New this week
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The inclusion of electronics in contemporary jazz music is still sufficiently unorthodox that new releases in the sub-sub-genre have to be approached with a bit of caution. Are they there solely for decorative purposes? Are they added post-production? It’s still a rare thing to see an electronic musician contribution to a jazz record in a…
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Dr. Ayman Fanous works out of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, where he is a professor and chair of the psychiatry department. Fanous’ field is psychiatric genomics research, specifically genetic risk factors for psychiatric illness. In the ample spare time afforded by that career choice, Fanous has earned a reputation as…
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Eric Boivin, the Montreal field recording and sound artist, introduced me to the idea of glitch art with an off-hand remark one Sunday night at CKLN-FM in Toronto. A CD he was playing started to malfunction on-air. The laser diode bounced around the disc’s content with a kind of beautiful abandon. “These discs are so…
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Brazil’s Ivo Perelman has delivered a breathtaking set of improvisational works in collaboration with three of jazz’s great guitarists: Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp and Joe Morris. The three-disc box landed today on Mahakala Music. The prolific saxophonist with more than 100 LP credits on his resume played the guitar as a child, but gave it…
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In the notes accompanying the original release of Akira Kosemura’s Polaroid Piano in 2009, Lawrence English drew a parallel between the soft-focus nature of polaroid film and the 12 small wonders he recorded Kosemura performing in the Australian cities Brisbane and Hobart. “Played notes and the mechanism of the piano itself share equal presence in…
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Toronto composer Christopher Mayo is releasing an album of three compositions today, featuring grab-you-by-the-ears performances by guitarist Andrew Noseworthy and harpist Grace Scheele. Walk the Darkness Down is transfixing. To fully appreciate the album’s title piece, start with Townes Van Zandt’s 1969 track “Lungs,” which serves as a reference point. Mayo’s piece combines 10 open-string…
The Moderns 