markeprang – TRANSITIONS
a laval lamp for your ears | experimental, ambient, cinematic, beat-free | contemporary classical, chained delays, tonal/not-tonal | some piano, some acoustic, mostly inorganic | elements of: clark; noveller; josiah steinbrik; oliver coates; joy orbison; ben lukas boysen; aphex twin; kelly moran
Gunnar Madsen – TWO HANDS
Pristine original solo piano, with an occasional violin. “By far the best instrumental piano album to cross this desk this year….avoiding classifications such as classical, pop or new age by transcending them all.” Wildy’s World Blog
Gunnar Madsen – SPINNING WORLD
Evoking the sound of small dance orchestra of the early 1900’s, these 13 original waltzes for chamber ensemble have captured the hearts and ears of millions. As heard on Sex and the City, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and This American Life – and in the Marisa Tomei film Just a Kiss.
Gunnar Madsen – THE POWER OF A HAT
Madsen decided to head off to a log cabin in innermost Washington State to record this album. The musicians he persuaded to come along lived and cooked and played together for a whole week, from 9am to 4am every day and night. “A remarkable reimagining of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” Zeitgeist Magazine
Original Off-Broadway Cast – THE SHAGGS: PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD
A musical inspired by the story behind what some consider to be the worst rock recording of all time. Co-written with Joy Gregory and John Langs, produced Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons (a co-production of New York Theater Workshop and Playwrights Horizons).
Gunnar Madsen – I AM YOUR FOOD
Imagine The Doors singing about ptomaine poisoning. Or Neil Diamond as a love-struck delicatessen owner. Picture a rainfall of fish that saves a starving Japanese province. And what was Martin Luther arguing about at the Diet of Worms in 1591? “Part singer, part storyteller, part stand-up comedian who knows how to deliver a punch line” Parents’ Choice
Gunnar Madsen – I’M GROWING
An epic Vocalese version of Mozart’s 40th Symphony. A Sondheim-esque tale of a person forced to waltz against their will. And how many words can you rhyme with ‘Hillary Rodham’? Find out in ‘Always on the Bottom’. “The most inventive, unique children’s music CD of the year”. “This is exhilarating music that never sounds the same with each listen. It’s the best work yet from a true family-music innovator.” Gregory Keer
Gunnar Madsen – ANTS IN MY PANTS!
“Highlights: The Elvis-style title song, dedicated to “all of you out there who have trouble sittin’ still”; a soulful lament sung by a kid named “Tuna Fish,” an irresistibly lugubrious, 1940s-cowboy-style “Ballad of the Lonesome Rider”, and “Are We There Yet?,” a backseat query familiar to any parental driver, that serves here as the springboard to a breathtakingly lovely journey of the imagination.” Parents’ Choice Foundation
Gunnar Madsen – OLD MR. MACKLE HACKLE
A chicken that refuses to cackle. Traffic problems in the jungle (blame the elephants). Life from the point of view of a devious mosquito. This album has won virtually every award ever given for children’s music. “As cutting edge as children’s music gets” Chicago Parent
The first album by The Bobs garnered Gunnar and co-arranger Richard Greene a Grammy® nomination for their version of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” . A national concert tour resulted in radio airplay, television appearances, and concerts and festivals across the U.S. and Europe. The Los Angeles Daily News was moved to comment, “The Bobs prove that the best instrument in creating music is the human brain. They are nothing less than sensational.”
The 2nd release by The Bobs features “My, I’m Large”, “Helmet”, and “Please Let Me Be Your Third World Country”. They began their collaboration with the dance troupe Momix (later named ISO), and toured the U.S. and Europe with their show over the next years.
Johnny Carson waggled this album cover at the camera while he introduced The Bobs to Tonight Show viewers. This album includes the “Laundry Cycle” (written for the ODC Dance Company) and selections from songs commissioned for NPR’s “Morning Edition”
While Gunnar and Richard Bob wrote original material, The Bobs always enjoyed covering favorite songs. An Italian promoter convinced them to record an all-cover album to cater to non-english speaking European audiences. It became very popular, both across the pond and in America.
Gunnar retired from The Bobs in 1991, yet he still ended up on a few tracks from their next album (which also featured his songwriting on 4 of the cuts).
Gunnar and Richard Bob got together to pen another inimitable original for this recording based on the philosophical question “If a tree falls…”: “A man is not a tree / A tree is not a man / A man can move around / A tree can only stand / Perhaps if man could learn to stand a tree could move around / Perhaps if man would just shut up a tree could make a sound”
20 years of acapella is celebrated in this collection. Gunnar sings a new song penned by Amy Bob, while many rare, unreleased recordings, many again featuring Gunnar, fill out this unique disc.
Richard Bob and Gunnar took an old song idea that never got finished, and finished if off for good in the Funk Shui Massacre. Gunnar sings lead as a guy who has somehow conflated Funk music with home decoration a la Feng Shui
Gunnar’s final appearance on a Bobs CD, another all-cover album, featuring unreleased recordings of yore and some newer ones too.
Video & Animations by Gunnar Madsen
A lava lamp for your ears – by markeprang
Forever piano in every corner of the Cathedral of Barcelona – markeprang
If stars are flowers, this is the music they play – markeprang
upside-down birds in a sideways forest greet the dawn – markeprang
The 1st single from the MCMGM album “On The Floor” – Percolating dance music to wake you up
The 2nd single from MCMGM’s “On The Floor” – slow and spooky
The 3rd single from “On The Floor” – swinging, bouncing groove
The 4th single from “On The Floor” – sweet melancholy, electric piano and strings and a Rothko vibe
Bouncy electronica, hi-energy IDM, nervous fizzy fun.
Moody, funky, gruvacious IDM/Electronica from “On The Floor”.
“Every morning the birdies sing, no matter what happened the night before…” We’d all feel a lot better if we joined the birds every morning in their song.
I was wondering one day: What if food were really fast – I mean, like a car is fast? What if you had to chase it? Join Elvis Barbie on this fast and furious adventure!
Join these famous icons in their soviet ode to the power of the the people to overthrow the tyranny of the One Percent…Milk!
In the style of The Doors – Jim Morrison sings about an ominous threat to what should be a simple all-American outing – Beware the devil in the eggs!
Johnny Cash was a seeker. After traveling many twisting roads, did the man in black finally find redemption in a simple short stack?
On a family vacation to Japan, we visited a restaurant that served nothing but sardines. Sardine salad, Sardine soup, Sardine bones (delicious and crunchy!). That inspired this saga of a rainfall of fish that saves a starving Japanese province.
I got to thinking about how cows feel about how their milk, intended for their babies, instead gets shipped off in all those cartons. Cows seem content, but maybe they wonder? Maybe they don’t?
“You Are What You Eat” is a phrase used to admonish us to think about the food we put in our bodies. But, what if the connection between what we eat and who we are were a little more real?