Chamber Orchestras and Avant-Garde Lite: A Beginner´s Guide
 

How many artists does it take to make a genre? When a few bands pick up the same instruments to explore similar musical territory, have they established a genre? The bands I´d like to share with you here are members of a category for which there doesn´t seem to be a satisfactory label as yet. Nonetheless, they have a few things in common. For instance, to be a member of this non-genre, it is apparently expected that you:-

.....i) come from either the USA or Scandanavia
.....ii) go easy on the drum kit
.....iii) play something novel using traditional acoustic instruments
.....iv) call your band an ensemble or orchestra

The eight bands that follow can check some, if not all, of those boxes and they are listed according to their date of formation, starting with the oldest.

1. Penguin Cafe Orchestra:-

Founded in 1972, PCO were active for 24 years, until their mastermind, Simon Jeffes, died of a brain tumor in 1997. Surprisingly, they only have about five “real” albums to their credit. (To keep things simple, in the album totals, I´m discounting EPs, bootlegs, compilations, spin-offs and albums with drastic changes of personnel, ok? )
Here are two tracks; the first is one of their most catchy compositions, while the second, probably their single most famous piece, is either cool or infuriating, according to your mood:-

......

Associated Bands: The Anteaters are who PCO became after the death of Simon Jeffes and so are the rightful torchbearers of his legacy imo. On the other hand, the band who now call themselves Penguin Cafe are a different band altogether, apart from being fronted by Simon Jeffes´s son.

2. Kronos Quartet:-

These guys also started out in 1972, in San Francisco, but since then they have turned up all over the place; not just geographically but in terms of their exposure, their musical styles, their soundtracks and their collaborations. They have recorded with a zillion people, from Allen Ginsberg to Nine Inch Nails. With 43 productive years to date, and about 43 albums behind them, you are almost bound to have heard their music even if you didn´t realise it at the time.



^ Pieces of Africa was their biggest selling album and remains a personal favourite because the African composers involved injected a bit of spirit into the Quartet´s music: imo they have a tendency to focus too much on rather sombre minimalist compositions, but their discography is so varied that you can effectively pick the Kronos that you want to hear - jazz, classical, ambient, etc. Here´s a guide to help you choose:- Kronos Quartet discography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Another happy collaboration occured in 2004 when Kronos were in Helsinki, playing with the extraordinary Kimmo Pohjonen:-



(Vibrant MB thread about a Kronos soundtrack: http://www.musicbanter.com/soundtrac...oundtrack.html )

3. Lars Hollmer:-

LH was an Swedish accordionist/keyboard player who released his first solo album in 1978. He was busy with an impressive number of projects and bands for the next 30 years, playing under his own name or as part of The Looping Home Orchestra, Accordion Tribe and the Global Home Project to mention the main ones. Sadly in 2008, at age 60, he lost his life to cancer. Can´t really sum up his talents in two clips, but these might give you some idea of his range: the first features his dog Snotan on lead vocals, while in the second he is really rocking it in the band Von Zamla (which is off topic, strictly speaking, but still worth hearing.):-

.......

Associated bands: He was also a founder member of the innovative rock band Samla Mammas Manna.

4. L´Ensemble Rayé:-

They´ve recorded covers of Robert Wyatt and Erik Satie material, but they are usually too cheerful to be regarded as avant-garde. Starting out in 1987, they made 7 albums before things fell apart in 2005. This is from their 1993 album, Quelques Piéces Détachées :-



Associated bands: Co-founding guitarist Cédric Vuille has struck out on his own with a few solo albums, and is also a member of the band 3 Mice.

5. Ensemble Ambrosius:-

With considerable panache, they chose to make their debute album a collection of Zappa covers. It was recorded in Finland in 1995 but so far there´s only been one follow up album, so these guys are in danger of being one-hit wonders:-



6. The Four Bags:-

Leaning towards jazz, they started out in New York in 1999 and have 4 albums in their discography. TBH they are completely new to me, but luckily they do a pretty good job of introducing themselves:-



7. Frankenstein Consort:-

This is pretty much a side project of main man Erik Lindgren, when he wants a break from his solo work or from his contribution to the band Birdsongs of Mezozoic. In fact there is only one album credited to FC, and that´s Classical a-Go-Go, from 2006. As the title suggests, even when the music is modern and written by EL, it sounds like classical music. Here is one of the few clips of FC that are available, which you can compare with the more experimental Birdsongs if you feel inclined:-

.....

8. Misophone:-

With a pop sensibility (as the expression goes) Misophone are actually a duo - but one of the guys plays so many instruments that they sound like a chamber group. From Carlisle, they describe their music as “kitchen sink folk ”. They started out in 2007 and have made 9, 10 or 13 albums, depending on the website you look at.



^ That track is from their first album which is reviewed here:-



Anyway, I hope there is something of interest here; several of these bands really deserve a thread of their own, so if anyone wants to fill in some gaps – or vilify me for missing out a band altogether, please go ahead...

Wow, I really like all of these. Well, I know what I'm looking up tomorrow.

Hey, thanks, Wpnfire ! I´m really glad to hear that you´ve enjoyed those clips - I´d be interested to hear about what else you find. Happy hunting!

( As for me, I´m streaming some Lars Hollmer stuff right now as I don´t know his material as much as I´d like to; it´s all good so far.)

Nice selection! Some of those are among my favourites.

Here are some additions:

Rational Diet



Five-Storey Ensemble



Sonata Islands (aka Altrock Chamber Quartet)



Tin Hat



Scavenger Quartet



Cro Magnon



Volapük



Aranis

Hello, grindy! After the Beginner´s Guide, come the experts! Thanks for adding some great music to the list - all of them are new names to me, except Tin Hat, who I came across in the Everything is Illuminated soundtrack:-



On a first run-through, of the songs that you posted, I particularly liked Rational Diet, Cro Magnon and Scavenger Quartet -well, I liked them all really, so I have some investigating to do, as well as Wpnfire.

Glad you enjoyed it.
Really hope this thread will keep going, this kind of music is great and I'm looking forward to discovering something new in that vein.

Only A Mother



Daniel Schell & Karo



Alec K. Redfearn & The Eyesores



Amoebic Ensemble

^ Yes, I hope so too, grindy. Unfortunately, I exhausted my knowledge with my first post and can´t really recommend any more artists. All I have this morning are two clips from the musicians that are mentioned in the Misophone album review; A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and Efterklang, and I´m not really convinced by either. To me, A Hawk and a Hacksaw should really be in the Klezmer thread if there is such a thing, and Efterklang score well in terms of being Scandanavian, but sound more like smooth prog rock or something. Well, you can judge for yourself, grindy:-

.....


Your latest clips, on the other hand, I really loved, Especially Daniell Schell and Karo, with the eclectic collection of art Works, and Alec Redfearn and the Eyesores - really great music from a very modest, homely setting. Thanks for those tips!

Not really my cup of tea, although not bad either.
The videos don't work around here, but I checked out some albums.
Although I have to say, that I really enjoyed Misophone, at least 1-2 albums.
And I usually really dislike indie-ish sounding music.

Some more stuff:

Bar Kokhba




Univers Zero



Hamster Theatre



The Archestra



Rhun

Eviyan!
I can't link yet, but I think I can share it if it's broken up
www .youtube .com/ watch?v=fRsFPhEeNlI

It's Iva Bittova, Evan Zipporyn, Gyan Riley, and some guys I don't know on bass and percussion.

Hi, Rowan, and welcome to MB! Actually, you should be able to post YouTube links. Just put them in the format of:-

youtube in square brackets, plus code number after the equals sign, plus /youtube in square brackets

In your case you need to use: fRsFPhEeNlI, then you would get:-



^ A very interesting addition to the thread, thanks! I like the conversational way that the vocals begin, though after that, I´m happier with Iva´s violin than with her vocals, tbh!

...and another set of interesting tracks from grindy - thanks. I really liked the Hamster Theater and the first track by Bar Kokhba. I´ll definitely be looking at more of his stuff, and perhaps the rather daunting John Zorn too.

In the meantime, the Bar Kokbha track reminded me of Dead Combo, from Portugal :-

Marc Ribot, the guitarist from Bar Kokhba, actually plays on that track, as well as on several other tracks from that album.

Oh thanks ^^'

Nooo! Iva's scatting is wonderful! Well, I didn't find Eviyan 'till I'd already memorized most of her solo discography, so I might be a bit biased. And no, I don't speak Czech.

Well, that´s a complete surprise to me! I always imagined Dead Combo as working alone in some quiet musical backwater. I didn´t know they were mixing it up with international celeb guitarists.
(Unless I´m more confused than usual, Frownland is quite an admirer of Marc Ribot too.)

They have a track titled "Ribot" on their first album.
I guess it was something along the lines of a dream collaboration with an old hero later on.

^ Ah! That´s a detail I lost when I downloaded Dead Combo Vol.1, without the permission of Dead Combo.

Right now I´m exploring Alec K Redfearn´s music. His style really suits me; interesting but not too demanding. Will be moving on to your other recommendations son, incl. Amoebic Ensemble, who I see are also A K R and friends.

Bumping this to tell the world, or at least grindy, that I underestimated A Hawk and a Hacksaw a few posts back. More traditional than avant-garde, they have several albums of gypsy music to their credit. Here they are (far left accordion and far right violin) with their sound being beefed up by some other musicians:-



A French lady who has impressed me recently is Emmanuelle Parrenin. In 1977 she made an exquisite album of French folk music called Maison Rose , then waited about 30 years before making a comeback with material that earns her a place in this thread:-

That's some cool stuff.
Really like the instruments in the Hawk & Hacksaw vid.
Although I do wish the music had some nice dissonant parts.
Also put Madame Parrenin on my list of albums to check out.

This might be too electric for this thread, but I'm having another phase of Auktyon worship those last few weeks and am eager to share.

^ Thanks for the response, grindy. Auktyon are new to me, but that performance has all kind of good things going on, especially when the vocals liven up about 4 mins in. I also liked the clarinet (?) that concludes the song, so they are a band that are going on my list for checking out too.

( I wouldn't worry about them being too electrical; given the number of contributions to this thread, you could post something by Britney Spears if you wanted to.)

I can't believe that yesterday was the very first time that I heard anything by Third Ear Band. Their first album, Alchemy, came out in 1969, so they are real pioneers in several different areas. It's as if Soft Machine met GodSpeedYouBlackEmperor while on holiday in India and they decided to jam together with the locals. Anyway, this clip runs for 15 mins, so you can work out their sound for yourselves:-



^ Although the two tracks here aren't named, in length if nothing else they are typical of the album I'm starting out with: an officially self-titled album that fans have labelled Elements because there are just 4 tracks, each devoted to one of the 4 elements. Fabulous stuff, imo.

This is a band I've just come across that some people might like. Perhaps they're as much Prog as they are Avant-Garde Lite, but I thought I'd put them here anyway:-



And if you want to learn more about Daniel O'Sullivan, the man behind Miasma and The Carousel of Headless Horses:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel...eadless_Horses

And here's another band, with a foot in several genres, that I'm planning to explore more fully soon:-

Must...Resist... Spamming whole thread... With full-on Avant-Prog...

But I guess for now I'l just keep spamming Auktyon stuff wherever I can.

^ Haha! I liked that Auktyon clip a lot more than the previous one you posted, but there's no need to hold back on the Avant-Prog - a few examples would help me clarify what that sub-genre sounds like.

I am finally replying; last week my computer decided to shut down right after I'd spent an hour minutes musing about all of the selections in this thread.

I really quite like that last Auktyon song posted. The beginning half, at least.

Miasma & The Carousel of Headless Horses: I adore it! Like a grand waltz in the bowels of hell.
Third Ear Band: Beautiful!
A Hawk and a Hacksaw: A long time favorite. I am always in dire need of more accordions in my daily life!

I can't NOT mention Jun Miyake, who is a truly enchanting composer, likely a wizard and a gift to the world.






I can also recommend Contemporary Noise Quintet, though I haven't listened much beyond this one album:


(Apologies for that somewhat uninspired list; I'm having a bit of a caffeine crash at the moment.)

Since it's a lazy, slightly hungover sunday, I'll just post some songs without comments.



It's one of my main genres so I could go on and on, but let's leave it at that for now.

^ Haha! That's a great description of Miasma and the CHH!
I'll give a listen to your latest recommendations a little later, Chiomara. Thanks.

^ I remember a few of those, grindy; a feeling of satisfaction because you had a good time the previous evening, and a feeling of guilt because you should be studying....

Many thanks for all the different bands, which I'll be exploring in due course.

Luckily the studying part of my life is over.

I thought I'd bump this thread and bring it full circle because I've just been listening to North Sea Radio Orchestra's album, I a moon. Nothing raucous or disonant here, I'm afraid; they remind me most of Penguin Cafe Orchestra. They are a little too careful in their approach to be considered avant-garde by today's standards, I guess, but, rather like their album cover, an apparent simplicity conveys something quite subtle:-

This is very light if avant-garde at all:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2853892831_16.jpg

https://ymusicensemble.bandcamp.com/...ful-mechanical


yMusic, Beautiful Mechanical


but it sounds pretty good - didn’t hit a match on search

thought it kind of fit in here

Bumpity-bump.

Ensemble 4'33

Nice bump, nice track, grindy!

By coincidence I was dipping into this thread just recently to check what recs I'd left unexplored.

Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses get a brief mention earlier, but not their excellent album, Perils:-



Very clean sound to this cover of a Tool song by Vitamin String Quartet:-

Nice thread, with some bands/acts that I know and others that I still have to explore.

I was immediately thinking of the Belgium band Die anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (or DAAU, in short), one of my favourites in the genre of Chamber Rock. Here as example Working Ants:



Another wonderful act, from Switzerland this time, Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp - So Many Things To Feel Guilty About:




Tell me if these correspond to your criteria - I may have others in stock...

The Last Dinner Party



It's unfortunate and borderline tragic that their recent tour came no closer than two hours away on a weeknight.

Here is a link to their website. Nice to see a new band have a proper website instead of just using social media.
https://www.thelastdinnerparty.co.uk/