The Music Up In The Clouds

So the American Composers Forum has this little record label called Innova. Last I checked the label was putting out some great new jazz and gospel records, as well as the requisite “contemporary classical” discs. The few Innova-issued recordings in my collection include The Beat Circus, which is basically a collection of zany circus music–a great party-starter; The Star Chamber, intense industrial jazz–something I’d describe to my friends as “just kinda all right”; and then there’s my favorite find of the past two years, The Clouds, a record that oughtta get “discovered,” if you know what I’m saying. The Clouds’ composer is Stuart Hyatt, a guy whose work I previously knew nothing of. He was once likened to Guided By Voices vocalist-guistarist-songwriter Robert Pollard by an ACF employee wanting to entice me, and I thought to myself even then: That’s props. (I see now that this Pollard comparison lingers on the Innova website, even though the employee-in-question is long gone.) In any case, Hyatt directed a choir of young-n-old from Sumner County, Alabama for this Clouds project. I’d characterize the results as “avant-gospel” or perhaps “ambiguous gospel,” since the message from God isn’t crystal clear. But whatever it is, it’s the most listenable, likeable, and hopeful collection of music I’ve stumbled across in a long while. It’s the sort of music that endures.

The original point here is that Innova and the American Composers Forum are worth checking out. Secret of the Day is that ACF is hosting a concert at the Southern Theater tonight. If you can’t make it, Sound Check, ACF’s new, regular concert series, will reappear in a few weeks.