The Squid's Ear Magazine

Golub, Phillip

Filters [VINYL + DOWNLOAD]

Golub, Phillip: Filters [VINYL + DOWNLOAD] (Greyfade)

Approaching the concept of endless repetition, New York composer and pianist Phillip Golub (Tropos, Sarafand Ensemble, Cecil McBee) presents his debut solo piano album, a contemplative set of system-based looping phrases that open up to improvisational variety in live performance, here in four renderings that defy the categorization of a "loop".
 

Price: $22.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 24.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Phillip Golub-piano, composer


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Edition of 200 copies.

Label: Greyfade
Catalog ID: 005
Squidco Product Code: 32379

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: LP
Recorded at the private residence of Peter and Sarah Mandell.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"What does it mean to physically perform something that repeats endlessly? To press down the keys on a piano in the same way, over and over again, rather than to simply offload the process of repetition to a machine? What are the emotional and narrative implications for performer and listener when the musical process must be realized manually - through continuous conscious effort - rather than automatically, through the press of a button?

Filters, the solo debut of pianist and composer Phillip Golub (b. 1993), implicitly poses and answers exactly such questions about the nature of repetition and performance, all through the prism of his lucid pianism.

"Even a listener who doesn't know the technicalities of digital repetition can sense that there's something different about these loops," he says. "When we know the repetition is not mechanical, there's a certain feeling of needing to stay very focused with the performer, to be there with them." The process of manual repetition, then, resembles for Golub a kind of ritual, rather than merely a technological process. It is the act of participation in an entity unfolding over time that interests him.

Golub has been playing the piano since the age of five and composing since his early teens. But it was his decades of experience as a performer, in both the classical and improvised traditions, that gave him the insight - and the confidence - to reduce his compositional material down to its minimum, focusing instead on the act of musical interpretation.

"I started with the first loop as an exercise back in 2018," he says. "I thought at first that what I had written would be the material for further composition, that I would elaborate the material and make it the basis of more music. But the more I played what I had written, the more I realized: wait, no, this is the piece. Just playing this over and over is the music."

Golub continued to refine his concept, gradually composing more loops to create an evolving set. He explored different durations and performance contexts, sometimes quietly performing a loop or two as guests arrived to a recital hall, other times programming afternoon-length performances in which each loop extended to durations of 45 minutes or more. He even experimented with orchestrating the loops for various mixed chamber ensembles.

For the recording of his debut solo album, however, Golub wanted to distill the timeless quality of these pieces into a piano-only, LP-length experience. In summer 2019, while in Los Angeles for work on an opera with Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding, he scheduled time to record on a privately owned and beautifully maintained Steinway D.

"I actually performed each loop for 45 minutes or more during the recording sessions. I really wanted to make sure I got a good chunk of time to get really deeply 'in it.'" Golub then edited together his favorite sections of these extended performances to construct the final album versions.

"Each loop on Filters contains two 'streams' of music," explains Golub. "The outer stream consists of a single high note and a single low note on the piano, always struck together. The inner stream is a succession of simple major or minor triads - with an occasional suspended fourth or added seventh - that continually re-contextualize the color of the pitches of the outer stream. Something mysterious and magical happens here that is unique to the resonance, decay, and overtones on pianos. I think that this blending of the louder outer stream with the quieter and denser inner music is at the core of the effect."

Structurally, each loop proceeds by ordering two internal sections - A and B - into larger patterns. Some loops have simpler structures, such as AAB, while others are more elaborate. This device serves not only to provide internal repetition within each loop, but also to differentiate each loop's behavior when subjected to extended repetition, achieving a haiku-like internal balance.

While the harmonic and formal dimensions of Filters are meticulously controlled, some aspects of the compositions are left intentionally open. There is no explicit rhythm specified in the composition, for instance; the approximate timing of each event is indicated with space-time notation. The range of acceptable phrasings - a slightly drawn-out passage here, a minute variation in rhythm there - is something Golub has come to know intuitively. There are also the inevitable, yet tangible, differences in musical surface and micro-acoustic detail that emerge over time, given the physical fact that a pianist interacting with a mechanical instrument is all but incapable of exact repetition.

"The listener may not be able to consciously identify all the subtle differences in the performance on each repetition, but I think the music suggests that you slow down and pay attention to them. You can focus very intently on the rubs between the intervals, the differences in micro-timing or touch across repetitions, the not-always-predictable order of the A's and B's in the forms, and so on. You can have it on to go to sleep, or do your chores, or meditate, or go for a walk. You can listen in the car. You can use the music to calm you and lower your blood pressure. Or you can sit down with the lights off and listen on a hi-fi system in a very focused way. It's all valid."

Filters is intentionally designed to work in many contexts. Although the structural integrity and endlessly variegated details of these loops reward focused listening, they never demand it. This is also just beautiful music to get lost in."-Greyfade Records


Edition of 200 copies.

Artist Biographies

"Phillip Golub is a composer and pianist based in New York. His music strides the boundary between the improvised and the notated. His musical practice centers around rethinking the rehearsal process as a site of musical sociality and collective creation. He is also an advocate for independent music artists' labor rights as a member and organizer with Music Workers Alliance.

Phillip has released music in numerous formations. He is the co-founder of the collective band Tropos (Axioms // 75ab, Biophilia Records (2020) and Shadow Music, Endectomorph Music (2023)). His solo piano debut Filters, on Greyfade Music will come out in October 2022. Phillip is also a member of Layale Chaker's Sarafand Ensemble (Inner Rhyme, In a Circle Records (2019)). He performs in a variety of contexts with recent performances at Milton Court Concert Hall (London), the Brighton Fringe Festival, The Stone and National Sawdust (NYC). He also has performed numerous times with the Cecil McBee Quartet. His compositions have been performed at venues such as Merkin Hall (NYC), The Broad Stage (Santa Monica, CA), and on festivals such as Tribeca New Music (NYC), Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and the Hear Now Music Festival (Los Angeles).

Phillip was also the musical dramaturg and music coordinator for ... (Iphigenia), a new opera born out of a collaboration by Wayne Shorter and esperanza spalding. He has studied composition with Michael Finnissy and Julian Anderson and piano and improvisation with Jason Moran, Bruce Brubaker, Joe Morris, and Ran Blake. He holds degrees from Harvard University (B.A. English), The Guildhall School of Music & Drama (M.Mus. Composition), and The New England Conservatory (M.M. Jazz Performance)."

-Phillip Golub Website (http://www.phillipgolubmusic.com/about.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. Loop 1 7:53

2. Loop 3 8:39

SIDE B



1. Loop 4 8:23

2. Loop 5 8:58

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Piano & Keyboards
Solo Artist Recordings
Ambient & Minimal Music
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
New in Compositional Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers
Vinyl Recordings
Friends of Squid

Search for other titles on the label:
Greyfade.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Teruggi, Daniel
Sphaera [VINYL]
(Recollection GRM)
Italian electroacoustic composer and former directed of the French GMR studio Daniel Teruggi is heard in four major and spectacular acousmatic works from the 1980s into the 2000s: "Space of Mind (2004)" in four movements; "Birds (2006)" in five moments; "Transmutations (2009)" in five movements; and the earlier "Terra" exploring the four fundamental substances.
Ferreyra, Beatriz
Senderos de luz y sombras [VINYL]
(Recollection GRM)
Translating to Paths of Light and Shadows, Argentine electronic composer Beatriz Ferreyra's 16-channel piece is inspired by astrophysics, the mystery of the pre-Big Bang era and uncanny motions of the unconscious mind; a major work of exploration through electronics and acoustic transformation, presented in two parts: "Abysmal Paths" and "Forgotten Paths".
Zethson, Alex
Residy
(thanatosis produktion)
The Residy, or remains of a unique variation on JS Bach's Goldberg Variation no. 21, performed live by pianist Alex Zethson who maintains the structure, rhythmic movement and note order of Bach's composition, while dispersing the notes and intervals into two synths and an E-bowed grand piano to evoke these meditative and expansive interpretations.
Franek, John
About The Color Of The Moon
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
An album of evocative electronic and acousmatic soundscapes from German composer, electronic artist and keyboardist John Franek, who performs the four pieces on this album on organ and electronics, interweaving rich harmonics with stark tones, melding his sounds in slowly evolving interaction, like beams of light piercing peaceful atmospheres.
Philippakopoulos, Anastassis
Piano 1 Piano 2 Piano 3
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
An album of concentrated expression for solo piano in three works from French composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos and meticulously performed by Serbian pianist Teodora Stepancic, exploring intervals through minimalistic progressions, titled "Piano 1", "Piano 2" & "Piano 3", each in two or three parts as they build to explosive moments in the final movement.
Wittenburg, Florian
1- Bis 4-Stimmig
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Starting with a systematic variation of polyphony in each of the three movements of "Bis 4-Stimmung", German composer and pianist Florian Wittenburg deviates from strict structures through a component of randomly generated core notes which he then makes coherent through harmony and melody, each part punctuated with layers of Wittenburg reciting Dutch poet Cees Noteboom.
Tolimieri, Quentin
Monochromes [3 CDs]
(elsewhere)
Berlin-based composer & pianist Quentin Tolimieri's goal for the 15 compositions of "Monochrome" was to hear the acoustic piano differently, removing traditional structures of European harmony, each piece focused on a single or "monochromatic" theme that unfolds over an extended period of time, whether languorous or intensely active, each piece unique and self-contained.
Riley, Terry played by John Tilbury
Keyboard Studies
(Another Timbre)
There is uncertainty of when pianist John Tilbury recorded these three solo keyboard works by his associate and friend, legendary minimalist composer Terry Riley, performing "Keyboard Study #1" and #2, along with "Dorian Reeds" using piano, electric organ, harpsichord & celesta, captured with excellent quality in superb performances from Tilbury at the height of his powers.
Fages, Ferran
From Grey To Blue
(Inexhaustible Editions)
Written by Catalan composer Ferran Fages for pianist Lluïsa Espigolé following a quote by Catalan author Carles Camps Mundó — "Barely anything: deformities of silence" — this delicate work of resonance, space and suspense slowly unfolds, the score giving Espigolé choices for timing and placement as each meaningful note or combination subsides.
Scholz, Kristine
Plays Otte And Cage
(thanatosis produktion)
The 2nd solo album from Sweden-based pianist and Merce Cunningham-collaborator Kristine Scholz, performing on a 1921 Steinway & Sons Model A piano, recording four movements from composer Hans Otte's seminal work "Das Buch der Klänge" (1979-82), and an interpretation of John Cage's "Music for Piano 4-19", compatible pieces from two contemporary and visionary composers.
Mayas, Magda / Tina Douglas
Objects Of Interest [CD + BOOK]
(Room40)
Following the visual scores of multi-disciplinary artist Tina Douglas, pianist Magda Mayas uses objects and preparations on piano, clavinet & rhodes keyboards to expand on Douglas' sculptural and tactile scores, exposing the fragility or imperfections in each, allowing one melody, chord or noise to become the focus of Maya's aural rendering and interpretations.
Schiller, Christoph
24 Stucke Fur Ein Tasteninstrument
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
24 short works for clavichord from German composer Christoph Schiller and performed by French keyboardist Ed Williams (Heard Of Bears, TANDEM, Grand 8 Ensemble), slowly developing pieces that bring clusters of notes like falling leaves that slowly fade into silence, thoughtful works of space around unanticipated clusters, presented as groups of "Fuge" variations.
Andric, Andreja
Winter Solstice
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Their association stretching back to their time together in music school, pianist Anita Tomasevich is the perfect interpreter of Serbian composer Andreja Andric's December, exploring a single minor chord in each of six movements, challenging the performer to explore shades of tone color by working through gradual changes; plus Meditation (II) for 2 pianists.
Kirschner, Kenneth / Joseph Branciforte
From the Machine: Volume 1 [VINYL]
(Greyfade)
The first volume in an ongoing collaboration between composers Kenneth Kirschner and Joseph Branciforte, this work explores the application of software-based compositional techniques — including algorithmic processes, generative systems, and indeterminacy — performed in a superb ensemble including members of Flux Quartet and International Contemporary Ensemble.
Branciforte, Joseph / Theo Bleckmann
LP1 [VINYL]
(Greyfade)
Like a blanket of twilight sound and insidiously fragile detail, the results of two days of uninterrupted sonic exploration between New York multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound artist & recording engineer Joseph Branciforte and German vocal innovator & electronic artist Theo Bleckmann are heard in four compositions from their collaboration: gorgeous, lulling and edgy.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Ullmann, Gebhard / Steve Swell / Hilliard Greene / Barry Altschul
We're Playing In Here ? [VINYL]
(NoBusiness)
Substantial creative free jazz with compositions each from trombonist Steve Swell and reedist Gebhard Ullman, recording at Park West Studio in Brooklyn with Barry Altschul on drums and Hilliard Green on double bass, the structures of their compositions providing lyrical launch points for adept free soloing, amidst unusual and masterful technique and surprising asides; exceptional!
Dinel, Karbe
MMXX-09: Ouroboros [CLEAR VINYL]
(Matiere Memoire)
French sound artist Karbe Dinel creates a complex work of sound that shifts through diverse moods and seamlessly dovetailed sections, using synthesizer and effects to create deep resonating tones and high pitched complements, mysterious grainy ambience, haunting chambers of drifting electronics; a mysterious and compelling journey in the electronic realm.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC