Wooley’s “Moths” on Best Of List
Good evening,
Nate Wooley’s recently released album “Moths” was included by Peter Margasak on The Best Contemporary Classical Music on Bandcamp, February 2024 (link). Peter writes:
When trumpeter Nate Wooley composes pieces that organize improvisation into generous frameworks, he frequently turns to images and models from the natural world for ideas. He originally composed Moths as a solo work, where the performer chooses an initial gesture from the score and that takes light, so to speak, arranging the performance according to four “wing-tips,” each representing a different locus of change or development— harmonic motion, articulation, extension, and physicality. These shifts are achieved very slowly, metamorphosizing in plain sight, but too gradually for most of us to notice until it’s already happened. That pace causes us to put our focus on those changes rather than the grander design. This performance enlists the trio of pianist Eric Wubbels, clarinetist Madison Greenstone, and flutist Laura Cocks. Although each musician works alone, they can’t help but occasionally veer or smudge a sound to enhance some fleeting collective serendipity. At this molasses pace, it’s tough to trace the paths of all three voices at once. As a result, the music becomes kaleidoscopic, as our ears wander from tone to tone, changing perspective and focus. There’s a Zen-like serenity that’s countered by a timbre often spiked with sharp harmonics, sibilance, groans, and microtonal wobbles, and observing it play out feels like the most hypnotic suspense movie one could imagine.
Congratulations to Nate for his incredible piece, to Eric, Madison, and Laura for their stellar performances, and to Peter for including it in among so many other excellent albums.
Cheers!
Jordan
“Moths” by Nate Wooley due February 16
M O T H S
Good day,
Nate Wooley’s “Moths” will be released February 16, 2024 on CD (in handsome wallet with liner notes by Eric Wubbels) and digitally (worldwide). The 43:48 recording was performed by Laura Cocks (flute), Madison Greenstone (clarinet), and Eric Wubbels (piano, autoharp, and voice).
The recording was made October 4, 2022 by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Studios. The album was produced by Nate Wooley and Jordan Dykstra, mastered by Al Jones at Laminal Audio, with design and layout by Dykstra. The 35mm film stills used for the artwork were courtesy of Vito Rowlands, and from the film "Ovid, New York.”
Listen to an excerpt below!
For now,
Jordan
20 Days in Mariupol soundtrack
Ominous artwork for an ominous film…
Good day,
I feel more than lucky to have scored Mstyslav Chernov’s documentary 20 Days in Mariupol (watch the trailer here) for FRONTLINE/AP News which will air on PBS this fall. The soundtrack, which will premiere in tandem with the New York City screenings at Film Forum, will be released via all streaming platforms on Friday July 14. Al Jones, of friend of the label Laminal Audio, mastered the album, and was a great help in realizing the form, as well. The tracklisting for the score is as follows:
You Are Surrounded
Cold Opening
Desperation
The Baby Survived
The Last Firehouse Was Destroyed
Civilians Are Dying
Flatlining
Black Body Bags
News Finally Gets Out
The Darkest Basement
Devastation Everywhere
Finally, I am humbled that some reviews have mentioned the score, with such writing as:
“The raw footage is largely unembellished, save for Jordan Dykstra’s eerie electronic music score that could easily be appropriated for a horror film (which, of course, 20 Days in Mariupol is, of a sort).”
(Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter, January 20, 2023)
“This is bleak but essential viewing, deftly edited by Chernov, video technology rendering his camerawork discomfitingly bright and sharp where not long ago we might have been spared a degree of horror by lesser image clarity. Adding discreet notes of suspense is Jordan Dykstra’s original score. Structured by onscreen markers of the days passed, this nonfiction feature may not have a simple narrative arc, but the director’s unpretentious first-person narration and the intensity of the war-crimes evidence compiled make it riveting nonetheless.”
(Dennis Harvey, Variety, January 21, 2023)
“Of course it wasn't only the editing, but the score is something to behold. Scored akin to a horror film 20 Days in Mariupol is full of low thumping bass, dissonance, and a low persistent, pervasive presence of dread. It has ambient elements to it that stick with you, increase your heart rate and remind you that this is something that happened only a year ago and is actually still happening today. To avoid hyperbole I'll just say I really mean this, this was one of the best scores I've heard thus far this year. The movie does not work to the same degree without it. 20 Days in Mariupol is elevated to another level of storytelling and empathetic output due to it and I commend Jordan Dykstra on his work!”
(Isaac P. Ale, Film & Froth, May 14, 2023)
“…his grim narration that, almost diary-like, details his experiences with Michelle Mizner’s superb editing and makes us feel his fears. And also tells the motivations; Jordan Dykstra’s unsettling score completes the nightmare..“
(Nation World News, April 28, 2023)
“Chernov frequently blurs the most severe injuries, but it’s the puddles of blood, dead animals and lifeless limbs half-buried by rubble that indicate the sheer scale of suffering in Mariupol. His jarringly stoic narration and haunting original music by Jordan Dykstra add to the sense that, in Mariupol, nothing is left. This is not a film about President Zelensky’s Churchillian leadership or the heroism of first responders (though if you look, there is some of that).”
(Adam Solomons, IndieWire, January 20, 2023)
For now,
Jordan
Zaes’ “Parallel Prints” World Premiere at The Stone (NYC)
World premiere!
Good afternoon,
On Saturday, October 22nd Yarn/Wire will premiere — as curated by Sae Hashimoto during her 4 concert residency — Marcel Zaes’ work “Parallel Prints” at The Stone in New York City. In January of 2022 Editions Verde released the album on CD and digitally to high praise.
John Zorn is the artistic director of The Stone, which is now located at The Glass Box Theater at The New School, and has been curatorially involved since its inception. More information about the COVID policy is available here.
Yarn/Wire is Sae Hashimoto (percussion), Russell Greenberg (percussion), Laura Barger (piano) , and Karl Larson (piano).
Hope to see you there!
For now,
Jordan
Pre-order Michael Pisaro-Liu’s “Tombstones: Live in Brooklyn” feat. Julia Holter
Good afternoon,
Exciting news: on August 5 EV will release a selection of recordings from the 2012 live performance of Michael Pisaro-Liu’s work “Tombstones” which features Julia Holter on voice. Below is an album sampler to preview the upcoming release:
Tombstones: Live in Brooklyn is available for pre-order as both CD (with lovely 6 panel insert) and digital versions. Finally, please visit the EV Instagram page to view Genevieve Lutkin’s beautiful reels in conjunction with the release — a new reel will be presented every few days leading up to the release date!
For now,
Jordan
Cover artwork by Genevieve Lutkin
GLOBES soundtrack officially released
Good afternoon,
A still (moment of a beekeeper in the European countryside) from GLOBES, courtesy of Nina de Vroome.
EV is very pleased to announce the official release of our second soundtrack: the original soundtrack to the full-length documentary film Globes. The film was directed by friend of the label Nina de Vroome and premiered last year at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in Prague. The soundtrack features original score by myself (Jordan Dykstra) and also features other music from the film by Kevin Volans, Gwenaël Mario Grisi (performed by the Budapest Art Orchestra), Morthen Kiang, and Reidemeister Move. The CD is available here for $10 and the digital version here for $9.
To view 4 preview videos visit the EV YouTube page.
For now,
Jordan
Lucier/Dykstra album: Best Contemporary Classical list on Bandcamp
Click image to read the article.
Good afternoon,
I was thrilled to see Bandcamp’s bi-monthly best-of column for contemporary classical music includes Out of Our Hands by Alvin Lucier & Jordan Dykstra. Peter Margasak writes:
Lucier’s “Corner Church and High” cites the intersection where Wesleyan’s old music department was located, where one could hear disparate student-produced sounds colliding outside of the building. Sustained long tones on viola, violin, and cello unleash visceral acoustic beating as their sonic veil is pierced by bowed and struck tuned percussion. The tactics are familiar to Lucier admirers, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a wonderful place to get lost in for 20 minutes. Dykstra’s “32 Middle Tones,” an elliptic play on his old address, fits perfectly here, as cellist Laura Cetilia harmonizes—using both her instrument and her voice—with the chord progressions sketched out on viola and violin. Notated silences break each iteration up, changing subtly with every pass, as the two percussionists provide frictive accents.
For now,
Jordan
The Names’ “Four Names and a Song”
Good afternoon,
The cover is “Angela Davis (Grey)” (gouache, 2021) by Iris Kensmil
Happy April! NO JOKE: I am so very pleased to announce the release of Four Names and a Song by The Names, a new collective ensemble formed by dear friend Koen Nutters. The debut album was recorded in (and around) Amsterdam and Berlin with compositional frameworks by Koen. The release also includes a beautiful essay by Matt Marble called “Our Greater Potentials” so I will let his words tell a bit more about the album.
Four Names and a Song is an encoded love letter addressed to a vital intersection — that of the traditions of AACM jazz and Cagean aleatoric composition, on the one hand, and that of racial injustice and white responsibility, on the other. Using his own musical cipher, Dutch composer and bassist Koen Nutters first translated the names of ensemble members and social justice icons into musical pitches. Each person's unique ‘melodic code’ then naturally gives rise to their own melodic and harmonic figures. In his arrangements Nutters also found inspiration from 1960s jazz harmony, which he abstracts into musical question marks. Chord progressions are slowed down into atmospheric textures suspended in parenthetical silences. Though the music takes on a disembodied character, it doesn't feel escapist. Almost ceremonial, it is more like the construction and adornment of an altar.” Marble goes on to say, “The music of The Names does not provide any solutions to the injustice they meditate upon, nor do they completely fulfill the white responsibility which Angela Davis suggests. But Four Names and a Song is a radical ambience in which to reflect on these powerful voices and on what that responsibility might entail.”
Four Names and a Song is available as both CD and digital versions.
For now,
Jordan
Album preview!
March 18: Alvin Lucier & Jordan Dykstra’s “Out of Our Hands”
Front cover: We are sitting in his backyard, much like the one…
Good afternoon,
I am so very, very pleased to announce that an over four year production to commission, record, and release new pieces from Alvin Lucier and myself is finally coming to a head! Important Records and EV have teamed up to release “Out of Our Hands” on LP/digital this coming Friday, March 18, 2022. The split record contains debut recordings — performed by Ordinary Affects and engineered by Luke Damrosch — of Lucier’s “Corner Church and High” and Dykstra’s “32 Middle Tones.” Pre-order is available here.
Here is a short statement for the release, reflecting on the celebration of Alvin’s life and his recent passing, which I wrote in December 2021:
“With Alvin’s recent passing I was overwhelmed with messages and calls from friends, collaborators, and his former students. Everyone had a heavy heart, no doubt, but were grateful for the memories and their gift to be around Alvin during his lifetime of prolific dedication to the arts, his fascination with poetic storytelling through scientifically-inspired minimalism, and his calm and warmhearted spirit. In his last few years on earth, Alvin was busier than ever — brainstorming new ideas, creating new pieces, and planning big things. While he was here, he was alive, and may his music — and spirit — live on forever, spreading from his corner of Church and High (where he recorded his seminal piece I am sitting in a room) to every corner, concert hall, and loudspeaker in the world.”
For now,
Jordan
Zaes’ “Parallel Prints” on Best-of February 2022 List
Dear World,
Our latest release — “Parallel Prints” by Marcel Zaes — was featured today in the “Best Contemporary Classical” Bandcamp column for February 2022!
Peter Margasak writes “Illustrated in part by its unusual instrumentation (two pianists, two percussionists), the New York ensemble Yarn/Wire has always eschewed convention. However, it’s still incredible to stumble across a piece like Parallel Prints, developed for the quartet by Swiss composer Marcel Zaes. The central work on this album, “Parallel Prints #1,” is a 42-minute performance featuring all four members playing a single piano simultaneously, each hammering out repetitive sequences from a graphic score against a metronome. But within those shifting, minimal patterns, each musician produces ultra-subtle pitch variations (the score allows for any sound-making device so long as different shades of each pitch can be made). The piece is lumpy, hypnotic, random, and driving, sometimes all at once. While developing the work, the composer and the musicians recorded fragments of the score using an octave of crotales and a drum pad that received data on how it was struck but produced no sound. Zaes then created a series of 19 brief variations that follow the main work using computer software to formulate loads of permutations of source material played by the group, deploying the same rhythmic schemes.”
For now,
Jordan
New upcoming releases: “Correspondences” & “Parallel Prints”
Dear World,
I am extremely pleased to announce two new releases in our Seeing the Forest in a Tree series: Morgan Evans-Weiler’s “Correspondences” and Marcel Zaes’ “Parallel Prints.” Both CDs — which will also stream worldwide — will be available on January 7, 2022. These two albums are many years in the making and have been crafted with excellent performers: Joseph Clayton Mills, Fraufraulein, and Sarah Hughes and Patrick Farmer on Morgan’s album and Yarn/Wire on Marcel’s.
To whet your whistle, here are promotional album preview videos for both releases:
Last, but certainly not least, Editions Verde was recently featured on the Blue Mountain School site and I made a one-hour mix that is on their site. EV is the 16th label to be featured alongside excellent the company such as Saltern and Black Truffle, Please enjoy.
For now,
Jordan
Artwork by the performers: Joseph Clayton Mills, Fraufraulein, and Sarah Hughes and Patrick Farmer (designed by Jordan Dykstra).
Artwork by Eli Backer (designed by Jordan Dykstra).
Manuel Pessôa de Lima’s “Skip Ad” at Tectonics
Dear World,
Our great friend Manuel has made a wonderful piece called Skip Ad for this year’s online Tectonics music festival. Manuel says “Skip Ad emulates the commodification of human expectations, in an artistic process infected by the pervasive ideologies masking social inequality frequently used in digital marketing.” (Lima). The piece — which features vocals by yours truly (Jordan Dykstra) will debut on Sunday May 9 on the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra website at 18:30 GMT.
Manuel has made a number of interesting segments for the debut on his Instagram page (well worth checking out) and I’ve embedded one to preview on the right.
For now,
Jordan
Upcoming Release: Blow the Man Down (OST)
Dear World,
We have some exciting news to announce! Christmas comes right on time this year as Editions Verde will release the original motion picture soundtrack to the Amazon Studios 2020 film BLOW THE MAN DOWN on December 25 on CD and all major streaming platforms worldwide. The film — which is available for streaming via Amazon — came out in March and was co-scored by EV’s own Jordan Dykstra and his frequent collaborator Brian McOmber. Together the duo previously worked on IT COMES AT NIGHT (A24, 2017), HAIL SATAN? (Magnolia Pictures, 2019), the Emmy-winning 2-part Frontline documentary DOCUMENTING HATE (PBS, 2019), and finally Pitchfork’s #2 album of 2009 — Dirty Projector’s Bitte Orca (Domino Records). In addition to their own performing, for this project Dykstra and McOmber also employed the sounds of Malcom Parson (cello), Michael Pestel (flute), and Thollem McDonas (piano on tracks 11 and 20). The album was mixed by Ben Greenberg at Python Patrol and mastered by Alan Jones at Laminal Audio. Finally, as you can see on the cover art to the right, the 26-song soundtrack also features four sea shanties sung by David Coffin (and friends). Preview Coffin’s rendition the film’s title track, featured in the opening of the film, here.
For now,
Jordan
UPDATE (12/19): Please enjoy this album sampler!
Cover art for EV009: BLOW THE MAN DOWN (OST) by Jordan Dykstra & Brian McOmber
Manuel Lima’s “The Failed Pianist”
Dear World,
I wanted everyone to know that friend of the label Manuel Lima has a special performance of his incredible work “The Failed Pianist” this coming Friday and Saturday (September 11 and 12) at Acker Stadt Palast in Berlin.
From the Acker Stadt Palast events page:
Manuel Pessoa de Lima arrived in Berlin from Brazil with a sole plan in mind: to break out in the experimental music scene. It didn't take too long for him to realize he wouldn't be able to make a living from his art. Luckily, he was hired by a hairdresser in Prenzlauer Berg who uses live piano music in his saloon. Requested to play light and relaxing piano music, Manuel decided to compose his new album Friseur, where he plays his new compositions synced with a karaoke-like backtrack.
Attention: Due to corona prevention measures, admission is only possible 20 minutes before the beginning of the respective performance! / Open doors 20 minutes before the start. As we have to reduce the number of seats considerably, ticket sales are only possible via advance booking until further notice. If it is not possible for you to buy your ticket via Billetto, please write to karten@ackerstadtpalast.de
For now,
Jordan
Manu (photographed by
Line Gøttsche Dyrholm)
in the hair salon where he regularly performs
14 Horse Bells (Tintinnabulation) music video
Dear World,
I hope everyone is staying healthy and taking care of yourselves and one another.
I’m pleased to share the music video for the Tintinnabulation bell iteration of 14 Horse Bells, my upcoming release on September 4 and the second in Editions Verde’s continuing series Seeing the Forest in a Tree. Please enjoy! And here is the first stanza from The Bells (1850) by Edgar Allen Poe where the genesis of the word “tintinnabulation” is found:
Hear the sledges with the bells—
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
For now,
Jordan
Welcome
Dear World,
Welcome to the new Editions Verde site! It’s been 5 years since I started this label and it’s been a blast sharing the music and art of myself and others. There are some exciting projects in the works including a few new releases in our series Seeing the Forest in a Tree.
All of the previous releases are in the Catalog (which also functions as the shop) as well as my new release called 14 Horse Bells (CD/digital) which has a release date of September 4.
Thank you for visiting and take care of yourself and one another!
For now,
Jordan
