In a way, Sounds Central’s approach to presenting music resembles the ideas of medieval European cartographers. Their mappae mundi did not claim to depict the world accurately, but rather sought to address topics that fascinated them, such as biblical stories, mythology or specific knowledge. As a DJ, Paul Paulun’s way of addressing musical phenomena is the mix. Mappa mundi with Noah’s ark and his sons (detail) by Simon Marmion (1459-1463) Accompanied by introductory texts and brief...
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.
In India, the connection between the universe and sound has long been recognised and is emphasised in Dhrupad singing, the oldest known style of classical Hindustani music. Italian-born singer Amelia Cuni was so fascinated by this concept that she travelled to India in 1978 to learn the technique herself, studying with renowned masters for ten years.
In the media age, imagination has come under attack. However, the interface between the unknown and the self needs to be triggered as a source of inspiration for art and science. Listening can be a key to activating one's own imagination. Jazz musician Brother Ah discovered this technique at the age of five in his family’s fifth-floor flat in Harlem, New York.
C.C. Hennix has been involved with trance-like states for decades. The Swedish-born artist uses sound as a psychotropic guide to heighten the audience's receptivity and transport them into an immersive experience. Sound, environment and the self merge together, conveying a sense of being in touch with infinity.
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.
The atmosphere becomes minimalistic and meditative when Eleh operates the controls and patch cables of his analogue modular synthesizers. The textures he creates with the machines convey a sense of precision, as if they were carved or sculpted. And they are characterised by a spiritual component that seems to be rooted in the cosmos itself.
Randall McClellan had been exploring the ancient tradition of using sound in a spiritual context for over 15 years when he created a series of concerts featuring constantly evolving, multi-layered melodies in the early 1980s. During the performances, the audience relaxed on the floor in dimly lit rooms to bring their bodies and minds into harmony.
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.
After her brother died of AIDS in 1986, Diamanda Galás took the side of those affected by the disease. The New York avantgarde artist and soprano opposed the Catholic Church’s view that AIDS was a punishment from God.
With self-built electronic instruments and performances influenced by Dadaism, Cabaret Voltaire from Sheffield paved the way for industrial culture in the mid-1970s. In his 1982 solo album Pow-Wow, founding member Stephen Mallinder explored the possibilities of dynamic minimalism.
According to legend, the Sami people, who live mainly in northern Scandinavia, received the tradition of joik singing in pre-Christian times from Arctic elves and fairies. These days, Ánde Somby attempts to make contact with the spirits through improvised joik pieces to inquire about their well-being.
By the mid-1970s, the hippie spirit had faded in California. However, with the Los Angeles Free Music Society, pioneers of the DIY aesthetic were already waiting in the wings. Its members liked the absurd and were inspired by the idea of a non-musical approach to music.
Soliman Gamil was unimpressed by the artistic possibilities of tape recording when he studied in Paris in the early 1950s. At that time, Musique Concrète was emerging there thanks to the new technology. But Gamil was only in the city to learn about Western composition from Nadia Boulanger.
For American composer Laurie Spiegel, music is a way of expressing the conscious experience of existence. When she was confined to bed with a viral infection in 1990, she decided to translate her illness into sound.
The desire to find a partner outside of real life is nothing new. A look back at the United States shows how the approach, but also expectations, have changed over time. In 1966, beatnik and singer Tuli Kupferberg took texts from advertisements in newspapers and magazines as source material for new intonations.
‘We wanted to abandon a language that had been devastated and rendered impossible by journalism!’ This is how Hugo Ball described the Dadaists' motivation for leaving words behind at Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire. Many artists began experimenting with the possibilities of phonetic poetry, based solely on the musical expression of the voice.
At the age of twelve, Percy Grainger had already imagined a form of ‘free music’ with gliding tones and irregular, beatless rhythms. That was in 1894. But it was not until 1920, with the invention of the electronic theremin, that smooth transitions between notes became possible in a way that appealed to Grainger.
During long, collective improvisations in the studio, Cologne-based Krautrock pioneers Can repeatedly ventured into the territory of other cultures. Between 1968 and 1974, the band collected such excursions in the ‘Ethnological Forgery Series’.
There is something mysterious about Ghédalia Tazartès' works, which often evoke shamanistic rituals. The French artist began experimenting in his Paris studio in 1977 with field recordings, tape loops, vocals and electronics. Time and again, he slipped into the role of strong-willed characters.
After seeing the Sex Pistols on Japanese television, Hiromi Moritani flew to London for a few weeks in 1976. Back in Osaka, and still under the impression of her experiences in the punk metropolis, the 17-year-old formed her own band, Aunt Sally.
There were no flowers in the desert, but the scent of melodies hung in the air everywhere, recalls Deben Bhattacharya. In 1955, the music collector travelled from Paris to Kolkata, India, in a converted milk truck. On board: a tape recorder with which Bhattacharya recorded music along the way.
Crowdfunding without the internet – in New York, this was done in 1966 with a record. The proceeds went to the newly founded counterculture magazine ‘The East Village Other’. A who's who of pop culture gathered for the recording on 6 August. The date not only marked the 21st anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
Charles Darwin believed that even human ancestors made musical sounds long before they could speak. Animals are still limited to this form of vocal expression today. During a visit to the Yukon in Canada, artist and cyberneticist Oswald Wiener noticed that sled dogs prefer to do this without an audience.
Whether love, hate or cool detachment – no musical instrument can express emotions as powerfully as the human voice. The sound works sung by New York artist Kristin Oppenheim herself consist of just a few words. Nevertheless, they powerfully address themes of longing and loneliness.
With the Dreamachine, Brion Gysin invented the first art object that had to be experienced with closed eyes and induced a state of light relaxation. The artist also worked on methods at the sonic level that were intended to alter the state of consciousness.
Electronic sounds were all the rage in the mid-1960s. The young American composer Jon Appleton was certain that they would enable him to reach the emotions and consciousness of a wider audience. In 1967, while waiting for a connecting flight at Newark Airport, he put this idea to the test.
When cyber-shamanism emerged in Japan in the 1980s, 3D sound recording technologies and brain machines were developed there to simulate the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. Henry Kawahara was at the centre of this movement.
In the early 1980s, a sampler cost as much as a mid-sized car and could record just six seconds of sound. Hamburg musician Holger Hiller rented such a device on a daily basis in order to leave common pop clichés behind.
Robotic vocoder voices in music were the symbol of an electronic future in the 1970s. The technology was already being used during the Second World War and was further developed in 1961 at Bell Labs in New Jersey, where computer music pioneer Max Mathews employed it to adapt a love song from 1892.
In fantasy and science fiction novels, American author Ursula K. Le Guin has created futuristic scenarios – often linked to Native American motifs. Always Coming Home, published in 1985, describes the life of the fictional Kesh people. To make their world audible, Le Guin recorded several songs with composer Todd Barton.
Mystery and poetry come together in the works of Guy de Cointet. The visual artist understood language as a system in its own right – and he deconstructed it. Dutch voice artist Jaap Blonk, active himself at the intersection of music, poetry and performance, interpreted Cointet's work ‘Nonomotithur’ in 1997.
The sausage products of German immigrant Oscar Mayer are popular in the United States – thanks to clever marketing and a catchy promotional song. In 2003, the Evolution Control Committee from Ohio, known for its crude appropriations, recognised the lyrics as a godsend and mixed them with the national anthem.
John Oswald established the concept of plunderphonics – the “stealing” of sounds for the sake of art. Here, the Canadian composer transforms a kitschy Christmas song into an absurd cartoon for the ears.
Charles Kellogg had already developed the ability to communicate with birds in their own language between the ages of four and six. In 1891, at the age of 23, the naturalist who grew up in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada brought his talent to the stage.
When the blind street musician Moondog roamed New York City in the early 1950s, he must have chosen the places where he laid out his instruments on the pavement with his ears. Sometimes it seems as if the sounds of the city were just waiting for him.
Joseph Nechvatal’s 1995 cybersex novella '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even' is based on the idea that any form of sexual order is only temporary and that social gender is therefore in a permanent state of becoming.
The American nation as a media construct – that is the core thesis of the Tape-beatles. The Iowa-based collective has been exploring it in collaged pieces featuring samples from film, television and music. During the Iraq War in 1990/91, there was ample opportunity to collect material.
Surrounded by mosquitoes, spiders and cockroaches, David Toop spent two weeks aboard a boat in the Venezuelan rainforest in 1978. The musician was on his way to the remote villages of the Yanomami people and wanted to record their shamanistic rituals with a microphone.
In the ragas of classical Indian music, the emotional characteristics associated with the moods of different times of day are translated into sound. The German band Neu!, which became legendary in the Krautrock era of the early 1970s, considered what the month of November should sound like.
’The Belgian Congo Records‘ is a series of traditional music recorded in the 1930s during a brutal colonial regime. When Swedish techno producer Peder Mannerfelt discovered the songs with their manic, driving rhythms in 2015, he decided to reinterpret them on a synthesiser.
When Andy Warhol introduced the element of repetition into art in the early 1960s, he caused both confusion and inspiration. In Germany, artist Peter Roehr applied this technique to audio from 1964 onwards, editing together passages from radio news, music and advertising into loops.
Elephants are social animals – but can they also be encouraged to make music together? And with ‘real’ musical instruments, no less? Composer Dave Soldier tried this out in 1999 together with Richard Lair at the Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang in northern Thailand.
For most users, the noises made by devices are nothing more than unwanted by-products. Dot matrix printers were particularly unpopular with their operators because they were loud and disruptive. Thomas McIntosh and Emmanuel Madan discovered the musical potential of these machines in 1998.
‘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.
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.‘
Reminiscent of a certain time or place, these tunes are for a chill-out zone. 49 minutes with memories and fantasies by Cluster & Eno, Geir Jenssen, Graeme Revell, Muslimgauze and others.
The soundtrack for an imaginary film, harmonising electronics and a vocal language based on traditional Persian music. 44-minute mix with works by Aktuala, Lady June, Muslimgauze, Sussan Deyhim & Richard Horowitz and others – realized between 1972 and 2020.
In the media age, imagination has come under attack. However, the interface between the unknown and the self needs to be triggered as a source of inspiration for art and research. 96 minutes with Brother Ah, Catherine Christer Hennix, Ursula K. Le Guin and Todd Barton.
An intimate track based on an abstract drawing, a sublime sonic exploration into deep liquid space, some atmospheric minimalism, and library music created under complete creative control. 50-minute mix with works by Cosey Fanni Tutti, Joel Vandroogenbroeck, Monolake, Pan American & Kramer and others; realised between 1978 and 2025.
Through the purity of sound, both performers and listeners are meant to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the nature of existence. 77 minutes with Amelia Cuni, Charlemagne Palestine, Eleh, Uli Hohmann and Werner Durand.
In some works of minimal music, a particular type of tuning forms the foundation of the composition. It makes instruments produce acoustic phenomena such as overtones. 111 minutes with works by Arnold Dreyblatt, La Monte Young and Terry Jennings.
Minimal melodies from Japan and Arctic Norway, music for ex army gymnasts bounding about in rubber costumes, and something from New York City‘s Downtown. 55 minutes with works by Aqua Regia, The Caretaker, Midori Takada, The Residents and others – realised between 1969 and 2019.
Tabla drums are an important part of classical Indian music. Since the 1960s, they have also been found outside this context. 65 minutes with Alejandro Jodorowsky, Catherine Ribeiro + 2 Bis, Geir Jenssen, Robert Ashley and others.
Trance is an important aspect in Angus MacLise’s sound works. The drummer, composer, poet and calligrapher was a link between Beat culture, New York City’s art scene in the Sixties and the hippies. 78 minutes with material by an originator who never released a record during his short life.
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.
Most artists involved in what critics would call no wave in 1978 shared a nihilistic mindset as they explored areas ranging from abrasive noise to mutant disco in New York City. 44-minute mix featuring tracks by Boris Policeband, Bush Tetras, Jill Kroesen, Konk and others.
When sound became portable with the Walkman in the early 1980s, the subscription-only Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine began to feature New York City’s expansive Downtown art scene on tape. 41-minute mix with Gretchen Bender, Jonathan Borofsky, Live Skull, Marjorie Van Halteren and others.
When no wave emerged in New York City in the late 1970s, noise musician, art critic and artist Joseph Nechvatal was already there. Based on the music of that time, he and Paul Paulun discuss aspects of the movement, which used radical, often multimedia works to oppose the commodification of music and art.
As one of the leading protagonists of 20th century experimental art, Henri Chopin was among the first to exploit the true potential of the tape recorder. Many of his audio works are based on radical approaches, such as swallowing microphones. 43-minute documentary featuring memories and expertise of poet and curator Enzo Minarelli.
In the 1980s, both old and new styles developed in Jamaica. Ragga evolved and electronic production tools found their way into studios, contributing to the establishment of the digital dancehall era. 37 minutes with Bunny Lie Lie, Charlie Chaplin, Don Carlos, Johnny Clarke and others.
Wearing eyeball helmets is the trademark of the Californian artist collective The Residents. Inspired by avantgarde and pop, the band anticipated the idea of audio piracy and developed groundbreaking multimedia projects. A 42-minute mix featuring some of the group's conceptual thematic compositions and deconstructions of Western pop music.
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.
As a boy in the 1930s, Soliman Gamil accompanied researchers to the pyramids to learn about the music of the pharaohs. After completing his musical training in Cairo and Paris, he used a tape recorder to record traditional rituals throughout Egypt. Gamil developed his 20th-century compositions together with village musicians who played instruments that had been in use for thousands of years.
War is eternal, but its accompanying phenomena changed in the 20th century. 45 minutes with artists who reflect on the presence of war in the media, their traumatic experiences, the home front and the utopia of world peace. With Ami Shavit, The Android Sisters, K Foundation, Sun Ra and others.
Equally at home in the art world and the artists’ pub, Ata Tak‘s proprietors run their label from a nice office in Düsseldorf. In the adjoining music studio, they pursue the idea of a global rebellion through sound – as Der Plan. 32 minutes with Holger Hiller, Minus Delta T, Picky Picnic, Wirtschaftswunder and others.
Quiet ambient music may have its roots in cybernetic spirituality or be played in hospitals. It can be cinematic or resemble a landscape, and vast quantities of graph paper may be used in its production. 61 minutes with Anthony Manning, Inoyama Land, Joanna Brouk, Laurie Spiegel and others.
Ideas about the concept of time, music for a skier’s descent from an impressive mountain top, and sounds from a love and peace duo. 49 minutes with music by Patrick Cowley, Phew, Roedelius, Suzanne Ciani and others – realised between 1962 and 2021.
Despite their gentle and surreal nature, these tracks were not necessarily composed with the idea of sleep in mind; however, their dark ambient textures are inspired by memories, sounds or discoveries. 51 minutes with Brian Eno, David Toop, Monolake, Thomas Köner and others.
In the 20th century, India attracted artists and musicians who were seeking answers to spiritual questions or wanted to leave something behind. 56 minutes with Alice Coltrane, Coil with Lori Carson, Psycho Baba, Sun Ra 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.
With his label Obscure, Brian Eno began curating a series of experimental listening music in 1975. The participating artists left their previous approaches to music production behind, worked with new technologies, or engaged in challenging group situations. 71 minutes with Gavin Bryars, Harold Budd, Max Eastley, Michael Nyman and others.
A constantly evolving, multi-layered soundscape, tones being sustained until the desire to change them disappears, and melodies that are created from what is heard. 76 minutes with pieces by Pauline Oliveros, Ramón Sender and Randall McClellan.
Relics tell stories, take listeners on acoustic journeys or document situations. They can be poems, studio productions, field recordings or something else entirely. 53-minute mix from Paul Paulun's series Fundstück on DLF-Kultur with radiophonic miniatures by Anne Waldman, Helga Goetze, Mark E. Smith, Timothy Leary and 26 other artists.
“The ecological catastrophe begins rehearsing in the Sixties,“ writes Allen Ginsberg in 1970; and for more than half a century, political systems have been unwilling to counteract this development. 45 minutes with sounds of protest – uttered by Appleblim, Diane Di Prima, Leslie Winer, Piero Umiliani and others.
The stoic, almost machine-like drumming of many West German music from the early 1970s became the trademark of a new sound – different from British pop or American rock and in no way related to the country's horrible Nazi past. 45 minutes with Cluster, Faust, Harmonia 76, Wolfgang Riechmann and others.
Yellow Magic Orchestra's concept of combining pop, dance music and Far Eastern folklore quickly became synonymous with technopop in Japan. The band members also contributed to each other's solo recordings and collaborated with other musicians. 49 minutes with Apogee & Perigee, Friends Of Earth, Miharu Koshi, Ryuichi Sakamoto & The Kakutougi Session and others.
After years of increasing intensity on the dance floor, culminating in gabber, around 1992 it was time for friendlier climes. Fifty-five minutes from the advent of personal computers and the internet for everyone – with Acid Jesus, The Black Dog, Cylob, Like A Tim and others.
Driven by collaborations between producers, singers, and studio musicians in ever-changing constellations, the 1970s mark the transition from ska and rocksteady to a multitude of styles in Jamaica. 46 minutes with Keith Hudson, Norma White & Brentford Disco Set, Sound Dimension, Susan Cadogan and others.
It is a common misconception that DIY music productions are necessarily made without a budget. In fact, their most striking feature is that they aim to create unique listening experiences with the resources available. 36 minutes with works by Blancmange, Gregory Whitehead, Minus Delta T, People Like Us and others.
Known for his innovative studio techniques, unique production style and weird tunes, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry combined influences from soul, funk, reggae and dub in the early and mid-1970s. 46-minute mix with 14 tracks from the Perry orbit.
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.
“Listen to your world. It may be more interesting than all the things you buy to escape from it.” 46-minute mix that proves Sasha Frere-Jones’ observation from 1999 right – with field-recordings by Alejandra & Aeron, Bill Fontana, Chris Watson, Paul Bowles and others.
Free of artificial embellishments, well balanced, and designed with attention to detail, some Eighties' Japanese ambient music resembles the concept of the countries' traditional gardens. 51 minutes of music striving to enhance environments – with Haruomi Hosono, Inoyama Land, Masahiro Sugaya, Yasuaki Shimizu and others.
Paying homage to flying machines and next generation’s minimalism, singing in an invented language that is both mysterious and familiar, and a special kind of rain. 43-minute mix with pieces by Anna Homler and Steve Moshier, Ennio Morricone, Harold Budd, The Human League and others – made between 1972 and 2011.
Re-configuring the past, drifting into the future, connecting different worlds, and shaping the profile of a fictitious ethnic group. 43 minutes with music by Bill Drummond, Dadang Dwi Septiyan, Jon Hassell, Malayeen and others - recorded between 1971 and 2020.
During the 1970s, musical traditions are being rediscovered in Japan. By blending them with their own preferences, artists create new sound worlds. 46 minutes with Akio Suzuki, Haruomi Hosono, Jun Togawa Unit, Toshi Ichiyanagi and others.
Thanks to a straightforwardness rooted in punk, new things and personalities get invented everywhere and at any time in the West-German music scene of the 1980s. 53 minutes with Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle, Ingrid Wiener & Chor, Martin Kippenberger, Santrra and others.
In the late 1960s, women composers began mixing different types of sound material. Their concept of intermedia art often had a connection to human life. 88 minutes with Christina Kubisch, Eliane Radigue, Frankie Mann, Ruth Anderson and others.
Ten pieces about the mysteries, realities and prospects of airwaves. 30-minute mix with works by The Android Sisters, Dan Lander, Negativland, Phil Harmonic and others.
As a loose community of interdisciplinary contributors, the Fluxus artists of the 1960s questioned the role of art in society. 47 minutes with Carolee Schneemann, Henning Christiansen, Terry Riley, Yoko Ono and others.
The widespread electrification of music during the 1950s led to a multitude of new artistic concepts. 50 minutes of fieldwork and funny sounds with Alireza Mashayekhi, Delia Derbyshire, Else Marie Pade, İlhan Mimaroğlu and others.
Only the development of new technologies will mark the progress of sound poetry, explains Enzo Minarelli in his 1987 manifesto on polipoesia. Using eleven sound poems, Minarelli discusses the concept of polipoesia, folklore as inspiration for poetry, the connection between society and poetry, and how it all began.
With the advent of the tape recorder, poetry reached a new dimension in the 1950s. Language was arranged in completely new ways. 37 minutes with Ernst Jandl, Henri Chopin, Neil Mills, Sten Hanson, and others.
Synthesizers brought new sounds into the world. 43 minutes of oscillators, filters and envelopes controlled by Conrad Schnitzler, Daphne Oram, Erkki Kurenniemi, Laurie Spiegel and others – between the early 1960s and 1977 (plus an exception).
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.
Snapshots of national pride, cars, country music and the human abyss behind respectable facades – 51 minutes with Amiri Baraka, Ann Magnuson, Henry Rollins, Madeline Ridley and others.
Letters and numbers as material of expression. 40 minutes with inventions by Brion Gysin, Demetrio Stratos, Henri Chopin, Lawrence Weiner and others.
Artists see things differently. 45 minutes with sound works by Carole Caroompas, Dieter Roth, Jess Holzworth and Jutta Koether, Magazzini Criminali and others.
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.
