As a duo, Ka Baird and Chris Ryan Williams present a study in contrasts. Baird, a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, favors density and percussive force, while Williams, a trumpeter, tends to work in subliminal textures and blurred, dissolving tones. They have a lot in common, too: Both use electronics to manipulate their sounds past the point of recognition, and both make music that has a spooky interiority, like a network of gradually constricting tunnels or a slowly flooding grotto. The two previously worked together on Baird’s Bearings: Soundtrack for the Bardos, an ultra-Bairdean work of uncompromising spiritual menace from 2024. Enthalpy, on which Williams receives co-billing, takes a more equitable approach. Though we get plenty of Baird’s…
Tag Archive: Ka Baird
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Ka Baird is known for passionate, unpredictable vocal performances. Whether solo or in collaboration with others, Baird’s kinetics tend to be the focus. Their latest release, Thinking Music (For Just Intonation Rhodes Piano), sounds like quite the departure, and indeed it is.
No vocals here, no collaboration, no exploration of a physical space. (Though the piece was written for live performance.) It’s a 40-minute piece, in four movements, for solo Fender Rhodes. The twist is that the Rhodes is retuned in just intonation. This isn’t your Herbie Hancock-loving grandfather’s Rhodes.
A just-tuned Rhodes is a pile of contradictions, and Baird’s exploration of them is what makes this album compelling. Individual tones…
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