Tyondai Braxton's Nonesuch debut album, HIVE1, is due out next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen at npr.org. "New sounds continually spark like fireworks inside HIVE1's shifting, stereo-spanning mix, which is especially intoxicating through headphones," says NPR Music's Marc Masters. "[W]hat sets this album apart is its playfulness—the feeling that experimenting with sound is a joyful game rather than an academic exercise."
Tyondai Braxton's Nonesuch debut album, HIVE1, is due out next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen at npr.org. The album comprises eight pieces originally conceived for a performance work called HIVE that debuted at New York’s Guggenheim Museum in 2013 and evolved into HIVE1.
"New sounds continually spark like fireworks inside HIVE1's shifting, stereo-spanning mix, which is especially intoxicating through headphones," says NPR Music's Marc Masters. "Something is always changing, growing, flipping; if it's not the skeleton of a tune, then it's the sonic skin Braxton stretches around it."
Masters goes on to say that "what sets this album apart is its playfulness—the feeling that experimenting with sound is a joyful game rather than an academic exercise."
Read more and listen to the complete album, streaming now at npr.org.
To pre-order HIVE1 and download the album tracks "Gracka" and "Scout1" now, head to iTunes or the Nonesuch Store, where CD and vinyl orders also include a download of the complete album starting release day.
Braxton gives the Canadian premiere of HIVE1 at the Mutek festival in Montreal later this month and performs the piece for three nights at The Kitchen in New York City in early June. For details, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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