Babel-17 from Echolocation by Mendoza Hoff Revels

Babel–17 is named for the novel by Samuel Delany which, to oversimplify it greatly, deals with the powers of language. Spoken and written language can be beneficial as well as dangerous, and inevitably alters our consciousness by giving us the words we think with.  Music is arguably a language with similar powers to shape how we think and feel.

Musically this is based on layers of 12-tone melodies, or sentences, which follow a 5 note (quintuplet) cue to snap into a gestural, harmolodically-influenced bassline-as-melody. The contrasting tempos of the solo sections reflect the implications of the previously stated quintuplet line, used as a cue by the soloist that they are wrapping up their remarks.

–devin hoff

• Punk
• jazz punk
• progressive punk
• punk rock
• New York