Currently in production are the following new releases . . .
Sudoku 82
This spare, beautiful, spacious 20 minutes for eight pianos was composed utilizing systems derived from sudoku puzzles and the GarageBand computer program.
Hobbs is an English experimental composer, a pioneer of British systems music., founder of the Experimental Music Catalogue, and an early member of both the Scratch Orchestra and AMM. A combination of strict rigor and audience-friendly surfaces is typical of most of his work since 1970, as is his use of cheap (toy or amateur) electronics.
Performed by noted Los Angeles pianist Bryan Pezzone.
"Hobbs's Sudoku pieces, based on the newspaper puzzle, are exotically listenable and remarkably varied." —Kyle Gann, PostClassical
"[Hobbs's] quietly alluring music possesses the seemingly incidental beauty that can arise in music composed under self-enforced restraints." —Julian Cowley, The Wire
"Hobbs stylistically seems to be the most intellectually intense and thorough of all the English Experimental] composers" —Peter Garland, Pieces 3
CD single (20 min.)
Last Cicada Singing
Four serene yet deeply emotive pieces for solo qin (a Chinese zither-like instrument). Quiet, sparce, almost eerie, almost Feldmanesque. Performed by the composer, who mastered the qin while living and teaching for many years in Taiwan.
"So Confucius walks into a bar, just in time for Bill Evans' last set, and after closing time pulls out his qin for a few solos … That’s the vibe that Christopher Roberts captures in these intimate nocturnal musings where crystalline harmonics dance among gutsy bass slides while elegant harmonies whisper their most private thoughts. A truly haunting recording." —John Schneider, Host of KPFK's "Global Village" and Director of MicroFest
"Roberts has arrived at a new American music ... something unique." —Michael J. Schumacher
"[Roberts's] music is so rich in its textures and gestures and harmonies that his voice is distinctive." —Stephen Eddins, All-Music Guide
CD single (30 min.)
4,000 Holes
A dense, lush, technically demanding concert-length work for piano—performed by the extraordinary pianist Stephen Drury— and "ghostly" electronics (electronic sounds created by processing acoustic piano sonorities). It is in essence a concerto for piano and nine tracks of altered piano sounds. Unlike Adams's other recent music, the pitch material used in 4,000 Holes is drawn exclusively from Western music's most basic elements: major and minor triads. In this case they are superimposed upon one another in multiple-tempo streams, creating rich, shimmering textures of composite harmonies.
"Adams's major works have the appearance of being beyond style; they transcend the squabbles of contemporary classical music." —Alex Ross, The New Yorker
"His music is haunting and quite unforgettable. … Lou Harrison called Adams 'one of the few important young American composers,' and he might just be right." —MusicWeb Int'l
"Out of many eligible composers of his generation, John Luther Adams is the greatest proponent of the American experimental tradition, a lineage that includes Ives, Cowell, Varese, Partch, Nancarrow, Cage and Tenney." —Sequenza 21/Contemporary Classical Music Weekly
new music by various composers
Music by 18 to 20 composers—some already associated with the Cold Blue label, some new to the label.
Like its now-classic predecessor anthology, which was simply entitled "Cold Blue," this is not a sampler of works on the Cold Blue label but an anthology of new and previously unreleased music.
Cold Blue Two celebrates the 25th anniversary of the vinyl release of Cold Blue (he first anthology).
new work
New compositions for his newly constructed instrument The Towers, a series of large pipes and plates, and the processed voice of noted visual artist Paul McCarthy.
"The core of [Cold Blue’s] production resides in Chas Smith’s works. … this composer, guitarist and authentic desert enthusiast has developed his own soundworld using unique instruments he designs and builds himself. The heir of Harry Partch and several other instrument inventors, he has given birth to highly beautiful and formal microtonal music. It is rich in complex harmonics and often structured around alternating rising and falling movements. " — Gérard Nicollet, Octopus (France)
35 Whirlpools Below Sound
A haunting, emotionally gripping electro-acoustic soundscape by noted composer-performers Newman and Cox, 35 Whirlpools ... is a completely collaborative work that has developed over the 20-plus years that the two have been friends and worked together musically.
CD single (30 min.)
new work
New solo violin music written for new-music champion Robin Lorentz. (CD single)
"The composer ... is confirmed as a master of sensitivity and good taste. In his personal interpretation of historical minimalism, there is a warmth, a presence and a deep involvement, which is extremely rare." —Sands-Zine (Italy)
"Michael Jon Fink—operating within New Music but sidestepping much of its systematic, lab-dulled pretention ... There's something of Gavin Bryars' evanescent emotional skill to Fink's music, something of the soft spatial blur of the Evanses (Bill and Gil) ... what gets me every time is its sheer and honest beauty." —Misfit City (UK)
Invisible Line
Exquisite, carefully wrought music for a just-intonation scordatura string sextet in which ever-changing "harmonic clouds" of both vibrating dissonance and ravishing consonance drift one into another, moving forward with a distinct sense of inevitability.In its design, the work's interaction of performers is fluid and always interdependent.
Features the composer on viola, new-music cellist Jessica Catron, violist Cassia Streb, and others.
CD single (25 min.)
Café Desire
An opera
"When it comes to attempts at musical seduction, Lentz's music is way out front." —Kyle Gann, Village Voice
"By intriguing his listeners at the same time he wreathes them in smiles, Lentz always comes up with something listenable and worthwhile. That’s certainly true of this new release." — Arved Ashby, Gramophone
"Daniel Lentz’s work, with its sparkle and pulse, has long evinced hallmarks of the minimalist style. But Lentz has often brought a glossy, Pop Art-Southern California palette of colors to his work." — Dusted
blue photographs — selected piano music
Blue photographs collects a few dozen of the many aphoristic piano pieces Fox has written during the past 25 years.
"One of the striking qualities of Jim Fox's compositions is that you can still hear them inside you long after the music is over." —Wadada Leo Smith
"This is music that sounds like it was made in that California of cool northern beaches or the Mojave Desert as seen in the stark intimacy of Joshua Tree or even the remembered despair of the landscape around Donner Pass. This is a music of honesty, seductive and delicate yet strong and dark." —Daniel Lentz
new and recent music
Pacific Northwest composer Kurt Doles offers six lovely dark-hued pieces for multiple pianos, percussion, bass clarinet, cello ensemble, and other groupings.
Performances are by some of Los Angeles' top new music players, including clarinetist Marty Walker, steel guitar player Chas Smith and cellist Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick.