9 Pond

Christina Petrowska Quilico - Pond Life, music of Ann Southam (2 CDs) (2009)
Piano | Label: Centrediscs | MP3 CBR 320kbps | 100:42 | 232 MB

Pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico has premiered hundreds of new works over an illustrious career, including over 20 piano concertos. Born in Ottawa, Petrowska Quilico studied with Boris Berlin at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where she made her debut, with orchestra, at age 10. Pond Life is a two-CD set of music by Ann Southam. It includes new pieces written especially for Petrowska Quilico (Ponds, Creeks, Soundstill and Noisy River). The first of Southam’s Ponds series was inspired by the painting Spatial View of Pond by the late Aiko Suzuki (1937-2005).

Taylor Swift has shared a new ‘Folklore’ live album on streaming services, in line with her new Disney+ documentary. Yesterday, Swift announced ‘folklore: the long pond studio sessions’, a new documentary promising “an intimate concert of the record-breaking ‘Folklore’”. It came out on the streaming service at midnight last night (November 24). Now, she’s shared a live album of the same name, featuring recordings of every ‘Folklore’ song from Aaron Dessner‘s Long Pong studio in Hudson, New York.

A studio album by Roger Chapman is always an event. Since '66, when the British singer-songwriter emerged as the voice of his generation with the seminal Family band, through every twist of his four-decade solo career, Chappo's output has defied music industry protocol, challenged genre, and held up a mirror to the times. "I've never stopped writing," he reflects, "and with Life In The Pond, I felt the need to hear what I'd put down in music."

Pond are one of the most versatile, inquisitive, and accomplished bands of the psychedelic rock vanguard. The last four Pond albums have been showcases of tidiness and brevity, 10 ideas always tucked into 40 minutes or so. But on Stung!, they gleefully, madly, and wilfully lean into double-LP largesse, tapping the spirit of Tusk and Sign ‘O’ the Times by funnelling 14 songs into the most unfettered and splendid hour of their recording career.