ListN Up is a series of weekly artist-curated playlists. Born from a desire to keep artists sharing and connected during times of isolation, ListN Up offers an intimate sonic portrait of contemporary artists by showcasing the diverse and stylistically varied music that influences their creative practice. This series is sponsored by American Composers Forum/innova Recordings with new releases every Friday on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.
Qasim Naqvi is a drummer, composer and one of the founding members of the group Dawn of Midi.
Hi, this is Qasim Naqvi. Hope everyone is doing alright and staying safe. I’m here today to share this playlist that I made, and it features different types of keyboard music–music ranging from purely solo acoustic piano works to music for synthesizers–different types of synthesizers of different makes. And that’s basically it. I hope you like it. Thanks for listening and take care!
Organ Sonata No. 4, BWV 528: II. Andante [Adagio] by J.S. Bach (Transcr. Stradal), performed by Víkingur Ólafsson
I was frantically searching for some music to calm my daughter down. She was about 15 days old and crying bloody murder at around 3AM and this recording did the trick. Since then this album and transcription have stuck with me.
Eastern Man by Terry Riley
I love Terry Riley’s music. He feels like the progenitor of a lot of musical trends that exist today, but a lot of people outside of the “art music” world probably have no idea who he is.
calla by Kelly Moran
I first heard of Kelly Moran through her work with Oneohtrix. From there, I discovered her early releases of prepared piano music, and this one is really special.
Chronology by Qasim Naqvi
Perhaps this is a faux pas, but I wanted to include one piece of mine. In keeping with the theme of keyboard instruments, this album was made entirely on a broken Mini Moog synthesizer. It was on its way to the trash heap and was secretly leant to me by someone who shall remain nameless.
Buchla Music Easel Live in the forest by Sean Julian
I love Buchla synthesizers, and I’ve salivated over them for some time now, but they’re too damn expensive. In my online grail quest for Buchla instruments, I discovered Sean Julian. He makes really beautiful music with a Buchla Music Easel.
J.S. Bach Transcriptions by Kurtág, performed by Márta and György Kurtág
I found this on Twitter, courtesy of Meara O’Reilly. I’ve been a huge fan of Kurtág’s music, and there’s something really touching about this clip with him and his wife, and I enjoy coming back to it.
—> (i) by Owen Pallett
I wanted to include something totally new, and this just came out a few days ago. It’s a great opener to Owen’s new album.
Want more from Qasim Naqvi?
Read Christian Kriegeskotte’s review of Qasim’s album Teenages on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN
Read Jacob Kopcienski’s review of Qasim’s album Film on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN
Read Danny Clay’s review of Qasim’s album Preamble on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN