Nothing Left to Destroy

Nothing Left to Destroy

Description: 
After the conspiracy. After the trash. What's left?
Composers: 
MC Maguire
George Gershwin
Performers: 
MC Maguire
Benjamin Bowman
Douglas Stewart
Catalog Number: 
#813
Genre: 
experimental
new classical
Collection: 
concerto
violin
flute
Canada
Location: 

Toronto, ONCanada

Price: 
$15.00
Release Date: 
Sep 27, 2011
Liner Notes: 
View
1 CD
One Sheet: 

The new MC Maguire CD, ‘Nothing left to Destroy’, is the follow up to ‘Trash of Civilizations’ (2009) and ‘Meta-Conspiracy’ (2007). Once again up to 300 tracks of CPU [that’s Central Processor Unit to non-computer folk] mayhem, subterfuge, chicanery, skullduggery, and a smidgen of jiggery-pokery are pitted against a virtuosic live soloist, in a to-death-do-us-part showdown. The overall effect is electro-acoustic, ethno-death-metal, versus environmental, classical-fusion-electronica in a UFC cage [not John-] match. The first piece is a Violin Concerto featuring the musical wunderkind, Ben Bowman. Mr. Bowman soars, bops and weaves over an alternately ominous and ecstatic shrinking/claustrophobic CPU landscape which consists of all things Chinese (including a famous ancient Chinese melody as the cantus firmus). It eventually morphs into the tragic irony of 70’s, western, 4 on the floor, disco. In the end it’s a melancholic commentary on western hegemony. The second work is a Flute Concerto, featuring the seasoned, uber-virtuoso, Doug Stewart. He nimbly leaps, dodges, and swirls around three mashed George Gershwin songs in a quasi, dirty-thirties dream world. The real raison d’être of this piece is it’s hell bent on blurring the numbers 2 and 3 in a beyond-human range of tempos. MC Maguire is a Toronto based electro-acoustic manipulator who has worked in every medium and genre as a composer/producer/engineer.

Reviews: 

MONSIEUR DELIRE
"Each MC Maguire album is a sonic discharge, a long punch to the plexus that opens up your ears and saturates your brain cells. Nothing Left to Destroy presents two long tracks in typical Maguire format: ultra-tight collages of extremely varied sound samples with a solo instrumental part. I’m strongly reminded of what Bob Ostertag was doing in the ‘90s – and that’s a BIG compliment, in case you didn’t know. 'S’Wonderful (That the Man I Love Watches Over Me)' for flute (Douglas Steward) and computer revolves around Gershwin and the American musical. I prefer 'The Discofication of the Mongols,' a typhoon of crazy ideas tamed by Benjamin Bowman’s violin, the element of coherence that manages to stay on top of this gigantic wave of sounds. This album sounds more 'comfortable' than Trash of Civilization, though both records are highly recommended." [FULL ARTICLE]
François Couture

DRAAI OM JE OREN
"Composer MC Maguire … stacks until everything implodes. Multiple listenings do both pieces righteous; only then can all that audio information actually can be processed. This is music for headphones, to completely drown yourself in and then end with a quiet 'Amen.'" [FULL ARTICLE (Dutch)]