E. Doctor Smith's Blog

Every summer since 2002, the New Music Summit spends a week in July showcasing some of the most innovative and pioneering new music that is happening in California and beyond. At first a celebration of the eclectic vanguard artists on the DIY Edgetone Records Label, the Summit now features a broad range of artists from across the US, Europe, Australia and Japan. It features world premieres and exclusive debuts, raging free improvisers to microtonal composition to experimental electronics to harsh noise, reflecting an incredible range of genre busting exploration and sonic creativity. The Summit promotes intermedia, fostering cross-pollination between disciplines of music, sound art, visual and media arts. It is committed to bringing highly innovative music and art to a growing audience seeking a new experience. The festival concludes this Friday and Saturday. The Outsound New Music Summit marked its 10th anniversary in 2011 with a night of wildly imaginative vocals backed by experiment...

Recently, I came across the album "Pop-Pop", a collaboration of cellist extraordinaire Joan Jeanrenaud, (formerly of the Kronos Quartet) and one of my favorite percussionists, art-funk percussionist/beatmaker PC Muñoz. Described as "an exhilarating mash-up of contemporary classical/new music sensibilities and future-funk/hip-hop sonic aesthetics, Jeanrenaud's polyrhythmic compositions, rendered on both acoustic and electric celli, are paired with skittering electro-funk beats, eruptive drumkit, cajon drums, Hua Pan Gu (traditional Chinese drum), and other percussive elements, making for a refreshing, culturally diverse 21st century sound." Derk Richardson, Senior Editor of Afar magazine, wrote that "Pop-Pop contains Jeanrenaud’s most playful music to date. There’s a big, implicit grin behind the dance that takes place between the cellist’s percussive bow strikes, pizzicato playing, and swirling arco phrases and the drumming, bleeps, burps, scra...

Brian Eno first came across the work of poet Rick Holland in the late 90’s during the "Map-Making Project"; a series of collaborative works between students of the Royal College, the Guildhall School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the National Youth Orchestra and the English National Ballet, among others. In 2003, Eno and Holland made their first music together, although the resulting work does not appear on this album. In the intervening time since that initial session, they have met infrequently to work on new compositions.In early 2011, following the release of ‘Small Craft on a Milk Sea’ (Eno’s debut album for Warp Records), the pair resolved to finish the project. ‘Drums Between the Bells’ is the result. Michael Calore recently wrote about Eno's latest album on Wired magazine's website, "Eno has always found great inspiration working with other big thinkers: His long, influential career as an artist, musician an...