Matt McBane

“Build is a very promising debut...Great cover too.”

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:34:12 -0400

The Build album has been getting some strong reviews. Two recent ones are the Glasgow-based Music, Music and Miscellany and Canadian-based Blogcritics. A few choice quotes include M, M + M’s:

“Build is a very promising debut...Great cover too.”

and Blogcritics:

“interesting and exciting”

“it could change the way you think about contemporary composition”

You can read the whole reviews on my press page and listen to, purchase and read about the album at:

www.newamsterdamrecords.com/album/build

Experimental TV Grant

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:16:21 -0400

The Experimental TV Center Arts Grant Program (with funds from the New York State Council for the Arts) awarded LA-based film makers Lucy HG and Matt Soloman a grant for our next project, Onsdag 6:45 am. Amongst other things, I’ll be playing violin on a sinking boat. This is the second part of a series experimental short films that we are collaborating on. You can listen to the music for the first part on my music page under Wednesday 2:45 pm. You can view HG Soloman’s work at: http://www.imaginaryscience.org.

¡Build Album Out Now! Record Release Show Fri June 20, NYC.

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 17:28:09 -0400

I am very happy to say that Build’s self-titled debut album has just been released and is available for sale on the New Amsterdam Records website (and you should definitely buy one). Needless to say we are very excited about it, and to celebrate, we are throwing a record release party on Fri June 20, 9:30p at the CSV Cultural Center on the Lower East Side (and you should definitely come out). This will be a great show featuring a pairing with fellow New Amsterdamers, Victrola, and an on-site after-party with Beyondo.

Also, I’ve written some thoughts about the album, the group, and the tracks and put them up on our New Amsterdam page if you want to read more.

Build signs with New Amsterdam Records!

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:03:16 -0400

Build recently signed a record deal with New Amsterdam Records to release our first album in June. New Amsterdam is New York-based indie-classical label that’s been creating quite a buzz lately. We’re very happy to be a part of this community along with many of our friends. You should check out their very cool website to see what it’s all about:
www.newamsterdamrecords.com

Stay tuned for more info about our record release...

Spring Dance

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:10:05 -0400

This spring, there two evening-length dance pieces being premiered in which my music plays a major role. The first is LA-based Donna Sternberg Dancers’ “Lying on Iguanas” on May 10 in Hollywood, which uses several of my pieces including two from the new Build album. This work deals with environmental issues and humans’ relationship with nature. I think of my work in general as having some kind of abstract relationship to the natural world and processes, so I am very curious to see this piece, and see how my music is used.

The next piece is my collaboration with choreographer Laura Diffenderfer, A Wagner Matinee being premiered in Red Cloud, Nebraska. This is my first collaboration with a choreographer and it has been a terrific experience so far. We did a work in progress performance of an excerpt of the piece in New York in March that went great. Below’s a description of the piece:

A hour-long dance theater piece that mixes video, music, photography and dance, overlaying personal narrative atop Willa Cather’s short story “A Wagner Matinee”. This piece is conceived and choreographed by Laura Diffenderfer of Oh Dear Dance Theatre and I’ve composed music for it that includes minimalist-ish piano music based on the harmonies from the prelude to Tristan und Isolde, sampled and processed Wagner recordings, water and buckets and the husking of corn as percussion instruments, and prerecorded sounds of the Nebraskan countryside.