One of the hardest things about the 2020 lockdown was losing the ability to share music with the people we love. We realized that even though we couldn't be performing or collaborating with our fellow musicians and music appreciators, we still had access to an amazing roster of musician friends and collaborators, each with their own very particular set of musical obsessions, influences, and related anecdotes. We created The Floating Lounge to serve as a community-focused, online listening series which would bring curious listeners together during a time of isolation, and give us a chance to hang out, discover new music, and poke around inside the minds of some truly brilliant artists. These listening parties featured high-quality streaming audio, special guests, and an interactive format that invited listeners to join in on the conversation. It certainly helped us to feel connected and gave us some new music to listen to so we wouldn't go crazy in lockdown -- we hope you may find some of your new favorite tunes lurking in these playlists as well!
Scroll down to watch some of our favorite moments from The Floating Lounge, and for the full playlists presented by our special guests…
Clips & playlists
Charmaine Lee
It didn’t surprise us at all that improvisor/vocalist Charmaine Lee showed up to deejay The Floating Lounge on July 1st with waaaay more music than we could ever hope to squeeze into 90 minutes. She’s like that…bold, inexhaustible, and boiling with creativity. Charmaine was an important mentor to us as we swam out into the murky waters of improvisation as part of our collaboration for "Spinals" – one of the tracks on our double album Experiments in Living – and that journey was easily one of the most cool, most scary things we’ve ever attempted. We know you’ll get lit up both by her exuberance and her playlist, so dig in - and if you stick around til the end of the video you will be treated with an incredible live improvisation by Charmaine herself (!) and some demonstrations of the electronic instruments she uses to create her (absolutely bonkers) sound palette.
Charmaine’s Playlist:
Luciano Berio: Sequenza III for voice (1965) - Cathy Berberian
Mouthpiece I (2000) - Erin Gee
Indent: First Layer (1973) - Cecil Taylor
The Snake Decides (1986) - Evan Parker
your soul is the size of a thread (2018) - Henry Fraser
the children of fire come looking for fire (2012) - Eric Wubbels
Dis Un Il Im Ir (2014) (performed by Ensemble Pamplemousse) - Bryan Jacobs
Automatic Writing (1979) - Robert Ashley
Without Knowing Why (2015) - Andrea Pensado
Octet No. 1 for 8 tapes (1953) - Earle Browne
PostRock Harsh Electronic DSP (2004) - SICKNESS
Lemonade (2015) - SOPHIE
Spinals (2020) - Charmaine Lee + Spektral Quartet
Watch the full video on Youtube, and read our blog post about the event here!
Tomeka Reid
Our fellow Chicagoan Tomeka Reid is an unstoppable creative force…or as The New York Times put it, a “New Jazz Power Source.” On December 16th, 2020, Tomeka hijacked the Spektral Zoom-waves and presented an evening of the music that inspires her and which left us all inspired as well. And - bonus! - she also dropped her ideal wedding playlist, for any of you who are thinking of tying the knot...
Tomeka’s Playlist:
Britten: Suite For Cello No.1, Op.72 - 1. Canto primo (sostenuto e largamente) - Rostropovich
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No.1 - Rostropovich
Portrait (Take 1) - Charles Mingus
By Myself (Solo Cello) - Abdul Wadud
We Got To Have Peace - Curtis Mayfield
Just Kissed My Baby - The Meters
Haven't You Heard - Patrice Rushen
Only One Can Win - The Sylvers
Close Your Mouth (It's Christmas) - The Free Design
Bonus: Tomeka’s Wedding Playlist
For Your Love - Stevie Wonder
Feeling Good - Nina Simone
I Do Love You - Billy Stewart
Somebody’s In Love - Sun Ra
So Amazing - Luther Vandross
Watch the full video on YouTube, and check out our performance of Tomeka’s string quartet “Prospective Dwellers” while you’re at it!
Miguel Zenón
If you've ever had the good fortune to see Miguel Zenón live in concert, you've likely experienced an absolutely staggering degree of musicianship along with some of the most blistering solos around. One of our favorite parts of being on tour with Miguel was sitting around backstage chatting and hearing him talk about the music that gets him going - when we kicked off our Floating Lounge series we knew this was our chance to get our hands on a Miguel-curated playlist, and we promise, it's a fun one.
Miguel’s Playlist:
#Dprimera - Havana D'Primera
Manhattan - Sonny Rollins
Caro - Bad Bunny
27 - Arthur Hnatek Trio
Crosshairs - DANGERDOOM
Coracao Civil - Milton Nascimiento
Wonderful - Burna Boy
Watch the full video here, and check out “Yo Soy La Tradición” - our collaboration with Miguel - on Spotify.
Paper Mice
You know composer Dave Reminick from his brutal and hilarious Spektral commission, The Ancestral Mousetrap, but did you know he is also the frontman of Paper Mice, one of the greatest post-everything, math-y, twitchy bands in the solar system? On June 9th, 2021, Dave and his bandmates - the incomparable drummer John Carroll and stupefying bassist Taylor Hales - joined us on the Floating Lounge and brought a wonderful, weird, and wonderfully weird array of tracks to help celebrate the release of their latest record 1-800-MONDAYS, which may or may not contain a couple of tracks featuring a certain Spektral Quartet...
Paper Mice’s Playlist:
Surfboard - 1965 Version - Antônio Carlos Jobim
Fever Dreams - Emma Ruth Rundle
Judas - Esperanza Spalding
black midi - John L
Control - Jackie Lynn
Mi Desesperación - Celia Cruz y Tito Puente
Trial By Fire - Paper Mice (Feat. Spektral Quartet)
Watch the full video here, and check out the music video for Paper Mice’s “The Cynic Route” featuring ours truly!
George Lewis
Anyone who knows (or knows of him) could have predicted it, but George Lewis’s Floating Lounge listening party appearance on June 10th (2020) was off the charts amazing. With a stack of primo recordings set to melt brains, George treated his playlist as a kind of sonic autobiography. We're so happy to be able to share the video of this unforgettable event. Just know that you are very likely to discover your new favorite music here…
George’s Playlist:
Naima (1959, performance 1966) - John Coltrane
Mestizo II, for orchestra (1970) - Alvin Singleton
N-M488-44M-Z [Composition 6 D], for trio (1968) - Anthony Braxton
Sextet (1975) - Fred Anderson
Roots, for piano (1975) - Muhal Richard Abrams
Nonaah, for alto saxophone (1972, performance 1976) - Roscoe Mitchell
On the Other Ocean (1977), for interactive computer and instruments - David Behrman
Blends (1977, performance 2002) for shakuhachi and synthesizer - Richard Teitelbaum
Musica per Orchestra (1966) - Kees van Baaren
Mooche Mix (1990) - Misha Mengelberg
De Tijd, for large ensemble (1980) - Louis Andriessen
Charleson (2005-07), for fifteen instruments - Frank Bedrossian
ö, for mixed quintet (2005) - Bernhard Gander
Zugvögel, for reed quintet (2011) - Carola Bauckholt
Dots Collection No 6, for orchestra (2010) - Akiko Yamane
String Quartet (1995) - Chaya Czernowin
Watch the full video on YouTube!
Anthony Cheung + Claire Chase
Anthony’s Playlist:
Embraceable You - (1947 studio recording, take 2) - Charlie Parker
Music of insects and frogs from “L’enfant et les sortilèges” - Maurice Ravel
“Foreigner in a Free Land” from Skies of America - Ornette Coleman
Woman Sitting at the Piano (flute and player piano, excerpt) - Francesca Verunelli
Virtutes Occultae (excerpt) - Taylor Brook
Lulu Lu St. - Cory Smythe
Strange Strings (excerpt) - Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra
Cascando (2nd movement) - Agata Zubel
Gazzeloni from “Out to Lunch” (1964) - Eric Dolphy
Bagatelles Mvt 2 (piano quintet) - Anthony Cheung
Watch the full video on YouTube!
Tarek Yamani
Our UMS Digital Residency with the fabulous pianist, composer and performer Tarek Yamani kicked off with a set of two Floating Lounges in which we were able to trade musical influences from our respective traditions and learn more about the cultural and historical contexts our practices come from. In this Floating Lounge Tarek presents a playlist highlighting music in and around the Arab Peninsula, sharing music that both inspires him, and in some cases, provides elemental building blocks for his own, unique compositional voice.
Tarek’s Playlist:
Al Qorbi Nasnas - Abu Bakr Salem
Rashiq Al Qad - Ensemble Morkos
Hüseyni Saz Eseri - Goksel Baktagir
Vent de la Montagne - Houria Aichi
El Sira - Dina El Wedidi
Hala Land - Tarek Yamani
La Tinsani - Yousif Yaseen
Watch the full video on YouTube, and check out our performance video of Tarek’s gorgeous composition for string quartet: “Berytus Suite”
TONia Ko
On October 20th, 2021 our dear friend Tonia Ko made an appearance on the Floating Lounge in advance of our performance of her wonderful piece Plain, Air for the Chicago Humanities Festival. Plain, Air captures the unique sound world of the Lake Michigan lakeshore in an incrediblly visceral and sensitive way, and this listelning party gave us the chance to delve deeper into the music that moves Tonia and inspires her to create such multi-dimensional and striking music through her own compositions.
Tonia’s Playlist:
Violin Sonata in C major Mvt 1 Adagio - J.S. Bach
Radio Hula - Ledward Kaapana
Thirteen Changes No. 8, 9, 10 - Pauline Oliveros
Dawn (Four Sea Interludes from 'Peter Grimes', I) - Benjamin Britten
Breathing Underwater - Hiatus Kaiyote
Papillons No. 2 - Kaia Saariaho
Watch the full video here, and check out our project page for “Plain, Air” our collaboration with Tonia,
FLOATING LOUNGE ON-DEMAND VIDEOS
