Tymbal Tapes is pleased to present a re-press of "Whip Sigils," the debut solo CD of label founder Scott Scholz. This new edition contains an additional EP of full-band material, as the project is transforming from a recording project to a real live band, coming soon to a confraternity near you!
In the early days of the COVID pandemic, composer and music librarian Scott Scholz started a project to explore how previous cultures had addressed pandemics musically. This simple premise became an ever-expanding series of inquiries over the next three years, leading him in directions he never imagined.
“I dived into parts of music history I’d only glossed over before. I listened to dozens of albums of early music, electroacoustic music, and contemporary and ancient music from the Middle East. I taught myself to transcribe Medieval neumatic notation into modern notation. I studied musical systems of the Middle East, and compared how they intersect with early Western music. I taught myself the basics of granular synthesis. I learned how to play instruments like the oud and the saz/baglama. I re-fretted a guitar to add microtones. I rebuilt an old kurdish tanbur that had been a wall decoration at a luthier shop that went out of business. I gutted the electronic gadgets I’ve been running guitars through for 20 years and built a new system.”
The result is “Whip Sigils,” a suite of pieces incorporating melodies drawn from Medieval self-flagellants and victims of the Albigensian Crusade. The source melodies are embedded in the music horizontally and vertically in a variety of ways analogous to creating visual sigils out of letters: they are embedded in counterpoint, transformed into texture through granular synthesis, or blended within harmony. Where the melodies can be plainly heard, they are often microtonally altered in tribute to Middle Eastern influences on the early secular songwriting traditions of Western civilization. Performances are realized with a combination of electrified versions of ancient middle eastern instruments (oud, saz, and tanbur), microtonally modified guitar, and software synths.
Stylistically, elements of Early Music (West and East) remain, but they are reshaped as electroacoustic treatments, contrapuntal sections that sometimes dissolve into microtonality, and passages that recall 70s Turkish Anatolian psychedelia, holy minimalism, post-rock, ambient, new age, and noise. As Scholz notes in his detailed album liner notes, “My approach to manipulating, transforming, and further composing atop these fragments has little to do with early music revivalism. Instead I’m looking for universal elements contained in the music, for various kinds of musical and conceptual contrasts, and for hidden cultural implications of the times.”
A few reviews:
Blastitude:
blastitude.substack.com/p/recent-listening-33
(also on the "Best of '23" Blastitude list:
blastitude.substack.com/p/blastitude-best-of-2023
Lost in a Sea of Sound:
lostseasound.blogspot.com/2023/10/scott-scholz-whip-sigils.html
Dereck Higgins video review:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2wIGFO98B8
Chain D.L.K. :
www.chaindlk.com/reviews/11963
CD Hotlist:
cdhotlist.com/2023/10/
Scott Scholz (b. 1976) studied composition with Donald Keats and Lynn Baker at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. He has worked with a variety of pop, rock, and experimental music ensembles, focusing on adventure and transformative practices. Scholz currently plays in Irregular Verbs with Jay Kreimer, and Tiny Tiny Tongues with Joseph Jaros and David Moscovich. His musical advocacy work includes operating the cassette label Tymbal Tapes, which features an international cast of experimental musicians and sound artists, and serving as the public music librarian for Lincoln City Libraries in Lincoln, NE, where he curates monthly performances and workshops that are free to the public.
He is host of the Polley Music Library Show on KZUM, a weekly radio program about books on a wide range of musical topics, and was previously a co-host for the long-running show Other Music. He has made frequent contributions as a music journalist for publications such as Tabs Out, Tiny Mix Tapes, Killed in Cars, and his own Words on Sounds. Whip Sigils is his first solo album.
released March 10, 2024
Many thanks to Arvo Zylo, who first released "Whip Sigils" on his NO PART OF IT label, one of our all-time favorite labels. The layout, design, and the fact that so many people have heard about the project, are all because of his hard work. Be sure to check out his label (and grab the digital version of Whip Sigils from them if you'd like!):
nopartofit.bandcamp.com
Whip Sigils CD:
Scott Scholz: saz, oud, guitar, software, paper. Written 2020-2023; recorded 2022-2023.
"Nu ist diu betfart" is a 14th C. geisslerlied.
"Maria unser frowe" is a 14th C. geisslerlied.
"Nu tret Herzuo" is a 14th C. geisslerlied.
"Chi vole" is a 13th C. lauda.
"Le Bouvier," aka "Le Boier," aka "Lo Boier," is a 13th C. Cather hymn.
"Carro della morte," aka "Dolor Pianto," is a 15th C. carnival song.
Cover art is taken from "Triumph and dance of death" (Giacomo Borlone de Buschis, 1485). For more information about the rest of the art in the package, check out this video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQDaOeDgLF4
Whip Sigils "Expiation" CD EP:
Scott Scholz - saz, guitar, kalimba, bass, software
Ben Armstrong - drums
Stuart Gausman - sax, synths
Eric Aspengren - bass
arranged/recorded Oct 2023-Feb 2024
Cover image of flagellants was published in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493, woodcut, unknown artist.
"Nu hebent" is a 14th C. geisslerlied. This version is heavily based on an arrangement by the excellent German early music ensemble Nimmersêlich:
www.nimmerselich.de
"Moro lasso" is a madrigal by Gesualdo, written approx. 1611.
Noblis Humilis, aka St. Magnus Hymn, dates to the 13th C.
"De la crudel" is a 13th C. lauda.
"Maria Muoter Reinû Maît" is a 14th C. geisslerlied.
