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The Broadway Bomb: 200 skateboarders have a death wish on Saturday
Published on 10/10/08
Published on 10/9/08
Video
Young composers keep turning up with heads full of post-rock, hip-hop and heavy metal, along with a healthy disregard for the notion that such things have no place on the concert platform. Judd Greenstein—a native New Yorker who went from fashioning hip-hop beats to pursuing his Ph.D. at Princeton—provides a safe haven for fellow travelers on his New Amsterdam label. (He’s also a cofounder of the Ico Music series; see Thu 3.)
Greenstein’s wistful Folk Music and passionate Sing Along serve as bookends on the eponymous debut recording by NOW Ensemble, a polished, versatile chamber group consisting of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, piano and double bass. Members Patrick Burke and Mark Dancigers contribute two works apiece; rising star Nico Muhly provides How About Now. Despite their diversity, what unites these pieces is the way they combine the formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality.
Caleb Burhans, a violist, vocalist and composer, is probably best known for his work in the vibrant chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound. On Walled Gardens, the debut EP by itsnotyouitsme, he teams with erstwhile Jerseyband guitarist Grey McMurray to spin blissful post-rock reveries that suggest meaningful acquaintance with the work of Robert Fripp, Sigur Rós and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It’s gently mesmerizing stuff regardless of category—and who cares about that except for editors and former record-store clerks, anyway?
—Steve Smith
NOW Ensemble and itsnotyouitsme play Joe’s Pub Tue 8.
