"The BQE is Mr. Stevens’ equivalent of the Godfrey Reggio-Philip
Glass film collaboration Koyaanisqatsi: a skeptical view of
development that eventually falls in love with sheer motion"
–
The New York Times
Sufjan Stevens’ The BQE is a 40-minute symphonic and cinematic
exploration of the infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, a major
traffic artery that severed neighborhoods and contoured waterways with
the brute force of modern urban planning. Commissioned by the Brooklyn
Academy of Music as part of its Next Wave Festival in November 2007,
the film tells a quintessentially American tale through an original film and recorded score by Stevens. Click
here for more information and video preview.
"Osso’s readings take Mr. Stevens’ music to new places…"
–
The New York Times
A string quartet with a modernist pulse, members of the New York- and Berlin-based
Osso have built dramatic arrangements in collaboration with an array of artists, including Jay-Z, Alice and Ravi Coltrane, The New Pornographers, Antony and the Johnsons, The National, Devotchka, Kanye West and Sufjan Stevens. Their interpretation of Stevens' eccentric electronica album
Enjoy Your Rabbit-each song named for a year of the Chinese zodiac-recomposes computer keystrokes into rhythmic classical arrangements, bridging the drama of indie rock and the nuance of chamber harmonies.
"...music that demands attention...impressively dense and mature work."
–
Pitchfork.com;
"...performance of transcendent, spectral majesty."
–
Esquire Magazine on the music of DM Stith
On the heels of his first release, Heavy Ghost (Asthmatic Kitty), DM Stith brings his "uplifting, beautifully addictive" music to the Southern Theater for a listening party that promises to be "like nothing you've heard before" (The Guardian). Instrumental crescendos and eerie vocals encase lyrics gripping and poignant in Stith's masterfully devastating songs. Expect to see much more from this artist on the rise in years to come.
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