17 Aug 2006 // A review by warwick
"With evocative, oceanic swells of electronics or instruments which then drift back to the merest trickle of sounds, this is music cinematic in conception but also so inviting of reflection as to be highly personal . The final track is beamed in from another cosmos." Graham Reid, NZ Herald

"If Stockhausen had been a Zen Buddhist, he could have been Warwick Blair. If you like the soundtrack to your headspace to be invigorating and meditative, then Accordian with its gorgeously stark sonic textures animated by throbs, buzzes and processed vocal sounds, is wired to suit." (4/5 stars) Mike Alexander, Sunday Star-Times

"Warwick Blair's highly evolved compositions are the perfect soundtrack to modern rail transport. They're minimalist, strangely eerie, and induce a trance-like state fit for supersonic exploration . NASA would be wise to somehow incorporate Accordian into their next moon mission." Phil Bostwick, Rip It Up

In the late 1980s, having barely begun what is now a 20-year career, Composer Warwick Blair was already being described as “one of New Zealand’s most original musical thinkers” (NZ Herald) and the “enfant terrible of New Zealand Music” (NZ Listener). His first trip to Europe in 1987 was to perform at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival with legendary Greek polymath Iannis Xenakis using UPIC, an early electronic music system. In 1990 his Aotea Centre-opening orchestral performance 'The Good Seeds Are So Small', performed by the APO and broadcast by Radio New Zealand, was proclaimed concert of the year by seminal music magazine Rip It Up.

Having received an AGC Young Achievers Award in 1989, Blair moved to the Netherlands where he studied electronic music and classical composition with Louis Andriessen, and earned a NUFFIC scholarship from the Dutch Government. In 1991 Blair moved from Den Haag to London. Inspired by 4AD groups Dead Can Dance (featuring Lisa Gerrard) and This Mortal Coil, he began diversifying into the wider realms of pop music and formed the band ‘glory box’.

Blair has given concerts in the UK and Europe, including London’s prestigious South Bank Centre in 1994. His recording career includes material for Phonogram Records ('Glory Box', 1995) as well as orchestral arrangements for ambient techno terrorist 'Scanner' (1997) and the group Mandalay (V2 Records, 1998) – a role that saw him working alongside Madonna/Bjork producer Guy Sigsworth. Reviews have appeared in The Times, NME, Wired and GQ, with radio support coming from BBC Radio 1 and Kiss FM, to name a few.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Warwick Blair

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