Hey, bucko, you wanna hear about an album from an upwardly mobile young professional? Well, strap in. On November 13, NNA Tapes is going to pop off a new one from Qasim Naqvi called Preamble. “Wait a second, ol’ Qasim’s name seems familiar…” You bet your ass it does, because “ol’ Qasim” as you call him, or Mr. Naqvi as he prefers to be called, is the drummer for a little group I like to call Dawn of Midi. And you better bet that I’m the only one who calls them that.
Back to Preamble. It’s a collection of compositions by Naqvi, all of them originally commissioned as a score to a film installation “loosely based on” China Miéville’s The City & The City, a novel about two cities on top of each other that I am happy to report I have fond memories of reading during my lunch breaks in the fall of 2012. In composing the pieces, Naqvi combined the use of graphic and traditional notation, creating pieces that allow for “spontaneous choices” throughout by the performers. Naqvi says, “I wanted to strike a balance. I wanted the element of chance, but not total chance.”
Preamble, recorded by the Contemporary Music Ensemble of NYU under the direction of Jonathan Haas, is available for pre-order from NNA Tapes and Bandcamp. We have the pleasure of premiering a track and a trailer — check ‘em out below.
Preamble tracklist:
01. Preamble
02. Meg Erase Meta
03. Children of the Drawer PT. 1
04. Imagined Garages PT. 2
05. Behind Stars
06. Aero
07. Esc
• Qasim Naqvi: https://qasimnaqvi.bandcamp.com
• NNA Tapes: http://nnatapes.com
More about: Dawn of MIDI, Qasim Naqvi
