LA Dance Chronicle: “…mesmerizing… wonderful…”
Stage and Cinema: “… a mind fuck.”
2021 Press for Hodad
Sequenza 21: “Hodad is a metaphor for the relative spheres of influence – the violin in the concert hall and the surf outdoors. One is full of quiet introspection, the other has unlimited energy, but in this piece both can be examined by the listener in the same context.”
2020 press for Concerto for Having Fun with Elvis on Stage
Sequenza 21: “…carried off with exemplary production values and extraordinary performances, making the case that new music concerts can be experienced online at a high level.”
LA Times Cultural Pick: “Theater artist Alexander Gedeon and composer Daniel Corral deconstruct the myth of pop stardom in this musical fable with live accompaniment by the Now Hear Ensemble.”
LA Weekly: Arts Calendar Highlight
2020 press for Pastoral by Victoria Marks
LA Dance Chronicle: “Pastoral takes the early 20th century concept of Americana worship and shatters it — rightfully so. Though things have never fully been fair, the once tangible idea of ‘making it’ has become almost entirely fantastical, as we struggle to find out place in this land.”
2019 press for (antiquated) Augmented Reality by Christine Marie
Variety: “The vivid choreography and score leave a lasting impression within one’s psyche…”
NBC: Sundance Film Festival ASCAP 21st Anniversary Lineup
Cool Hunting: “Marie’s work reminds all visitors of the power in exploring all manners of reality modification.”
2018 press for Polytope
Riting: “Polytope embodies ‘the gold standard’ of ambient music — it can hover in the background and cast a subtle vibe, but will also stand up to closer inspection: delicately layered overtones cascade and recede, forming a spellbinding latticework. In moments, it’s not unlike water drops on a windshield, dripping and streaking reflected light with each movement of the wiper.”
Sequenza 21: “Polytope is an extraordinary piece of musical and visual art… that is both accessible and compelling.”
Vital Weekly: “Whatever it is, it sounds simply wonderful… worth your every while.”
The Stranger: “After five minutes of this silvery, undulant tintinnabulation, I was ready to evaporate into another more sparkly and stimulating dimension than the one in which we currently suffer. This piece sounds like gamelan from Pluto—or maybe ’70s Philip Glass as interpreted by Harry Partch on his Cloud-Chamber Bowls.”
New Classic LA (Interview): “Daniel Corral’s latest work, Polytope, premieres at Automata as part of this year’s MicroFest, who have named their season after it. We were lucky that Daniel had a minute to answer some questions about this piece…”
24700: “Composer, CalArts faculty and alumnus Daniel Corral (Music MFA 07) presents the live debut of his latest release Polytope to Automata in Los Angeles on Sunday (March 18). The concert is the featured performance of this year’s MicroFest 2018.”
SF Gate: “A mesmerizing visual and musical spectacle”
MetalJazz: “Musicians who know the turf”
The Rest is Noise: Miscellany
2017 press for Circle Limit III
Mark Swed, LA Times: ” … a stunning wall of sound as aural complement to Gehry’s steel.”
Sequenza 21: “…Circle Limit III, by Daniel Corral, gracefully flowed outward in a warm ambient wash. The piece was never static… with the sound rising, falling and slowly shimmering in the bright afternoon sunshine. The harmonies were lush and comforting and worked to subvert the frenetic sounds of traffic out in the street. Circle Limit III was perfectly chosen for the sidewalk and fully captured the imagination of the crowd – listening and looking down Grand Avenue became a strangely calming and unexpectedly peaceful experience.”
KPFK: Concert premiere promo
2017 press for Refractions
Christian Carey: “this slowly evolving piece of music is spellbinding in its execution. Rather than foregrounding the incremental shifts of material, the listener is encouraged to bask in a wash of sounds, varied and lovely timbres that are deployed with enough independence to seem to have minds of their own.”
Sequenza 21: “The cool ambient tranquility of Refractions is a much needed antidote to the raucous confusion that infests our daily lives; this music works to elegantly recharge us in a moment of restorative calm.”
National Sawdust Log Journal: “A sublime study in anxious stasis and fleeting repose for string quartet, electric guitar, music box, and digital treatments…”
Textura: “The music blossoms in the most peaceful of manners… the piece… presents an ever-mutating weave of softly glimmering electronics and fluttering acoustic timbres, and as it advances the impression forms of a spacious, ambient-styled composition that’s rooted in both pre-formed structures and improvisation.”
MetalJazz: “Open-aired, shivery…”
Avant Music News: Pick of the week
The Rest is Noise: Nightafternight playlist of “New and recent releases of interest”
24700: “Refractions is a 45-minute electro-acoustic chamber piece that expands on Corral’s 10 years of exploring the sonic and sculptural possibilities of music boxes”
Talk Classical: “Experimental yet attractive new music”
Chicago Reader: Today’s Playlist
Best of 2017 Lists: Bandcamp Daily, Avant Music News (Honorable Mention)National Sawdust, a fool in the forest, Asociacion Intonarumori, Steve Hoffman
2017 press for Ultramarine
Avant Scena: …very active and energetic. The composer masterly combines together extraordinary instruments timbres, dramatic viola melodies, energetic piano solos and wide range of percussion elements.
Filippo Focosi, Kathodik: “Ultramarine by Daniel Corral returns to a frenetic pulsation, enhanced by the percussive use of the viola, but interspersed with more abstract and environmental moments. .”
2016 press for Comma
New Classic LA: “Comma’s multiple paths of engagement and balanced blend of cooperative elements worked to hold audience attention consistently, slowing time against a steady stream of activity. Enthusiasm for the concluded piece reverberated palpably, as a sense of music’s abiding power to enchant and challenge was affirmed once again.”
24700: “The compelling score is inspired by the additive process of minimalist music as grids of light turn on in response to the musician’s movements. “
Los Angeles Downtown News: “A minimalist musical composition using colorful, illuminated buttons on a soundboard. The dark silhouettes of his hands against the backdrop of the light show provide the visual component.”
2016 press for Space-Time
New Classic LA: “The mood set for meditation and rhythmic swaying and shifting, the singers clapped and recited and sang and slurred and whooped. The words philosophize about reading and comprehending, and shift tiny elements to change entire meanings, … atomizing the language and investigating the relationships of its components… The result reframes consonance and dissonance, making the audience rethink on the fly what they think is pleasant and what clashes. What is usually instinctive to our ears here required conscious thought, fitting the space journey of +|’me’S-pace. The beat was constant but the meter shifts, making the steady time feel like it was swaying in the wind. Between the sonority and the flux of time, it is all the listener can do to hang on and enjoy the ride. “
2015 press for Diamond Pulses
Downtown Music Gallery: “Is this some sort of Kraftwerk-like nirvana? As the tempo speeds up, so does the the inner pulse and ours as well. The adrenalin is pumping and we have to hold on. The nervous energy actually feels good, invigorating. If this were slowed down, an interesting melody would appear, but that is besides the point of what is really going on. An exhilarating motorcycle ride through a cavern of endless mirrors. A good change of pace for yours truly. “
MetalJazz: “Corral’s new Orenda Records album, ‘Diamond Pulses,’ shines with surging dynamics and subliminal microtonalisms that make for a fresh and involving experience; live visuals, too.”
Artificialist: “It’s a nod to minimalism, I guess, but it has less affiliation with the east coast music movement than with the west coast art movement. Think of the Light and Space artists, with their hard edges and industrial materials and loud colors. All references aside, it’s a thing of beauty, a big and bright and fun object that, like all good pop, covers the tracks of its own making so you can’t think about it. You can only feel it.”
Living Out Loud LA: “When I first listened to Diamond Pulses, it took me on a musical journey that I’ve never experienced before. Corral’s unique combination of musical influences results in a calming sound that is truly a delight to listen to. Corral is a great composer, and his expression through music transcends into something so unique that no artist can match. By any means, you need to listen to his album because it’s phenomenal.”
New Classic LA: “Listen at home, with dedicated ears, to this strangely rigid dance meditation, a fervent solipsism with a disturbingly wild, encroaching reality. “
Mouser: “‘Diamond Pulses’, in its impossible myriad of creation, is quietly drawing a key to unlock the secrets of the universe.”
David Segal: “RIYL Rod Poole’s The Death Adder and Seth Josel’s Go Guitars.”
Alaska Dispatch News: “Daniel Corral, formerly of Eagle River and now working in Los Angeles, will release his debut solo album, “Diamond Pulses” (Orenda Records) with shows at 8 and 10 p.m. on September 12 at Automata, an L.A. alternative arts venue.”
24700: “Diamond Pulses is a 32-minute soundscape that combines classical minimalist influences, Balinese rhythm undercurrents and modern production aesthetics. Corral counts Terry Riley, Dawn of Midi, Harry Partch and late faculty of the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts James Tenney as key influences on the album.”
2015 press for Collapse
Vanity Fair: Can the Mississippi River dead zone ever be alluring? … the “multimedia glam-rock meets classical baroque concert” seeks to start a bold conversation about our effect on the environment
Blouin ArtInfo: Glam Rock Environmentalism
Brooklyn Rail: The Rocky Horry Picture Show for the coming Apocalypse?
Gothamist: …Dark and satirical performance…
Exeunt: When writing about the genre-defying sound of LA band Timur and the Dime Museum, you might run out of hyphens—their charming glam-rock-cabaret-punk-opera-mischievous magpie-style requires experiencing first-hand to fully appreciate the influences embedded in their eclectic approach to music.
Neat Beet: On the vanguard of both drama and rock music is Timur and the Dime Museum, an experimental rock band out of LA that aims to fuse the two together into an explosive combination.
arts.meme: an art-rock tour of the daily dump of ecological disasters, with songs composed by band member Daniel Corral
2015 press for Meditation
LA Times: “Corral’s wordless, a cappella “Meditation” enters into Ligeti territory with four singers treated to electronic feedback and mimicking what might be mistaken for an airplane in perpetual lift off. The performers looked terrified yet sounded amazing.”
2014 press for Comic Book
LA Times: “Daniel Corral’s ‘Comic Book’ proved a string quartet of slippery snippets and sound effects.”
2014 press for Collapse
LA Times: “nastily seductive… popsy, preachy, beat, grungy or ferociously apocalyptic, with texts to match.”
Fusion TV: “Think: revival tent-type screamer about the perils of Atlantic salmon. Think: a New Wave-style dance number about algae clumps brought together by rising oceans. Think: The kind of environmental message you can seriously not forget.”
Miami Herald: “Collapse” is so full of dark intensity and black humor that you’ll feel fine for experiencing it – but maybe a bit pensive as well.”
Miami New Times: “Intelligent, binary breaking, issue-driven entertainment that breaks binaries and reforms them into a multi-verse of music.”
Artillery Magazine: “It’s a coherent, even cogent, but stylistically unwieldy sequence of songs. It takes a special talent to impart that cogency, that urgency.”
NewMusicBox: “Daniel Corral, the Dime Museum’s accordionist and composer-in-residence, takes an inspired, unexpected approach, turning the whole thing into a psychedelic rock opera of sorts, with catchy hooks, doo-wop harmonies, and a pantheon of stylistic references. This spoonful-of-sugar tactic works wonders for the show, which is more likely to generate delight than despair. I almost feel guilty for enjoying it.”
Artificialist: ” I am well aware that ‘organic unity’ is not the sole criterion by which the quality of musical works ought to be judged, but when it is aimed for and achieved so impeccably, it’s hard not to ooh and ah.”
LA Downtown News: “Collapse has all the elements of high opera with elements of a twisted cabaret and rock and roll”
Stage Rows: “Stage Rows was among Thursday’s opening night’s audience and can testify that everything about Timur’s stage presence and Corral’s new tunes positively reeked of coolness.”
The Constance Gradual: “That which is apprehended by intelligence and reason is always in the same state; but that which is conceived by opinion with the help of sensation and without reason, is always in a process of becoming and perishing and never really is.”
Stage and Cinema: “the sort of music you would love to dance to if not for the guilt-trip inducing lyrics about bee colony collapse, radioactivity, flooding, nuclear disaster, atmospheric hypoxia, and the gradual trash plasticization of our oceans.”
2013 press for Neotrope
Christyfrink.com: “the sound rippled all up and down the stairs and echoed from every direction. It was a really fun thing to see and I’m thankful I caught it.”
2013 press for X-Ray Sunsets
LA Weekly: “post-punk opera from the captivating Timur & the Dime Museum in support of their smashing, romantic, noisy, cabaret-infused new album, X-ray Sunsets”
New Classic LA: “The record, which was largely written, arranged, recorded, edited, mixed, and produced by band member and local composer Daniel Corral, is up on bandcamp now. Timur’s voice is as impossibly flexible as ever, and there’s an enormous range of sounds in the arrangements.”
Arches Magazine: “I know — on this page it looks like a total mess, but the ear loves it.”
2013 press for Dislike
Living Out Loud Los Angeles: “This was truly a treat for all, from our soft spoken dreamers to our extroverted realists, we all went home with a true image of how ugly we can be and how much help we all owe each other.”
Musings by a Dancing Poetess: “By the end of the piece, I hated YouTube; I hated the Internet, and I would have given anything to make it stop. But, my experience of discomfort was what created the power in the Corral’s social commentary.”
Local Looking Glass: “Its music was Baby’s chords played in discordant waves of sound a la Koyaanisqatsi.”
LA Weekly: “Composer Daniel Corral, whose work probes the weirdness of 21st-century living, has written a libretto called Dislike, about the most disliked YouTube video of all time.”
LA Stage Times: “Full of anger, naivete, homophobia, desperation, and mischief, these comments portray a Burroughsian narrative seemingly cut straight from the cloth of the collective unconscious.”
2013 press for LA Canon
The Constance Gradual: “Sing, cymbals, like a lullaby; put justly, it is our best defense.”
2012 press for Zoophilic Follies
Times Quotidian: “That he is comfortable drawing from the whole world of music is no surprise given his musical pursuits, nor that the results are entertaining, beautiful, and interesting.”
2011 press for Sigils
LA Times: “Another work feeding on the attraction of opposites, Daniel Corral’s commanding “Sigils,” with its tension and symbiosis of seeming contradictions, was the recital’s strongest piece. “Sigils” boasts a fascinating — and somewhat split — personality, with its mixtures of rhythmic data-dancing systems and more visceral, clustered fistfuls-of-notes, hazy keyboard cloud activity, and a deceptive “resolving chord” (with a flatted second in the bass).
2011 press for Zoophilic Follies
LA Stage Times: “We relish the comedy involved, and also pause to consider the transcendent power of hopes so large.
Out West Arts: “It is hard to ignore the musical energy of the piece… Zoophilic Follies cries out for further development and performances.”
Times Quotidian: “This thrilling, precious project was as entertaining as it was unique, driven by ever-engaging songs, instrumental solos, and tight ensemble playing.”
