On their debut album Watt Doom, the instrumental group Twin Whales synthesizes disparate landscapes, divergent sonic backgrounds, and a shifting musical direction. Think improvisation, think modularity, think inspiration. Formed in 2015, the group has found a voice in music that they refer to as “pure survival mode” – frenetic and complex stuff that allows for unpredictable stylistic shifts and moments of quiet beauty.
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Daniel Corral releases Polytope on September 28, with October release shows
On September 28, 2018, Orenda Records will release Polytope by Los Angeles composer Daniel Corral. Polytope will be available on all major streaming platforms, as a digital download, and on CD. The Los Angeles Exchange (LAX) Festival will present 2 album release shows on October 17 and 19 at the Think Tank Gallery in Los Angeles.
Polytope is an aural vortex of electronic minimalism and alternate tuning that recalls classic experimental electronic albums like Terry Riley’s Shri Camel, Aphex Twin’sSelected Ambient Works Volume II, Laurie Spiegel’s The Expanding Universe, or Eliane Radigue’s Trilogie de la Mort. Sequenza 21 praised Polytope as “an extraordinary piece of musical and visual art… that is both accessible and compelling,” SF Gate hailed it as “a mesmerizing visual and musical spectacle,” and The Stranger described it as “gamelan from Pluto—or maybe ’70s Philip Glass as interpreted by Harry Partch on his Cloud-Chamber Bowls.”
Polytope album release shows at LAX Festival
The LAX Festival will present 2 live performance of Polytope on October 17 and 19 at the Think Tank Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. In live performance, Polytope is a multimedia blend of a string quartet, Kraftwerk, James Turrell, and an Indonesian dhalang (master shadow puppeteer). Performed entirely in darkness, it’s a mesmerizing dance of silhouettes of fingers over colorful glowing diamonds, captured on live feed video and projected large and bright as an evolving visual score. For these performances, Corral will be joined by musicians Erin Barnes, Cory Beers, and Andrew Lessman.
Live Dates
Think Tank Gallery
939 Maple Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90015
October 17, 8pm
October 19, 10pm
Tickets available soon from Los Angeles Performance Practice
Internationally Acclaimed Saxophonist, Composer, and Arranger Walt Weiskopf Releases "European Quartet"
Recorded at the conclusion of a two-week tour of Denmark, Norway, and Germany in January of 2016; U.S. tenor giant Walt Weiskopf has teamed up with three of Europe's finest and most sought-after jazz musicians; pianist Carl Winther, bassist Daniel Franck and drummer Anders Mogensen. The result of this collaboration is great energetic music. Each member of the quartet contributed original compositions to the set; rounded out with Mal Waldron's beautiful "Soul Eyes" and the modern jazz-classic "Bolivia" by the great Cedar Walton.
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Enigmatic Los Angeles Jazz-Rock Trio Evil Genius Returns With "Experiments on Human Subjects"
Critically acclaimed experimental jazz-rock trio Evil Genius returns with their second full-length release, Experiments on Human Subjects on Orenda Records. This new collection utilizes an even broader palette of sonic madness, with more extensive through-composed material and traverses vast stylistic terrain with gleeful perversity and scorched-earth impunity. What remains from their 2015 debut Bitter Human is the group's remarkably nuanced interplay and freedom to glide effortlessly as individual voices united by a common mission.
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Groundbreaking composer Derrick Spiva Jr. releases second album American Mirror in conjunction with a world-premiere by the renowned Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Los Angeles-based composer Derrick Spiva Jr. could not have chosen a better name for his malleable ensemble, Bridge to Everywhere. The name embodies his compositional and cultural ethos clearly and succinctly. At a time when our society needs bridges more than ever, Spiva’s music connects music from all over the world with his own American identity. His second album, American Mirror, places rhythmic and melodic foundations from West and North Africa, India, Eastern Europe, and Appalachia seamlessly within the realm of modern American classical music. American Mirror proposes that diverse musical cultures can become even more beautiful when they exist and collaborate together. It is a musical metaphor for how disparate segments of American society, which has roots all over the world, can be truly harmonious.
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