Cantaloupe Music is excited to share a full stream of Drumkit Quartets, a series of compositions for percussion by Glenn Kotche (Wilco, Illimaq) and performed by Sō Percussion. Released February 26, the stream premiered via Red Bull Music who called the album, "captivating and unpredictable, unexpectedly shifting from serene, pretty moments to clanging chaos and then back again, creating an enjoyable place to find yourself lost."
In a recent press release touting his new album with Sō Percussion, Kotche explained that his inspiration for the writing the pieces came from his not getting to play around with percussion as much as he would have otherwise preferred:
"I originally conceived of writing a suite of drumkit quartets after finishing a string of commissions and projects for mixed instrumentation.
"At the time, I was feeling a strong desire to get back to writing for percussion. I wanted to write without any concern for tonality and really just explore new possibilities for my primary instrument -- the drumkit -- in an ensemble setting.
"I think the timbral, textural, melodic and rhythmic possibilities haven't yet been explored nearly enough."
The impetus for the concept came to Kotche when he was touring with Wilco, and he began composing a different piece in each city they visited.
When Sō Percussion approached him about composing some new work for them, he thought that these pieces, which at the time ranged from conceptual frameworks to fully notated compositions, would be a fitting addition to their repertoire.
They eventually were refined into the compositions present on Drumkit Quartets, one of which (the marimba-based "Drumkit Quartet #51") features a haiku recited by Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda.
To listen to Glenn Kotche and Sō Percussion's Drumkit Quartets head on over to SoundCloud and start streaming today.
