Music Reviews: February 2014

Of Water and Ice

DJ Spooky (free download)

Paul
D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) continues his MICA residency through spring
2014. He’s reportedly working on a new book and an opera that he will
debut in Baltimore sometime in the fall. He visited Antarctica a few
years ago and, during a recent residency at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, created this suite of electronic music inspired by the vast tracts
of uninhabited territory he encountered. It also functions as a
companion piece to Miller’s The Book of Ice, which comes highly recommended.

Atlantic Guitar Quartet

Atlantic Guitar Quartet (self-released)

This
local quartet plays mesmeric chamber music that’s enchanting and
peculiar, but never precious. These five compositions——three of them
written specifically for the group by Christopher Gainey, Ronald Pearl,
and David Smooke——radiate an intensity that has nothing to do with
volume or the layering of instruments. Instead, they draw upon an
internal combustion that smolders without igniting. It’s a perfect match
for music that wafts and curls, and, ultimately, lingers so hauntingly.