Having discovered space as a tangible medium, English performance artist Peter Dockley developed a multimedia theatre piece in 1969. Gymnasts, kendo fighters and dancers create a dynamic energy zone full of colours, light and excitement. The soundtrack, recorded by Canterbury rock band Soft Machine, was inspired by techniques of musique concrète, laying the foundation for experimental industrial ambient music.
With 10k+ archived releases, Sounds Central's proprietor, Paul Paulun, tells a personal history of music and sound art
After enrolling at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Art in 1954 at the age of 14, Californian wonder boy Terry Jennings met La Monte Young. Both composers shared the idea of music that prolongs time and ultimately dissolves it. Six years later, Jennings presented his works to the New York avantgarde scene – in Yoko Ono's loft.
When Indian spiritual music became popular in New York City in the mid-1960s, one of the youngest artists was the least impressed. Charlemagne Palestine, known for his long ritualistic pieces without religious references, grew up in Brooklyn. The strong cultural environment of the Hasidic movement there shaped his early life, as he sang as a boy soprano in the synagogue choir.
A mix of ethnological recordings, found sounds and pirated material formed the basis for the performances of the radical theatre group Magazzini Criminali from Florence. In 1980, they used ambient music by Jon Hassell without permission. The composer was impressed – and collaborated with the group on an adaptation of Jack Kerouac's iconic beat novel ‘On the Road.‘
‘I want to put as many aspects of myself into music as I can, as much as possible of being alive, intensely conscious on all levels.‘ With this attitude, American composer Laurie Spiegel developed her concept of Slow Change Music in the mid-1970s at Bell Labs in New Jersey, using the prototype of a computer system to control synthesizers.
39 minutes of ideas being expressed with sound: made up trains, works with found sounds, or a collective approach in making music – realised by Amy Taubin, Angus & Hetty MacLise, Tom Recchion, Tuli Kupferberg and others.
Traditional instruments and music – twisted by electronic musicians, composers, improvisers and rockers. 56 minutes with The 13th Tribe, Don Cherry, Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band, Sun City Girls and others.
An invented language, imitations of field recordings, or the idea of a visual work with sound allow these tracks to express something as yet unknown. 38 minutes with Buffy Sainte-Marie, Gazelle Twin & NYX, Glynis Jones, Valentina Goncharova and others.
Aware of musical traditions and eager to incorporate the latest technology in his productions, Haruomi Hosono is one of the most versatile and influential figures in Japanese popular culture. 44 minutes with various collaborations and solo works by the co-founder of Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Whether conceptual or performance art, electronic music, counterculture, minimalism, drone sounds or Fluxus – New York City is a hotbed for all sorts of experiments during the Sixties. 54 minutes with Angus MacLise, Henry Flynt, La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela, Richard Maxfield and others.
For some, the piano is the instrument of instruments. Here are ten good reasons why. 40 minutes with works by Charlemagne Palestine, Graeme Revell, Henry Cowell, Johanna Magdalena Beyer and others.
