Beginnings
The pieces in Tzadik's collection of early works by Meredith Monk have either never been released before or are heard in performances released here for the first time. Since her 1981 album Dolmen Music, Monk has recorded for ECM, and these selections (including some live performances) all predate that release. The album begins with a disarmingly simple version of Greensleeves, made in 1966; it's intriguing to hear Monk's distinctive voice conventionally used in a folk song. Monk tends work in la…
Voice is the original instrument
Collection of Joan La Barbara early works and her first vocal compositions, originally released on LPs in the 1970s and early 1980s on her own Wizard Records. "One of my earliest pieces, "Hear What I Feel", was a self-exploratory, sensory-deprivation experimental work, designed to help me discover new sounds, delve into psychological aspects, as well as communicate with the audience on a pre-verbal level of awareness. After spending an hour in isolation with my eyes taped shut and not touching a…
L'Ombra di Mezzogiorno
An extended voice album by Enomìsossab (or, vice versa, Simone Basso) suspended between rock and experimentation, between popular culture and avant-garde roots, to testify of a complex artistic personality and of a “physical” and “emotional” attitude, absolutely uncommon. Overtone chant, guttural sounds, linguistic deformations, the “calembour” and the vocal contortions.Sometimes few notes or a little melody are enough to fell in love with an artist. Sometimes you need to search, to go deep in t…