POPULIST RECORDS RELEASES
Rachel Beetz - script – rescript
PR016
release date: Apr. 10th, 2020
available formats: compact disc // digital
script-rescript is an ongoing project between artist Nichole Speciale and musician Rachel Beetz in which drawing and sound are translated back and forth, like in a game of telephone. In the drawings, Speciale performs gestures of iteration: one mark traces a musical line in each of the pieces, following marks try to repeat the first, but ultimately get translated into a new form that echo the preceding. In the sound, Beetz measures each image, exactly translating every drawn gesture into a specific sound in time.
A similar collaborative process motivated new works by Nicholas Deyoe, Edward Hamel, Brian Griffeath-Loeb, Kurt Isaacson, and Yiheng Yvonne Wu. Many of these works were devleoped over the course of several performances, recordings, and exchanges between composer and performer. Each collaboration places a microscope on a different sonic element of the flute, creating a distinct world within Beetz's instrumental color palette. Together, this album represents collective artistic thought: an in-betweenness of sound, drawing, and composition.
release date: Apr. 10th, 2020
available formats: compact disc // digital
script-rescript is an ongoing project between artist Nichole Speciale and musician Rachel Beetz in which drawing and sound are translated back and forth, like in a game of telephone. In the drawings, Speciale performs gestures of iteration: one mark traces a musical line in each of the pieces, following marks try to repeat the first, but ultimately get translated into a new form that echo the preceding. In the sound, Beetz measures each image, exactly translating every drawn gesture into a specific sound in time.
A similar collaborative process motivated new works by Nicholas Deyoe, Edward Hamel, Brian Griffeath-Loeb, Kurt Isaacson, and Yiheng Yvonne Wu. Many of these works were devleoped over the course of several performances, recordings, and exchanges between composer and performer. Each collaboration places a microscope on a different sonic element of the flute, creating a distinct world within Beetz's instrumental color palette. Together, this album represents collective artistic thought: an in-betweenness of sound, drawing, and composition.
Andrew McIntosh - We See the Flying Bird / Five Songs
PR015
release date: Jan 18th, 2019
available formats: 10 inch vinyl // digital
Featuring multiple Grammy Award winning soprano Estelí Gomez (of Roomful of Teeth) and musicians from New York-based piano/percussion quartet Yarn/Wire, this EP consists of two pieces that complement each other perfectly as two sides of a 10" record or a short digital album. We See the Flying Bird, for two percussionists, was written for Ian and Russell from Yarn/Wire and features resonant metal and pulsating vibrant textures. Five Songs, written for Estelí, is a series of five miniature vocalises accompanied by percussion and Fender Rhodes.
release date: Jan 18th, 2019
available formats: 10 inch vinyl // digital
Featuring multiple Grammy Award winning soprano Estelí Gomez (of Roomful of Teeth) and musicians from New York-based piano/percussion quartet Yarn/Wire, this EP consists of two pieces that complement each other perfectly as two sides of a 10" record or a short digital album. We See the Flying Bird, for two percussionists, was written for Ian and Russell from Yarn/Wire and features resonant metal and pulsating vibrant textures. Five Songs, written for Estelí, is a series of five miniature vocalises accompanied by percussion and Fender Rhodes.
Ashley Walters - Sweet Anxiety
PR014
release date: Oct 20th, 2017
available formats: compact disc // digital
“the kind of brilliance that beckons a major new performer on
the new music scene.”
-Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
Cellist Ashley Walters' first solo album features performances of six contemporary works for cello by composers Luciano Berio, Nicholas Deyoe, Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Andrew McIntosh, and Wadada Leo Smith.
The album serves as a reflection of the enduring musical collaborations Walters shares with these composers, and seeks to challenge the listeners perception of what the cello is capable of. Scordatura, microtonality, improvisation, and extended techniques transform the serene “swan”into a snarling, roaring creature, as sinister as it is beautiful.
release date: Oct 20th, 2017
available formats: compact disc // digital
“the kind of brilliance that beckons a major new performer on
the new music scene.”
-Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
Cellist Ashley Walters' first solo album features performances of six contemporary works for cello by composers Luciano Berio, Nicholas Deyoe, Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Andrew McIntosh, and Wadada Leo Smith.
The album serves as a reflection of the enduring musical collaborations Walters shares with these composers, and seeks to challenge the listeners perception of what the cello is capable of. Scordatura, microtonality, improvisation, and extended techniques transform the serene “swan”into a snarling, roaring creature, as sinister as it is beautiful.
Nicholas Deyoe - for Duane
PR013
release date: Oct 20th, 2017
available formats: compact disc // digital
“Listening to the work of Nicholas Deyoe is no small undertaking. The immense force of the music, from its trajectories of relentless energy to its moments of impossibly concentrated vulnerability, leaves little room for the neutral or the passive. Instead, one is faced with a compelling invitation to suspend all defenses and surrender to the music’s intense expressivity.”
- Daniel Tacke
Composer Nicholas Deyoe's second album for Populist Records showcases five new chamber works, performed by wasteLAnd, Aperture Duo, Ashley Walters, Stephanie Aston, and Batya MacAdam-Somer.
release date: Oct 20th, 2017
available formats: compact disc // digital
“Listening to the work of Nicholas Deyoe is no small undertaking. The immense force of the music, from its trajectories of relentless energy to its moments of impossibly concentrated vulnerability, leaves little room for the neutral or the passive. Instead, one is faced with a compelling invitation to suspend all defenses and surrender to the music’s intense expressivity.”
- Daniel Tacke
Composer Nicholas Deyoe's second album for Populist Records showcases five new chamber works, performed by wasteLAnd, Aperture Duo, Ashley Walters, Stephanie Aston, and Batya MacAdam-Somer.
Daniel Corral
w/Jeremy Kerner and Isaura String Quartet - Refractions
PR012
release date: May 5th, 2017
available formats: compact disc // digital
Limited Edition of 300
Refractions, Daniel Corral's newest album, is a 45 minute electro-acoustic chamber work that expands on his ten years of exploring the sonic and sculptural possibilities of music boxes.
Composed for string quartet, electric guitar, and electronically processed music box, Refractions combines ethereal ambient electronics with contemplative acoustic timbres. Featuring performances from prog rock/metal guitarist Jeremy Kerner, the Isaura String Quartet, and Daniel Corral on music box and laptop, the music is a spacious continuum of composed structures, improvisation, and overlapping textures.
release date: May 5th, 2017
available formats: compact disc // digital
Limited Edition of 300
Refractions, Daniel Corral's newest album, is a 45 minute electro-acoustic chamber work that expands on his ten years of exploring the sonic and sculptural possibilities of music boxes.
Composed for string quartet, electric guitar, and electronically processed music box, Refractions combines ethereal ambient electronics with contemplative acoustic timbres. Featuring performances from prog rock/metal guitarist Jeremy Kerner, the Isaura String Quartet, and Daniel Corral on music box and laptop, the music is a spacious continuum of composed structures, improvisation, and overlapping textures.
Chris Kallmyer/Julia Holter/Lucky Dragons - Rhyolite
PR011
release date: May 13th, 2016
available formats: 12in. vinyl LP // digital
Limited Edition of 250
Rhyolite explores the artist’s understanding of landscape through sound, memory, and patterns.
Side A, features “Fence, Amargosa Desert,” by Chris Kallmyer. This piece documents a wind-activated sound installation made from 200 glass bottles round in Rhyolite, Nevada. The clear and green bottles, known to have been left there by glad miners, are hung on an old wire fence to catch the wind. The fence was created by Kallmyer in summer 2010 and recorded by Kallmyer and Andrew McIntosh on May 24, 2013.
Side B features new works, written by Julia Holter and Lucky Dragons, in response to Kallmyer’s “Fence, Amargosa Desert.” These pieces suggest different ways of seeing and hearing the northern reaches of the Mojave Desert. Holter’s “Why We Come to Californy” filters Dust Bowl-era sentiment through her unique voice and perspective, while Lucky Dragon’s collection of 5 pieces present meditations on the essential elements of the sonic landscape.
The album is designed by Becca Lofchie, packaged with an insert of photos and interviews from the artists about their creative process and their relationship to the desert regions surrounding Los Angeles, and also includes writings by sound and visual artist Steve Roden.
release date: May 13th, 2016
available formats: 12in. vinyl LP // digital
Limited Edition of 250
Rhyolite explores the artist’s understanding of landscape through sound, memory, and patterns.
Side A, features “Fence, Amargosa Desert,” by Chris Kallmyer. This piece documents a wind-activated sound installation made from 200 glass bottles round in Rhyolite, Nevada. The clear and green bottles, known to have been left there by glad miners, are hung on an old wire fence to catch the wind. The fence was created by Kallmyer in summer 2010 and recorded by Kallmyer and Andrew McIntosh on May 24, 2013.
Side B features new works, written by Julia Holter and Lucky Dragons, in response to Kallmyer’s “Fence, Amargosa Desert.” These pieces suggest different ways of seeing and hearing the northern reaches of the Mojave Desert. Holter’s “Why We Come to Californy” filters Dust Bowl-era sentiment through her unique voice and perspective, while Lucky Dragon’s collection of 5 pieces present meditations on the essential elements of the sonic landscape.
The album is designed by Becca Lofchie, packaged with an insert of photos and interviews from the artists about their creative process and their relationship to the desert regions surrounding Los Angeles, and also includes writings by sound and visual artist Steve Roden.
tholl/fogel/hoff - CONDITIONAL TENSION
PR010
release date: Nov. 20th, 2015
available formats: compact disc // digital
Limited Edition of 200
CONDITIONAL TENSION is the debut album from the improvising trio made up of violinist Andrew Tholl, percussionist Corey Fogel, and bassist Devin Hoff. These three players have worked with each other through the years in various circumstances and combinations, including as members of experimental pop artist Julia Holter's recording and touring ensemble.
Composed and recorded live at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California, CONDITIONAL TENSION is a document of the group on one evening. The performances captured on this album showcase the group exploring two different states: "sensitivity to initial conditions," recorded with acoustic and unamplified instruments, dives deep into a world of timbral possibilities, while"reasonable strategies for tense conjugation" utilizes electric instruments to allow for an onslaught of sonic experimentation.
release date: Nov. 20th, 2015
available formats: compact disc // digital
Limited Edition of 200
CONDITIONAL TENSION is the debut album from the improvising trio made up of violinist Andrew Tholl, percussionist Corey Fogel, and bassist Devin Hoff. These three players have worked with each other through the years in various circumstances and combinations, including as members of experimental pop artist Julia Holter's recording and touring ensemble.
Composed and recorded live at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California, CONDITIONAL TENSION is a document of the group on one evening. The performances captured on this album showcase the group exploring two different states: "sensitivity to initial conditions," recorded with acoustic and unamplified instruments, dives deep into a world of timbral possibilities, while"reasonable strategies for tense conjugation" utilizes electric instruments to allow for an onslaught of sonic experimentation.
Matt Barbier - FACE|RESECTION
PR009
release date: Oct. 9th, 2015
available formats: 10 inch vinyl // digital
Limited Edition of 300
Featuring two new groundbreaking works by for solo trombone by Nicholas Deyoe and Clint McCallum, Face|Resection is devoted to pushing the trombone and trombonist to the end of possible. This album is not about failure- it is about finding that unstable edge and finding a way to maintain the instability without succumbing to it.
release date: Oct. 9th, 2015
available formats: 10 inch vinyl // digital
Limited Edition of 300
Featuring two new groundbreaking works by for solo trombone by Nicholas Deyoe and Clint McCallum, Face|Resection is devoted to pushing the trombone and trombonist to the end of possible. This album is not about failure- it is about finding that unstable edge and finding a way to maintain the instability without succumbing to it.
Scott Worthington - PRISM
PR008
release date: Aug. 14th, 2015
available formats: compact disc // digital
PRISM, Scott Worthington's second release for populist records, features works for multiple combinations of double bass, composed and performed by Worthington.
release date: Aug. 14th, 2015
available formats: compact disc // digital
PRISM, Scott Worthington's second release for populist records, features works for multiple combinations of double bass, composed and performed by Worthington.
Inoo-Kallay Duo - Five Conversations About Two Things
PR007
release date: Nov. 11th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
Percussionist Yuri Inoo and pianist Aron Kallay take on five new works by Southern California based composers. All works are premiere recordings.
release date: Nov. 11th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
Percussionist Yuri Inoo and pianist Aron Kallay take on five new works by Southern California based composers. All works are premiere recordings.
Andrew McIntosh - Hyenas in the Temples of Pleasure
PR006
release date: Oct. 14th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
"...probing, intelligent and simply, sensually gorgeous... ...one of the most enjoyable things I've heard this year."
- Brian Olewnick, Just Outside
Featuring two large-scale pieces by composer Andrew McIntosh, Hyenas in the Temples of Pleasure is the first full-length album of his works. The centerpiece of the album is a quartet for 2 pianists and 2 percussionists combining conventional and custom-built instruments, commissioned, performed, recorded, and mixed by New York-based group Yarn/Wire. The rest of the album consists of the Symmetry Etudes, a book of eight pieces for two clarinets and violin heard here for the first time in their entirety. The Etudes were written for and are performed by James Sullivan, Brian Walsh, and Andrew McIntosh, and are brilliantly mixed and mastered by frequent populist records collaborator Nick Tipp. The CD includes an 8-page full color booklet.
release date: Oct. 14th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
"...probing, intelligent and simply, sensually gorgeous... ...one of the most enjoyable things I've heard this year."
- Brian Olewnick, Just Outside
Featuring two large-scale pieces by composer Andrew McIntosh, Hyenas in the Temples of Pleasure is the first full-length album of his works. The centerpiece of the album is a quartet for 2 pianists and 2 percussionists combining conventional and custom-built instruments, commissioned, performed, recorded, and mixed by New York-based group Yarn/Wire. The rest of the album consists of the Symmetry Etudes, a book of eight pieces for two clarinets and violin heard here for the first time in their entirety. The Etudes were written for and are performed by James Sullivan, Brian Walsh, and Andrew McIntosh, and are brilliantly mixed and mastered by frequent populist records collaborator Nick Tipp. The CD includes an 8-page full color booklet.
wild Up - FEATHER & STONE
_PR005
release date: June 17th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
FEATHER & STONE captures live performances of the Los Angeles new music collective wild Up from three separate concerts, exploring the themes of war and violence, flight and birdsong, and the intersection of music and visual art. This project represents a wildly diverse range of works by young composers and performers from the Los Angeles community. All the recordings on this album were recorded live, in single takes, and have been masterfully recorded, mixed, and produced by Nick Tipp.
release date: June 17th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
FEATHER & STONE captures live performances of the Los Angeles new music collective wild Up from three separate concerts, exploring the themes of war and violence, flight and birdsong, and the intersection of music and visual art. This project represents a wildly diverse range of works by young composers and performers from the Los Angeles community. All the recordings on this album were recorded live, in single takes, and have been masterfully recorded, mixed, and produced by Nick Tipp.
gnarwhallaby - [exhibit a]
PR004
release date: April 29th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
On their debut album, the ensemble known as gnarwhallaby performs music by Henryk Górecki, Morton Feldman, Edison Denisov, Marc Sabat, Włodzimierz Kotoński, Steffen Schleiermacher, Zygmunt Krauze, and populist records artist Nicholas Deyoe. This collection of old and new works for this enigmatic instrumentation offers an opportunity to hear many of these pieces for the first time.
release date: April 29th, 2014
available formats: compact disc // digital
On their debut album, the ensemble known as gnarwhallaby performs music by Henryk Górecki, Morton Feldman, Edison Denisov, Marc Sabat, Włodzimierz Kotoński, Steffen Schleiermacher, Zygmunt Krauze, and populist records artist Nicholas Deyoe. This collection of old and new works for this enigmatic instrumentation offers an opportunity to hear many of these pieces for the first time.
Scott Worthington - Even the Light Itself Falls
PR003
release date: Sept. 10th 2013
available formats: digital
ensemble et cetera performs Scott Worthington's epic work for clarinet, percussion, and double bass.
release date: Sept. 10th 2013
available formats: digital
ensemble et cetera performs Scott Worthington's epic work for clarinet, percussion, and double bass.
Tom Johnson - correct music
PR002
release date: August 7th 2012
available formats: compact disc // digital
An album of mostly solo music by Tom Johnson performed by Andrew McIntosh with guests Douglas Wadle (narration) and Brian Walsh (clarinet). Includes the first ever recordings of Eggs and Baskets, Squares, Tilework for violin, and Tilework for viola. Also on the CD will be the Rational Melodies, heard here for the first time on violin, the instrument which Johnson originally had in mind when writing them.
release date: August 7th 2012
available formats: compact disc // digital
An album of mostly solo music by Tom Johnson performed by Andrew McIntosh with guests Douglas Wadle (narration) and Brian Walsh (clarinet). Includes the first ever recordings of Eggs and Baskets, Squares, Tilework for violin, and Tilework for viola. Also on the CD will be the Rational Melodies, heard here for the first time on violin, the instrument which Johnson originally had in mind when writing them.
Nicholas Deyoe - with throbbing eyes
PR001
release date: Jan 17th 2012
available formats: compact disc // digital
Featuring the Formalist Quartet, Red Fish Blue Fish, Stephanie Aston, and Brendan Nguyen. Mastered by Tom Erbe.
release date: Jan 17th 2012
available formats: compact disc // digital
Featuring the Formalist Quartet, Red Fish Blue Fish, Stephanie Aston, and Brendan Nguyen. Mastered by Tom Erbe.