Flotation Device 2024-03-17 - William S. Burroughs is on fire

Flotation Device catches up with the latest from Sam Shalabi (straddling Nubian oud music and international free improv), Joan Tower (the doyenne of American orchestral music), Bernhard Lang and Sarah Maria Sun (with an ambitious setting of William S. Burroughs' posthumously published The Travel Agency is on Fire), Lea Bertucci and Lawrence English (doing transcontinental dark ambient) and the late Kaija Saariaho (via a cello+organ piece getting its first recording). We say goodbye to Wally Shoup (1944–2024), one of the Northwest’s most admired free improvisers, and commence our retelling of The Residents’ origin myth as we approach the 50th anniversary of their debut album—espying their ongoing influence in a quirky new single from Yikii. Cameos from Shelley Hirsch and Michael Nyman round out the playlist. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell.