Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air

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Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air
FredFrith AlbumCover NowhereSideshowThinAir.jpg
Studio album by
Fred Frith
ReleasedSeptember 2009 (2009-09)
Recorded2000, 2001, 2007
StudioGuerrilla Recordings, Oakland, California
Genre Experimental music
Length76:38
Label Fred (UK)
Producer Fred Frith
Fred Frith chronology
Impur II
(2009)		Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air
(2009)		 Late Works
(2010)
Music for Dance series chronology
The Happy End Problem
(2006)		Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air
(2009)		 Field Days (The Amanda Loops)
(2015)

Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air (Music for Dance Volume 6) is a studio album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, and is the sixth of a series of Music for Dance albums he made.

Contents

Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air consists of three commissions by three choreographers, each sharing, according to Frith, "a certain obsession with melodic deconstruction". [1] "Nowhere" and "Sideshow" were written by Frith for violinist Carla Kihlstedt, and are performed by Frith, Kihlstedt and others. "Thin Air" features Frith, Hande Erdem (violin) and Theresa Wong (cello).

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]

In a review for All About Jazz, John Kelman called the album a "genre-busting disc that catholically references a variety of styles, but ultimately transcends all of its sources." He noted that "even when he's being lyrical... Frith skews his music to the left of center; distinctly personal even when eminently hummable." [2]

Exposé Online's Peter Thelen praised "Thin Air," stating that although it "encompasses what is easily the most sparse and avant-garde music" of the three works, "some of the most interesting and enjoyable sounds on the disc are found herewithin." [3]

Writing for The Squid's Ear, Massimo Ricci commented: "The large majority of this album is enough to let us affirm that, in the age of polluted silence, we still need this man's unsurpassed intuitions like oxygen." [4]

Track listing

All compositions by Fred Frith. [5] [6]

  1. "Nowhere" – commissioned by choreographer Paul Selwyn Norton and performed at The Hague in November 2000
    1. "Nowhere to Run" – 5:17
    2. "Nowhere Near" – 3:19
    3. "Nowhere to be Seen" – 3:10
    4. "Nowhere Else" – 1:43
    5. "Nowhere Can Compare" – 2:21
    6. "Getting Nowhere" – 2:27
    7. "Going Nowhere" – 2:25
    8. "Nowhere to Hide" – 3:08
  2. "Sideshow" – commissioned by choreographer and director Peggy Piacenza and performed as part of the Northwest New Works Festival in 2001
    1. "Clearing the Throat" – 3:34
    2. "Show Time" – 7:24
    3. "On Or in the Wing" – 3:13
    4. "Act Two" – 3:31
    5. "Angels With Thirty Faces" – 5:17
    6. "In Which All May Have Been Resolved" – 5:27
    7. "Ghost of BB" – 1:48
    8. "Ms. Mac Drinks and Goes Home" – 1:19
  3. "Thin Air" – commissioned by choreographer Uchizono Donna Norton and performed in New York in October 2007
    1. "Ladders" – 6:52
    2. "Screened" – 1:35
    3. "Plastic" – 3:01
    4. "Running" – 3:51
    5. "Falling" – 3:27
    6. "Fast Feet" – 2:29

Personnel

Recording and production

Related Research Articles

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Unsquare is a 2008 studio album by Maybe Monday, a San Francisco based experimental electroacoustic improvisation music ensemble featuring guitarist Fred Frith, koto player Miya Masaoka and saxophonist Larry Ochs. It is their third album and includes guest musicians Gerry Hemingway, Carla Kihlstedt, Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins. Unsquare was recorded at East Side Sound Studio in New York City on November 18, 2006, and was released by Intakt Records in Switzerland in January 2008.

"Ruins" is a 1974 instrumental composed by Fred Frith for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was recorded in February and March 1974 by Henry Cow, and released on their May 1974 album, Unrest by Virgin Records.

References

  1. ↑ "Frith, Fred: Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air". ReR USA. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  2. 1 2 Kelman, John. "Nowhere / Sideshow / Thin Air". All About Jazz . Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Thelen, Peter (1 July 2010). "Reviews: Fred Frith — Nowhere. Sideshow. Thin Air". Exposé Online. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  4. ↑ Ricci, Massimo. "Fred Frith: Nowhere. Sideshow. Thin Air". The Squid's Ear. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  5. ↑ "Frith, Fred: Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air". SquidCo. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air". Orkhestra International (in French). Retrieved 30 October 2009.
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