reid karris is an experimental musician and composer from chicago, working with the
pan y rosas discos netlabel i wrote about a few posts back. his latest album, '
lanificus', features short improvisations on percussion and zither, that stretch the boundaries of sound for the instruments he is using.
bowed symbols, clanging metal and wood, ringing overtones. it would be easy to think of music like this as intimidating, atonal or academic. but what i hear first and foremost is the playfulness that is inherent in the approach and is captured in the recording. this would be fun music to make, and to my ears, it is fun to listen to.
you can get this and another experimental/improvised album called '
ambiens sonitus' (which is an interesting counterpoint to '
lanificus', featuring prepared electric guitars and field recordings worked into two long form improvs, as opposed to the short flights of fancy of the other work) by reid from
pan y rosas discos. you can also check his extensive
bandcamp page for more experimentations and for more conventional music from earlier in his life as a musical explorer.