New Sounds from WNYC

Listen to rhythmic music, whether for percussion, string quartet or vocal duet for this New Sounds. Hear works from percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum, Kelly Moran, and the Jasper String Quartet, and a vocal duet from Meredith Monk and Robert Een. From the recent record, Unbound, by the Jasper String Quartet, hear a non-stop motoring work by Judd Greenstein, “Four on the Floor.” Usually the term applies to thumping dance-club bangers, but in this work, pairs of instruments work “with and...

Hear prog-marching band music from Chicago's Mucca Pazza, ambient-gothic Norwegian-Icelandic music from the duo Jo Berger Myhre & Ólafur Björn Ólafsson, jazz-tronic ambient minimalism from London's Portico Quartet, and new work from Danish experimental supergroup Girls in Airports. Also, hear new music by Molly Joyce for cellist Nick Photinos, new work from Kaki King & the Porta Girevole Chamber Orchestra, and more. Hear ambient-gothic music from Norwegian bassist Jo Berger Myhre and...

Hear music that begins with classical instruments, like the string quartet, piano, or an orchestra, but which is then augmented, enhanced by electronics, percussion, or preparation. Listen to works by English violinist, pianist, and composer Poppy Ackroyd, Netherlands-based composer Peter Adriaansz, and cinematic music from the augmented string quartet amiina. The versatile Dutch pianist Saskia Lankhoorn plays a specially-prepared piano over a bed of droning sine tones in a work by...

Guitarist and educator Shane Parish is a sonic adventurer, perhaps best known as the mastermind behind the Asheville, North Carolina-based avant instrumental jazz-mathpunk band Ahleuchatistas, formerly a quartet, now a duo. Besides the jazz and mathrock, their musical stew also includes elements Chinese folk music, minimalism, and lots of other stuff. But Parish has just released a solo record of “weird old Americana” entitled Undertaker, Please Drive Slow on John Zorn's Tzadik label,...

“Indian music does not stop and start with Ravi Shankar.” So says tabla master Zakir Hussain, who, along with young sitar virtuoso, Niladri Kumar, joins John in the studio for a live performance. Zakir Hussain, son of Ustad Alla Rahka, isn’t just a genius Indian tabla player and composer, as well as a virtuoso improviser - he is, bar none, one of the world’s great percussionists working in many genres. Zakir is a global citizen open to all kinds of collaborations, playing with everyone from...

South African guitarist Guy Buttery visits the studio to perform music from his latest self-titled record. Hear virtuosic feats of bending, tapping, picking, harmonics, and other techniques and textures yet to be named for guitar. Dig into his latest record on which he has collaborated with South African musicians Vusi Mahlasela, kora-to-guitar wizard Derek Gripper, and blues guitarist Dan Patlansky, along with a piece for sarangi and mbira – “From Srinagar.” More pictures from the session...

This episode continues the series exploring the new music of Ireland. John Schaefer sits down with Jonathan Nangle at the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin. Nangle tells how Donnacha Dennehy influenced him to explore more experimental music, and then shares how electronics and silence factor into his compositions. Listen to how Nangle uses electronics to subtly augment conventional instrumentation on "Where distant city lights flicker on half-frozen ponds". Hear Nangle explain how his...

Hear music by Australian-born, London-based electroacoustic musician & sound artist Leah Kardos along with music by Irish woodwind player and composer Seán Mac Erlaine, as well as other electroacoustic music on this New Sounds. Listen to several works by Kardos from a sampler released in 2014, including her work, “Butterfly Kite,”written for easy piano + delay/verb effects. Then hear improvised woodwind and electronic sounds from a series of live recordings by the Dublin musician, Seán Mac...

Composer, keyboardist and bandleader, Missy Mazzoli, joins John Schaefer to introduce selections from her new recording, “Vespers for a New Dark Age.” The work, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the 2014 Ecstatic Music Festival, is a 30-minute suite for singers, chamber ensemble and electronics, and is built around text, both spiritual and worldly, by contemporary poet Matthew Zapruder. Mazzoli wrote for the very specific voices of sopranos Martha Cluver, Melissa Hughes and alto Virginia...

Listen to works that include gamelan, but take a more western approach for this New Sounds - like combining Celtic traditional music and Indonesian gamelan in music from Gamelan Son of Lion and composer/sax player and bagpiper Matthew Welch. In the music of Barbara Benary, the co-founder and guiding spirit of Gamelan Son of Lion, there is a juxtaposition of Cape Breton Celtic singing, gamelan and Benary herself on violin. Also, hear the Celtic-Balinese tapestry of Matthew Welch’s chamber...

Hear unusual music for string quartet on this program, as Australian composer Andrew Byrne, now based in New York, uses the string quartet as a percussion instrument in his work called “Striking.” Then, listen to Bang on a Can All-Star saxman, clarinetist and composer Ken Thomson’s work for the JACK Quartet, “THAW.” There’s also folk-informed music from the singer, songwriter and composer Aoife O Donovan as played by Brooklyn Rider. Hear string quartet music by multi-instrumentalist composer...

Listen to world music that veers into psychedelic territory on this New Sounds, with Native-American inspired percussive drone music and Afrobeat from Brazil in music by Bixiga 70. Hear a mix of Afro-Ethiopian rock and jazz from the Brazilian band, Bixiga70, whose name is clearly a nod to the Afrobeat pioneered by Fela Kuti and drummer Tony Allen (with whom Mauricio Fleury from the band studied with.) This brass-heavy sound bounces through boundaries to harvest textures of Guinean and Malian...

Listen to new music for the instrument from Southwestern Norway known as the Hardanger fiddle, (or hardingfele), but of course there’s a twist. For this New Sounds, there’s post-rock, world music, electroacoustic music, and even an Irish-American duet on this Norwegian instrument – with music from Scotland, Ireland, and the U.S. Hear the collaborative recording between Hardanger fiddle master Nils Økland and the post-rock duo The Low Frequency In Stereo, called Lumen Drones – which comes off...

Hear music for the combination of choir and percussion like "Whispers and Cries," by Australian born composer Andrew Byrne, which features fellow Aussie musicians Astra Choir and Speak Percussion. The show won't always stick to traditional choirs and percussion. In Daniel Lentz's "Postludium," the choir members rub and strike wine glasses while singing, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir's "into-Second Self" features a layered choir of two brass instruments. In addition to rhythmic and driving...

Listen to music for duos on this New Sounds show, including stunning and inviting works from harpist Mary Lattimore & synth/guitarist/producer Jeff Zeigler from their recent collaboration, "Slant of Light." Also, hear music from Xylouris White, comprised of Cretan singer and lute player George Xylouris and drummer/percussionist Jim White (The Dirty Three, Cat Power, others), recorded and engineered by Guy Picciotto (Fugazi, Rites of Spring). Then, hear music by Paola Prestini from a new...

Hear some sax players leading the way on this edition of New Sounds, including new music from sax player Tamar Osborn and her London-based Afro-Eastern-space-jazz band, Collocutor. Listen to their dreamy Turkish & Middle Eastern percussion meets Sun Ra jazz with electronics. Then, there's lyrical and swinging new music from sax & clarinet wizard/composer Ken Thomson and his outfit Slow/Fast. There's also the brand new recording of the "Terminals" concertos by drummer/composer Bobby Previte...