The acclaimed composer and noise artist talks to Hyperallergic about his Pulitzer Prize-winning composition “Voiceless Mass.”
experimental music
A Ceremonial Chord Change for John Cage’s 639-year-long Concert
An organ recital of a piece by the composer began in 2001 and will run until 2640. This weekend, listeners gathered to hear its 14th chord change.
Tune Into a World-Wide Sonic Meditation, Inspired by Pauline Oliveros
Requiring no musical experience at all, the meditation invites participants to take part in a “world-wide musical exchange” through a series of synchronized breathing and tonal exercises.
The Complicated Staging of Experimental Music in Art Spaces
Veteran musician Onyx Ashanti’s performance prompted larger questions of how personal, cultural works hold value in commodified spaces of leisure, excess and consumption.
An Experimental Music Collective with Fluxus Undertones Comes to Brooklyn
Since it was formed in 1996 by former students of composer and Fluxus member Takehisa Kosugi, Marginal Consort has gathered once every year to perform without any planning or rehearsal.
Setting the Puzzling Language of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake to Music
Over 100 contributors to the project Waywords and Meansigns are setting James Joyce’s experimental 1930s book Finnegans Wake to music.
A Chronicler of Experimental Music Releases His Own
PARIS — While in New York some years ago, I virtually met Laurent Fairon, a French blogger and record collector based in Paris, when he was documenting and archiving for the web the Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine in partnership with UbuWeb.
The Artist Who Turns Glass Shards and IV Drips into Instruments
For decades, Lucas Abela played turntables hooked up to all sorts of objects, from swords to meat skewers to amplified trampolines. Since 2003, however, the Australian experimental sound artist’s instrument of choice has been a large shard of glass.
Five Musical Instruments of the Future
Instruments that translate electronic music into physical actions and acoustic instruments that sound as space-age as any synthesizer are just some of the 20 semi-finalists in the 2015 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition.
How to Compose a Song for 1,000 Years
In composing a song to play for 1,000 years, the variables of technology, societal upheaval, and public understanding cannot be overlooked.
The Sound Of Two Borders Dissolving
HONG KONG — Unlike the Berlin Wall, which began with the division of post-World War II spoils, or the Israeli West Bank barrier, which divides parts of Israel and Palestine, the Shenzhen/Hong Kong fence, or “Frontier Closed Area,” has as much security power as wet tissue paper.