If you have been following on Instagram or YouTube, you’ll know that this week ends my 100 Days of Summer Listening. It’s been fun to spend a little over three months intentionally listening to new music and new-to-me composers, ensembles, and works. Would I do this again? 100%. Would I make a video about every. single. album.? Maybe.
Regardless of what my summer plans are for 2026, this year I found some new favorites. This weeks playlist, Difficult Listening Hour, pays homage to that very title and the works included are my new faves from that listening list. Where does the term come from – Laurie Anderson. This playlist starts and ends with her work and is separated by the delightful crinkle of shrink wrap.
I give this playlist a Difficult Listening Hour rating of 6.5/10.
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Difficult Listening Hour by Laurie Anderson. Album: United States Live
From Wikipedia, “United States Live is the first live album and third overall album by American avant-garde singer-songwriter Laurie Anderson. Released as a 5-record boxed set (later reissued on four CDs), the album is a recording of a performance of Anderson’s piece United States at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City in February 1983.”
Fly, Fly, Fly composed by Larry Ochs, performed by Larry Ochs, Joan Jeanrenaud, Miya Masaoka. Album: Fly, Fly, Fly
From the liner notes, “Three San Francisco Bay Area masters come together here to play music composed by Larry Ochs for the unusual trio of saxophone, cello, and Japanese koto.”
De_Dust2 by Phong Tran. Album: The Computer Room
From the composer, “I began thinking about how much of my life has been shaped by virtual spaces,” says Tran. “I began seeing those bygone virtual spaces—games and forums—in a physical way. They’re like ghost towns from a pre-MySpace internet; these sites still exist, but no one visits them anymore. I miss them. As a closeted gay Asian kid raised in white suburban Georgia, the computer room was where I could escape, where I could be anything I wanted to be, and, eventually, where I could accept who I was in reality.”
Au Revoir… by C. Spencer Yeh. Album: 1975
From the liner notes/composer quote, ” “One thing is I really wanted to focus on a certain feeling of stasis. So much of what else I do just kinda pushes and pushes forward. 1975 is more vertical than horizontal, even though one can’t escape the horizontal completely.” Taking a confident step away from his familiar work as an improvising violinist and vocalist, from the mythology of his rock/noise band Burning Star Core, and from his recent forays into pop music, the omnivorous Yeh here reveals himself to be a composer of unsettling electro-acoustic miniatures.”
Lenses by Von Hansen performed by Caroline Robinson (Harp). Album: Mortal Coil
About the composer, “Von is committed to increasing the educational opportunities for percussionists, and is active with the Percussive Arts Society. He has presented concerts and masterclasses at various universities and conferences including The Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Electronic Music Midwest, The Kansas City ElectronicMusic Alliance, The Kansas and Oklahoma Days of Percussion, The National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy and SEAMUS.”
Walk the Dog by Laurie Anderson. Album: United States Live
Empty Market Phong Tran. Album: The Computer Room
Sathya Yuga by Amirtha Kidambi, performed by Elder Ones. Album: Holy Science
About Elder Ones, from their website, “Elder Ones continues to conjure bold improvisations, pushing the boundaries of jazz and electronic forms. Percussion, soprano sax, synths, harmonium, bass, cello, and Kidambi’s astonishing vocals center these compositions on topics of anti-colonialism, the rise of global fascism, violence against Asian Americans, of continuing inequalities in the growing shadow of late stage capitalism.”
Lakbay Awit Sa Trabaho by Susie Ibarra. Album: Folkloriko
From the liner notes, “Two exciting new pieces from composer/percussionist Susie Ibarra, whose dynamic drumming has driven the bands of William Parker, David S. Ware, Pauline Oliveros, Derek Bailey and Mephista.”
Shrinkwrap From a Solo Saxophone CD (skit) by C. Spencer Yeh. Album: 1975
Ein Horn by Eve Beglarian performed by Lydia Van Dreel. Album: New Millennium Music for Horn
From Lydia’s bio, “Professor Van Dreel collaborates on a wide variety of chamber music and recording projects. Notable recent projects include their first solo CD, “New Millennium Music for Horn”, released in 2014 on the Quadre Records Label, “Red Desert”, music of David Crumb, released on the BRIDGE record label in 2015, a featured performance in the 2012 Superbowl Chrysler commercial “It’s Halftime in America”, and a world premier performance at the 47th annual International Horn Symposium in Los Angeles of “Gjallarhorn”, an electro-acoustic piece for natural horn and electronics controlled by motion detector, created in collaboration with composer, inventor and intermedia technology instructor, Chester Udell.”
Classified by Laurie Anderson. Album: United States Live
Mortal Coil by Von Hansen. Album: Mortal Coil
From the program notes, “Mortal Coil was written five years after the death of my father Jim Hansen in 2017. He spent his last few days as he wished, at home with his family. In our home, I found the sounds of his breathing machine to be poignant and representative of the final breaths I would hear from him. I recorded the air compressors with the thought that someday I would use them in a piece (this is the recording you hear at the beginning of the piece).”
Onírico by Jocy de Oliveira. Album: Fata Morgana
Air Glow by Du Yun. Album: Dinosaur Scar
From the composer’s bio, “DU YUN, born and raised in Shanghai, China and currently based in New York City, is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, performance artist, activist, and curator for new music, who works at the intersection of orchestral, opera, chamber music, theatre, cabaret, musical theater, oral tradition, public performances, sound installation, electronics, visual arts, and noise.”
The Lion’s Sin by and performed by George Lewis, Miya Masaoka. Album: The Usual Turmoil and Other Duets
O Superman by Laurie Anderson. Album: United States Live