Ghost Against Ghost, "Checkpoint Charlie" EP

"...It’s the kind of sad that makes me want to call Bono on the phone just to check in and make sure he’s okay. Then “Part 2: The Descent” fades in and delivers one gut punch of a drone “designed to voice the sense of persistent darkness that abounds in the experience of despair once the terror of heartbreak sets in.” Now the urge to make that phone call becomes the need to lay on the couch and have an ugly cry – but in a good way! Bono taps into the universal anguish of heartbreak and strips it of adjectives, of metaphors, and gives us a piece of music that sounds like one long, cathartic scream. But still in a good way!"

 

Christopher Bono's, 'BARDO' selected by Second Inversion as #3 album of the year!

 


CHRISTOPHER BONO's, "BARDO"

 

 

“There is nothing in Bono’s biography that prepares the listener for the full throttle, dynamic intensity of the music he writes, conducts and performs.” 

"If any of these descriptions or Bono’s titles suggest that ‘Bardo’ is a new age musical composition, don’t be misled. ‘Bardo’ IS AS SAVAGE AND UNRELENTING a piece of music as one could hope to hear, so that when Bono takes the intensity down a notch to resolve ‘Bardo’ with a lovely, gentle melody, like the journey from life to death, it’s something that’s been earned."    ~ Douglas Helsgrave  

"This is an artist just totally hitting his stride." 

"Before entering Bardo IV, we are treated to “Endless Doors to Endless Wombs,” which is this reviewer’s favorite of all the preludes.  The beautiful, meditative piece lasts for a blissful seven minutes and, if you close your eyes and turn up the volume, it might feel like you’re floating." ~ Rachele Hales

"i can’t wait to see the classical purists’ heads explode...Bardo is a huge soundtrack of sadness and Tibetan mysticism, and sometimes dramatic: “The End of the Oligarchs” thrashes and looms like Bernard Herrmann’s score accompanying the giant-lizard scenes of Journey to the Center of the Earth. Found sounds abound, such as the waves washing up on a beach in “The Dawning Space of Azure Light.” Bardo is complex, yet an accessible place for the classical curious to start an exploration of contemporary composition."  ~ Jeff SPevak


UNITY & THE UNEXCELLED MANTRA

"New Stop-Motion Film "Unity" Is The Work Of A Potential Animation Legend." 

"Constructed from over ten thousand individual photographs, Tobias Stretch's animation aligns beautifully with the power of Christopher Bono's choral work, "Unity" 

“Bono, a rising name in the 21st Century Contemporary Composition scene, has quickly been garner- ing accolades with his refusal to bend toward traditional music-creation conformity and a strong knack for creating vivid imagery through his pure, yet distinctly zestful works.” 

"Christopher Bono's spectacularly haunting unity & The unexcelled mantra EP (which even as an ep bests out many full length choral recordings in the last five years),..."~Alto Riot , Runner-up: Best of 2013

"Paired with the music of composer Christopher Bono, the end result is a beautiful, cinematic and somewhat trippy film that’s unlike anything I’ve seen before."

"'Masterpiece' is a big, important word. But sometimes you just have to say it."


NOUS


INVOCATIONS

“...mellow and approachable, with vivid sonorities that linger in the memory.” 

 

On Invocation No. 2 “Fish, Father, Phoenix”:

‘Fish, Father, Phoenix’ employs taped fragments... and nature recordings over an ensemble of winds, strings, and percussion, mixed in a montage that raises questions about the meaning of life.”
 

On Invocation No. 3 “Sunday Stills The Willow”:

"Sunday Stills The Willow’ is a quiet, lyrical reflection that sums up the works’ poignant expressions.”

~ Blair Sanderson

“...very meditative, almost religious.”  ~ Daniel Coombs

 

On “The Missing” for String Quartet:

“The music has a carefully balanced form and explores the sensations of loss, confusion and clarity, the ability to endure, reflect and face the future. There is a feeling listening to it that is like that of listen- ing to Shostakovich: something profoundly powerful and emotional that must be said, with no words adequate enough to say it. Instead there is music.”
 

On Invocation No. 1 “Exhaust”:

“While post-minimalist devices such as repeated-note ostinatos with syncopated accents, hard-hitting articulations and slow glissandos characterize the string trio movement, they never sound like clichés by virtue of Bono’s skillful textural deployment and ear for timbral variety.”

On “The Missing” for String Quartet:

“This composer-produced recording stands out for the engineeringʼs clean and clear quality and the focused precision of the performers.” ~ Jed Distler

“...discovering Christopher Bono’s music has been a rewarding experience...” 

“The second movement, ‘Fish, Father, Phoenix,’ is something else entirely. Here a string quintet (with double bass) is joined by harp, winds, percussion, and a series of samples. Seemingly taking a cue from the documentary-like snippets of pre-recorded speech in Steve Reich’s landmark Different Trains, Bono weaves an elaborate soundtrack around fragments of a narrative. But unlike the speech samples Reich used, which—like those in Scott Johnson’s earlier John Somebody—determine the melodic shapes and rhythmic inflections in the instrumental music that accompanies them, Bono’s speech samples are but one timbral element in his multifarious sonic palette.”

On “The Missing” for String Quartet:

“While much of 21st-century contemporary composition is not beholden to any rules, to the extent that I could probably claim everyone to be an ʻoutsiderʼ in some ways, Bonoʼs music sounds as though everything he writes is something he is discovering for the very first time, even if there are clear refer- ence points throughout to the sound worlds of other composers from both our own time and other eras.”    ~ Frank J. Oteri                             

“So many self-produced CDs that arrive for review are not worthy of consideration for ARG or any oth- er classical magazine with standards. Occasionally though, something comes out of nowhere that is worthy and compelling. This is one of those.” ~ Jack Sullivan, American Record Guide                                           

“As you listen you will hear compositional clarity--something often missing in contemporary music, and well-honed chord schematics that are as expressive as            they are thoughtful.”

“...Bono concocts a broad, enticing, and unfamiliar musical landscape...bold and daring... The ques- tions he poses will stir your imagination.” ~ Micaele Sparacino

“Christopher Bono has a great deal of color and vibrance in his works.”  ~ Chris McGovern

“Bono’s compositions, which are cinematic in the purest sense of the word... they’re films for the ears...”