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Spinning On Air Archive

October 2007

Sufjan Stevens and his Orchestra ride the BQE

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Songwriter Sufjan Stevens has always shown a fascination with orchestral color and sound in his recordings, and his popular albums of songs usually include some purely instrumental pieces. Now he brings an orchestra of eleven players (including Sufjan himself) into the WNYC Studio for a live performance of pieces from his new instrumental composition “The BQE.” Sufjan talks with host David Garland about the music and the ideas behind it, which include the story of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, the consequences of urban planning, and hula hoops. This music, scheduled for sold-out performances November 1 - 3 in BAM’s Next Wave Festival, receives its premier on Spinning On Air!

View photos from the session

About The BQE at The Brooklyn Academy of Music

About Sufjan Stevens at Asthmatic Kitty Records

If you can't see the video click here


James Blackshaw

Sunday, October 21, 2007

British composer/guitarist James Blackshaw creates music that can inspire a meditative state, but can also go beyond that into the ecstatic and euphoric. Playing with astonishing technique on a 12-string guitar, James creates enveloping clouds of sound. He joins host David Garland to talk about his music and his feelings behind it, and to perform in the WNYC Studio.

View photos from the session

James Blackshaw

James Blackshaw at MySpace

James Blackshaw at Tompkins Square Records


Corey Dargel’s Removable Parts

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Composer/singer Corey Dargel has created a group of songs about connection, disconnection, voluntary amputation, and the desire to shape one’s own body and life. His lilting melodies weave in and out of accompaniments that breathe, bounce, and bristle. Corey and pianist Kathleen Supové recently performed a theater piece, “Removable Parts,” incorporating these songs about personal disincorporation, and now they join host David Garland to talk about and perform the songs in the WNYC Studio.

View photos from the session

Removable Parts

Corey Dargel
Corey Dargel at MySpace

Kathleen Supové
Kathleen Supové at MySpace


Spinning On Air's 20th Anniversary Live Broadcast from Joe's Pub

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Spinning On Air's 20th Anniversary Live Broadcast from Joe's Pub brought together three very individual songwriters whose passionate voices communicate their musical visions: Larkin Grimm, a young Appalachian shaman/troubador who has a voice to conjure with; Bridget St. John, veteran British songwriter with a special knack for disarming intimacy; and David Deporis, a wild-eyed Brooklyn-based singer of tenderness, rage, and rue.

View photos from the concert on Flickr