Experimental
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France’s Marc Euvrie is a study in contrasts. Classically trained as a pianist and cellist in childhood, he left it all behind for the punk scene. More recent works include a mix of classical and electronic influences. And he has shed the stripped-down, do-it-yourself hardcore ethic for an ambitious trilogy project that promises to explore…
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Immersive is a term used a bit too liberally when it comes to sound art. We’ve all heard pieces that come close to being truly absorbing. Perhaps they achieve it for short bursts of time. But absent any corresponding chemical use, it’s an unrealistic expectation. What great sound art can do though is produce a…
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It was the fall of 1986. My girlfriend and I were visiting her brother Steve and sister-in-law Evita, both fans of traditional classical music. I looked up to them both and was eager to impress them with my contributions to the evening’s playlist. My most recent purchase was John Cage’s Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared…
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It’s difficult to imagine Toshimaru Nakamura with anything as conventional as an electric guitar slung over his shoulder. Since developing what he calls the “no-input mixing board” in the mid-1990s, the Tokyo-based noisemaker has earned a spot among his generation’s most influential avant-gardists. But it’s true, he started out playing old-time rock and roll. Clearly…
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Drone recordings that fail to inspire often do so because they lack texture. There is a kind of flatness that the genre sometimes inspires that can be especially difficult to sustain in long compositions. This second effort by Thighpaulsandra and Massimo Pupillo is so far removed from that criticism that I hesitate to even associate…
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With more than 30 recording credits to her name, South Korean native Okkyung Lee brings an impressive work ethic to her professional life. Now a New Yorker, the cellist, composer and improviser has released a major new work that marries her cultural roots with the fearless experimentation of a true modernist. Cheol-Kkot-Sae (Steel.Flower.Bird) is a…
The Moderns 