chosen to not embed it because the player code is not W3C compliant, and if you follow the link to Vimeo you will be able to watch it in HD instead.)


via Create Digital Music

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Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 | No Comments »

Recordings of many pieces, including all of those featured on my senior recital last March, are now posted under Compositions. Enjoy!

-B. Louis

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Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2009 | No Comments »