DESCRIPTION:
Videography by Stephen Taylor
http://stevetaylor3000.blogspot.com/

ABOUT THE PIECE:

neither Anvil nor Pulley
for laptop/percussion quartet (with turntable) commissioned by So Percussion

"The dazzling results mixed George Crumb's knack for unearthly timbres, Alvin Lucier's infini- tesimally fine gradations of tone, and the fierce creative audacity of Jimi Hendrix."
— New York Times, March 27, 2010

Unlike the anvil or the pulley, the computer hides its purpose—to strike or yank will only break. What is this "tool" we call a computer? It is surely not really about computation, and what does it offer us as musical beings? neither Anvil nor Pulley is, in short, a wordless musical epic that explores the "man"/machine relationship in the digital age. Are there musical places we can travel to or musical buildings we can construct with this tool that were impossible—even for us to imagine—with its predecessors?

The cast: a turntable spinning vinyl with the fuzzy, crackling remains of some old sounding fiddle tunes; virtual metronomes, clicking relentlessly, but reset by striking raw chunks of wood; re-purposed golf video game controllers (joysticks with pull-strings, or "tethers"); a huge bass drum with speaker drivers attached, performed with hand-held microphones, the resultant feedback tuned via digital filters to the key notes of a well-known Bach Prelude; difficult drum machines; four virtuoso and highly imaginative percussionists.

We begin with the crackle and fuzz of a needle dropping on vinyl...in five acts, of varying lengths and natures:

Act 1: Another Wallflower [from Long Ago]
Act 2: 120bpm [or, What is your Metronome Thinking?]
Act 3: A Cow Call [Please oh Please Come Home!]
Act 4: Feedback [in Which a Famous Bach Prelude Becomes Ill-Tempered]
Act 5: Hang Dog Springar [a Slow Dance]

Composing for (I really should say "with") So Percussion is an incredible pleasure. Their collaborative and adventurous spirits (not to mention their sheer musical abilities) are awesome. In the past, I've had the privilege of actually performing my own music with them; I don't join them here on neither Anvil nor Pulley, but a doppelganger of sorts, in the form of a turntable, sits in.

— Dan Trueman

neither Anvil nor Pulley is a digital-only release,
and is also available in several custom-designed packages (all with nAnP download card) exclusively from Cantaloupe Music:
http://bangonacan.org/store/music/neitheranvilnorpulley

For more on this piece, please visit:
http://www.vicfirth.com/concert/chamber/Trueman_neither-Anvil-nor-Pulley.php

Keep up with Dan Trueman's latest projects at: http://manyarrowsmusic.com

Visit So Percussion online: http://www.sopercussion.com