Cantaloupe Music announced Drumkit Quartets, a series of compositions for percussion by Glenn Kotche (Wilco, Illimaq) and performed by S? Percussion. To ring in the announcement, they’ve shared “Drumkit Quartet #54“, which is available here.

Kotche and S? Percussion are also slated to perform at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on February 12 with Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), in which they will perform music from Drumkit Quartets and other original compositions. Tickets to the event are on sale HERE.
“I originally conceived of writing a suite of drumkit quartets after finishing a string of commissions and projects for mixed instrumentation,” Kotche says in the album’s liner notes. “At the time, I was feeling a strong desire to get back to writing for percussion. I wanted to write without any concern for tonality and really just explore new possibilities for my primary instrument — the drumkit — in an ensemble setting.”
The impetus for the concept came to Kotche when he was touring with Wilco, and he began composing a different piece in each city they visited. When S? Percussion approached him about composing some new work for them, he thought that these pieces, which at the time ranged from conceptual frameworks to fully notated compositions, would be a fitting addition to their repertoire. They eventually were refined into the compositions present on Drumkit Quartets, one of which (the marimba-based “Drumkit Quartet #51”) features a haiku recited by Cibo Matto’s Yuka Honda.
“I think the timbral, textural, melodic and rhythmic possibilities haven’t yet been explored nearly enough,” he continued, and it’s clear that Kotche and S? Percussion are the right ones to carry out that exploration with the thoughtful care and expertise it deserves. With their combined pedigrees and years of performing in settings as varied as they come, their combined efforts have produced something truly extraordinary in Drumkit Quartets.