Teach Me About Chamber Rock

Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: One band in particular that combined a style of modern chamber music with Folk was Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Often described in the area of minimalist due to the repeativeness or redundancy of their notation..their first album blends a few styles not commonly found in modern chamber or chamber rock....yet creates moments of re-visting that style with odd musical characteristics. In the 80s they were pegged as New Age. It's really not New Age. The paintings of Penguins on their album covers resembling human beings had nothing to do with that...Pieces that began as instrumental Folk with violin and transformed into a section of music that was dark and quirky had nothing to do with that. Their music was used in 80s movies because of its hooky signature lines but their albums were not a product of that work. They were actually unusual in a very genuine way and they were pegged wrong. Some of their music is ethereal, ambient, bizzare and melodic and has a modern chamber vibe. Big , Beautiful, Dark And Scary by Bang On A Can All Stars is worth the price of admission. Ingram Marshall Three Penitential Visions Hidden Voices I highly recommend . David Smooke Nutshell Studies Of Unexplained Death , Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic The Iridium Controversy is great Chamber Rock and of course composer Arnold Schonberg. Karda Estra Voivode Dracula is always amazing, but one of my favorite modern Chamber Music releases is Crackpot Hymnal Dmitri Tymoczko performed by the Amernet Quartet and the Congliano Quartet which is completely amazing. Julverne are also one of my favorites.

I have several Bang on a Can All Star releases and all are great. Field Recordings and More Field Recordings have compositions based on and incorporating field recordings by a wide range of composers including some not typically associated with contemporary classical.

The founders of Bang on a Can have a music label, Canteloupe Music, and just released is JG Thirlwell's Dystonia performed by the Mivos Quartet. Here's a track.



https://jgthirlwell.bandcamp.com/album/dystonia

For something prog-related, Kronos Quartet commissioned a piece by Stephan Thelen of SONAR.

https://stephanthelen.bandcamp.com/track/circular-lines-performed-by-kronos-quartet

On the mention of folk related chamber music, there is Tin Hat (previously Tin Hat Trio). They are on Prog Archives but I don't see much "rock" in their music. Definitely avant garde/experimental. All Music includes chamber jazz in labeling their music.

In trying to understand chamber rock, I am wondering band that I had mention in the Interactive Polls on this site, Black String. I think the ethos of chamber music is there along with elements of jazz and rock. The difference is that their sound and instrumentation comes from Eastern (Korean) music instead of Western.






Edited by mathman0806 - June 11 2023 at 07:06

If you have contributed to this thread and haven't seen the Interactive Playlist: Chamber Rock thread, I welcome any of you who had participated here to suggest music there in creating a playlist of chamber rock (and contemporary chamber music).

Edited by mathman0806 - June 12 2023 at 13:10

^ I'm relieved I didn't find that list of examples all that impressive. This surely means AI isn't ready to enslave all of mankind just yet.

Saperlipopette! wrote: ^ I'm relieved I didn't find that list of examples all that impressive. This surely means AI isn't ready to enslave all of mankind just yet.