New Site

I have officially departed from blogger and have set up a new homestead at Wordpress.
Its a little slicker and a good chance to start with a clean slate.

I hope you enjoy the new blog.

Osso Plays Sufjan

Osso, the string quartet which has a thick history of collaboration with Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond, are in the process of recording their string adaptation of Steven's sophomore effort of near entirely electronic "Enjoy Your Rabbit" and just played on WNYC's Spinning on Air.

"Enjoy Your Rabbit" is definitely my favorite album choice when it comes to study music. I have written countless essays whilst being spurred on by the eclectic electric compositions which abound therein. Thus I jumped at the prospect of hearing more of the string version performed in more entirety. There have been bits and pieces, recordings and live sets, floating around for a while, with a snippet of Year of the Ox on a Take Away Show and Year of the Boar on an Asthmatic Kitty sampler.

If you haven't heard it yet, listen to the archived session at Spinning on Air. With gorgeous re-imaginings of six or so of the electronic pieces and the great in studio chatting which highlights the unlikely force this group has become. Keep your ears open for when they finish recording the album and in the meantime check out their website, ossoquartet.com

Merry February

So I was going to post this around Christmas, but that was about when I began having computer issues, so now that we're well into the second month following the holidays I figured I may as well get it out of the way.

Information Overload

Here's a neat art-video, which looks as though it would be rather simple and fun to make. Or at least it's right up my mixed-media-minded ally. I'll have to experiment with it in the future.

When watching, I recommend turning off the unfortunate mock-funk synth music, and adding whatever you want.

I used After Hours(mp3), by Caribou.

Doodles & Designs, part II

Doodles & Designs, part I

I'm going to try to continue posting new work I produce as life goes along.

By and large, I would consider most of them just doodles, but it aught to be fun to look at in your brief stay, here on the Internet.

Some sketching avec water colors

Rock, Life, and the BQE

On the Asthmatic Kitty Records Sidebar post today, Sufjan Stevens provides his defense for why his seven-act epic piece about the Brooklyn Queens Expressway will feature hula-hoopers. 

After you read, head over to WNYC's Spinning On Air, where you'll find the broadcast featuring some extensive interviewing about Stevens' creative process and two live excerpts from the BQE. The show is an hour long but worth every second.

There is much allusion and contemplation made towards the future of the piece, with such extensions as a CD, DVD, or wide-spread tour resting on the horizon of possibility. This excites me given the improbability of a road-trip to New York to see the show. I can yet hope.

Since this post seems to be all-things-Sufjan, take a look at the interview piece featured in New York Classical and Dance magazine. There was a considerable amount of outrage radiating from the collective network of blog geeks when he proclaimed "Rock and Roll is dead," and Stereogum quoted him on it, out of context.

Sufjan also gave an uncomfortable account of a bit of his past and his family, two things which it seems relatively clear he is trying to avoid, or at least keep separate from his profession. This is why I hope that someday he will write some sort of memoir, or something of the like. Judging by the style he takes in his essays which I've had the pleasure of reading, he could pull off something quite extraordinary.

I wonder who Sufjan Stevens really is. It is very easy to judge people by what they do rather than who they actually are. Too often we unconsciously form our identities around how well we perform every day. If you have a poor performance, an awkward conversation, a wrong note, then for whatever reason you are perceived to have less value. It is very easy to see people and think that we like them because we like what they are doing, while what they do and who they are are two totally different concepts.

Point being that I like Sufjan Stevens' music and writing very much (and both are a large influence on most work of my own) but perhaps more importantly, I find him to be a very interesting individual with very interesting ideas about creativity, friends, and faith. At the same I know very little about the man. Someday, I would very much like to meet him.