The newest music being written these days obliterates the notions of "genre" that have been at the heart of the recording industry for decades, encouraging us to view "Pop," "Jazz," "Folk," and "Classical" as separate realms, with occasional "cross-overs" (i.e. Andrea Bocelli). But those categories only exist in the realm of the industry, not in the work being written today by people like Evan Ziporyn, Phil Kline, and John King. This music doesn't just cross over: it blows up the wall that separates high art pretense from musical pleasure. The tunes here are smart, but as listenable as anything in the pop bins (and more so than a lot of pop out there). To put it simply, Ethel rocks: these four can play anything! If Kronos opened a door to welcome the string quartet into the 21st century, Ethel has gone through that door, and is pickin' and grinnin' on the front porch. Not one dull moment, and how many New Music recordings can you make THAT claim for?
