Tag Archives: Unusual instruments

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Nate Mercereau – Start With You (Duet with the Golden Gate Bridge)

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Nate Mercereau has played sessions with Jay-Z, but I think this one-ups his list of famous collaborators.

The sounds Bay Area residents have described as nuisance noise equivalent to sonic torture are produced by the a new set of railing slats installed on the Golden Gate to retrofit it to withstand sustained winds above 70 mph. The sounds struck Mercereau differently, as Nature itself playing “the largest wind instrument in the world.” Adding an interesting natural wrinkle to a musical controversy, the Golden Gate often sounds an A440 (Hz) concert pitch.

Armed with field recorders, Mercereau & a couple friends captured the sounds from the Marin Highlands, which make up the other half of his album Duets | Golden Gate Bridge. The song performed in this video is a track from Mercereau’s other 2021 album, Sundays.

In response to complaints, the Golden Gate Bridge District is developing engineering adjustments to silence the bridge.

3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Aizuri Quartet – Sophia’s Wide Awake Dreams

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twX3dU5iaqw

I'm still spending a lot of time listening to this album.

This piece is from an opera by Lembit Beecher, "Sophia's Forest", and this two part suite is the inner world of the narrator, an immigrant child fleeing a civil war. There are nine "sound sculptures" that are electronically manipulated in addition to the four string players.

I like this (and most everything else on the album) because it is certainly modern and not just straightforward string quartet music, but there is a lyricism and a theme that comes through without difficulty.

Plus, I figured just playing The Beths would be too easy.

5 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 8.80 out of 10)
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