Interview on KALW San Francisco’s “Then & Now” with Sarah Cahill
Sarah Cahill is a pianist and music critic whose radio program was named “One of the Hundred Best Things in the Bay Area” by Citysearch online magazine. Sarah’s KALW program, called “Then & Now,” focuses on the relationships between classical music and new music, encompassing interviews with musicians and composers, historical performances, and exciting recordings outside the mainstream. Sarah welcomed Corey Dargel to KALW’s studio for a live interview on her program August 22, 2010. Listen:
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Ctrl-click or right-click HERE to download the mp3 file.
Frank J. Oteri on Someone Will Take Care of Me
Frank J. Oteri writes about Corey’s new album Someone Will Take Care of Me at New Music Box:
For nearly a decade Corey Dargel has been making extraordinarily weird musical concepts sound natural and almost mainstream by packaging them as popular songs. Irregular meters and phrases, totalist polyrhythms, and unstable harmonic movement are commonplace throughout his oeuvre… But all of these advanced musical techniques are never ends in and of themselves; in fact, since these devices serve his songs so well, a casual listener might not even realize all of what’s going on in Dargel’s electronically generated song accompaniments… Ultimately Dargel’s pop-song trappings are a façade that lulls you into a false sense of security as a listener; before you know it, you’re bopping your head to a very complex series of beats, humming a melody that doesn’t quite line up with those beats, and thinking about the world in a way that you most likely would never have thought about it before.
But if Corey Dargel’s output has always been the work of a singer-songwriter who engages in heady compositional strategies, he completely ups the ante with…the double-CD Someone Will Take Care of Me…
Read the full essay here.
REMOVABLE PARTS the “absolute highlight” of Opera Grows in Brooklyn
Parterre Box praised Corey Dargel’s Removable Parts, calling it the “absolute highlight” of the Opera Grows in Brooklyn concert on July 9th, 2010 at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, NY:
The absolute highlight of the evening for me was an amazing work about love and voluntary amputation. Composer and singer/songwriter Corey Dargel and pianist Kathleen Supové presented their song cycle/rock show/performance art piece titled “Removable Parts,” featuring Mr. Dargel singing, his voice oddly similar to Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie. The texts, also written by Mr. Dargel, have the most jarring combination of sweetly true love and disgusting details of the wish for amputation of healthy limbs. The experience was an intense, heartfelt, funny, emotional piece of contentious individuality and somehow without any hint of sarcasm.
Interview with Jayson Greene & Album Review by John Schaefer on eMusic.com
On the occasion of the release of his new album, Someone Will Take Care of Me, Corey Dargel recently sat down with eMusic’s Jayson Greene to discuss a few of his own songs as well as a head-spinningly diverse “Jukebox Jury” that makes stop-offs at Gary Numan, Magnetic Fields, Xiu Xiu, and Lotte Lenya.
You can read the full interview HERE.
In addition, eMusic’s John Schaefer reviews the album and gives it an “Editor’s Pick.” For those who are not eMusic members, here is the text of that review:
Intimate, witty, and often kinda creepy, Corey Dargel’s songs strike an uneasy balance between art and pop. Using some top-shelf musicians from New York’s contemporary music scene and singing in a pop style (usually multitracked), Dargel spins quirky, lyrical tales of dysfunction and delusion. Someone Will Take Care of Me is a reassuring title for an album full of songs about people in desperate need of reassurance. In Thirteen Near-Death Experiences, the first of the album’s two song cycles, Dargel is accompanied by ICE, the International Contemporary Ensemble, featuring drummer David T Little, for a series of skittering pop-inflected compositions. Imagine Franz Schubert composing a song cycle about hypochondria after listening to AM radio Top 40 and studying Thelonius Monk, and you might be prepared for “Twelve Year Old Scotch,” or “Sometimes a Migraine Is Just a Migraine,” or what I’m willing to bet is the first-ever art-song about Ritalin.
Even more unnervingly accessible is the second song cycle, Removable Parts, which takes a familiar love-song trope to its absurdist extreme. Old images of love hurting, blinding and tearing out one’s heart are here turned into songs in which voluntary amputations are a metaphor for ways to deal with a lover’s distance, or a lover’s unwelcome closeness, or the singer’s own self-doubts and lack of confidence. “Hooked For Life,” where the singer’s hands have been replaced by hooks, is a particularly clever and unsavory song: “You’ll feel obliged to be sympathetic/ You’ll let me hold you/ Even though you won’t want to.” “Toes” and “Hands” are equally unwholesome but winning compositions, and the finale, “Everybody Wannabe,” is as catchy as it is disturbing — which is to say, very catchy. Dargel accompanies himself with a variety of electronic keyboards, and the gifted new music specialist Kathleen Supove plays piano — a neat, if distant, echo back to the old voice-and-piano tradition of the classical song-cycle.
The Official iTunes Review of “Someone Will Take Care of Me”
Here is the official review of Someone Will Take Care of Me from the iTunes Store. Click here to open in iTunes.
In the 21st century the line that separates classical and pop continues to blur. How different are, say, Nico Muhly and the Dirty Projectors? Or Sufjan Stevens and the vocalist/composer Corey Dargel, who released the impressive Someone Will Take Care of Me in 2010? There’s an echo of the late, great Arthur [Russell]’s work in Dargel’s art songs. Each half of this double album presents a set of pieces that are linked thematically. On “[Thirteen] Near Death Experiences,” Dargel, joined by the International Contemporary Ensemble and drummer David T. Little, explores hypochondria and other issues. The second set, “Removable Parts,” which finds Dargel accompanied by pianist Kathleen Supové, looks at the unlikely subject of voluntary amputation. Herky-jerky rhythms and catchy string figures mark “Touch Me Where it Counts,” which expresses the erotic feelings of a patient for his doctor. “Ritalin” deals with the flattening effect of the drug as handclaps interact with ensemble playing. “Fingers” evokes a stranger, more complicated Stephin Merritt song, and in its own way, it’s just as catchy.
Interview on the Naxos blog
Go here for the full interview.
Corey Dargel is known for his sweet yet psychologically complex electro-pop songs, exemplified by his previous albums Other People’s Love Songs and Less Famous Than You. For his upcoming double-CD album,Someone Will Take Care of Me, Dargel delves deeper into the darker realms of the psyche, and he utilizes acoustic instruments for the first time in nearly a decade. What do these changes signify about Dargel’s own psyche? I counseled him about the album, and I think we made several breakthroughs. Below is a transcript of our conversation. You can download two FREE TRACKS from the album at New Amsterdam Records.
Matt Marks: Your album Someone Will Take Care of Me consists of two CDs of two song cycles, Thirteen Near-Death Experiences and Removable Parts. Do you consider (more…)
Interview with Andrew Patner on WFMT Chicago
On March 22, 2010, Corey was Andrew Patner‘s guest for the full hour of Patner’s radio show Critical Thinking on WFMT Chicago. The episode features the very first broadcast of full songs from the forthcoming album, Someone Will Take Care of Me (out May 25).
You can find the show’s feed/podcast here & the official WFMT show site here. The episode featuring Corey is dated 03/22/2010
Andrew Patner (pictured) is the classical music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times; a Critic-at-Large with 98.7WFMT Radio Chicago and wfmt.com; and the author of I.F. Stone: A Portrait(Pantheon, 1988; Anchor pb, 1990)
Click the play button below to stream the full episode.
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Chicago Classical Review of Thirteen Near-Death Experiences
Read the review of Corey’s performance with the International Contemporary Ensemble at Chicago’s legendary Velvet Lounge.
A wry, quirky take on hypochondria and a theatrical retooling of Schubert’s “Winterreise”
by Lawrence A. Johnson
One can glean some idea of the riches of Chicago’s music scene with the pair of weekend events on successive evenings presented by two of the city’s most audacious new-music groups. Each offered a distinctive take on the traditional song cycle, one a theatrical retooling of the most famous work in the genre by Schubert, and the other a genre-traversing new work by a greatly gifted young singer-composer making his Chicago debut.
Saturday night brought the local premiere of Thirteen Near-Death Experiences by Corey Dargel at The Velvet Lounge on the near South Side, an event presented by ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble).
Dargel is an artist clearly attracted to the darker side of life ranging from sexual incompetents (Sexual Side-Effects) to voluntary amputation (Removable Parts).
Hypochondria is the leitmotif for Dargel’s Thirteen Near-Death Experiences. Consisting of twelve songs and a Prelude for the backing instrumental sextet, Dargel’s vocal settings play off his own divers worries about his medical conditions, (racing heart, pain in the ribs, black spots on his tongue). Yet rather than a morbidly clinical self-absorption, Dargel’s songs are wryly witty and often hilarious, crafted with a charming, angular lyricism, the deft lyrics recalling the best work of Warren Zevon and Randy Newman.
The first song, Twelve -Year-Old Scotch tells of a nurse who supposedly plied Dargel with alcohol as a baby (“I need a constant supply just to get by.”) In What Will It Be for Me,Dargel muses on how his demise will come (“Cardiac arrest or clinically depressed? . . . there’s no mystery given my family’s medical history.”)
Other songs explore the hazards of atomic halitosis (Impotent Teeth), overfriendly doctor examinations (Touch Me Where it Counts) and a realization that obsession with imaginary illnesses can be self-defeating (Sometimes a Migraine is Just a Migraine). Yet despite the pervasive darkness of the themes, Dargel’s cycle is self-effacing and gently ironic, even ending on a touching optimistic note with Someone Will Take Care of Me.
What lifts these songs from merely comic throwaways is their graceful charm, mixing a lyric delicacy with an unsettled rhythmic line that reflects the hypochondriac’s nervous tension. The musical style is a hybrid, closer to pop than classical, but Dargel’s scoring for sextet shows great skill and ingenuity as in the opening instrumental neo-Baroque Prelude.
Dargel’s natural yet flexible voice (discreetly amplified Saturday) and crystal-clear enunciation, allowed every lyric rim-shot to register. The humorous effect of the texts was enhanced by Dargel’s expressionless, deadpan delivery. The ensemble of ICE stalwarts (flutist Eric Lamb, clarinetist Joshua Rubin, keyboardist Jacob Greenberg, percussionist David T. Little, violinist David Bowlin and cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman) provided airtight backing to Dargel, allowing every displaced accent and slow fade to register precisely.
Corey Dargel is a unique, clearly gifted young artist and kudos to ICE for bringing Dargel and his quirky music to Chicago…
Interview on My Big Gay Ears
Joseph Dalton interviewed Corey for the blog My Big Gay Ears. Go HERE for the full interview.
A Brooklyn resident and Texas native, Corey Dargel is a 32 year-old composer and singer. His music has appeared on NPR and even merited a Tweet from Rachel Maddow. After catching a performance of Dargel at Here in Manhattan, Alex Ross wrote: “Gaunt in appearance and impish in spirit, he sings in a plaintive, innocent-sounding voice, his texts zigzagging between raw confession and cerebral absurdity.”
What are you working on these days?
I have a new album “Someone Will Take Care of Me” coming out in the spring, so a lot of time lately has been devoted to recording-studio work. I’m also just starting to work on an opera — or something like an opera — with the ensemble Newspeak, novelist Andrew Sean Greer, and stage director Emma Griffin. I’m not yet allowed to say what it’s based on, but religious delusion and schizophrenia play significant roles. Also, Cornelius Dufallo (aka Neil) and I are starting a project performing songs for voice and violin with digital looping. This might also include the Bliptronic 5000that my brother just gave me for Christmas.
Do you keep up with technology? What tools work for you and which ones have you found to be overrated?
I do keep up with it, especially now that I have my Bliptronic 5000. I’m on Twitter and Facebook and I design and maintain my own website. I also blogged about my last big piece, “Thirteen Near-Death Experiences,” while I was composing it. I wouldn’t necessarily single out any technology as “overrated,” but I would say that the internet favors informational knowledge over procedural knowledge and is therefore potentially threatening to critical thinking. As for music, I think many creative musicians make the mistake of using technology to generate ideas when they should be using ideas to generate technology.
Are you single or coupled?…
Go HERE for the full interview.
Interview on Culturebot
Click here to read the interview.
Rachel Maddow Tweets About Corey’s Condoleezza Rice Songs
Beloved MSNBC host Rachel Maddow posted a tweet about Corey’s art song settings of remarks by Condoleezza Rice. Go here to listen to the songs, performed by Two Sides Sounding.
“I don’t play gospel very well. I play Brahms.” -Condoleezza Rice
NPR Song of the Day: “My Voice Is in Your Head”
NPR’s Song of the Day singles out Corey Dargel’s “My Voice Is in Your Head (For Katie from Teresa)” in this article by Lara Pellegrinelli:
NPR.org, March 31, 2009 – Trips to the hospital rarely figure into the lyrics of love songs, but in “My Voice Is in Your Head,” Corey Dargel croons his way through an appendectomy over layered electronic beats. The ungainly lyrics take listeners bedside, setting an unlikely scene for romance: “And we laughed at the compression stockings / that kept my blood from clotting.” Was that a case of flirtatious giggles, or was it the pain medication talking?
“My Voice Is in Your Head” opens Other People’s Love Songs, an album that relates the real-life love stories of regular people, in this case the accident-prone Katie and Teresa. Dargel compiled the project from songs he’d been commissioned to write for weddings, anniversaries and other special occasions.
Because he draws directly on conversations with his patrons, the lyrics can be plainspoken, quirky or even awkward — just like everyday people. Dargel’s songs make the case that real intimacy can be found in our day-to-day exchanges rather than the mundane profundity of more grandiose pop songs, and “Your Voice Is in My Head” is no exception.
Read the full article, and leave a comment about it here.
Composing via Blog
I am chronicling the creation of my new piece, Thirteen Near-Death Experiences, a concert of songs about hypochondria, commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). I created this blog because I’m attracted to the idea of creating this piece “in public.” I’m interested in hearing what people think of the songs as I’m writing them and/or what people think of the research I’m doing as I’m doing it. So please visit the blog at 13neardeathexperiences.com, listen to the audio mock-ups of songs I’ve posted there, read the lyrics, look at the musical scores, and/or leave some comments for me.
Removable Parts on WNYC’s The Takeaway
On the WNYC program The Takeaway, NY Times critic Claudia La Rocco names Removable Parts one of her top picks for the 2009 Under The Radar Festival. Here’s a clip from the interview:
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La Rocco also wrote a Times review of Removable Parts in September 2007 during the show’s premiere run.
Art on Air Radio Interviews Corey
Go here to listen to a 30-minute interview with Corey Dargel by Pete McCabe for Art on Air radio.
Art International Radio (AIR) (née WPS1) is an Internet art radio station created to provide art talk programs, experimental music and other music surveys and DJ sets, historic recordings and interviews, public programs from cultural institutions and partners around the world, poetry, radio theater, audio art, and other sonic surprises.
Removable Parts preview in the Toronto Star
Out on a Limb
by John Terauds
published in the Toronto Star, December 5, 2008
Of all the show titles to cause a double take, Removable Parts: A Series of Love Songs About Voluntary Amputation, has to be among the most provocative.
The lyrics brim with phrases such as “You’ll be hooked for life / I’ll wrap my hooks around you,” as someone sings a love song about replacing hands with metal prostheses.
This performance-art piece – 12 songs strung together with a bit of dialogue and choreography – by Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter/music producer Corey Dargel is truly unlike anything you’ve seen or heard before. Only one 1960s precedent comes to mind: Tom Lehrer’s “Masochism Tango.”
Dargel’s twisted imagination makes love out of wanting to sever parts of one’s body. Although it sounds too weird to be palatable, rev (more…)
Corey on NPR’s Weekend Edition
Listen to the audio by visiting here.
Weekend Edition Saturday, November 1, 2008 – For his new album, Other People’s Love Songs, Corey Dargel wrote 13 personalized songs on commission for couples of all configurations: Husbands and wives, siblings, and friends. (more…)
