This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.

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Landscaping for Privacy was written in August-September 1995 for twisted tutu while we were in residence at the Bellagio Center in Italy under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation. The poem is by Linda Norton. The keyboard part was written to be played using the arpeggiator function of a synth keyboard—sort of like a new convertible with an automatic transmission. I tried to capture the fragile elation urban types feel at driving out of the city on a beautiful Saturday morning in spring. —Eve Beglarian

Transparent Victims was written in 1987 for the talents of Marshall Taylor. Scored for multiple saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone) the work is dedicated to those children who, deprived of their voices and awareness, wail silence. —Tina Davidson

Premonition is a work for a thousand virtual strings realized on twenty-five boom box tape players. It was written as a fanfare to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Bang on a Can Festival and is heard here recorded in the vast expanse of the Brooklyn Anchorage. — Phil Kline

Champagne in Mexico City: Fragment Set #1

Champagne in Mexico City: Fragment Set #1 began as a series of improvisations with Dan Evans-Farkas processing the acoustic sounds of my balloons through a series of unpredictable, low-tech electronics, occasionally accentuating it with sounds from various gutted and manipulated electronic children’s toys. The improvisations serve as The Source. Champagne in Mexico City exists in as many forms as can be made from the Source, and Fragment Set #1 is a first set of fragments from The Source, edited together into a continuous form. My concept is loosely based on the late writer William Burrough’s cut-up techniques, in which he used scissors to physically cut-up texts, and then reassembled them in random patterns. This piece is dedicated to the memory of William and Joan Burroughs. —Judy Dunaway

accommodating commonplaces

We work with a different group of performers every year, with each composer writing a piece to contribute to a full evening’s worth of premieres. In the months leading up to the concerts, we meet frequently in work-in-progress rehearsal sessions during which ideas about the developing pieces flow freely between the participating musicians. It has been our experience that this approach results in a unique and positive dynamic that is palpable in the resulting pieces, which fit with and bounce off each other in compelling and unexpected ways. —Ed Harsh

Promface Devotion

Prom Face Devotion takes the memory of three types of sounds which I heard at three different points in my life and concocts an alternative environment where they co-exist. The Hammond organ, no matter how rockingly utilized, maintains an air of grandeur and placidity not matched by any other keyboard in the pop domain. The bass guitar moves from stasis (of being bowed in odd ways) to a melodic alliance with the organ to rhythmic interplay with the drums. Drumming techniques are also employed on the neck of the bass in the last section of the piece. Finally, the hand drums combine hints of exoticism with down home groove keeping. (As a side note, the midi “hand” drums heard here are mostly constructed from slowed down string pizzicato samples.) —Jack Vees

Black Velvet Elvis and the 900 Foot Jesus

Black Velvet Elvis & The 900 Ft. Jesus was written because of my interest in both Blues and Bluegrass. I used the banjo for two reasons. First, because of its unusual role in the history of American music. It’s essentially an African instrument, but is used almost exclusively in America C&W and Bluegrass music. Second, one of the finest banjo players around, Marty Cutler, asked me to compose a piece for him. While writing, I decided to exploit some of the clichés normally associated with the banjo. Very traditional and humorous banjo licks are placed within unusual contexts which give them a fresh perspective. —Ken Valitsky

Call 330-CURB

Call 330-CURB is recorded on my neglected and worn-out old Celtic harp. The instrument is given a new life through amplification and electronic sound processing in my series of pieces called Curbside Recycling. Recycling of my Celtic harp symbolizes the processes in the urban environment where we find new use for old structures, buildings, and things. In cities, I believe that it is also vital that one keeps reinventing oneself. When I perform these works on stage, I elevate my harp by placing it on top of newspapers which are stacked inside a blue plastic recycling bin. These plastic tubs are a common sight in the Bay Area and they say on the side “Call 330-Curb.” —Victoria Jordanova

Ganthia and Kyohan are solo electric guitar pieces I created for Tena Cohen’s theater piece Round Trip. They were recorded direct to DAT tape using a PRS Custom guitar, an Alesis Quadreverb GT guitar preamp, a Turbo Rat distortion box, alligator clips, and chopsticks. The titles Ganthia and Kyohan were generated by my software, “DADA’s Little Baby Namer.” This software consults a database of baby names, then generates statistically similar names using Markov Chains. “DADA’s Little Baby Namer” is available for free use on my web site, at http://www.ingress.com/~drnerve/ under “Nerve Interactive.” Thanks to Tena Cohen for helping me discover something new. —Nick Didkovsky

Your Name Backwards is a disintegrating love song, exploring the dark side of semi-requited love and its uncertain obsessions. It’s about the two sides of love, and the difficulty of telling them apart. — Randall Woolf