This is not a record I like every day, but today it was just fine! The record is number 13 on Lasse Marhaug´s Pica Disk, and "Musculus Trapezius" was recorded at the Sofienberg church in Oslo two years ago.
The musicians Tony Conrad (harpsichord, violin), C. Spencer Yeh (piano, violin) and Michael F. Duch (double bass) play 70 minutes of what sounded like elegant minimalism (spiced with some droning and noise) today. Last week it felt like too much, and that may be the case tomorrow too, but hey, you won´t get fed up by this album. Buy it from Looop (and remember three times "o" on your PayPal payment, if you don´t want a recycling firm in Oslo to get the money).
On Pica Disk´s site they go all scientific (or ironic) and cite: "EMG Trapezius Muscle Activity Pattern in String Players:: Part I—Is There Variability in the Playing Technique?" authored by Anncristine Fjellman-Wiklund, Helena Grip, Jan Stefan Karlsson, and Gunnevi Sundelin, published in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics (Volume 33, Issue 4, April 2004), where they write: "Work-related neck and shoulder disorders are a great problem for string musicians; a playing technique with more relaxed muscles and a greater variation in the muscle activity pattern, i.e., with shorter sequences at a varied number of amplitude levels... might prevent pain."
M.F. Duch is in Lemur, I heard C.S. Yeh in Bergen and at All Ears in Oslo in January, you may read about Tony Conrad in Wikipedia where you also may improve your knowledge about Musculus Trapezius.
The album was mastered by Jim O´Rourke.
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