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Sound Currents Press Music critic Chris DeLaurenti mentioned Sound Currents in his "Experimental Music Almanac," which appeared in the June 19, 2003, issue of The Stranger: "Several energetic composers have banded together to stage concerts as Sound Currents. Core member Korby Sears explains the idea behind the group: 'In the tradition of all successful composers (Strauss, Liszt, Cage, et cetera), Sound Currents came about when a small group of local composers realized that the best way to get your music heard is to put on your own damn concert. You can't wait for grants, praise, and canonization to come your way in a mystical, perfumed pink mist: You have to make the first move--if not the second, fifth, 20th, or maybe all of them.'" Below is some of the great press our series has received. For more information, you can read press releases from our first and second concerts. Our first concert was featured in a Seattle Times article and received favorable previews in the Seattle Weekly and The Stranger, in addition to some great coverage on the radio. The odeonquartet appeared on KING FM's Live By George program to perform excerpts from Geoff Ogle's String Quartet No. 1 and Ben Houge's suite Music from Arcanum (musica arcana). Composers Alistair Hirst and Nathan Grigg joined Ben on KUOW's The Beat to chat with host Dave Beck about Sound Currents and the state of video game music. Sound Currents was welcomed back to Live By George for our second concert, and a live audience at the Kirkland Performance Center was treated to preview performances of works by Nathan Grigg, Scott Selfon, and Greg Bartholomew, performed by the odeonquartet. Sound Currents 2 was featured in The Stranger's The Score column and singled out as a pick in the Seattle Weekly with the comment, "The first Sound Currents concert, last spring, was a great start--it's cool to see they're sticking with the idea." Sound Currents' waffle reception was also singled out by Seattle Weekly classical columnist Gavin Borchert for having the Most Tasteful After Concert Reception of 2003 in his year end round up of musical memories. Gavin Borchert, Seattle Weekly February 19, 2003 One thing they never teach composers is how to put on a concert. It's a pathetic oversight, since everyone has to do it at some point (unless you want to spend your whole life waiting around for performers to throw you a bone). 'Twas ever thus--even Beethoven had to be his own impresario, premiering his symphonies with orchestras he hired and conducted himself. Now four Seattle composers--Ben Houge, Mike Min, Geoff Ogle, and Korby Sears--have started up a new concert series to showcase their own chamber music. There's always a nice convivial feel to non-institutional events like this, which can help make contemporary music a bit less forbidding. Plus, the post-concert reception will include waffles. Chris DeLaurenti, The Stranger February 20, 2003 Several energetic composers have banded together for a concert of new music, featuring Ben Houge's string quartet (based on the music from the computer game Arcanum), a wry, expertly scored wind trio by Korby Sears inspired by the urban legend of the water engine, and vocal improv-electronics work led by Mike Min. What's really weird about this gig is that they're serving waffles after the concert. Now who says contemporary composers don't want to connect with the public? "Video-game Music Isn't Just Kid Stuff, It's a Concert" Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times February 23, 2003 When you think of video-game soundtracks, do words like "annoying" and "repetitious" cross your mind? Things have changed substantially since the revoltingly chipper little tune from "Super Mario Brothers" burned its way into the brains of millions of unwilling family members of fledgling gamesters. Many games now feature music of considerable sophistication - some of which you can hear in a Tuesday concert at 8 p.m. in Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 8501 S.E. 40th St., Mercer Island (www.htlcmi.org/musicarts). That's where "Sound Currents," an assortment of new works by Mike Min, Geoff Ogle, Korby Sears and Ben Houge, will be heard in performances by the Odeon String Quartet and several other musicians. The Tuesday concert is eclectic indeed, with Min's "Folding," an improvisatory work for voice and electronics; Ogle's String Quartet No. 1; Sears' "Water for Pistons"; Houge's "Music from Arcanum." Houge's "Arcanum" video-game music draws on his academic sources (he is a part-time graduate student in music at the University of Washington) as well as his game-music background (he works for Bellevue's Sierra Entertainment as a composer). The Arcanum suite, recorded by four exceptional string players from the Seattle Symphony, is sophisticated enough to pass muster on its own as an extended string quartet. "Older composers tend to draw a strict line between the commercial and concert-hall endeavors," says Houge. "But these days, the two sides are growing closer all the time. I wanted to use a string quartet for Arcanum, which is a role-playing game set in a Tolkienesque world that is undergoing an industrial revolution. The music was inspired by Renaissance polyphony, performed by the ensemble of the Enlightenment, the string quartet." Houge also writes sacred choral music for Holy Trinity and is an occasional member of the Esoterics, an a cappella group dedicated to performing contemporary choral music. (His last name, by the way, rhymes with "rogue" and is frequently misspelled: "I blame Hogue Cellars," jokes the composer.) The composer is excited by the possibilities of game scores: "We could create a completely different score each time you play - not hearing the same musical loop over and over again, but having the computer make choices and reconfiguring the music as you play." Proof that gamers are taking video-game scores seriously comes with a new survey (by the online marketing firm ElectricArtists) of more than 1,000 game consumers: 40 percent of respondents said that after hearing a song they liked in a video game, they bought the music CD. Several emerging pop artists, after being featured in video-games, now have hit the Billboard charts, according to Billboard's Feb. 15 issue. You can check out the Arcanum music, and more, on Houge's Web site - www.benhouge.com - with downloadable examples of his music. Chris DeLaurenti, The Stranger October 16, 2003 Years ago, I thought it would be wonderful to date a fellow composer. Addled with romantic notions, I dreamt of discovering new repertory together ("Here, my sweet, borrow my Julián Carrillo LP!"), discussing every musical notion under the sun, and going to concerts without worrying whether my beloved had switched off the cell phone. Recently I did happen to date another composer and I asked the inevitable, "What are you working on?" The answer surprised me. My companion had already boasted of a glitzy composition degree from a Big Music School Back East and gently scoffed at my own "credentials," so I expected to hear about a big project. A cantata for chorus, orchestra, roaring elephant, and soprano, or something like that. Instead the grumpy reply was, "I haven't composed a note since I got my degree." I swilled some more beer and replied, "When you want to, you will." Whoops. Soon we shook hands and parted company. I shouldn't have been so blunt, but dammit, when the desire to make music burns in your heart, you do it no matter what. This fervent desire is one of the many things I admire about the Sound Currents crew. Comprising Seattle composers who do what it takes to create music, this collective arranges performances to get their work into the public arena. Pieces slated for this probing concert include Tom Baker's Deconstructing Steve (which examines the musical ideas of Steve Reich on fretless electric guitar), string quartets by Greg Bartholomew and Nathan Grigg, two pieces for flute and string quartet by Scott Selfon, and, torn from the pages of this very rag, Ben Houge's Stranger Personals for voice and piano. Pre-concert talk is at 7 pm.