Journal
- Thursday, November 7, 2024
"Music is a powerful tool. In an instant, it can change your mood, your perspective, or your life," Stacey Abrams says on her Crooked Media podcast, Assembly Required, introducing her conversation with Rhiannon Giddens. "No matter the motivation, music is an outlet, a force that builds us up or keeps us steady. It holds the capacity to move millions and to resonate with each individual, and every lyric, every note, every beat has the potential to share a message." You can hear their conversation here. Giddens's new album with Silkroad Ensemble, American Railroad, is out next week; their fall tour begins tonight.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Podcast
- Monday, August 25, 2014
Nonesuch Records at BAM: Celebrating a Label Without Labels, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)'s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the label, begins on September 9. The series, which runs through September 28, offers a wide range of concerts that speak to Nonesuch's ongoing commitment to outstanding, unique artists in classical music, contemporary music, jazz, traditional American and world music, popular and alternative music, and music theater. As we count down to the event, we invite you to share some of your own favorite Nonesuch recordings here.
Journal Topics:Friday, August 22, 2014Lianne La Havas unveils new music at Afropunk Fest in Brooklyn ... John Adams's I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky gets LA premiere ... Louis Andriessen’s De Materie is performed in Germany ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica play three nights at Switzerland's Sion Music Festival ... k.d. lang performs surrounded by the Rockies in Colorado for the Wake Up Festival ... Nickel Creek tours Texas ... Conor Oberst concludes his European tour in Portugal ... and more ...
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, August 22, 2014With just about two weeks to go before the release of Robert Plant's new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, on September 9, Plant and his band the Sensational Space Shifters take fans through the new album in a new short film, which you can watch below. Band member Justin Adams discusses the band's unanimity and creative freedom, while Skin Tyson talks about "creating space at the right time, for each other," and Johnny Baggot discusses his psychedelic looping samples.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoThursday, August 21, 2014Nonesuch releases composer Steve Reich’s album Radio Rewrite on September 30, 2014. The album features the first recording of the 2012 title piece, which references two songs by Radiohead and is performed by Alarm Will Sound led by Alan Pierson; Electric Counterpoint (1987), performed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood; and Piano Counterpoint, a 2011 transcription by Vincent Corver of Reich’s 1973 Six Pianos, performed by pianist Vicky Chow. Steve Reich and Musicians join Philip Glass and his Ensemble for three performances for the Nonesuch Records at BAM 50th anniversary celebration; Alarm Will Sound also performs two concerts as part of the series, including Radio Rewrite.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsWednesday, August 20, 2014John Adams’s 1995 "songplay" I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky receives its long-overdue LA premiere in a Long Beach Opera performance at the Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday. The piece, with a libretto by the late poet June Jordan, uses the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake as a starting point to explore race, gender, and immigration issues among young Angelenos. Nonesuch Records released the recording of Ceiling/Sky in 1998, featuring Audra McDonald, among others.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourTuesday, August 19, 2014Nonesuch Records President Bob Hurwitz and Senior Vice President David Bither recently sat down with the folks at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Brooklyn, New York, to discuss the history of Nonesuch Records, the family of artists, and the longstanding relationship between those artists and BAM for an online exclusive video. This comes in advance of BAM's forthcoming celebration of the 50th anniversary of the label: Nonesuch Records at BAM: Celebrating a Label Without Labels, a wide-ranging series of concerts and events, September 9–28, 2014. Watch the video here.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014Saxophonist Joshua Redman’s trio, featuring Reuben Rogers on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums—which can be heard on Redman’s recent Nonesuch release, Trios Live—will tour the US this fall. The tour kicks off with two sets at Catalina’s in LA on September 29 and makes stops across the country, including multi-night residencies in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, NYC, St. Louis, and Washington, DC’s Blues Alley, where the trio recorded the new album. (Trios Live also includes tracks recorded at NYC’s Jazz Standard with Matt Penman on bass.)
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourMonday, August 18, 2014Nonesuch releases Nico Muhly’s opera Two Boys—recorded live during the Metropolitan Opera’s 2013 production with conductor David Robertson and director Bartlett Sher—on September 30, 2014. The two-act opera, with a libretto by award-winning playwright Craig Lucas, is loosely based on true events and follows a lonely detective whose investigation of a seemingly simple crime draws her into a complex web of online intrigue. Alice Coote sings the role of Detective Inspector Anne Strawson and Paul Appleby sings Brian, the 16-year-old boy at the center of her investigations. Two Boys, which is Muhly’s Nonesuch debut, is available to pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the opera’s Act I, Scene 6.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsFriday, August 15, 2014Sam Amidon and Bill Frisell close out the Kilkenny Arts Festival in Ireland ... Louis Andriessen’s De Materie gets German premiere ... The Black Keys’ performance on Late Show with David Letterman re-airs ... Bombino tours Italy ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play UK, Netherlands festivals ... Emmylou Harris gives benefit concert in Nashville... Iron and Wine is in Dallas ... Randy Newman plays Rocky Mountain Folks Fest ... Nickel Creek tour mid-Atlantic ... Conor Oberst is in Germany ... Robert Plant plays Summer Sonic Festival in Japan ... and more ...
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsThursday, August 14, 2014Robert Plant was recently featured on BBC Radio 2's The Chris Evans Breakfast Show and spoke with BBC Radio 6 Music's Shaun Keaveny, discussing his forthcoming album, lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, and more. You can listen to both interviews here. Plant and his band the Sensational Space Shifters tour Japan this weekend. Pre-sale tickets for their fall North American tour are available now for Citi cardmembers; general on-sale begins Friday, August 15.
Journal Topics: Artist News, RadioThursday, August 14, 2014Björk: Biophilia Live, the documentary film capturing the multidimensional concert centered on Björk’s eighth studio album, will begin a limited series of premiere screenings at festivals, museums, libraries, galleries and cinemas worldwide on September 5. The film recently made its European debut at the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, at which Variety praised the film as “a captivating record of an artist in full command of her idiosyncratic powers.” At selected screenings the documentary When Björk Met Attenborough will screen alongside Björk: Biophilia Live. Watch a trailer for the film here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, FilmWednesday, August 13, 2014Nickel Creek is featured on today's episode of On Point, from NPR member station 90.9 WBUR in Boston. The group performs songs from its recent Nonesuch Records debut album, A Dotted Line and talks with host Tom Ashbrook about the new album, the group's evolution, and the various projects the band members have been working on in the years since the last Nickel Creek album. This year marks 25 years since the formation of the trio, dormant since 2007, and, says Ashbrook: "Now they’re back together, with a great sound." Hear the episode here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio