Sounds Kind of Crazy

by Shaun Brady

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Published: Sep 1, 2010

 

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Sure, Chicago's Pitchfork Fest has become Mecca for self-congratulatory hipsters, but true connoisseurs of sneering at their friends' hopelessly philistine record collections have made New York's annual Bang on a Can Marathon their pilgrimage of choice for more than 20 years. Founded by composers David Lang, Julie Wolfe and Michael Gordon in 1987, BoaC is an all-you-can-hear buffet of the outré, from new music to experimental noise to free jazz and various incestuous hybrids thereof. Bang on a Can Marathon: Philadelphia promises 10 hours of inexplicable sound, in large part generated by locals or natives — the free-funk bass/drum tandem Keepers of the Chaos (so named after a story on members Jamaaladeen Tacuma and G. Calvin Weston in this very publication); prog-metal-classical band Normal Love; the inventive jazz/classical mash-ups of pianist Uri Caine; and, naturally, the Sun Ra Arkestra. From farther afield comes guerrilla ensemble Asphalt Orchestra, playing pieces by Charles Mingus and Frank Zappa, plus many more.

Sept. 12, 2 p.m.-mid., $25, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St.                                                                    

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Vijay Iyer's reinventions of jazz idioms easily could have earned him a place on the BoaC roster alongside other modern innovators, but he'll be busy behind bars. The Indian-American pianist's music has been serving time at Eastern State Penitentiary since March in the form of Release, an installation created in collaboration with filmmaker Bill Morrison, who crafted a 12-minute film from footage of crowds gathering a day late for Al Capone's 1930 release from the prison. Morrison will screen his film Decasia during the festival, a piece using decaying film stock that should feel at home inside ESP's deteriorating walls. Iyer will then perform a solo piece in the central observatory room, and even if he isn't tailoring his set to the surroundings, the oppressive atmosphere couldn't help but impact on such an intuitive performer.

Exhibit open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. with admission; Decasia, Sept. 10, 8 p.m., $25; Vijay Iyer live, Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $30; Eastern State Penitentiary, 2124 Fairmount Ave.

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Speaking of making use of one's surroundings, South Street's Magic Gardens provide instant production value to anyone who feels his art can stand up to the irrepressible bounty of Isaiah Zagar's vivid mosaics. Philly avant-pop ensemble Cuddle Magic creates eccentrically orchestrated songs whose offbeat turns and rich orchestrations should mesh quite nicely with the backdrop, sharing the Gardens' sense of barbed whimsy.

Sept. 11, 7 p.m., $8, Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, 1020 South St.

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Presented as a work-in-progress, the new comic chamber orchestra Love/Hate boasts a description rife with the sort of transgressive cartoon characters that scream Fringe: lesbian pole stripper, Bi-Curious George, a woman and her sheep. Librettist Rob Bailis penned the "Canterbury Tales meets Milan Kundera" scenario to music by composer Jack Perla, whose tastes run to both classical and jazz, and the combination of the two.

Sept. 12, 3 p.m., $16, Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square.

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Technically speaking, "traditional" music would seem to fall on the opposite end of the spectrum from "experimental," but Indian violinist and composer L. Subramaniam has crossed genre boundaries as fervently as the more outwardly adventurous names on this list. He's been fusing East and West for decades, melding Carnatic traditions with European classical and collaborating with the likes of Herbie Hancock and Yehudi Menuhin.

Sept. 18, 6 p.m., $30, Mitchell Auditorium, Drexel University, 3128 Market St.

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