Site/Sound is a collaborative art experience by composer-in-residence Eric Hall at Laumeier Sculpture Park, featuring audio contributions from different musicians to be paired with sculptures in the park’s permanent collection. Collaborators include Kvist Records artists Raglani and John Tamm-Buckle. Visitors can pick up a map of the park and an ipod containing the playlist from the shop.

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“…the lively character of Tom Hamilton’s discoveries … shines throughout the 77 minutes of this edition, bringing back to light recordings that were otherwise destined to remain buried under the mantle of invisibility of the extremely limited editions on which they came out from 1973 to 1980. And it would have been a real shame, for this is stuff that predates – and defeats – a good chunk of today’s dabblers’ output.”

Read the full review here.

From the post:

Tom Hamilton — “Pieces for Kohn/Formal & Informal Music” — Two-disc anthology of early Tom Hamilton works on the Kvist label, and a surprising entry into this year’s list in regards to the age of some of these pieces, each of which has its roots in the early to mid-1970s. Regardless, I had a blast listening to this one, particularly the “Crimson Sterling” series on disc two. Kvist thankfully gives Hamilton the proper treatment, with thorough liner notes and smart packaging.

Thursday Dec. 2, 2010
8.00 PM – 10.00 PM
20 Greene St.
New York, NY 10013

World-renowned pianist and composer Muhal Richard Abrams has been in the forefront of the contemporary music scene for half a century. A co-founder of The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Abrams celebrates his 80th birthday this year. This concert will feature Abrams in two ensembles: with the percussion of Adam Rudolph and electronics of Tom Hamilton, and with vocalist Jay Clayton, bass clarinetist Marty Ehrlich, and bassist Brad Jones.

Fans of the music of Robert Ashley will know Tom Hamilton as the guy behind the consoles who has mixed the voices and processed the electronic soundtrack in real time for all of Ashley’s performances for the past twenty years. Others might be aware of his multifaceted production work and some of his fascinating electro-acoustic collaborations with free jazz improvisers such as Bruce Eisenbeil and Bruce Arnold. The truly lucky have also been exposed to Hamilton’s own fascinating compositions, such as London Fix, an algorithmically generated electronic score based on the vagaries of the London stock market, or his remarkable works for acoustic instruments and processors employing an electronic harmony generator that were collected on last year’s Local Customs.

Read the whole article here.

Kvist Records unearths Tom Hamilton’s long-forgotten electronic magnum opus

For all of the ways artists such as Kraftwerk and Devo increased awareness of the synthesizer, they may have done the instrument an injustice. These progenitors portrayed synth music as impersonal and robotic, all head and no heart. But in the hands of Tom Hamilton, the synthesizer is not a cold, dead instrument. The avant-garde composer utilizes the endless sonic possibilities of oscillators and filters to channel the unbridled human expression of a A Love Supreme-era John Coltrane or free-jazz saxophone expressionist Eric Dolphy.

Read more here.

Separate Checks is a new work by composer/performer Tom Hamilton that combines electronic sound with acoustic performers. Hamilton continues the direction started in his CAMA event last season by directing a stream of improvising musicians to create a confluence of changing sonic ideas and moods in the midst of his sonic environment.

Bassist Zimbabwe Nkenya, percussionist/electronic musician Rich O’Donnell, and reed player Dave Stone will join Hamilton in the spontaneous creation of Separate Checks.

Hamilton’s work with electronic music originated in the late-60s era of analog synthesis. He often explores the interaction of many simultaneous layers of activity, prompting the use of “present-time listening” on the part of both performer and listener. Hamilton was a 2005 Fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, has worked on more than 60 recordings, including 12 CDs of his own music, and is a longtime member of composer Robert Ashley’s touring opera ensemble.

More info can be found here.