Brand from Home | December 30, 2021

Performance Series Applications Open

Music Ensembles are invited to apply for two exciting performance series. Music ensembles must be trios or larger. Application submission deadline: January 28, 2022 at 5:00PM (PST).

222 East Concert Series

Performances for the 222 East Concert Series are scheduled for Saturdays in Fall 2022 from 4:00pm-5:00pm.

Performance must be 1 hour in duration each.

Brand Library Plaza Series

Performances for the Brand Library Plaza series are scheduled for Fridays in Summer 2022 from 7:00pm-8:30pm. Performance must be 1 hour and 30 minutes in duration each.

Music Playlists

Listen to a streaming playlist from Freegal Music, Naxos Music Library,Naxos Jazz Music Library, Hoopla or Music Online from Alexander Street free with your library card. Alexander Street will ask for an academic institution, use Glendale Public Library.

Here are some new CDs we have received in the last few weeks.

Read about Music

Press Reader is a magazine database with current full scan issues. Music magazines include Mojo, Rolling Stone, BBC Music, Computer Music and more. You can login with your library card number.

Some cool new music books on the shelf!

Art Exhibitions

Be sure to catch Women Painters West - A Century of California Women Artists at Brand Library & Art Center. Women Painters West is the oldest organization of its kind recognizing contemporary women artists and their historical sisters. The closing celebration will be held on Saturday January 8, 2022 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm.

Films Online

This promotional video for Aardman Animation‘s new Netflix film, Robin Robin, features a behind-the-scenes peek at what it takes. The film pushes the envelope of what's possible with stop-motion animation. The film's directors, Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, sit down with WIRED to go over the some of the techniques that went into the making of Robin Robin

Hedgehog in the Fog is a 1975 Soviet animated film directed by Yuri Norstein and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. The Russian script was written by Sergei Grigoryevich Kozlov, who also published a book under the same name. This charming film has been the inspiration of many!

After moving to Paris in 1926, Alexander Calder began to fabricate dozens of tiny figures and props for what would become his most beloved work—titled in French Cirque Calder (Calder’s Circus). The 2013 short Conserving Calder’s Circus documents how the Whitney Museum team diligently worked to conserve this unusual sculpture by physically caring for its materials and by preserving the piece in our memory. The video shares footage of Calder’s singular performances, essential viewing, as conservator Eleonora Nagy states, movement is the soul of the circus. This rare footage by filmmaker Jean Painlevé documents Cirque Calder, as performed by Calder in 1955.

Checkout some art films from the library.

Can't find it at the library? Try out Link+ our network of 70 public and academic libraries from across California and Nevada. Just click on the link from the catalog or watch a tutorial to learn more.

Brand Library Staff Reviews

Bridear – Bloody Bride (2021). How about a high energy power metal album to end the year? I was surprised to see this on Freegal so I decided to give it a listen. Bridear is an all-female band and part of the Japanese girls metal movement of the past decade or so that has produced so many creative bands. The only original members of Bridear are bassist Haru and vocalist Kimi. New drummer Natsumi is fantastic and the new guitarists Misaki and Ayumi certainly have the chops. Their previous albums had more Metalcore elements and guttural screaming so I admit I had not paid too much attention before this. I’m pleased the band has toned that down and moved to a more melodic power metal direction. Also more of the lyrics are in English, so the band may be setting its sights on the international market. The title track Bloody Bride has a dark maniacal horror movie vibe they are having fun with. Kimi has a voice suitable for the pop influenced numbers on the album as well and there are plenty of guitar and progressive elements. Dream Eater, Daybreak, Bloody Bride and Starlight are my favorite tracks on this album. If you have any interest in contemporary metal give it a listen and you will find their energy is infectious. -BW