Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) discussing his latest book The Imaginary App at the inaugural Gwarlingo Salon in Dublin, New Hampshire (Photo by Michelle Aldredge) On August 5, 2008 a new app called I Am Rich appeared in Apple's App Store. The app, [...]
Amelia Randall Meath and Nick Sanborn formed Sylvan Esso in 2013 (Photo via sylvanesso.com) Here in Harrisville, New Hampshire, our general store is the center of community life---where locals go for a cup of coffee, to buy eggs, or to learn if the next Nor'easter will leave six or [...]
Janet Cardiff's sound installation The Forty Part Motet, currently on view at the Cloisters in New York City through December 8th, is a rarity---a revelatory work of art that can inspire busy museum-goers to stop, listen deeply, and even bring them to tears. I sat through five cycles of [...]
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performing at the 2013 Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts (Photo by Michelle Aldredge) Last weekend around 8,000 festival-goers gathered at Mass MoCA under the supermoon to participate in Wilco's sold-out Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts. Attendees come [...]
Liu Bolin, Hiding in the City No.93 -Supermarket No.2, 2010. Photographs by the Chinese artist are on view in Brattleboro, Vermont, through June 23rd. (Photo Courtesy Eli Klein Fine Art © Liu Bolin. Click to Enlarge) The summer art scene in New England presents a special challenge. [...]
The Tank in Rangely, Colorado, is considered one of the sonic marvels of the world within a certain circle of composers and sound artists. (Photo courtesy Friends of the Tank) Is there a connection between noise and money? Which sounds are healing to us as [...]
Sam Green narrating his live documentary The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston (Photo by Sam Allison) "I live on Earth at present, and I don't know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am [...]
This drawing may look like a maze or an artist's sketch, but it's actually a musical score created by Emmy-award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg. A few years ago pianist Teresa McCollough received a surprise gift in the mail from Heitzeg: 192 scores titled World Piece. Each score was named for [...]
British Street artist Slinkachu left this miniature "Hanging On" in the streets of Hong Kong. It's one of the many images on view in his New York and London show, Global Model Village. (Photo © Slinkachu courtesy the artist) The invitations, event notices, emails, and review copies [...]
Country music legend Kitty Wells died Monday at her home in Madison, Tennessee, after suffering complications from a stroke. She was 92. The music of Kitty Wells and other country artists played frequently on the turntable in our Georgia house. My grandmother, who grew up on a farm in the [...]
If you're in the New England area on June 8th, 9th, or 10th, you'll want to check out the Thing in the Spring art and music festival in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Gwarlingo is proud to be the media sponsor for this event. The festival is organized by musician [...]
The best link in this morning's Twitter feed came from Christopher Jobson over at Colossal. Last month the Copenhagen Philharmonic pulled off an audacious stunt---performing Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt on a crowded, moving metro train for unsuspecting passengers. The flash mob was created in collaboration with Radio Klassisk. All music [...]
As spring approaches I suddenly find myself inundated with invitations to concerts, readings, and exhibits. It appears that our winter hibernation is finally coming to an end. Here is a small sampling of some of the events I'm planning to attend, along with a few I'm very, very sorry to [...]
One of my favorite discoveries this winter was the German singer Sibylle Baier. The story of how her wonderful record, Colour Green, came to be is as interesting as the music itself. She grew up in Germany in the 50s and 60s. During a particularly low period in her early life, [...]
One of the albums I'm most anticipating this spring is Boys and Girls, the first full-length record from the garage-soul band the Alabama Shakes. Brittany Howard's soulful, sandpaper voice channels the likes of Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, and Aretha Franklin, with a touch of Billie Holiday thrown in. It's [...]
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." This line from Victor Hugo came to mind the first time I heard the incredible story of Tibetan nun Ngawang Sangdrol. At age 14 Sangdrol was jailed at the notorious Draphchi Prison [...]
It's time to discuss a topic more divisive than religion, more inflammatory than right versus left or the 99% versus the 1%. A topic that will either make your eyes twinkle or your blood boil. Christmas music. There are two distinct camps when it comes to this subject: the lovers and [...]
Earlier this month composer Steve Reich turned 75. Over the past few decades Reich has gone from being a musical outsider to winning the Pulitzer Prize for his 2009 Double Sextet. In the early days of his career, Reich drove a cab in San Francisco and worked as a part-time social [...]
I recently came across this hypnotic piece of music by Finnish musician Antti Paalanen. Paalanen is a composer and a master of the diatonic accordion. Accordions are made in a range of different configurations and styles. Diatonic button accordions are bisonoric, which means each button produces two notes: one when the [...]
I don't often post satirical videos, but thanks to Gwarlingo reader Elly Weiss, I had the pleasure of watching this hilarious "commercial" for the "all-time greatest hits by the beloved twelve-tone masters" this morning and wanted to pass it along. The fact that the video was posted by the Arnold [...]
Robin MacArthur and Tyler Gibbons are Red Heart the Ticker (Photo by Doron Gild) Two weeks after Hurricane Irene I'm wandering the back-roads of Marlboro, Vermont, making my way to Robin MacArthur and Tyler Gibbons, also known as the music duo Red Heart the Ticker. Route 9--the main thoroughfare [...]
How aware are we of sound as we move through the course of our day? Which sounds do we register and which do we ignore? Do we even give the subject much thought? "Quintetto" by the Italian artist collective Quiet Ensemble is an intriguing blend of music, sound and installation art. [...]
Here at Gwarlingo I've been neglecting the musicians in recent weeks. I've been consumed with Irene, the secret gardens of Rockefeller Center, Jane Hirshfield's new book, poetry bombing, Barry Underwood's incredible landscape photographs, and these Japanese manhole covers, which have suddenly gone viral after being posted on Andrew Sullivan's The Dish [...]
In March of this year I had the opportunity to see the musician, writer, and artist Joseph Keckler perform to a packed house at MacDowell Downtown, The MacDowell Colony's free series of artist presentations and performances in downtown Peterborough, New Hampshire. The buzz in the room was palatable, and yet no [...]
"I’ve long been drawn to...'gnostic' texts–-those rejected, supposedly heretical texts from long before Christianity became an organized religion." (Photo by Greg Kessler) Paul Brantley is a man who moves between worlds. A multifaceted musician, he has performed as a cellist with Trey Anastasio, recorded for Béla Fleck and James [...]