For the Record: July 23, 2021.
For the Record is a weekly round-up of new and upcoming recordings of interest to the new-music community – contemporary classical music and jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music, and idioms for which no clever genre name has been coined – on CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital-only formats… you name it.
This list of release dates is culled from press releases, Amazon, Bandcamp, and other internet stores and sources, social-media posts, and online resources such as Discogs. Dates cited typically correspond to initial U.S. release, and are subject to change. (Links to Amazon, used when all else fails, do not imply endorsement.)
After publication, new listings are incorporated into For the Record: The Master List, a continuously updated resource exclusively accessible to paying Night After Night subscribers, found here.
These listings are not comprehensive—nor could they be! To submit a forthcoming recording for consideration, email information to nightafternight@icloud.com.
Please note that all opinions expressed herein are solely my own, and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.
Peter Rehberg (1968-2021).
It's rare these days that I'm able to spend very nearly an entire work day writing, but that's how I spent Friday, writing about Peter Rehberg for an NPR Music article that has not yet been cleared for publication. Most people outside his immediate circle learned about his sudden passing on July 22 through an Instagram post by François J. Bonnet (a.k.a. Kassel Jaeger), or a Twitter post from INA GRM—this presumably also from Bonnet, its director.
Rehberg is known for his groundbreaking work as a performer of live electronic music, mostly but not always under the name Pita. (That was the name he used the one and only time I saw him perform, during a fabled PS 1 Warm Up show that also featured Farmers Manual and Hecker—1998, I think.) He also was known for helping to run Mego, the mega-influential label for which he frequently recorded, and then, when it shuttered, for starting a new label, Editions Mego, that covered even more ground. (Jon Abbey, founder of Erstwhile Records, shared a nice essay in April 2020 about how Rehberg and Mego had given him "permission" to start a label of his own. Rehberg's featured on three strong Erstwhile releases, himself.)
My article will come out when the time is right. In the mean time, I've been listening to Rehberg's music, and some of the music he helped bring into the world, since I first heard about this tragic turn of events on Thursday night, and I'm struck both by the sheer variety and striking consistency of what he achieved.
As much as I admired Rehberg's work, I never met him, and the stories mutual friends have been sharing since his death was announced make me regret the missed opportunity. Sincere condolences to his family, friends, and associates.
New This Week
<a href="https://williamparker.bandcamp.com/album/mayan-space-station">Mayan Space Station by William Parker</a><a href="https://williamparker.bandcamp.com/album/painters-winter">Painters Winter by William Parker</a>
alejandro t. acierto - we continue to sustain ourselves (Parlour Tapes+)
Caterina Barbieri and Lyra Pramuk - "Knot of Spirit" (light-years)
Blectum from Blechdom - DeepBone (Deathbomb Arc)
Jack Cooper & Jeff Tobias - Tributaries (Astral Spirits)
Garlands - Vulneraries, Vol. 6 (self-released)
Gong Girl - Shortcoming (Takuroku)
Graham Haynes vs. Submerged - Echolocation (Burning Ambulance)
Ignatz and De Stervende Honden - Dork Star (Takuroku)
Ora Clementi (crys cole and James Rushford) - Sylva Sylvarum (Black Truffle)
Frédéric D. Oberland - Même Soleil (Iikki)
William Parker - Mayan Space Station (AUM Fidelity)
William Parker - Painters Winter (AUM Fidelity)
Hank Roberts Sextet - Science of Love (Sunnyside)
Martin Scherzinger - Scherzinger Etudes - Bobby Mitchell (New Focus)
Matthew Shipp/Whit Dickey - Reels (Burning Ambulance)
London Symphony Orchestra/Darren Bloom - Six Degrees of Separation - compositions by Christian Drew, Stef Conner, Patrick John Jones, Emma-Kate Matthews, Chris McCormack, and Alex Paxton (NMC)
John Zorn - Parables (Tzadik)
Just Announced
August 3
Mukqs - In Human Form (Husky Pants)
August 6
Alex Groves - Curved Form (No. 11) - Gabriella Swallow (self-released)
August 13
Kerry Andrew - The, What is it? The golden eagle? - Icebreaker (Rookery Hill)
September 10
---__--__ (Seth Graham & More Eaze) - The Heart Pumps Kool-Aid (Orange Milk)
September 17
Blue Lick (Havadine Stone & Ben Baker Billington) - Hold On, Hold Fast (American Dreams)
Robert Curgenven - Beyond Enclosures (Recorded Fields Editions)