In the CD player this morning: Bang on a Can's Music For Airports (1998), a brilliant arrangement of Brian Eno's album by the same name, only for live musicians - namely, the Bang on a Can All-Stars - with a full orchestra behind them. Started in 1987 by David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Gordon, Bang on a Can began as an annual one-day musical event in New York City and has grown into an international phenomenon. The kind of music that Bang fosters defies pigeonholing. Is it world music? Is it experimental? Is it fusion? Is it post-modern? I don't know, but it's fantastic stuff. I had the unique pleasure of attending the NYC festival in 1995, which was a 12-hour marathon showcase of up-and-coming musicians and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, a six-man ensemble of clarinets, saxophones, electric guitar, cello, bass, keyboards, and percussion that has toured the world many times over with its visionary original compositions, such as member Evan Ziporyn's Tsmindao Ghmerto, a reimagination of a Georgian hymn using overtones and throat-singing techniques to play actual chords on a clarinet (you have to hear it to believe it!).

Music For Airports is the perfect way to ease into a weekend, I'll tell you what.