Reviews Archives - Page 3 of 4

Wired: “Musician Plucks Sound From Lasers”

by Alexander Gelfand, Wired November 20, 2006 Lasers are nifty things. Since their invention at Bell Labs in 1958, they’ve been used to perform eye surgery, target smart bombs and carry zillions of bytes of data along fiber-optic cables. Nonetheless, it took decades for someone to figure out that these highly focused beams of light could… More »
The Wire: Cross Platform

by Rob Young, The Wire February 2006 Rare are the moments when TV’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and experimental music find themselves on the same page. But Miya Masaoka’s multimedia performance piece Ritual With Giant Hissing Madagascar Cockroaches (1996) provides just such a moment: In the late 90s, the San Francisco… More »
San Diego Union-Tribune: For Birds, Planes & Cello

by George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune 2005 Call it pure coincidence or a happy case of musical serendipity. Either way, two of this month’s most arresting new albums feature the cello, although the manner in which it is used on Miya Masaoka and Joan Jeanrenaud’s “For Birds, Planes & Cello” is dramatically different that on… More »
Sound Noise Music Network: For Birds, Planes and Cello

by Stephen Fruitman, Sound Noise Music Network Nov 7, 2005 You would have to look long and hard to find a CD whose contents are more accurately and honestly described by its title. For this is indeed a recording consisting of birds, planes and cello. On March 15, 2004, in the company of recording engineer… More »
Jazz Fest: Miya Masaoka

by Alexander Varty June 30th, 2005 Unconventional instrumental techniques noted at the Saturday performance by koto player Miya Masaoka, trombonist George Lewis, cellist Peggy Lee, and flautist Nicole Williams: suction-cup trombone, in which Lewis plunged the mouthpiece of his horn against his face to produce various intestinal gurglings; Mitchell’s application of a house- painter’s brush to the strings and soundboard… More »
Le Figaro: DANSE Pour la première fois en France Alonzo, le

by René Sirvin, Le Figaro December 3, 2004 Fidèle à sa politique d’ouverture, Guy Darmet présente dans sa Maison de la danse à Lyon un chorégraphe noir américain encore inconnu en France, Alonzo King, dont les oeuvres sont pourtant au répertoire d’une cinquantaine de compagnies à l’étranger. Après des études classiques à American Ballet School,… More »
Album Review: While I was walking I heard a sound…

by Margaret Leng Tan, New York City May 22nd, 2004 The world would be a poorer place if When I was Walking I Heard a Sound had not been created. At the very least, my own life would be that much poorer if I had not discovered this amazing work by Miya Masaoka. I was… More »
Downbeat: “caught: Guelph Gains Momentum”

by Greg Buium, Downbeat Volume 70 – Number I January 2003 Guelph can safely be put up alongside Tampere, Nickelsdorf or Victoriaville as one of the world’s small, out-of-the-way creative music metropolises. This year’s Guelph Jazz Festival, Sept. 4–8, again proved that its smart, progressive programming has few peers. Its menu commonly sets off rich helpings of… More »
Cadence: “Observations: Guelph Jazz Festival, Sept. 4–8, 2002”

by Frank Rubolino, Cadence October 2002 For the ninth exciting year, the Guelph Jazz Festival presented an outstanding array of artists in action at this viewer-friendly late summer event. Drawing talent from the international community, this year’s festival compressed an abundance of music, visual art, dance, panel discussions, workshops, theater, film, and lectures into a highly… More »
Electronic Musician: “Electric Ladyland”

by Bean with Gino Robair, Electronic Musician April 1, 2001 Artists who customize or build instruments to realize their singular artistic visions often make the most exciting music. Three female performers who take that route — Krystyna Bobrowski, Miya Masaoka, and Kaffe Matthews — make groundbreaking music that transcends gender and conventional musical expectations. Composer and… More »