Earl Howard - Granular Modality (2012)
Earl Howard - Granular Modality (2012)
Contemporary Classical, Electronic, Improvisation, Jazz | New World | 2012 | 68:28 | EAC (FLAC, cue, log) | Booklet | Various File Hosts | 349 MB
Earl Howard (alto saxophone, synthesizer, live processing) & Miya Masaoka (koto)
Contemporary Classical, Electronic, Improvisation, Jazz | New World | 2012 | 68:28 | EAC (FLAC, cue, log) | Booklet | Various File Hosts | 349 MB
Earl Howard (alto saxophone, synthesizer, live processing) & Miya Masaoka (koto)
Earl Howard - Granular Modality (2012)
In many respects Earl Howard's (b. 1951) music is an anomaly that resists categorization and the seductiveness of genre. He is an important force in improvised music and yet his work employs complex structures and rigorous transitions of sound and texture. His electro-acoustic music is realized with a K-2600 Kurzweil that for Howard is not merely a keyboard synthesizer but an open system, a computer with a most effective interface with modules and a key map that enable more freedom in the composer's creation of textures. In the three solo works ('Bird 3', 'Strasser 60', '2455') presented on 'Granular Modality', one can observe the striking continuity of Howard's aesthetic approach. All three pieces employ a flexible script of material that transforms and modulates from texture to texture. Each section in the composition represents a complex sound world that is not simply multiphonics or sub-harmonics, for example, but an exchange, an interplay that is both directional in terms of an overall sense of form and discursive in its oppositional characteristics. The discursive elements in Earl Howard's playing on the saxophone and on the synthesizer convey a restless approach toward material. Musical material and texture always change and evolve. On the synthesizer this is accomplished with a scripted succession of programs, textures and behaviors that can overlap and be revealed over time. The scripted flow of events creates a coherent overall structure that is malleable in terms of duration and nuance. Distinction between the improvised and the composed becomes irrelevant, as the order of events, the script, remains the same as the details are revealed in the action of improvisation. 'Crupper' (2009) features Miya Masaoka on koto with the composer on synthesizer. The piece has a fascinating tension between tonality and sound finding a delicate balance between the stochastic and the melodic.
The mixture of composition, improvisation and chance is exactly what life on this planet is all about. So it is not surprising that Howard's compositions seem to "grow" as they are "played". It is also not surprising that his work is frequently composed for and performed by musicians from the jazz tradition.
Track Listing:
1. Bird 3 (march 2006) for synthesizer
2. Crupper (november 2009) for koto and synthesizer
3. 2455 (november 2009) for alto sax
4. Strasser 60 (november 2009) for synthesizer
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 8. November 2012, 23:05
Earl Howard / Granular Modality
Used drive : QSI CDRW/DVD SBW242U Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 20:29.03 | 0 | 92177
2 | 20:29.03 | 16:25.25 | 92178 | 166077
3 | 36:54.28 | 11:21.47 | 166078 | 217199
4 | 48:16.00 | 20:12.36 | 217200 | 308135
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename G:\Earl Howard - Granular Modality\Earl Howard - Granular Modality.wav
Peak level 99.2 %
Extraction speed 3.1 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 01369992
Copy CRC 01369992
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
==== Log checksum E6F4EF48F343C561AD4BE838ED5108639C7116722E341F60EAF78E64817317FC ====
EAC extraction logfile from 8. November 2012, 23:05
Earl Howard / Granular Modality
Used drive : QSI CDRW/DVD SBW242U Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 20:29.03 | 0 | 92177
2 | 20:29.03 | 16:25.25 | 92178 | 166077
3 | 36:54.28 | 11:21.47 | 166078 | 217199
4 | 48:16.00 | 20:12.36 | 217200 | 308135
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename G:\Earl Howard - Granular Modality\Earl Howard - Granular Modality.wav
Peak level 99.2 %
Extraction speed 3.1 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 01369992
Copy CRC 01369992
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
==== Log checksum E6F4EF48F343C561AD4BE838ED5108639C7116722E341F60EAF78E64817317FC ====
3% recovery record included
Read more about the CD here.
Of related interest:
Kyle Bruckmann - On Procedural Grounds (2012)
Robert Normandeau - Palimpsestes (2012)
Robert Carl - From Japan (2012)
More contemporary American and European music is available at my blog.