My first exposure to "In C" was during grad school (relatively late by many standards). The LP had apparently been in heavy rotation because it would skip periodically, but unlike that situation with just about any other piece of music, it actually added to the experience. I would be zoning out at any given point, but when the record skipped, the jump would most often be in time, and I would then focus and zero in my listening to a paricular section of the piece before shoving the needle forward (or backward). For me, the flexibility of "In C" is singularly unique in it's ability to alternately live in the background and/or draw in the listener's focus. I tried to stay true to that sensibility as I organized my thoughts around the two remixes I made for this compilation, and hopefully succeeded in making them a similar type of "flexible listening."

- Michael Lowenstern

www.in-c-remixed.com

"In C Remixed" is the latest project from the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, the corn-fed young group from western Michigan that brought you Innova’s 2007 best-seller, Steve Reich’s "Music for 18 Musicians". That release vaulted to #1 on the iTunes and Amazon classical charts and spent eleven weeks on the Billboard charts. WNYC’s John Schaefer called it “the story of the year in classical music.”

Following in its own footsteps, the group has taken on another Minimalist icon: Terry Riley’s "In C" from 1964, a work known as the Rosetta Stone of the style, that opened up a new world where classical and rock music could finally meet. Insistent, propulsive, and vastly appealing, "In C" is based on a series of 53 interlocking phrases, repeated any number of times, that merge to form a kaleidoscopic, ever-changing tapestry of sound.

From the heady days of the 60s to the fastpaced 21st century lifestyle, what has changed in the last 45 years? "In C Remixed" offers 18 answers to that question. The GVSU New Music Ensemble gave their lively and incisive tracks (pristinely recorded by Silas Brown) to some of the hottest artists around (some of whom weren’t even born when the original was created) and told them to go to town. Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang, ambient/hip hop master DJ Spooky, cello goddess Zoë Keating, crossover Wunderkind Nico Muhly, electronica pioneer Jack Dangers, and many more took to their laptops and played freely. From chill room ambiance to alternate-universe dancefloor anthem, from the Left Coast to New York – In C retains the distinctive energy and charm that has made it the Ground Zero of Minimalism for decades. With its stirring performance and rocking remixes, In C Remixed goes well beyond its modest white notes.