Thursday, January 21, 2010

January update

Two mini-announcements:

1. Emperor of Daffodils, formerly a CD only release, is now available as a digital download from Bandcamp
LINK: http://joefrawley.bandcamp.com/album/emperor-of-daffodils

2. The forthcoming Left Cincinnati (JFM-CD09) is on schedule for a spring 2010 release. The audio has been completed and design work is underway for CD packaging. The track list and album credits will be as follows:

Left Cincinnati Duration 35:08

1. That Flower 3:40
2. Left Cincinnati 4:35
3. Plain Yellow Dress 5:26
4. The Line 5:07
5. A Secret Story 2:59
6. The Girl on the Quay 4:06
7. Cumulus 8:09
8. Vanishing Point 1:03

Credits and Appropriations
Joe Frawley: piano & electric keyboards, found sounds, synthesized sounds, MIDI programming, electronic processing and arrangement. All original music composed and performed by Joe Frawley. "Ohio 6" dialect sample used by special permission of the International Dialects of English Archive, Paul Meier, founder & director. Amplifier feedback and distortion by Greg Conte. Chemistry textbook read by Amy Kennedy. Sample pack "Amy G", provided by Corsica_S, via The Freesound Project. Other musical samples include: Sample pack "Katy" served by The Freesound Project and produced by Digifish Music; "Fox Lemons" and "Sunday" from the Mememolly YouTube channel, performed by Molly Windman; brief a cappella vocal improvisation from the VHS recording In Concert: Live From Royal Festival Hall London, performed by Bernadette Peters; and "Toads" written and performed by Mia Mastrangelo. Additional vocals by Rachel Rambach. Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

Thank you again for your continued support,
JF

Friday, January 1, 2010

Joe Frawley Music 2010

It's 2010, as good a time as any to announce that a new CD will be released, with luck, in the spring. The working title is Left Cincinnati. Also felt like a good time to revise my bio and artist's statement. Here are the new versions, which are more in line with my current intentions.

Bio
Joe Frawley (b. July 4, 1971) is an experimental composer and pianist working out of Norwich, Connecticut whose works blur the boundary between music and sound art. By layering and juxtaposing original music with processed found sounds, field recordings, and recontextualized speech fragments, the composer creates challenging yet accessible sound assemblages bearing a hypnotic dreamlike quality. His works have been widely broadcast internationally and appear on several prominent experimental music compilations, including Vibrö No. 4: Music No Music, published by Double Entendre, Paris.

Artist's statement
I am a pianist, composer, and sound collage artist whose work falls between the cracks of several musical genres. My approach is to combine original music with found sound samples, which I process and arrange electronically to simulate subconscious states, such as dreams, trances, auditory hallucinations, involuntary memories, etc. The found sounds could be voices, sound effects, or musical samples appropriated from a variety of prerecorded media, as well as original field recordings. I particularly enjoy recontextualizing speech samples (a favorite source being public radio interviews) and combining them with other sounds to create new meanings. At the same time, I aim to place the spoken word on equal footing with music, thereby calling attention to the musical qualities of speech. As I continue to work, I find myself drawing increasingly from the female voice: I believe it is the most beautiful instrument in the world. I am fascinated and moved by the tone of female speech, singing, pre-vocal aspiration, sighs, laughter, and the wide variety of wordless vocal expressions for which there are no names. Due to the prevalence of spoken word samples, the resulting work tends to suggest a narrative, however I try not to impose a particular story upon the listener, preferring instead the individual and subjective interpretations of imaginative minds.


-JF

About Me

My photo
Joe Frawley (b. July 4, 1971) is a composer, pianist and visual artist whose works blur the boundary between music and sound art. By layering and juxtaposing original piano music with processed found sounds, field recordings, and recontextualized speech fragments, the composer creates challenging yet accessible sound assemblages bearing a hypnotic dreamlike quality.

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