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Sounding

WUMC 1998: Mother of Invention

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craquemattic
Author
craquemattic
matt davis, complex personage

I’ve been clearing out shelves and digging through old notebooks, and came across this steno pad from the summer of 1998, exactly 20 years ago. I lived in the northern suburbs of DC, worked as a graveyard shift unix system administrator at a datacenter company called Digex, and hosted a radio show for two years while I studied in graduate school as a vocal student and specialist in experimental vocal music and opera performance. These were also the years I was heavily entrenched in the mid-Atlantic free improvisation and experimental avant-garde music and noise scene.

As an undergrad I hosted an early morning (6-9am) show on WUVT that was all about experimental music and jazz, something the station didn’t have, and wanted to carry that tradition on in grad school. Naturally, it was at the U of Maryland that I hosted an experimental music radio show on WMUC, called “Mother of Invention”.

The notebook flips between esoteric sysadmin notes, network architecture doodles, scribbled passwords and my radio playlists from the show. I will spare you the chicken scratch of Sun hardware, kerberos, RAID, nfs, mysql (yep, it existed back then) and T1 interface notes… let’s focus on the playlists!

Below you’ll find my complete playlists from this summer, from around July 2018 sometime into the fall, because like an idiot I was horrible at notating dates back then but some pages do have them. Originally I thought, hey! I should do each as a single blog post… but then I figured it’s much better as a single reference, because social media is great at hiding sequentially updating things.

I hope you enjoy this blast from the past, and learn to enjoy some incredible music that is just as interesting and groundbreaking today as it was 20 years ago.

— July 27, 1998 —

  1. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Overture
  2. Heikki Nikula (Jarmo Sermilä) : Danza 4B
  3. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Tomkins Square (3 parts)
  4. Jarmo Sermilä (Miklos Maros) : Manipulation Vbis
  5. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Booty Dance
  6. Jerry Hunt : Transform (stream): monopole
  7. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : I Love You So Much
  8. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : As Momentums Go By
  9. Eve Beglarian : Disappearance Act
  10. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Recitative: Trombone, Guitar, Harp & Drums
  11. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : So Noble and Kind He Seemed
  12. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Clockworks
  13. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Now and From Finale Part One
  14. Arvo Pärt : Berliner Messes Kyrie
  15. Arvo Pärt : Berliner Messes Gloria
  16. Arvo Pärt : Erster Alleluiavers
  17. Arvo Pärt : Zweiter Alleluiavers
  18. Arvo Pärt : Veni Sancte Spiritus
  19. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Introduction Giovanni’s Dream
  20. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Immitations
  21. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Upshifting on an Upgrade
  22. Heikki Nikula (Markus Fagerudd) : Ingrepp I
  23. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Spontaneous Navigation
  24. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : ‘Til the Cows Come Home
  25. Ellsworth Milburn : Menil Antiphons
  26. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : T. Sq. Reaggitated
  27. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Desolution
  28. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Z Gate To A Void
  29. Frederic Rzewski : Jefferson
  30. Morgan Powell : Alone
  31. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Carnival
  32. Jim Staley’s Don Giovanni : Epilogue
  33. Jarmo Sermilä : Pois
  34. Jarmo Sermilä : Tango macabre
  35. Jarmo Sermilä : Urbanology 7

— August 3, 1998 —

  1. John Cage : Concerto for Prepared Piano and Orchestra, 3rd part
  2. Morton Feldman : Piano Piece (for Philip Guston)
  3. Allen Anderson : Klava in Strada
  4. Heikki Nikula (Timo Hietula) : Strutsi Ostrich
  5. Zeena Parkins : Scruples
  6. if, bwana : 3 out of 4 (Ain’t Bad)
  7. Jarmo Sermilä : Contemplation I
  8. Chris Brown : Wheelies
  9. John Cage : Fourth Interlude / Sonata XIII
  10. Michael Kowalski : Vapor Trails
  11. Jim Staley : Roast the Bird
  12. Jim Staley : Sunny’s Halo
  13. John Cage : Song Books (performed by Comma)
  14. Edward T. Cone : New Weather
  15. Stewart Saunders Smith : Wind in the Channel
  16. David Mahler : Rising Ground
  17. T.A.S. Mani : Konnakkol

— August 10, 1998 —

  1. John Cage : Sonata V
  2. William Thomas McKinley : Curtain Up
  3. Charles Ives : March: “Here’s to Good Old Yale”
  4. Arnold Schoenberg : Serenade, Op. 24 – Marsch, Menuett
  5. Bela Bartok : String Quartet No. 5 – Schertzo: Alla bulgarese
  6. Philip Glass : Rubric
  7. Lukas Foss : Baroque Variations: On a Bach Prelude “Phorion”
  8. Iannis Xenakis : Echange
  9. Mestres-Quadreny : Música Per A Anna
  10. Larry Polansky : Movement for Andréa Smith
  11. Morton Feldman : Piano Piece 1955
  12. David Mahler : Cup of Coffee
  13. Kenneth Gaburo : Antiphony III
  14. Ton Bruynel : Serene
  15. if, bwana : Flute Thang
  16. Stuart Saunders Smith : Family Portraits: Brenda
  17. John Cage : Etudes Australes: Book 1, #5
  18. William C. Banfield : Wagussyduke
  19. Tom Trenka : Watch… Wait
  20. Mike Vargas : Stripe: 2

— August 17, 1998 —

An all John Cage show:

  1. Five Songs for Contralto
  2. First Construction (In Metal)
  3. Forever & Sunsmell
  4. Tossed as it is Untroubled
  5. Root of an Unfocus
  6. Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano: Sonata XVI
  7. Sixteen Dances: No. 15 (The Erotic)
  8. String Quartet in Four Parts: slowly rocking
  9. Music of Changes: Book I & II
  10. Concert for Piano & Orchestra
  11. Aria
  12. Cartridge Music
  13. Cheap Imitation (I)
  14. Song Books: Solo for Voice 49 & 67
  15. Sonnekus2
  16. Four6
  17. Fourteen

— August 24, 1998 —

  1. Elliot Miles McKinley : Summer Portraits
  2. Eve Beglarian : Disappearance Act
  3. Philip Glass : Freezing
  4. Alexis Alrich : Night Air
  5. John Bischoff : The Glass Hand
  6. David Tudor : Rainforest (Version I)
  7. Gavin Bryars : The Sinking of the Titanic
  8. Joseph Celli : 36 Strings
  9. Lisa Gerrard : Celon
  10. Richard Einhorn : Voices of Light
  11. Richard Einhorn : Victory at Orleans (Letter from Joan of Arc)
  12. Italian Instabile Orchestra : Satie Satin
  13. Italian Instabile Orchestra : Fellini Song
  14. That Nothing Is Known (John Berndt) : Improvisation 6
  15. Spin 17 (Ed Chang) : Mirror mirror on the wall…
  16. if, bwana : Ellensbirds
  17. Shelley Hirsch / Ikue Mori / David Shea / Jim Staley : Ulula Zone
  18. Christian Marclay : Neutral

— September 1, 1998 —

  1. David Weinstein : Poland
  2. J. A. Deane & Martin Schütz : Sounds from the Third Stone
  3. Kenneth Gaburo : The Wasting of Lucrecetzia
  4. Roger Reynolds : Blind Men
  5. Richard Einhorn : Voices of Light: V. Pater Noster
  6. Krzysztof Penderecki : Utrenja: The Entombment of Christ
  7. Philip Glass : Dance #3
  8. John Cage : Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano: XIV & XV
  9. Morton Feldman : Extensions 3
  10. Mike Vargas : Diads (Part 1)
  11. Iréne Schweitzer : Unexpected Demand
  12. Nick Didkovsky : The Twittering Machine: Little Jester in a Trance
  13. Leo Kupper : Guitarra Cubana
  14. Miklós Maros : Manipulation Vbis
  15. Eve Beglarian : The Garden of Cyrus: Sections IV & V
  16. Circular Firing Squad : Inertialess Drive
  17. Lowell Cross : Three Etudes for Magnetic Tape
  18. Pauline Oliveros : Beautiful Soap

— September 8, 1998 —

  1. Doug Cohen : On a fait partout crier
  2. Matt R Davis : Satchel Spilleth Peas
  3. John Cage : Etudes Australes #9
  4. John Zorn : Carny
  5. William Thomas McKinley : Curtain Up
  6. Sofia Gubaidulina : Chaconne
  7. Olivier Messiaen : Quartet for the End of Time: Liturgie de Cristal
  8. Sofia Gubaidulina : String Quartet No. 4
  9. Philip Glass : Einstein on the Beach: Act III/i (Trial/Prison)
  10. John Cage : Europera 5
  11. Luciano Berio : Sequenza III
  12. György Ligeti : Nouvelles Aventures
  13. Eve Beglarian : Disappearance Act
  14. Norman Lowrey : Dreaming/Weaving (river/stars)
  15. Eirik Lie : 112 Par Sko
  16. Colby Leider : Veni Creator Spiritus
  17. Guy Klucevsek : Sylvan Steps
  18. Bill Frisell : April 16, 1988

— September 15, 1998 —

  1. Laurie Anderson : Maria Teresa Teresa Maria
  2. John Adams : Bump
  3. Robert Gibson : Ex Machina
  4. Larry Moss : Timepiece
  5. Stuart Saunders Smith : Notebook
  6. Toru Takemitsu : All In Twilight
  7. Karlheinz Stockhausen : Set Sail for the Sun
  8. Malcolm Goldstein : A Summoning of Focus
  9. Morton Feldman : Voices & Cello
  10. Robert Ashley : Improvement (Scene 18)
  11. Henryk Górecki : Miserere
  12. Igor Stravinsky : Abraham and Issac
  13. John Adams : Tourist Song

— September 22, 1998 —

  1. John Berndt : Improvisation #5
  2. David Behrman : A Traveller’s Dream Journal
  3. György Ligeti : Glissandi
  4. The Hub : Waxlips
  5. John Cage : She is Asleep
  6. John Cage : The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs
  7. Henry Cowell : The Banshee
  8. Henry Cowell : Aeolean Harp
  9. Iréne Schweitzer : Unexpected Demand
  10. John Cage : Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano: Sonata I
  11. Steve Reich : Tehillim: Part III
  12. Meredith Monk : Volcano Songs: Duets
  13. David Hykes : Hallelujah
  14. Comma : Corduroy Piano Dream
  15. Luciano Berio : Circles: n(o)w
  16. Brian Smith : The Panther
  17. Howard Rovics : Tangere
  18. Pauline Oliveros : A Woman Sees…
  19. Mike Vargas : Zone: High
  20. Trigger : Windows
  21. Herbert Henck : Hymmstrom the Great Temple: Hymn 1
  22. Arnold Schoenberg : Five Pieces for Orchestra
  23. Stewart S. Smith : Hawk
  24. William Schuman : Orpheus with his Lute

— September 29, 1998 —

  1. Ellsworth Milburn : String Quartet No. 2
  2. Igor Stravinsky : Concertino for String Quartet
  3. Larry Polansky : Movement for Andréa Smith
  4. Béla Bartók : String Quartet No. 4 (IV-V)
  5. John Fonville : Many Songs
  6. Howard Rovics : Cybernetic Study
  7. Stuart S. Smith : Gifts
  8. Iannis Xenakis : Kraanerg
  9. John Cage : Concert for Piano and Orchestra
  10. Philip Glass : Prophecies & Rubric
  11. John Cage : Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano: Sonata I
  12. Morgan Powell : FFFF
  13. John Cage : Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano: Etude V
  14. Morton Feldman : Extensions 3
  15. if, bwana : Mal Air