I'm completely out of touch... some experimental/avant-garde/classical/post-younameit suggestions released this year. Please.

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I just don't know where to look, and I haven't been looking hard enough. bring 'em on por favor.

― you will be shot, Saturday, 6 March 2004 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Tan as Fuck released a cdr on USound.?

― Ian Johnson (orion), Saturday, 6 March 2004 02:58 (twenty-one years ago)

actually 14 years old but just came out, so: Biota / Mnemonists - Musique Actuelle 1990

always wondered what a live album from them would sound like. for me, ranks with their best ('horde' & 'tumble' though I buy them all)

― (Jon L), Saturday, 6 March 2004 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

the graphics on the Biota site are spectacular !

― eleki-san (eleki-san), Saturday, 6 March 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

biota too good.

also, the fe-mail show in SF last night -- was scared of the group's name but the performance was incredible. maja ratkje & hild sofie tafjord, wall of shifting molten noise, produced from french horn, vocals, samplers & small synths. great listening skills. started with pure intensity & sonics but eventually moved into a descending ligeti-ish wail built from samples of ratkje's voice. the album's not out yet but I can't wait for it.

― (Jon L), Saturday, 6 March 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

ligeti-ish? I'm sold.

― you will be shot, Saturday, 6 March 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

make no mistake, it's hardcore noise music, though closer to dumitrescu than (slightly unvaried and boring) merzbow. but when ratjke or tafjord sustain a note in the middle of the white noise, you suddenly realize they're in tune.

― (Jon L), Saturday, 6 March 2004 23:03 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, no, no, I understand. the name ligeti merely endows it with greater appeal to my eyes/ears.

and in any case, mr. l has some rather noisy moments himself. thru different means, of course.

― you will be shot (you will be shot), Saturday, 6 March 2004 23:11 (twenty-one years ago)

definitely. some people who can handle orchestral noise can't handle the transition to power electronics though. For most people that means Merzbow, who I find unvaried, no longform structure, like music coming from a spigot. Things that improve on Merzbow due to their attention to symphonic form: Dumitrescu, Fe-mail, Otomo Yoshihide's recent live hour long dreadnought, working title 'Multiple Otomo'.

― (Jon L), Saturday, 6 March 2004 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I can handle it. I don't so much have a problem with the shift in medium itself as much as with the fact that none of the proponents of power electronics come close to ligeti, xenakis, varèse, rihm, etc. and you're certainly right on merzbow's count: the novelty does wear thin, and form ultimately wins.

― you will be shot (you will be shot), Saturday, 6 March 2004 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I do like some Merzbow ('1930', 'pulse demon'). But after listening even just for a few minutes I feel washed out and blank. After Dumitrescu or the names you've mentioned I feel sharp & awake.

Need to check out more Rihm, what's a good introduction?

― (Jon L), Saturday, 6 March 2004 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a particular fondness for his chamber music. the Arditti Quartet released a disc with his 3d, 5th & 8th quartets on Montaigne, and his "Music for 3 Strings" is similarly worth tracking down. any of the two would serve as a fine intro, but my first pick would be the quartets.

for his orchestral works, check out the double pairing of "Morphonie" with the 3 "Klangbeschreibung," as well as "Études d'après Séraphin". I'd also strongly suggest his "Gesungene Zeit" paired with berg's "Violinkonzert," both performed by anne-sophie mutter (the rihm piece is dedicated to her, actually).

I haven't had time to absorb much beyond these, but encounters with new rihm works have yet to disappoint me.

― you will be shot (you will be shot), Sunday, 7 March 2004 00:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Merzbow is way better live than on record. You really need to stand there and soak in it.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 7 March 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Only saw Merzbow once, a garage in Oakland playing with Masonna, around 1995, yes it was better. (Masonna had about seven distortion pedals strapped around his waist and chest, and thrashed about with his microphone, sometimes clinically adjusting the tone, also smashing at himself with his fists and throwing himself on the floor, it looked as intense as it sounded. The Merzbow performers were nearly motionless, which had a certain power too.)

― (Jon L), Sunday, 7 March 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

(& thanks for the rihm pointers ywbs)

― (Jon L), Sunday, 7 March 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

When I saw Merzbow it was a laptop gig at Tonic (that is to say, he was playing a laptop; Borbetomagus opened, and they were doing their Borbeto thang).

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 7 March 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

at the '95 show akita was wearing a 3 foot long steel beam, slung around him with a guitar strap, across which had been stretched 3-4 coiled metal 'strings' each about 1-2 cm in diameter, covered in contact mics. I think he was using an e-bow on the strings. The other one or two members were doing indiscernable table-core.

hopefully someday I'll get to see borbetomagus.

― (Jon L), Sunday, 7 March 2004 01:37 (twenty-one years ago)

When I saw Merzbow it was a laptop gig at Tonic (that is to say, he was playing a laptop; Borbetomagus opened, and they were doing their Borbeto thang)

Hey I was at that gig too. Last year right? That was a great show. Though somehow I forgot to bring earplugs, so I had to stuff napkins in my ears in an attempt to prevent hearing damage.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 7 March 2004 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)

hello hello: yes same here borbeto for the masses.

totally agree on the merzbow comments and power electronics is fucking polite garbage. Its amazing just how bad in a bad way it is once the so-called 'visceral' thrill wears off (though atari teenage riot had slogans but that's not quite power electronics).

I recently got a copy of ligeti's 'aventures' reissue (well i think it is anyway) but the CD skips so I'll have to take it back grr!

will try and get biota.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 7 March 2004 01:47 (twenty-one years ago)

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