Long overdue overview of composer David First's drone works. This special and specially priced set (3 CDs for the price of 2) is comprised of nine works composed between 1996 and 2009. Featuring Chris McIntyre and Peter Zummo, trombones; 'Blue' Gene Tyranny, keyboards; and The Black Jackets Ensemble. 'This was something unexpected and truly different: pulsing electronic textures that derived their rhythm from the beating patterns of closely-tune pitches -- as if Alvin Lucier and Philip Glass had gone on a blind date to CBGBs' David put the beat in beating patterns.' - from the liner notes by composer Nic Collins (on his initial exposure to First's music in 1987). Long overdue overview of composer David First's drone works. This special and specially priced set (3 CDs for the price of 2) is comprised of nine works composed between 1996 and 2009.
'1996 was the beginning of a new period for me,' says First. 'I had spent the prior five or six years creating a lot of music for other players and larger ensembles -- culminating in 1995 with a couple of mountings of my opera, The Manhattan Book of the Dead. I was a little burned out on this and decided to return to a more personal, intimate format -- one that ended up including an even more extensive exploration of tunings, alternative compositional softwares and how my playing techniques interacted with these things. I think I just wanted to go deeper and have more control over the results. During the ensuing years I've had a few pendulum swings -- forays into beat-oriented pop music with lyrics & vocals and, of course, the re-animation of my rock band from the late 70s -- the Notekillers. But I've continued, through all of the changes, to maintain my grounding in my love of the drone & associated acoustical phenomena -- a love affair that began in my teenage psychedelic years and will, no doubt, be a most significant aspect of my music path for as long as I am at it. The tracks here represent almost every major work created from 1996 to the present and I'm grateful that they will be heard by a wider swath of people than those who lived in NYC or happened to be at one of my touring performances during these years.'"
"this is music that spontaneously replicates the soundscapes of Gyorgy Ligeti and Giacinto Scelsi in a startling new electric-guitar context. " (Alex Ross, The New York Times)
"Those connoisseurs who treasure their battered copies of La Monte Young's "Drift Study" and go to extraordinary lengths to acquire the music that grew out of Young's early 60s Dream Syndicate group are strongly encouraged to book a table at Dave's Waves right away, since First is quite simply a master chef when it comes to cooking up harmonics." (Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic)
"The only disc my dog has ever barked at. "(Kyle Gann, Village Voice)
