roots & return

Head on over to the ICEcast to hear a podcast for an interview with composer Dai Fujikura, whose pieces ICE and returning will have their Chicago premieres at the Roots & Return show.

Dai talks about developing ICE with ICE, why he can take risks with the band, and why he didn’t use tremolos in his music for the longest time. Check it out on the blog; and for you iTunes users, subscribe to the ICEcast here.

Doesn’t have to be daiPhone — could be daiBerry Storm, androiDai, HelioDai; you get the idea.

No matter your mobile, crank this ringtone of flutist Claire Chase from Dai Fujikura’s ICE.

To download, right click on the above link and select “save link as.”  To upload the ringtone, connect your phone to your computer by cord or bluetooth, or email the file to your phone.

That quote from Fredric Jameson is a good reason why you should check out this introduction to Saturday’s show from music writer (and core member of team ICE) Whit Bernard.

In 1906, Vienna was a messed up place. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose disintegration would launch all of Europe into a devastating war just eight years later, was beginning to crack, and a fatalistic anxiety pervaded. Late 19th-century wars in Crimea and North Africa had made plain the full extent of modern technology’s capacity for human destruction, and many began to quietly wonder what the demise of the Ancien Régime—when it inevitably came—would look like. The Hapsburg capital was overcome with a pall of restlessness and decay portrayed vividly everywhere from Freud’s notebooks to Schiele’s ghostly portraits.

One response to all of this unease was, not unexpectedly, denial. Read the rest of this entry »

More Dai for your phone, this time featuring the plucking of kalimba & guitar over swelling string glissandi. Turn that ringer up!

To download, right click on the above link and select “save link as.”  To upload the ringtone, connect your phone to your computer by cord or bluetooth, or email the file to your phone.

Wayback Machine edition 1: Pierre Boulez on Charlie Rose in 1999.  The word “music” is said 321 times in the span of 19 minutes.

Oh, and just in case you forgot:

We were recently given these animated GIFs by Chicago-based McFabulous and now we’re giving them to you. Please try to view these gems while listening to this:

If this doesn’t get you hyped to see Roots & Return, I don’t know what will.

The good folks over at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago put together this promo video for Roots & Return.  Check it out–Claire is wearing a fun hat!

Discussion of James Joyce’s influence on Pierre Boulez (via John Cage) from Scott W. Klein’s excellent paper, Music After Joyce: The Post-Serial Avant-Garde:

Welcome to the second installment of daiTones for iPhones.  Last week, “ICE by ICE for ICE” generated such an amazing response from the global internet-using community that we felt compelled to develop it into a six-part series. These sonic jewels have been handpicked by the master himself to give you, the listener (incoming call receiver), the greatest diversity of timber and dynamic range. Enjoi!

To download, right click on the above link and select “save link as.”  To upload the ringtone, connect your phone to your computer by cord or bluetooth, or email the file to your phone.