MEREDITH MONK : Dolmen Music (1981) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Meredith Monk has such a wonderful and unique vocal style that she is able to sing in complete abstraction (no known words or language for much of the album) yet maintain a very emotional and even sentimental quality in these abstractions, at times. Listeners who can get past just how unique and abstract her approach is will find immense joy and sadness deep within her pieces. On Dolmen Music, Monk wavers from being sad to the point of being quite morose (such as the tracks "Gotham Lullaby" and "The Tale") to being happy to the point of hysteria (as on "Traveling" and "Biography") without skipping a beat. Most of the musical accompaniment is minimalist (mainly piano with occasional, sparse percussion, guest vocalists also being prominent on the final six-part track "Dolmen Music"). This minimalist support only furthers Monk's vast vocal language as the prominent focus in the recordings. Listeners will also be very pleased to find that her wonderful voice is not crowded or overshadowed. A true original, Monk's work should be sought by anyone with an interest in vocal exploration. by Michael G. Breece  

MEREDITH MONK

1    Gotham Lullaby    4:15
Piano – Meredith Monk
Percussion, Violin – Collin Walcott
2    Travelling    6:15
Piano – Meredith Monk
Percussion, Violin – Collin Walcott
3    The Tale    2:47
Piano – Meredith Monk
Piano – Steve Lockwood
4    Biography    9:24
Piano – Meredith Monk
5-10    Dolmen Music    (23:39)
Voice, Percussion – Julius Eastman
Voice, Cello – Robert Een
Voices – Andrea Goodman, Monica Solem, Paul Langland
Voice, Percussion – Julius Eastman
   
Producer – Collin Walcott, Manfred Eicher

MEREDITH MONK : Turtle Dreams (1983) APE (image+.cue), lossless

A daring display of vocal gymnastics and a journey back to childhood when all sounds were wondrous, Turtle Dreams includes the title track composition for four voices (two men, two women) and four organs as well as shorter pieces featuring various combinations of voice, Casio, piano, miniMoog, and didgeridoo. Monk's work raises smiles as well as the hair on the back of the neck. Here she seems tapped into some primordial force -- humming, babbling, chattering, all set to looping, funereal organ works of chromatic simplicity. Mesmerizing yet never mechanical, the side-long "Turtle Dreams" and "View 1" derive their pleasures from the infinite sounds of the human voice. The entire album accompanied a multimedia work where Monk and three other singer/dancers were intercut with shots of a turtle walking over various terrains (including miniature cities, looking like a monster movie). Comforting thoughts during any listen. by Ted Mills

MEREDITH MONK

1    Turtle Dreams (Waltz)    17:50
Voices – Andrea Goodman, Meredith Monk, Paul Langland, Robert Een
Organ – Collin Walcott, Julius Eastman, Meredith Monk, Steve Lockwood
2    View 1    10:14
3    Engine Steps    2:00
4    Ester's Song    1:13
5    View 2    6:02
Didgeridoo [Didjeridoo] – Collin Walcott
Piano, Synthesizer [Mini-Moog], Keyboards [Casio] – Meredith Monk

MEREDITH MONK w / ROBERT EEN : Facing North (1992) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

 Composed while working on the Atlas opera, "Facing North" was composed at the Leighton Artist's Colony in Banff, Alberta, and inspired by the sights and sounds of rural Canada in the winter months. The "Northern Lights" movements are atmospheric and gentle, while "Arctic Bar" represents the sounds of humanity congregating in a warm tavern -- dissonant, happy, and uncomfortable. "Keeping Warm" is an agitated staccato-punctuated vocal pattern that instills the mind with the notion of resorting to movement to keep one's self warm. This is a multi-faceted view of "north" as a state of mind -- what Monk calls "the awareness of the fragility of human life in relation to the forces of nature and in turn the vulnerability of nature itself to the indifference of human beings." Two other pieces are included on this release: the dramatic "Vessel: An Opera Epic" (a composition from 1971 based loosely on the life of Joan of Arc) and "Boat Song" (a movement from Monk's 1979 "Recent Ruins" composition). "Vessel" is an emotional piece; the "Fire Dance" movement is very slow and passionate with drones and throat singing, and the "Epic" portion is very shrill and agitated. "Boat Song" is short and esoteric; it leaves the listener wishing there were more of the whole piece included on this recording. by Mark Allender  

1-9     Facing North, for 2 voices & tape
Pipe [Pitch Pipe] – Meredith Monk, Robert Een
Piano – Meredith Monk
Voice – Meredith Monk, Robert Een
10-13    Vessel: An Opera Epic
Organ, Piano – Meredith Monk
14    Recent Ruins
Voice – Meredith Monk, Robert Een