Browse by Artist: DREYBLATT, ARNOLD

Artist:	DREYBLATT, ARNOLD
Title:	The Adding Machine
Label:	CANTALOUPE
Format:	CD
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	CA 21006CD

"A disciple of LaMonte Young and Alvin Lucier, Arnold Dreyblatt has cultivated a strong underground fan base for his transcendental and ecstatic music. Among the second generation of New York minimalist composers, Dreyblatt has developed a unique and original approach to composition and performance. He has invented a set of new and original instruments, performance techniques and a system of tuning. The Orchestra of Excited Strings is a unique ensemble of strings -- plucked, bowed, and struck -- composed of instruments designed and built by Dreyblatt to illuminate the strings' hot overtones." Performed by: Robert Black, Jeff Lieberman, Laurel P. Smith, Mark Stewart, Danny Tunick & Evan Ziporyn.

Artist:	DREYBLATT, ARNOLD
Title:	Nodal Excitation
Label:	DEXTER'S CIGAR
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DEX 015CD

Reissue of a key minimalist masterwork. Dreyblatt's documentation in the past has been slim, with albums on Hat Art, Tzadik and Table of the Elements. This album features a 39 minute performance by Arnold's group known as The Orchestra of Excited Strings, recorded in 1981/82 Dreyblatt, Michael Hauenstein (bass violas with Excited Strings), Peter Phillips (Midget Upright Pianoforte), Kraig Hill (Portable Pipe Organ) & Greg Lewis (Hurdy Gurdy). "Dreyblatt only had one record Nodal Excitation (on the mostly post-AACM jazz label India Navigation), before he packed and moved to Berlin, were he concentrated on other activities, making only 2 more records over the next 10 years. But for those who caught the action, Arnold was the man. He was more rock than any of the other minimalists combined, and he was also the only one to really tap into that massive proto-minimal sound that Conrad had squelched out of his tin-contact mic violin in the early 60s. Indeed, in the early 70s, after being in school in Buffalo, where Conrad taught, Dreyblatt moved into Manhattan to work for LaMonte Young, where he witnessed first hand, and listened first-ear to those legendary recordings of the Theatre of Eternal Music. He got interest in long string sounds, and bought a bass that he wired with piano wire. By hitting the strings instead of bowing them, Dreyblatt was able to get those ringing overtones, but he also had added something new: pure rhythm...So what you have here is Dreyblatt's freshman record, a slice of minimal history that is as potent now, if not more, as it was then. It was a lighthouse that was aiming the wrong way when the tugboat came by, but now it's shining right in your face."

Artist:	DREYBLATT, ARNOLD
Title:	Animal Magnetism
Label:	TZADIK
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TZ 7004

"These pieces for just-intoned electric guitar, bass violin, cimbalon, percussion and horn section emphasize dynamics and sonorities, achieving stunning acoustical effects. American composer Dreyblatt studied under minimalist greats La Monte Young, Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Lucier, and formed the Orchestra of Excited Strings in 1979. He has released 2 previous albums on India Navigation and Hat Art." From Jim O'Rourke's Minimalism Top web site: "This is the record that really steps out as the first genuinely new sound in maybe 10 years. It's as if the Dirty Dozen Brass band got a hold of some of Arnold's records and decided to give it a go. I cannot overstate how unbelievably brilliant this record is. When played loud, I firmly stand by my declaration that it is one of the 4 or so best records ever made."

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