It is a common misconception that DIY music productions are necessarily realized without a budget. In fact, their most striking characteristic is that they aim to create unique listening experiences by using the means at hand. 36 minutes with works by Blancmange, Gregory Whitehead, Minus Delta T, People Like Us and others.
New York in the Sixties – A Hotbed for Experiments
- Tagged as: Angus MacLise, Gerard Malanga, Henry Flynt, Henry Flynt & The Insurrections, Ingrid Superstar, Jack Smith, John Cale, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, Plastic Clock Radio, Richard Maxfield, Steve Weber, The East Village Other, The Velvet Underground, Tony Conrad, Tuli Kupferberg, William S. Burroughs
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. 42-minute mix with some of the group’s conceptional thematic compositions and deconstructions of Western popular music.
Equally at home in the art world and the artists’ pub, Ata Tak‘s proprietors managed their label from a nice office in Düsseldorf; in the adjoining music studio, they pursued the idea of a world rebellion with sound – as Der Plan. 32 minutes with Holger Hiller, Minus Delta T, Picky Picnic, Wirtschaftswunder and others.
With his label Obscure, Brian Eno started a series with experimental listening music in 1975. The artists involved left previous approaches towards making music behind, worked with new technologies or took inspiration from ancient traditions. 71 minutes with Gavin Bryars, Harold Budd, Max Eastley, Michael Nyman and others.
Relics – Miniatures on Air (1953-2019)
- Tagged as: Alec Finlay, Allen Ginsberg, Alva Noto, Andy Warhol, Anne James Chaton, Anne Waldman, Brian Hodgson, Cardboard Air Band, Chris Watson, Daphne Oram, David Soldier, Dragibus, Helga Goetze, Ingrid Wiener & Chor, Jack Smith, Jürgen Ploog, Karen Michel McPherson, Katsuro Tajima, Ken Nordine, Kraftwerk, Laurie Anderson, Laurie Spiegel, Lou Giansante, Magazzini Criminali Music, Maria Jardardottir, Mark E. Smith, Max Brand, Moondog, Paul de Vree, Paul Vangelisti, Peder Mannerfelt, People Like Us, Richard Lair, Soliman Gamil, The Fugs, Timothy Leary, Yasuaki Shimizu, Zigaretten rauchen
Relics tell stories, take listeners on acoustic journeys, or document situations. They can be poems, studio productions, field recordings, or something completely different. 53-minute mix representing 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 stoic, almost machine like drumming of many West-German tunes from the early Seventies became the hallmark 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 connecting pop, dance music, and Far Eastern folklore quickly became synonymous with technopop in Japan. The band’s members also occured in each others solo recordings and cooperated with other musicians. 49 minutes with Apogee & Perigee, Friends Of Earth, Miharu Koshi, Ryuichi Sakamoto & The Kakutougi Session and others.
Fuelled by collaborations between producers, singers, and studio musicians in ever new constellations, the Seventies mark the transition from ska and rocksteady into a multitude of styles in Jamaica. 46 minutes with Keith Hudson, Norma White & Brentford Disco Set, Sound Dimension, Susan Cadogan and others.
Free of artificial ornamentation, well balanced, and designed with love for detail, some Eighties' Japanese ambient music resembles the concept of the countries' traditional gardens. 51 minutes of music striving to enhance environments – with works by Haruomi Hosono, Inoyama Land, Masahiro Sugaya, Yasuaki Shimizu and others.
Sekt oder Karies – West Germany in the 80s
- Tagged as: Alexander Hacke, Andreas Dorau, Claudia Skoda, Conrad Schnitzler, DAF, Der Plan, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Die Dominas, Die Tödliche Doris, Die Zimmermänner, Einstürzende Neubauten, Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle, Holger Hiller, Ingrid Wiener, Manuel Göttsching, Martin Kippenberger, Max Müller, Rosi Müller, Santrra, Säurekeller, Sentimentale Jugend, Sternhagel, Xao Seffcheque