Stephen Scott's "New Music for Bowed Piano"

Sorry, one more thing. Yeah, I'm that guy.

"Music One for Bowed Strings", which opens the second side, sounds totally electronic, but it's not at all.

Looking at that picture above, I can't help but think that if for some reason Thurston Moore and Rhys Chatham performed this piece in the early 80s in New York instead of some kids wearing slacks and matching black t-shirts in Colorado, this would be much better known.

never heard this... but reading your description makes to want to..

Um, hell yeah count me in. I'll write it down right now.

- But I also have to say that if Rhys Chatham would have cut his damn mullet off a little earlier, maybe he'd be better known as well.

http://www.nndb.com/people/735/000118381/rhys-chatham.jpg

Yeah, I just bought it yesterday, and I'm already only 6th listen. That's really rare with me, lately. God, the end of the album, "Resonant Resources", is actually played alone by Scott, I think. The liner notes say that he worked with an instrument builder to develop "a device which would allow a soloist to 'bow' several strings of a piano simultaneously with electromagnets". I'm not even sure what that means, to be honest, but the end effect, especially on the last 5 or 6 minutes of the song are like what I wish my Keith Fullerton Whitman records would sound like. And I like KFW a lot.

"a device which would allow a soloist to 'bow' several strings of a piano simultaneously with electromagnets"

Ebow

got to agree with the surprising greatness of this cd - it's breathtaking. i dloaded a more recent release from itunes and, while it does have bowed piano throughout, it's merged / sublimated into a more standard modern classical operetta. which was dull. so i deleted it.

I wonder how often he's confused with jazz pianist Stephen Scott, who put out several albums on I think Verve in the 90s and who has been in Sonny Rollins' touring band for a long time, too.

The title sounds incredibly familiar (and I did listen to much more of that sort of thing back in the 80s). However, I'm drawing a blank.

if you like reich / 70's glass / riley / rhys chatham / pulsey minimalist stuff, you will love the first three Scott CDs, they are all beautiful and seriously slept on

ZS describes the first one pretty well, it's shorter pieces, the most uptempo and minimalist.

second one, Minerva's Web / The Tears of Niobe, two long completely immersive drone pieces where the patterns develop much more slowly and completely, really draws you in, very epic

third one, Vikings of the Sunrise might be the best, extended song cycle -- has the most variety, moves quickly through an amazing range of sounds, it's unbelievable that it's all being made with a single piano. drone sections break suddenly into catchy tunes, this one goes everywhere. even though I think this is the best one, I think it might be best to work up to it through the first two, you really need all three

he's done two since then with vocalist, Victoria Hansen -- basically building on the third one, but with lyrics. your mileage will vary entirely with how much you like her voice, because it's at the center of the mix with the bowed piano sounds largely in a support role.

They are incredible live -- watching 10-12 people crouched under the piano, each handling their own areas. they use rosined popsicle sticks for individual notes, and long strands of nylon slowly pulled back and forth for sustained chords, and watching them slowly draw the nylon back and forth as the chords change, it's like watching dancers

I forget how many people I've loaned these records to over the last 15 years, over a dozen, they all buy their own copies. One of the major stars on New Albion, or any label.

Z S: I am totally bugging out to the two tracks you posted on your blog. Thanks!

No problem caek. For everyone else, I posted a few songs here if you're interested. They're ripped directly from the vinyl, but the sound quality is pretty good, I think.

No real comment except to say that I have and love this album too. Hear hear say I.