Ice Cream Time – Nick Didkovsky Composer Portrait

PROGRAM The PRISM Quartet, composer/guitarist Nick Didkovsky, and sonic alchemist Thomas Dimuzio perform Ice Cream Time, an evening-length work by Didkovsky that uses electric guitar, an onslaught of saxophones, and real-time computer processing to explore the boundaries between human- and software-generated music. Didkovsky is best known for his work with Doctor Nerve, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, and Bang On A Can, and for developing his own computer music language.

Dave Lewis’s www.allmusic.com review describes it best: “Ice Cream Time begins with a kid’s voice singing ‘It’s Ice Cream Time! It’s Ice Cream Time!’ It is taken from old, burned-out audio and sounds like one of the kids in The Little Rascals, except that his use of the word ‘funky’ suggests a recording of more recent vintage. This gives way to a slurry of drunken saxes and palpitating guitar that gradually peps up into a mix that is funky indeed, alternatively loose and complex, zany, and Zappa-esque. The work has the feel of a long theme park ride with a number of separate attractions. There are parts of it that are mysterious, atmospheric, and even a little menacing.”