Pushing The Envelope

Greetings!  Remember me?

While “Pushing The Envelope” has continued with its radio presence, airing on Saturday mornings from 10 – Noon EST on WHUS / Storrs, CT (tune in: http://www.whus.org/listen-live ).  The podcast, on the other hand, has had to take a back seat to grad school.  That being said, it’s not every day we have the opportunity celebrate John Cage’s 100^th birthday.

Enjoy!

Joel

Episode 16: John Cage 100th Birthday PTE Podcast (9-8-12)

• Dream / A Room         composer: John Cage / piano: Bruce Brubaker           Glass Cage Arabesque Recordings (2000)

• The Seasons    composer: John Cage / American Composers Orchestra, cond. Dennis Russell Davies            The Seasons    ECM New Series (2000)

• Five / Songbooks        Singer Pur       Electric Seraphim       KuK (1998)

• 4'33" - live radio performance            composer: John Cage

• Suite for Toy Piano     composer: John Cage / toy piano: Stephen Drury                 In A Landscape       Catalyst (1994)

• Williams Mix (1952)  John Cage        OHM: the early gurus of electronic music Ellipsis Arts (1999)

• Six (1991)       composer: John Cage / percussion: Glenn Freeman    Three2 / Twenty-Three / Six / Twenty-Six         Ogre Ogress (1999) http://ogreogress.com/

• One6 A (1990)            composer: John Cage / violin: Christina Fong       ONEviolin            Ogre Ogress (1998) http://ogreogress.com/

• In A Landscape           composer: John Cage / piano: Margaret Leng Tan Musicworks #52      Musicworks (1992)   http://www.musicworks.ca/

• Sonatas I - IV for prepared piano        composer: John Cage / prepared piano: Boris Berman            Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano      Naxos (1999) http://www.naxos.com

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Pushing the Envelope 2011 Favorite Recordings – Part 1

Considering the rigors of being a middle-aged grad student, I’m not surprised that a lot of my picks were closer to my personal listening palette, a bit more prog, percussive, and minimal.  A number of these releases were like comfort food for my addled brain.

Morgan Agren / Henry Kaiser / Trey Gunn                     Invisible Rays                        7d Media  http://www.7media.com

- Wow!  A year’s end surprise, to say the least!  Three guys I wouldn’t have thought of to be playing together in one place. Avant-prog improvs, both brief and extended, with each player bringing his A game.

Jakko Jakszyk, Mel Collins, & Robert Fripp                      Scarcity of Miracles             Discipline Global Mobile http://www.dgmlive.com/

- Two King Crimson alumni (Fripp & Collins) and one once removed (21^st Century Schizoid Band which featured Jakszyk and Collins) unite to create a fascinating fusion of Fripp’s searing leads and washes of sound, Collins dynamic and lyrical reed work, along with Jakszyk’s gorgeous multi-tracked vocals and guitar work. Beautiful to listen to though a bit homogenous in tone by album’s end.  Still, highly recommended.

The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra                                        All Out of Peaches               New Folk Records http://www.galacticcowboyorchestra.com

- Prog-fusion is not dead, to say the least.  Kind of Mahavishnu meets the Dixie Dregs.

Agents of Mercy                                                                  The Black Forest                   Foxtrot Music http://www.agentsofmercy.com

- The label name’s Genesis reference should give you a hint where these Swedish prog guys are coming from.  Led by TheFlower King’s Roine Stoldt, Agents of Mercy harken back to that classic progressive sound with dynamic guitar work reinforced with that great melloton and analog synths sound courtesy of keyboard players, Nad Sylvan and Lalle Larsson.

Peter Gabriel                                                                        New Blood                             Real World/Virgin http://petergabriel.com/newblood/

- A representative sample of PG’s catalog recontextualized via new and original vocals coupled with new orchestral arrangements, brilliantly adding greater gravitas to both the music and the lyrics.

Greetings!

Yes, it's been a while.  I just finished my first semester of grad school this morning and this is the first nano-second I've had to devote some time to getting a new podcast up here.  Thanks to all the new listeners and subscribers who've arrived in my absence and also to those folks who've been so patient in waiting for the arrival of Episode 15.

I am particularly fond of this show since it's got a bunch of things that are my favorites.  Let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Happy & Healthy New Year!

Joel

Episode 15: Pushing The Envelope Podcast

Dead Elvis - composer: Michael Dauhgerty / bassoon: Charles Ullery - London Sinfonietta cond. David Zinman - American Icons - Argo (1998)

http://www.michaeldaugherty.net/

Matchmaker - composer: Jerry Bock (R.I.P.) / The Residents - Knitting On The Roof - Knitting Factory Records

http://www.ink19.com/issues_F/00_03/wet_ink/music_im/085_knitting_on_the_roof.shtml

Scenes From The Electric Circus -Djam Karet - Reflections from the Firepool - HC Prod. (1989)

http://www.djamkaret.com/disc-rftp.php

Duck Blind - Paul Dresher Ensemble - Slow Fire - Minmax (1993)

http://www.dresherensemble.org/

Frog A le Peche - Charles Carpenter - Frog A Le Peche - Caterwaul (1994)

http://www.charlescarpenter.net/index.html

Hyperballad - Travis Sullivan's Bjokestra - Enjoy! - KOCH (2008)

http://www.bjorkestra.com

Sabbath Prayer - Uri Cane - Knitting On The Roof - Knitting Factory Records

http://www.ink19.com/issues_F/00_03/wet_ink/music_im/085_knitting_on_the_roof.shtml

She Said - T  - Naive - Galileo Records (2002)

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=4855

Anchor - Lonely Universe - A La Plage - Rant (1993)

http://www.nette.ca/rantjazz/biolu.htm

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (OST) -Milan (1994)

http://www.sitesakamoto.com/

Fugue for Sam (1989) - Michael Horwood - Motility - Furiant Records (2000)

http://www.horwoodcomposer.com/

The Fog Of War - Philip Glass - The Fog of War (OST) - Orange Mountain Music (2003)

http://www.philipglass.com/

From the North - Philharmonie - Nord - Cuneiform Records (1994)

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5214

Stub - composer: Gram Fitkin / Dleta Saxophone Quartet - Facing Death - FMR Records (2002)

http://www.fitkin.com/

Ground Zero -Tom Heasley - Where the Earth Meets the Sky - Hypnos (2001)

http://tomheasley.com/

Listen Now:

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Greetings!

Those of you who are new to this podcast are starting to notice that the audio for the earlier shows are disappearing.  Unfortunately, there's only so much room I have to work with, so as each new program goes up, the 'low man on the totem pole" comes off.  In the words of Kurt Vonnegut, "So it goes."

In this episode you will hear "The $27 Set" where you can experience how one lowly music junkie can purchase a decent amount of high quality music with relatively limited funds.

As always, let me know what you think!

Unitl next time,

Take care.

Joel

Episode14: Pushing The Envelope Playlist

Sempiternal - Sandor Szabo / Kevin Kastning - Returning - Greydisc (2010)

http://www.kevinkastning.com or http://www.sandorszabo.com

Bucato - Paolo Angeli - Tibi - ReR (2010)

http://www.reusa.com

Calonyction Girl - Kayo Dot - Coyote - Hydrahead (2010)

http://www.kayodot.net

Concrete, Glass, Steel -    Incandescent Sky - Four Faradays In A Cage - Noisynoise (2010)

http://www.incandescentsky.com

Severed - composer: Jonathan Pieslak / Kiev Philharmonic, cond. Robert Ian Winstin - Masterworks of the New Era #4 - ERM (2005)

http://www.myspace.com/jpieslak

Lester -    Accordo dei Contrari - Kinesis/AltRock Productions (2007)

http://www.myspace.com/accordodeicontrari

Losing The Middle - Emily Bezar - Angels Abacus - Demivox Records (2004)

http://www.emilybezar.com

Robot Boy - Jen Olive - Warm Robot - Ape House (2010)

http://www.jenolive.com

Ahriman -Mehran - Angels of Persepolis - self-release (2010)

http://www.angelsofpersepolis.com

The $27 Set

Untitled (1986) -    Rhys Chatham -    Impala Eardrums: A Radium Sampler - Radium (2008)

http://www.tableoftheelements.com

What I have done - Mike Keneally - Nonkertompf - Exowax (1999)

http://www.keneally.com/discography/nonkeroni.html

Three Movements for Orchestra (1986) - composer: Steve Reich / London Symphony Orchestra, cond. Michael TIlson Thomas - Tehillim / Three Movements - Elektra/Nonesuch (1994)

http://www.stevereich.com/

Tate House (Early Morning) - composer: John Moran - The Manson Family: An Opera - Point Music (1992)

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,134177,00.html

Tinge - composer: Michael Gordon / viollin: Todd Reynolds - Light Is Calling - Nonesuch (2004)

http://www.michaelgordonmusic.com/bio.php

Distant Hill - Brian Eno -    Future Perfect: Gyroscope Sampler - Gyroscope (1994)

http://www.eno-web.co.uk/

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Greetings!

So, now we're a baker's dozen episodes in and there's 283 of you fine folks on board worldwide as subscribers.  Again, many thanks!   I hope you're enjoying the programs and should you have any suggestions or comments as to what you're hearing or what you'd like to hear, please feel free to get in touch.

Until next time,

Take care.

Joel

Now Playing: Messenger of the Sun - Cyrille Verdeaux

http://www.clearlight888music.com/catalog.htm

Episode 13 PTE Playlist

Inverting The Sphere - Eric Glick Rieman - Trilogy From The Outside - self-release (2009)

http://www.myspace.com/ericglickrieman

Aime Moie - Etans Donnes - Bleu - STAALPLAAT (1993)

http://etant-donnes.com

Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum - composer: Harrison Birtwistle / ensemble: Alarm Will Sound - A/rhythmia - Nonesuch (2009)

http://www.alarmwillsound.com/recordings.html

Porcelain - Demians - Mute - InsideOut Music (2010)

http://www.myspace.com/demiansmusic

Fractured Bronze - Marc Barreca - Subterranean - Palace of Lights (2010)

http://www.palaceoflights.com

Abandoned Mines - Barry Cleveland - Hologramatron - Moonjune Records (2010)

http://www.barrycleveland.com/

Le Provence - 7 for 4 - Contact Streetlife Studios (2001)

http://www.7for4.de

broken aphorism_15 [-=]  - Anti-Social Music - Fracture: The Music of Pat Muchmore Innova (2010)

http://www.patmuchmore.com/FractureCD.html

Journey Stars Beyond - Sun Ra And His Omniverse Jet-set Arkestra - Detroit Jazz Center 1980 Art Yard (2010)

http://www.reusa.com

Aviation - Elephant9 - Walk The Nile - Rune Gramofon (2010)

http://www.runegrammofon.com/artists/elephant9/rcd-2095-elephant9_-walk-the-nile

Heyday - Kombinat M - Hybrid Beat - Cuneiform Records (1993)

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2598

Material Real - Allan Holdsworth - Road Games - Warner Bros. (1983)

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5287

Plasmodium Falciparum - Local 7  - Substrat - Musea (2002)

http://www.dprp.net/reviews/0211.htm

In The Darkness - Steven Schoenberg - Live: An Improvisational Journey - JKN (2010)

http://www.stevenschoenberg.com/

Listen Now:

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Greetings!

I've been quite busy, to say the least.  Finished up my employment with the U.S. Census, purchased my books for school which starts in a couple of weeks and have started my reading in the glorious field of Speech/Language Pathology.  (A recommended course of action for those, like myself, have been out of the world of graduate academia since the 80's.)

Arguably, more important, attending two wonderful shows at MASS MOCA featuring the Bang On A Can Summer Music Festival (http://bangonacan.org/summer_festival).  First was a celebration of International George Crumb Day which featured an afternoon gallery performance of "Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)" for 2 pianos and 2 percussionists, followed by a concert performance which included Crumb's string quartet, "Black Angels".

The following weekend was the 6 hour Bang On A Can Marathon.  Highlights for me included performances of:  Tom Johnson's, "Narayana's Cows",  Ted Hearne's, "Katrina Ballads",  Michael Gordon's. "Yo, Shakespeare", and Steve Reich's, "Double Sextet".  Should you have the opportunity to attend, it would certainly be worth your time.  (Here is a listing of the full summer festival performance schedule:  http://bangonacan.org/summer_festival/performance_calendar )

As always, please tell your friends about "Pushing The Envelope", the more subscribers, the merrier. (Don't forget to check us out on Facebook and MySpace.)

Until next time,

Take care,

Joel

Now onto this week's playlist:

Episode 12:  Pushing The Envelope Podcast (6-17-10)

Birds & Machines (machine suite) /Gen Ken Montgomery / Birds & Machines (1980 - 1989) / Pogus Productions (2010)

http://www.pogus.com

Track 1 / Green Flem / Unstable Hairy Back Melodies (2009)

http://www.myspace.com/imgreenflem

hommage / K. Leimer / degraded certainties / Palace of Lights (2010)

http://www.palaceoflights.com

Chole and the Pirates /  Soft Machine / NDR Jazz Workshop / Cuneiform Records (2010)

http://www.cuneiformrecords.com

Beautiful Pea Green Boat / Laurie Anderson / Bright Red Warner Brothers (1994)

http://www.laurieanderson.com/projects/

Homespun (topophilia) / Alexander Baker / Deep Wireless 7: Radio Art Compilation New Adventures In Sound Art (2010)

http://www.naisa.ca

Where Is Home? / Viv Corringham / Deep Wireless 7: Radio Art Compilation New Adventures In Sound Art (2010)

http://www.naisa.ca

Barugon / Murder Lengendre / Collection Spine Punch Music (2009)

http://www.myspace.com/murderlegendre

(Re)Bound /Gray Code / Floating Point / Circumvention Music (2010)

http://www.circumventionmusic.com

Leaves Again / Jake Herzog / Patterns / Buckyball Records (2010)

http://www.buckyballmusic.com

Fades, Dissolves, Fizzles (1995) / Charles Dodge / A Retrospective (1977 - 2009) / New World Records (2010)

http://www.newworldrecords.org

My Dad Makes Robots / Jack Curtis Dubowsky  / Vocal Music / De Stijl Music

http://www.destijlmusic.com

The Super Thing / Devo / New Traditionalists Warner Bros.

http://www.clubdevo.com/

Ashtray Man / Blue Sausage / Flight Of The Solstice Queens /  Zero Moon (2010)

http://bluesausageinfant.com/

R.P.F. In Tuva (to Richard Feynman) / Gregg Bendian / Definite Pitch Aggregate Music (1994)

http://www.greggbendian.com/page.cfm?content=disc_detail&id=13

Listen Now:

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Greetings!

Featured in this week's podcast are a number of tracks from one of my favorite releases in 2010, Joe Frawley's latest, "Left Cincinnati".  I am pleased to let you know that on July 15th, Joe will be my guest on "Pushing The Envelope", live in the studio, where we will discuss and play his music in addition to letting Joe spin music that he has found influential to his own artistic development.

Please join us, streamed live, on Thursday, July 15th from 8 to 10 PM, EST.  http://www.whus.org

Any questions?  Please let me know!

Joel

Episode 11: Pushing The Envelope Podcast (5-27-2010)

Mysteries Of Love - Stomu Yamashta's Go - Go Too - One Way Records (1977)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stomu_Yamashta

Polarity - composer: Kathy Jackanich / ensemble: Zeitgeist - In Bone-Colored Light - Innova (2010)

http://innova.mu/artist1.asp?skuID=402

The Golden Needle - A Produce - Slumberland (episode one) - Waveform (1997)

http://www.answers.com/topic/a-produce

The Crypt / The Death - composer: Philip Feeney / Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra, cond. John Pryce-Jones - Dracula (Ballet In 3 Acts) - Naxos (1996)

http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.553964&catNum=553964&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#

Plain Yellow Dress / Left Cincinnati / Secretary in Slowmo - Joe Frawley - Left Cincinnati - Joe Frawley Music (2010)

http://www.joefrawleymusic.info/

Norway - Centenaire - Centenaire - Chief Inspector (2007)

http://www.centenaire.net/

On Planet X - David Garland - "Control Songs" - Review Records (1997)

http://www.davidgarland.com/controlsongs.html

Space - Blue Sausage Infant - Flight Of The Solstice Queens - Zero Moon (2010)

http://www.zeromoon.com/?p=276 or http://www.bluesausageinfant.com/discography.html

Different Trains for string orchestra & pre-recorded performance tape - composer: Steve Reich / Orchestre National De Lyon, cond. David Robertson - Naive (2004)

http://www.stevereich.com/

Returning to a Place We've Never Been - Sandor Szabo / Kevin Kastning - Returning - Greydisc (2010)

http://www.kevinkastning.com/

Listen Now:

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Greetings!

This week's show has a bit more of a jazz/fusion bent to it due to the fact I grabbed the bag of CDs I would normally take to do a fill in for someone else's show.  You could do worse.... ;>p

'Til next time,

Take care.

Joel

Pushing The Envelope Playlist (5-13-2010)

A Love Supreme (Alternate - Take 2) - Carlos Santana / Mahavishnu John McLaughlin - Love Devotion Surrender - Columbia / Legacy (1973)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Devotion_Surrender

Down the Road / Link 3a - Soft Machine - NDR Jazz Workshop - Cuneiform Records (1973/2010)

http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/softmachine.html

Inner Flames - KBB - Proof of Concept - Musea/Poseidon (2007)

http://tsuboy.internet.ne.jp/kbb/index-e.html

Stories To Tell - Stanley Clarke feat. Allan Holdsworth - If Only This Bass Could Talk - Portrait (1988)

http://www.answers.com/topic/if-this-bass-could-only-talk-1

Gravity Waves - Chris Brown / Pauline Oliveros - Music In The Air - Deep Listening (2010)

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5763

The Agonist - Dave Halverson - Apothecary Charms - Lucid Moon Child Music (2008)

http://www.davehalverson.com/

Distant Saxophones - Jan Steele - Voices & Instruments - Obscure (1976)

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/11/jan-steele-john.html

Sonata (1957) - composer: Ezra Sims / cello: Ted Mook / piano: Eric Moe - Musing And Reminiscence - New World Records (2010)

http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=84351

For That Which Was Living, Lost - Ellen Rowe Quartet - Wishing Well - PKO Records (2010)

http://www.ellenrowe.com/records.html

Listen Now:

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Greetings!

Well, I'm starting to notice that our listening audience is becoming increasingly international.  I am thrilled that the message of "Pushing The Envelope" is getting out there.  As always, should you as an artist or someone you know have material that would enhance our program, please send it along.

Via snail-mail, our address is:

Pushing The Envelope / WHUS The University of Connecticut, Student Union Building Room 412 2110 Hillside Road, Unit 3008R, Storrs, CT 06268-3008

I look forward to hearing from you.

Joel

p.s.  Once again, I had some issues with the mike breaks, but all music is included, so please refer to the playlist for info.

Pushing The Envelope Playlist (5-6-2010)

Awake At Dawn - Random Touch - Through The Lens of the Other Dimension - Token boy Records (2010)

http://new.randomtouch.com/releases.html

Gezunheit! - Blue Sausage Infant - Flight of the Solstice Queens - Zero Moon (2010)

http://www.zeromoon.com/?p=276

Stayin' Alive - Paul Weston & Jo Stafford as Jonathan & Darlene Edwards - Jonathan & Darlene's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 - Corinthian (1985)

http://www.counterpoint-music.com/specialties/interview.html

Matchmaker - The Residents - Knitting On The Roof - Knitting Factory Records (1999)

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/various-knitting-on-the-roof/

Presto: Finale - composer: Kurt Schwitters / voice: Christopher Butterfield Artifact (1993)

http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Schwitters.html

Animal Backwards - Minus The Bear - Omni - Dangerbird (2010)

http://minusthebear.com/

Adages of Cleaning - Clogs - The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton - Brassland (2010)

http://brassland.myshopify.com/products/hwy-021-creatures

Visionary States - Joseph Benzola - Serenity - Amanita Music (1992) http://web.mac.com/jbenzola/amanitamusic/Serenity.html

Stations - To Morton Feldman - composer: Paul Paccione / piano: Michael Campbell - Our Beauties Are Not Ours: Works For Voices & Instruments - New World Records (2010)

http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=83373

Listen Now:

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