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Release Date: March 26, 2021
A Lunch Between Order and Chaos is the third album featuring String Noise’s collaboration with producer Greg Saunier (of acclaimed avant-rock band Deerhoof). The thematic inspiration for this album was the concept of ‘unison’ as manifest in both compositional and performative capacities. To realize this concept, String Noise recruited composers Tyondai Braxton (BBC Concert Orchestra, Battles), Caleb Burhans (Alarm Will Sound), David Lang (Bang on a Can), Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Paul Reller (Bonk Festival of New Music) and Philip Glass. As a means to enhance a feeling of ‘unison’, the recording session took place in an extremely enclosed acoustical environment, a closet, about which Saunier recounts, "we wanted to record this most technically challenging of textures with no room-sound whatsoever and no sauce to hide behind the intimacy of a married couple attempting to match each other perfectly in timing and intonation and feeling and tone, presented in the most intimate way possible.” This subtle drama of executing the near impossible, a true performative unison, plays out within a minimalist-inspired script of variably repetitive motifs and unexpected syntactical patterns. From this duo, a unified synthesis emerges as its own dynamic voice.
Release Date: March 26, 2021
Violin duo String Noise (Pauline Kim Harris and Conrad Harris) team up with composer Eric Lyon, Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier, and the International Contemporary Ensemble for this wide ranging release of Lyon's Giga Concerto and his re-imagined versions of Brahms' op. 105 songs for violin duo and drumset. Lyon's exuberant Giga Concerto revels in quotation, stylistic diversity and orchestral color, and the Brahms' songs provide a thought provoking counterpart and a springboard for creative synergy between three versatile musicians.
Release Date: October 2, 2020
Composer Richard Carrick’s newest release, lanterne, is a compendium of music for compact spaces, a timely curation of recent pieces compiled amidst the extended COVID quarantine. Carrick’s vision for how to write for small forces is an evocative and varied reminder of the way one can create sonic resonance with even the most sparing instrumentation. Among the sources of inspiration for these works are themes of space travel, limited and limitless possibilities, Debussy and Camus, and traditional Korean Gugak music.
Release Date: May 1, 2020
Originally swag for a mini-festival, "Kiss and Other Blistering Covers" consists of four cover songs and an out-of-control "Untitled" by Eric Lyon. Recorded in an NYC closet by Deerhoof's drummer, Greg Saunier, it was originally released on a limited edition cassette tape.
Release Date: April 17, 2020
Continuing Black Truffle’s series of releases documenting the recent work of legendary American experimental composer Alvin Lucier, String Noise presents three major works for violin solo and duo composed between 2004 and 2019. Lucier has developed his compositions in close collaboration with many instrumentalists over the years; the three works presented here are performed by the violinists for whom they were originally written, Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, who together make up the innovative violin duo String Noise, and have premiered works by a plethora of major figures in contemporary music.
Release Date: April 17, 2020
Le String Noise melds the sounds of downtown NYC’s avant garde with the folk traditions of Louisiana and Haiti, with a wildly eclectic repertoire that mixes String Noise’s minimalist compositions with Leyla McCalla’s Haitian Creole tunes and Louis Michot’s traditional Cajun fiddle numbers.
Release Date: December 9, 2019
The Roman poet Ovid described how dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence. Terminal Affirmative (2014) is a dialog between conceptuality and musicality, as the expansive melodic potential of the violin stands in stark contrast to the tightly focused expressive range of the double-pedal bass drum. Both parts are extremely virtuosic, but while the violinist's hands and fingers are very active, the hands of the percussionist are kept motionless, with all the force and persistence transferred to the percussionist's two feet. This redirected energy draws into sharp focus the persistence of repeating an action so many times that a permanent impression is driven into stone.
Release Date: January 25, 2018
The Sentenceless Sentence was inspired by texts of Pavel Kolmačka that Michal Rataj first worked with in a radio composition in 2014. Based on these “written images” spanning a year of his life, my acousmatic piece derives from one-hour radiophonic work. The texts, as well as the work itself, have become fundamentally influential for all other pieces featured on the album.
Release Date: February 24, 2017
The Happy Valley Band is the Great American Songbook heard through the ear of a machine. Composer / bandleader David Kant uses custom-built machine learning software to “unmix” pop songs and transcribe them back into musical notation. The Happy Valley Band plays what comes out. ORGANVM PERCEPTVS, the group’s release, is about bringing to life this inhuman music.
Release Date: January 2, 2017
Performed live from Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz on March 1, 2016, String Noise plays original works and arrangements of punk covers by Eric Lyon to include Bad Brains, Violent Femmes, Deerhoof, Radiohead, Black Flag, and the Germs.
Release Date: December 19, 2016
New York City's classical, noise-rock violin duo String Noise performs "Double Helix," a maelstrom of dizzying noise for two violins and electronic processing by composer John King.
Release Date: June 30, 2013
Index 0 is the first release on the new label Indexical, a composer-run label dedicated to experimental music. The album includes new works for violin duo, string quartet, and solo piano.
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Release Date: March 26, 2021
Celebrated violin duo String Noise is recognized for their distinct blend of disparate genres, from arrangements of songs by punk legends to conceptual minimalist treatises by Alvin Lucier. An optimistic development from the global health pandemic and the increased attention on human rights issues and racial equality that came about through public embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement, this latest project highlights the work of five young black composer-performers based in New York City.
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