Audrey Chen - Glacial (self released, 2009)

Audrey Chen - Glacial


I totally dropped the ball yesterday. My sincerest apologies to Ada Lovelace as yesterday belonged to her and even though I knew it, I couldn't come up with anything to honor her. Thanks to zed=zee, I learned that March 24th was Ada Lovelace Day and the idea was to post something that would "draw attention to women excelling in technology" (loosely interpreting technology as music). My problem was thinking of a solo female musician that A) I was familiar enough to talk about (which eliminated Colleen) and B) didn't already have tons of exposure (which eliminated Grouper, sort of). Then I remembered I picked up one of Audrey Chen's CDs back when I saw her live collab with ID M Theftable and if there's any woman in music that's a pioneer it's Chen. So everything clicked... a day late.

So there is like zero information about Glacial on the internet. All I'm going on is what I'm hearing on the album and what I saw when she performed live. The basis of Chen's music is her cello and voice but after that, anything goes. She's taking the cello to the next level using it in ways I doubt anyone has thought of before. Like I'm pretty sure she's the first to use one of those neon 4-legged electric back massagers on the body of her cello. And while there have been plenty of people who experiment with their voice in extreme ways, Chen has a very unique "inhale screeching" that, even after seeing it in person, I'm still not convinced it's actually human. I haven't heard it elsewhere and would be able to identify it in a heartbeat.

The music on Glacial is minimal and experimental, noise but not noisey. At 20 minutes, it goes from glitchy whirlwinds to ape like whale songs all while generally creeping you the fuck out. In other words: totally boss. I think Chen's music is best experienced live but for most of you, that's unlikely to happen very often. So here's Glacial, the quick fix for your crazy cellist addiction.

A Christmas Miracle

One Cello X 16 - Coda (from One Cello X 16)


My friends, history has been made. My wife has done two things that have never before happened. For the first time ever, Elise has introduced me to some music that

1: I had never heard of
and
2: I really liked

She was listening to an episode from one of her favorite shows, Radio Lab, and there was a piece about this woman named Zoë Keating who plays the cello. Admittedly, there are lots of people who play the cello that I've never heard of. It's not like I claim to be a super music genius or anything (even if Elise thinks I am).

But maybe I should have heard of her before. Maybe I actually have and just don't remember. I'm not just trying to make excuses, either. She's worked with DJ Shadow, Tarentel, and John Vanderslice, and she was in Rasputina for 4 years. That should be enough for me to recognize her name. Whatever the reason for this slip-up, though, is inexcusable. Everyone should know about her.

Keating performs solo under the moniker One Cello X 16 (kinda cheesy, I know). But she makes music that I am an absolute sucker for: the one-(wo)man-band-loop thing. Tyondai Braxton, Navigator, Lichens, White Rainbow, they all do it and I love them for it. Now I can add One Cello X 16 to the list.

But just because she works in a niche genre doesn't mean she doesn't make unique music. Quite the contrary. I've yet to hear music like Keating's. I'm a fan of cellos and I like when people make new and original music from classical instruments. Keating does exactly that. She plays the cello and loops it over itself, creating dozens of layers of beautiful cello and turning herself into a micro avant-garde symphony.

She has a self titled EP out which is fantastic, as well as a full length called Natoma which I have yet to hear. The EP is sold out and only available digitally. Natoma is available in CD and digital formats from her website. She's working on a third album. I have no doubt that it'll be awesome.

Wisteriax - Static Voyage

Wisteriax - Track 5


Wisteriax is one Karen S. Langlie from Lowell, Massachusetts. Static Voyage is a free record she put out via Infinite Sector (feel free to go here and download it).

Wisteriax makes music almost entirely sourced from her cello, although Static Voyage is listed as having "cello, shortwave, loops and FX." So, yeah. Cello. I'm pretty sure the shortwave part is about the sporadic radio transmissions that pop up every now and then on the record but the rest (loops, FX) is probably based on the cello in some way, shape or form.

So, remember that Greg Kelley record I reviewed a little while back, Self-Hate Index? And how it was just one dude making lots of noise with a trumpet? Well, Static Voyage is a lot like that, except the artist is of the female variety and her talents lie in strings instead of brass. And Voyage never gets quite as abrasive and noisy as Self-Hate but we're still pretty much on the same page here.

Static Voyage is one of the most literal titles for a record I've heard in a while. Not that that's a bad thing, though. Just the opposite. It lets you know what you're getting yourself into beforehand. This is the type of music I'd expect to hear if I was traveling through space in a faux-1950s sci-fi B-movie.

Of course it's only appropriate for such a voyage to be one loooong song (74 minutes) and it's also very fitting that it was recorded for the FZC sound/noise installation at Burning Man in 2003. I don't want to call this New Age or hippie music, because it definitely isn't. But at the same time, I get that kind of feeling from it, for no particular reason. Maybe it's the whole "space" thing because Static Voyage is pretty spacey. And spacious. So space -> New Age, New Age -> hippie, I don't think I'm that off base.

Anyway, my point is is that even though I get certain feelings from this album that I normally don't associate with good music, I still like Static Voyage. It's interesting and unique. I'm always up for hearing new sounds from traditional instruments and Wisteriax definitely delivers.

She's playing a few shows in the Boston area within the next month or so. The most interesting one is her performance at the 119 Gallery in Lowell on November 16th where she'll play an improvised soundtrack to Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film La Belle Et La Bête (known as Beauty And The Beast to us non-French speakers). You can find the rest of her upcoming dates (and listen to some other tunes) on her Myspace page.