The fact that we made it safely to Big Ears / Knoxville, TN means one thing and one thing only – time for another guest mix! This one comes courtesy of Coupler aka Ryan Norris of Lambchop fame!
Founded in 2011 by Lambchop veteran Ryan Norris, Coupler’s core is Norris along with Rodrigo Avendaño and drummer Rollum Haas. At its root, the Nashville-meets-Chicago trio is an exercise in mutual cooperation and an exploration of the intersections of man and machine, live and recorded, composed and improvised, stasis and flux. Coupler’s music has always used the language of ambient without being ambient per se. “I prefer to think of Coupler less as a band and more as a multimedia project,” Norris has said. “Kraftwerk were fond of using the term “organization”. I like that.”
Indeed, Coupler’s music, dubbed “a gift” by Pitchfork, thrives at the intersection of ambient drift and krautrock propulsion. At Big Ears 2019, Coupler will present their stunning live score of the 1933 silent Japanese gangster film Dragnet Girl by filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu and play another set of their music, epitomized by their immersive 2017 LP, Gifts from the Ebb Tide.
Ryan’s mix puts together tracks by artists performing at BE2019 as well as plethora of personal favs.
Tracklist
Steve Reich – Come Out (edit) (Nonesuch)
Ben LaMar Gay – Concord (International Anthem)
Talk Talk “The Rainbow”
Arvo Pärt (performed by Else Torp and Christopher Bowers) “My Heart’s In The Highlands”
Coupler “Invention 4: Silenzio” (edit)
Robert Görl “Mit Dir”
Front 242 “Body 2 Body (2 Trax)”
Holly Herndon & Jlin (feat. Spawn) “Godmother” (4AD)
Coupler “Invention 2: Pattern Recognition”
Johann Sebastian Bach “Erbarme Dich, Mein Gott”
Circuit Des Yeux “Paper Bag”
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares “Kalimankou Denkou”
Harold Budd “Two Songs: Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord”
Tony Allen “Asiko”
Hieroglyphic Being “Shikaakwa”
Makaya McCraven “Atlantic Black”
Coupler “A Plain of Reeds”
Olivier Messiaen “Oraison”
Brian Eno “Through Hollow Lands”
Angel Bat Dawid “We Are Starzz”
Roedelius Schneider “Pedal Pierce”
GAS “Rausch (Part 1)”
Further Reading
15 Questions
Ravelin
Wexner Center for the Arts
Nashville Scene
Cyclic Defrost
Ithaca Journal
Speed Art Museum
Columbus Makes Art