July Music Mailout
Below is the July Edition of my monthly music mailout, posted here for posterity and googleability. If you’d like to get it to your inbox, sign up here.
Hello Friends,
Here’s my music news for the month of July:
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/ Magic City Counterpoint Interactive EP and Launch Show
// Claire Litwinowicz Performs Escapement at Bang on a Can
/// Courtenay Cleary Collaboration Coming Soon
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/ MAGIC CITY COUNTERPOINT INTERACTIVE EP AND LAUNCH SHOW
Magic City Counterpoint are finally on the verge of releasing Dialogue - it’s an EP presented in an online world which you can wander about as you listen to the music.
Dialogue initially took shape as a body of electronic music, created by Madeleine Cocolas and I, shuffling files back and forth in stolen time between work and parenting. These textural and otherworldly sounds that emerged, and we felt like they were asking to be listened to in a way that didn’t quite mesh with the algorithmic and playlist-driven music industry/machine.
So we teamed up with our friends Fuzzy Ghost - Pete Foley and Scott Ford - to try and create some kind of crazy world where you could slow down and just inhabit this music for a little while. Together we made Dialogue - a surreal 3D world where you can wander around and be immersed in the music, as the landscape changes with the music and your movements.
It’s been a long time in development, but now it’s totally done! It’ll be out August 4. You can play it for free in your browser, and you can of course listen to the EP separately via the usual platforms.
We’ll be playing a launch show in Brisbane on August 20, at It’s Still a Secret with the always incredible Big Dead. If you don’t come for the songs, at least come for the Matching Japanese Pit Crew Uniforms.
MAGIC CITY COUNTERPOINT DIALOGUE INTERACTIVE EP
Play free in browser from August 4
Buy on Bandcamp
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, etc
MAGIC CITY COUNTERPOINT DIALOGUE LAUNCH
At Big Dead Winter Residency
It's Still a Secret, 48 Montague Rd, South Brisbane
Sunday 20 August 2023
Doors 7:30pm
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// CLAIRE LITWINOWICZ PERFORMS ESCAPEMENT AT BANG ON A CAN
Brisbane friend and amazing violinist Claire Litwinowicz recently attended the Legendary Bang on a Can Festival in the US, and while she was there, performed my piece Escapement for Violin and Mechanical Metronome. I was so honoured that Claire chose to perform this piece!
In this piece the violin soloist is accompanied by a performer "playing" an old-school mechanical metronome - they have the pretty stressful job of switching the speed of the metronome quite precisely and stopping and starting it at very specific moments, it's quite fun to watch.
I don’t have any footage of Claire’s performance but you can enjoy this lovely video of Flora Wong (who originally commissioned the piece) and Jodie Rottle performing Escapement, captured and edited by Greg Harm.
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COURTENAY CLEARY COLLABORATION COMING SOON
I don’t have much specific info to give you on this project, but it's a bit exciting so I thought I’d share it. I’ve been working with my friend and super-duper violinist Courtenay Cleary on a new work for violin and Ableton Push. It’s taken a long time, because I guess we’re trying to weave together a few threads here that don’t normally meet - namely finger-drumming, nularseq-style pad sequencing, and solo violin. It’s starting to come together now and I’m very excited about it finally being performed, sometime… soon…
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That brings my ramblings to a close this month. As usual, if you wanna unsubscribe, just reply and say so and it shall be done.
Wishing you all the very best for whatever the coming month brings you!
Chris