New Sounds: A Deep Dive: Music For the Bottom of the Ocean
Hear an hour of music that dives deep into the ocean where sunlight doesn’t reach, with work by Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, composer and violinist Matt McBane with Sandbox Percussion, French harpist and composer Laura Peruddin, and Berlin-based composer and audio technologist Floating Spectrum.
New Sounds: Keyboard and "Percussion"
Hear music with piano and percussion of ALL kinds - from the inside of a piano with preparations, flower pots, ping pong balls, bowed vibraphone, and even echolocation by an endangered species of bat in works by Matt McBane and Sandbox Percussion, American composer Ellen Reid and the L.A. Percussion Quartet, and Andrew McIntosh for Yarn/Wire.
Listen to some of composer, producer, and violinist Matt McBane’s collaboration with Sandbox Percussion, Bathymetry -a “reference to how bass synthesizers affect percussive sounds, mimicking how the ocean floor shapes the waves above,” (National Sawdust event page.) McBane and Sandbox use monophonic Moog analog synthesizer, found instrument percussion (mixing bowls, ping pong balls, glass bottles), orchestral percussion and drum sets, drawing on minimalism and achieving something close to ambient music to evoke the mysterious underwater depths.
Fifteen Questions: Sandbox Percussion about Interpretation
When did you first start getting interested in musical interpretation?
Jonny Allen: The concept of interpretation first really came across my radar in college. Up until that point, I was mostly concerned with playing the music as faithfully as possible. This often meant playing as similarly as I could to recordings I found.
Many of my musical experiences were in the drumline of a marching band, where interpretation is all about precision and consistency. Dynamics are measured in the number of inches your sticks come off the drum, rhythms are meticulously subdivided and played with the utmost exactitude.
The Arts Desk: Dragonflies, harmoniums and folded paper
Two discs of music by American contemporary composer Andy Akiho have caught my ear in recent months. Born in 1979, his biography states that “he spent most of his 20s playing steel pan by ear in Trinidad and began composing at 28,” the physicality and theatricality involved in playing steel pans an essential element of Akiho’s music. Have a look at “Pillar IV” from the vast percussion piece Seven Pillars on YouTube; watching three members of Brooklyn’s Sandbox Percussion in action (look out for the wine bottles) is absorbing.
Gramophone: Video of the Day: Sandbox Percussion & Matt McBane
Sandbox Percussion & Matt McBane perform 'Groundswell' from their latest album 'Bathymetry', released on November 4, which draws on various strains of classical minimalism and modern electronic music production
Grammy-nominated percussion quartet Sandbox Percussion’s latest collaboration with composer Matt McBane introduces the world of analog synthesizer through their album, Bathymetry, released on 4 November. It draws on various strains of classical minimalism and modern electronic music production, taking influence the world of YouTube ASMR(autonomous sensory meridian response) and ambient modular synth.
I Care If You Listen: 5 Questions to Viet Cuong
On September 22-24, the Pacific Symphony and the endlessly musical and adventurous Sandbox Percussion will perform Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al concerto. The three continuous movements of Re(new)al explore the power of hydro, wind, and solar energies through the brilliant use of found objects and orchestral instrumentation.
The Oregonian: Portland composer Andy Akiho’s ‘Seven Pillars’ blends sound and light into a percussion extravaganza
Created by Portlanders past and present, Chamber Music Northwest’s “Seven Pillars” is more than a concert. Composer Andy Akiho’s 11-movement extravaganza for Sandbox Percussion quartet also integrates stage director Michael McQuilken’s colorful lighting effects and stage design that add up to a multicolored dance of light and sound.