Lea Bertucci and Amirtha Kidambi · Destroying Angel

Lea Bertucci, electronics · Amirtha Kidambi, voice

“The arrival of Amirtha Kidambi and Lea Bertucci’s End of Softness EP finds us in a vastly different world, a mere six months after the release of their debut Phase Eclipse (2019). Working remotely in isolation, Bertucci and Kidambi engaged in a process of creative editing, lifting fragments from the Phase Eclipse sessions and a live performance, to re-contextualize the music amidst a pandemic. The crisis lends a new expression of agony to the torrential caterwauls of Kidambi’s voice, passed through Bertucci’s unforgiving God-play at the tape machine.” - bandcamp blurb

Follow Lea and Amirtha on Instagram: @lilbertucci and @kidominator

LJ White · Look After You

Ammie Brod, viola

"Look After You, whose title is a translation of the ancient Christian adage ‘respice post te,’ is a piece that considers concepts of self-discipline within the ethos of memento mori across religious traditions.  It imagines a personal, internal struggle to focus on death and afterlife while simultaneously experiencing life, and moving through one's life cycle, in real time. There is a sort of narrative inherent in the piece; it is built from a light, off-the-string, soft, exploratory motive that I associate with childlike innocence, gestures with percussive sounds and rapid downward glissandi that appear when the childlike exploration approaches morally forbidden territory, and reflective, sostenuto dyads related to a polyphonic passage informed by chant and chorales and by Renaissance-era Jewish music on the memento mori theme.” - LJW

Follow Ammie on Instagram @myammie01

Anika Kildegaard · How to be Glamorous

Anika Kildegaard of LIGAMENT released this gem in May.

“How to be Glamorous“ 

1. Scour Cosmo online for tips 2. Watch old beauty commercials 3. Practice batting your eyes 4. Roll your eyes A LOT 5. Make a music video about it.

Follow Anika on Instagram @anikalovechild

Kate Soper · Only The Words Themselves Mean What They Say

Stephanie Lamprea, voice · Zach Sheets, flute

"Only The Words Themselves Mean What They Say" is the 2nd movement from Kate Soper's IPSA DIXIT, "an evening-length work of chamber music theatre that explores the tantalizingly convoluted intersections of music, language, and meaning through a deep interweaving of music and text, complex instrumental textures, contemporary vocal techniques, and blistering ensemble virtuosity. Scored for voice, flute, violin, and percussion... IPSA DIXIT blends elements of monodrama, Greek theatre, and screwball comedy in its examination of the treachery of language and the questionable authenticity of musical expression." - Kate Soper

Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @col0ratura and don’t miss her ongoing Tiny Works for Quarantine project!

Martha Mooke · No Ordinary Window

"Martha Mooke’s No Ordinary Window is an amazing look into what is possible with one musician and a few pieces of technology, yet it is also a display of an amazing living composer and performer with an imaginative ear…No Ordinary Window is a beautiful example of the doors technology can open for acoustic instruments. Each track on this album is haunting, yet beautiful; alien, yet human.” Jarrett Goodchild, ICareIfYouListen.com

Download the full album HERE.

Stratis Minakakis · Cassandra Fragments

Nina Dante, voice · Dalia Chin, flute

Greek composer Stratis Minakakis’ work is founded on his rich cultural history, and maintains a strong sense of the ancient in a modern aesthetic. It is highly emotional, to the point of viscerality. Minakakis says, “I prefer musical material that is raw, that is to say it mimics physical gestures and phenomena, such as breathing, shouting, whispering, the pulsation of the heart, the undulation of sea waves; and material that makes references to archetypal musical expressions, such as lamentations, drones, and heterophonic singing.” He writes, "Cassandra Fragments was inspired by Euripides’ Trojan Women, the poet’s fiercest condemnation of the brutalities of war. After the fall of Troy, Cassandra, the Trojan princess, is betrothed to Agamemnon, the victor, to become his concubine. Through her prophetic gift, she foresees Agamemnon’s death upon their return to Argos, his homeland, as well as her own demise. In an ecstatic delirium, she sings praises to Hymen, god of marriage, knowing that her sacrifice will be the catalyst for the ultimate destruction of her tormentor and the house of Atreas."

Follow Nina and Dalia on Instragram: @ninardante and @dalia.chin