THE BIG PINK..."the London duo who create soundscapes that are arty yet tuneful"

The Big Pink are an electro rock duo that formed in 2007 in London, England. London residents Robbie Furze (vocals, guitar) and Milo Cordell (keyboards, synths, vocals) formed the Big Pink in their home studio, where the two musicians began mixing the droning soundscapes of Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine with the lush electronics of M83.

Milo Cordell is son of 1960s pop producer Denny and runs the Merok label, which has released cutting-edge dance acts Klaxons and Crystal Castles. Robbie Furze is a former guitarist with electro-punk singer Alec Empire and is also a founding member of the band Panic DHH.

This London duo use gritty beats, droning guitars, abstract effects and dreamy vocals to create a soundscape that is arty yet tuneful.

They have previously supported Muse, TV on the Radio, Florence + the Machine, Crystal Castles and Klaxons. 

They are best known for their 2009 single “Dominos”, which peaked at #27 on the UK Singles Chart and #36 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in the United States.

After experimenting with distorted noise and melodic nuance in the studio, the duo enlisted help from several friends -- including electronic artist Jo Apps and members of Sunn O))) -- in order to perform the material in concert. A series of popular shows followed, prompting NME to hail the band as "London's coolest new stars," and the Big Pink responded by releasing a limited-edition single through the House Anxiety label. The duo soon signed to influential indie label 4AD and, following the release of several singles including, Too Young To Love/Crystal Visions (House Anxiety), Velvet and Stop The World (4AD). Their debut album “A Brief History of Love” was recorded at the Electric Ladyland Studios in New York and was released in the UK on the 14th of September 2009.  A little over a year later, the duo issued a mix CD called Tapes for the K7! label.

Personally the track I find the most epic is Crystal Visions, although I do like the track Velvet.  The gradual crescendo and layering that may appear as just pure mess and a blur of noise can be interpreted as deliberate intricate lines of distortion.  Furthermore for me the thicker the polyphonic texture the better even if the melodic phrases appear simplistic, individually by themselves. It creates an atmospheric piece rather than a strict structured song lasting a typical duration of three and half minutes.

PHILIP GLASS...rejects the notion of "minimalism" and defines his work...“music with repetitive structures”

“Through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times.”









The operas, “Einstein on the Beach,” “Satyagraha,” “Akhnaten,” and “The Voyage,”  play throughout the world’s leading houses. Glass has written music for experimental theatre such as “The Hours” and Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun”.  “Koyaanisqatsi,” his initial filmic landscape with Godfrey Reggio and the Philip Glass Ensemble, has been said to be one of the most radical and influential mating of sound and vision since “Fantasia.” His associations and collaborations with leading rock, pop and world music artists began in  the 1960s. 

Glass is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music -- simultaneously.

Dissatisfied with much of what then passed for modern music, he moved to Europe, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger (who taught Aaron Copland , Virgil Thomson and Quincy Jones) and worked closely with the sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar. He then returned to New York in 1967 and formed the Philip Glass Ensemble – comprising of seven musicians playing keyboards and a variety of woodwind instruments, amplified and fed through a mixer. 




The new musical style that Glass was evolving was eventually dubbed “minimalism.” Glass himself never liked the term and preferred to define his work as “music with repetitive structures.” “Much of his early work was based on the extended reiteration of brief, elegant melodic fragments that wove in and out of an aural tapestry.” 

Glass has composed more than twenty operas, large and small; eight symphonies (with others already on the way); two piano concertos and concertos for violin, piano, timpani, and saxophone quartet and orchestra; soundtracks to films ranging from new scores to the stylizing old classics; string quartets; and a growing body of work for solo piano and organ. He has collaborated with Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, and Doris Lessing, among many others. He presents lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances around the world, and continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble.

                                                Here is a video showing a preview of the first movement of the new Glass Partita                                                         for Solo Violin which will be premiere in the fall of 2011. 
                 

Follow the link to read more about the latest and current news surrounding Philip Glass ...http://philipglass.typepad.com/glass_notes/      

EVANESCENCE- "Gothic rock Sinfonietta"

Evanescence are defined by Amy Lee’s beautiful melodies, compelling lyrics, poignant piano and stunning vocals, fused with Terry Balsamo’s urgent yet intricate guitar to form a seamless, ethereal mixture that perfectly channels the band’s hard rock and classical sensibilities.

Evanescence is Amy Lee (vocals, piano), Terry Balsamo (guitar), Tim McCord (bass), Troy McLawhorn (guitar) and Will Hunt (drums).  Fallen, their major-label debut, was released in April 2003 to critical and commercial success and has sold more than fifteen million copies.  Their second major label debut, The Open Door, debuted at Number One on the Billboard charts and reached platinum status in just over a month. 

Written late in 2005, The Open Door was recorded and mixed in March 2006.  Marking the return of producer Dave Fortman, the album’s musical elements include a classically-infused choir and strings on several tracks, giving further colour to songs of introspection, longing, doubt, self-respect and, ultimately, empowerment.  The album opens with “Sweet Sacrifice,” a post-relationship catharsis that head-dives from an otherworldly intro into a hard-driving thrash of hard rock guitars and soaring rock vocals.  

Originally hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, the band’s evolving sound – a nearly mystical marriage between rock, goth and classical – was informed by a curious duality. 

Amy Lee, who spent nine years studying classical piano, explains, “When I was in high school I listened to a lot of death metal bands.  Both genres are intricate, complex types of music that are very dramatic, and I’m naturally drawn to that.”  Her love for Mozart's Requiem in D minor influenced her so much that they sampled the epic chorus of the choir within their piece Lacrymosa.

The drama in Evanescence’s music – a kind of audio odyssey that can turn from piano-led introspection to hammering guitar – has resonated with listeners everywhere.  The band’s aggressive core finds a counterpart in Amy Lee’s passionate vocals, lyrics that forge a connection with audiences searching for identity or struggling with feelings of desire, hope love and loss.  The Open Door is a logical transformation of epic proportions for the band, which, in many ways has only just begun to make its mark on the music world.