Fred Frith Live @ Roulette TV

Fred Frith // "Gravity" // Live at Roulette from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Fred Frith returns to the Roulette stage to revisit Gravity, the beloved 1979 album that also marked the guitarist/composer’s new life in New York. An experimental album that was inspired by social and dance music from around the world, Gravity is a rare “avant-garde dance record” that bounced with the “joyful noise” (BBC) of dance-friendly rhythms even as it challenged expectations and forged a new musical direction for the artist. With a new cast of friends and musical accomplices joining Frith on stage, this recreation and reinterpretation of Gravity promises to equally astound and delight today, nearly a quarter of a century after it first changed the landscape of experimental music.

Fred Frith, guitar/electric bass
with
Marie Abe, accordion
Myles Boisen, sound
Jordan Glenn, drums
Kaethe Hostetter, violin
Kasey Knudsen, alto sax
Dominique Leone, keyboards
Ava Mendoza, guitar
Lisa Mezzacappa, bass
Aaron Novik, clarinet/bass clarinet
William Winant, percussion
Wobbly, sampling

Fred Frith is a songwriter, composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist best known for the reinvention of the electric guitar that began with Guitar Solos in 1974. He learned his craft as both improviser and composer playing in rock bands, notably Henry Cow, and creating music in the recording studio. Frith’s work has been performed by Ensemble Modern, Hieronymus Firebrain, Arditti Quartet, Ground Zero, Robert Wyatt, Bang on a Can All Stars, Concerto Köln, and Rova Sax Quartet, among many others. Frith continues to perform internationally, most recently with Christian Marclay, Ikue Mori, Mike Patton, Shelley Hirsch, Lotte Anker, the Gravity Band, and Cosa Brava, whose second CD, The Letter, was released in 2012 on the Intakt label. Fred is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzels’ award-winning documentary film Step Across the Border.
fredfrith.com

C. Spencer Yeh || Roulette TV

Roulette TV: C. Spencer Yeh from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Roulette TV sits down with C. Spencer Yeh to discuss his latest compositions, collaborations, thoughts on being or not being a "musician", and of course the eternal RTV question "WHY MAKE MUSIC?" (or any kind of art for that matter).

New works commissioned by Roulette with funds from the Jerome Foundation

C. Spencer Yeh was born in Taipei, Taiwan, studied film at Northwestern University in Chicago IL, repped Cincinnati OH for many years, and is now based in Brooklyn NY. Originally introduced and developed in an auto-didactic musical practice, Yeh’s work has become increasingly interdisciplinary, incorporating his background in video and other mediums. As an improviser, Yeh is focused on developing a personal vocabulary using violin, voice, and electronics. In compositional modes, Yeh works with all aspects physically, visually, conceptually, and aurally available. He is concerned not only with the sensual, but the gestural as well. Recognized for his musical projects Burning Star Core and CS Yeh, as well as many other individual and collaborative activities, Yeh has performed and presented work internationally in a wide spectrum of venues and situations.
Situations in 2013 so far include duets with cellist Okkyung Lee for Andrew Lampert’s Synonym for Untitled at the Whitney Museum, presenting solo vocal improvisations at the Segue Reading Series in NYC, and at the ICA Philadelphia via Primary Information, a duo with saxophonist Don Dietrich (of Borbetomagus), a trio with Jason Lescalleet and Nate Young (of Wolf Eyes), and sharing an evening at the Canal Series with artist Mary Lucier, both as soloist and as support in her original multimedia performance of I Am Sitting in a Room.
dronedisco.com
ubu.com/sound/yeh.html

Evan Parker

Roulette TV: EVAN PARKER from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Robert Ashley - Part II || Roulette TV

Roulette TV: ROBERT ASHLEY, Pt. 2 from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Roulette TV had a such wealth of wonderful material from our discussion with composer Robert Ashley and the April 2012 performances of his opera "The Old Man Lives in Concrete", that we made an additional RTV episode... We had yet to circulate it publicly, and with the news of his passing earlier this week, feel compelled to share it now.

"The Old Man Lives in Concrete" is epic and novel-like in it's scope, it's songs and interludes equalling more than 10 hours all told. At Roulette, Mr. Ashley's ensemble performed a 4 hour version, spread across 2 nights. Here we see excerpts from it's second half and culmination...

In this episode, we spoke to Mr. Ashley about the musical aspects of his text, and how the pace of "The Old Man Lives in Concrete" compares to some of his other opera's like "DUST" and "Celestial Excursions". We also discussed the sad state of support for new opera, or new narrative work at all... And as usual, we concluded with the question "Why make music?".

Iconoclast composer Robert Ashley revisits his opera, Concrete, with eight new songs. Each evening’s performance features four solo songs (Portraits) about ordinary people who did extraordinary things for which they’ll never be recognized, alternating with ensemble sections (Meditations) with short solos sung by Ashley (as The Observer).

Libretto, Music and Direction: Robert Ashley
Singers: Sam Ashley, Thomas Buckner, Jacqueline Humbert, Joan La Barbara and Robert Ashley
Electronic orchestra: Robert Ashley
Mixing and live electronics: Tom Hamilton

“Ashley celebrates language and questions its basic hold on truth or rational thought. His ultimate message may be that the language of music strikes deepest.”— The Los Angeles Times

“When the 21st century glances back to see where the future of opera came from, Ashley, like Monteverdi before him, is going to look like a radical new beginning.” — Kyle Gann, The Village Voice

“If James Joyce were alive today, he would probably be trying to write operas like Robert Ashley.” —The Wire

First Part

Roulette TV: ROBERT ASHLEY from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

… Music!

Roulette TV: SHELLEY HIRSCH from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Roulette TV: THE SHAKING RAY LEVIS & SHELLEY HIRSCH from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Roulette TV: LOIS VIERK pt. 1 from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Roulette TV: LOIS VIERK pt. 2 from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Robert Ashley On Roulette TV

Roulette TV: ROBERT ASHLEY from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Roulette TV sits down with composer Robert Ashley to discuss his work and latest opera: "The Man Who Lives in Concrete".

Punk! & Jazz Sensibilities

Roulette TV: BILL ORCUTT & CHRIS CORSANO from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Roulette TV caught solo sets and a world premere duo performance by Bill Orcutt ("one of the most influential noise artists of the 20th century") and Chris Corsano ( “one of the most exciting drummers on the planet”) - and asked the tough questions:

"What is your name and what do you do?"

"Why are the two of you playing together?"

"Why play loud?"

"Why do your records sound the way they do?"

"Why modify your instrument?"

"WHY MAKE MUSIC?"

CHRIS CORSANO
First spellbound by freely improvised music in the mid-1990s after witnessing performances by TEST, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, and others, Chris Corsano began a long-standing, high-energy partnership with Paul Flaherty in 1998. A move from western Massachusetts, USA to the UK in 2005 led Corsano to develop an expanded solo music of his own, incorporating sax reeds, violin strings and bows, pot lids, and other everyday household items into his drum kit. In February 2006 he released his first solo recording, The Young Cricketer, and toured extensively throughout Europe, USA, and Japan. He spent 2007 and ’08 as the drummer on Björk’s Volta world tour, all the while weaving in shows and recordings on his days off with the likes of Evan Parker, Virginia Genta, and C. Spencer Yeh. Moving back to the U.S. in 2009, Corsano returned focus to his own projects, most notably a duo with Michael Flower, Rangda (with Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny) and solo work, now revamped to include synthesizers and contact microphones in addition to his drum set and home-made acoustic instruments.

BILL ORCUTT
Former guitarist and founder of the noise/punk rock duo Harry Pussy (later a trio) Bill Orcutt’s sound is a hiccup-stuttered reimagining of blues guitar. One can hear familiar Southern folk scales between Orcutt’s jagged solo acoustic phrases, pulling and pushing melodies into unresolved fragments that eventually come unmoored in vast and satisfying note-torrents.

Produced by JIM STALEY
Directed, Edited, Shot, Mixed by MATTHEW MEHLAN
Audio Recording by JUSTIN FRYE
Additional Editing by BRENDAN RILEY
Title Music Courtesy of DORON SADJA

http://roulette.org

Roulette TV

Roulette TV: ANDREW CYRILLE from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

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Roulette TV: MARY HALVORSON from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

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Roulette TV: DAVEY WILLIAMS from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

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Roulette TV: PAULINE OLIVEROS from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

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Roulette TV: SAINKHO NAMCHYLAK from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

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