Olafur Arnalds at Cathedral Sanctuary

Reviews, Live Shows

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220624 LA Dance Project, "Be Here Now"

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220213 Breathing Forests by Gabriella Smith (world premier)

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211203 "Seven Pillars" premier at Emerald City Music

Inspiring composition, mind-blowing performance

210911 Sylvan Esso at The Greek

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210911 Tune Yards at Ford Amphitheater

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210129 Cinematic Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall livestream

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201201 Sylvan Esso "With Love" streaming

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201010 NDT: Endlessly Free

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200221 DRUM Tao at Jorgensen Center

pina colada cotton candy

191116 Sylvan Esso at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Moving music, delightful dancing, incredible sound

191115 Ohmme at Teragram Ballroom

Fantastically quirky

191025 Hiatus Kaiyote at Novo

Amazing music, over my head

191023 Frances Cone and Delta Rae at Bootleg

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191017 Cosmo Sheldrake at Echoplex

Great samples, less-inspiring looping

191013 Oregon Symphony premier of Andy Akiho Percussion Concerto

My new favorite piece of classical music.

191009 GoGo Penguin's Koyaanisqatsi at Regent Theater

A worthwhile addition to an iconic movie

190925 Cornelius at Echoplex

Bright lights, big music.

190726 New Original Works Festival 2019 at REDCAT

Craving a "composition"

190717 Mitski at Hollywood Palladium

How to make pop songs performative?

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Hide and Seek and not much else

190601 Snarky Puppy at Orpheum

So Snarky!

190319 Monterey Symphony: Sound Waves Concert IV

A drifting concert. Water Concerto anchored by Chris Lamb

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Holy shit this was a good show!

190127 Hidaka at International Dinner 2019

Go Hidaka Taiko!

190116 Third Coast Percussion with Hubbard Street Dance

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181120 Dermot Kennedy at Fonda

Solid show to adoring fans

181108 Birdtalker at Hotel Cafe

A special band, early in their career

180623 Olafur Arnalds at Cathedral Sanctuary

The power of sweet/sad melody!

180614 Dirty Projectors at El Rey Theater

Amazing quirk-pop!

180310 Miyake x UnitOne

UnitOne shines!

180224 Batare at La Mirada Theater

Laudably ambitious but scattered.

180223 QuiltCon 2018

Inspiring works, inspiring community.

180131 Kagami Kai at Asian Art Museum

Amazing mochi-making skills, frustrating calligraphy, and take-home encouragement

170416 Sigur Rós with LA Phil

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160927 Sigur Rós at Hollywood Bowl

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160918 Road to Kumano: Taiko Project with Chieko Kojima

Ambitious new work!

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thought-provoking, inspiring, exhausting

130514 Stuck Elevator was fantastic

Powerfully uneventful ending

081012 Byron's Bottled Water Operas

Welcome. Stay and think.

Olafur Arnalds at Cathedral Sanctuary

Hiro and I loved this show!  Hang player, Manu Delgado opened with a few solo pieces.  For me hang is a little like taiko... they're both in the early phases of development and they both fall prey to their most obvious uses; "power" for taiko, and "sweet sixteenth notes" for hang.  With creative extended techniques using mallets and the hang bottom port, Delgado's playing avoided these pitfalls.  His range of hand technique is compelling, and I especially liked when he used ghatam-style rapid finger strikes and sparse pitched notes.  For at least one of the pieces he incorporated triggered sounds effectively, using what looked to be a hang-shaped midi controller.  Hiro didn't like this quite as much as I did but I found the bass tones and watery percussion sounds really compelling.  Freeze was our favorite piece of this opening set.  (Hiro and I were both reminded of Radiddlepa at times watching Delgado; Hiro in a positive way and me in a negative.  There's something about the Delgado's and my compositions I find lacking.  If I could put my finger on it, Radiddlepa would be better!)

Olafur Arnalds performed keys, piano, and backing pad tracks along with a cellist, two violas, and a violin.  He brought his midi-controlled upright pianos (all the way from Iceland?!) and they sounded amazing when playing plinky, delay-type effects as Arnalds handled the main melodiesn on a keyboard.  He told the touching backstory to the uprights... he injured his right arm in an accident and thought he might not be able to play piano again.  He saw one of these player pianos at the airport playing "Yesterday" by the Beetles, and thought, "this is the solution to all my problems."  (Speaking of problems, he had a little technical difficulty with his software controlling the left-side piano, and it sounded to me like the right-side piano had a note out of tune or was mis-firing a black key.  Hiro didn't notice either issue and Arnalds was perfectly charming dealing with the glitch.)

The Cathedral Sanctuary is an interesting venue for music.  The church interior is grand and beautiful and it's quaint to sit in pews to see a concert.  (Note, leave your bag-o-chocolate at home... no food or drink!)  The musicians could have used a riser or two to help with visibility, and I found the lighting a bit annoying.  Others were snapping photos so I might be in the minority here, but I would have kept the lighting simpler.  Less rock concert and more cathedral.  The smoke also felt out of place to me.

These were minor quibbles though.  There were multiple times when I teared up during the performance, not least of which was the encore piece which ended with the strings walking out of the upper deck and continuing to play off into the distance.  It was remarkably gentle and beautiful and was the kind of moment that can only happen after a thousand people and the musicians have bonded through a great concert.  Bravo!