Avant Garde Music

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Inspired by listening to Björk's NTS set today

https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/bjork-12th-january-2018

It's not a set you would mosh to in a club but as something to listen to it's pretty mindblowing at times. (My marijuana-addled mind, admittedly.)

I really liked the Kelela album in 2017 with a lot of production from Arca (a track from this features on Bjork's mix).

I thought it might be good to have a thread where people (lurking specialists?) can share experimental music, including music at the forefront of things from genres which aren't part of the self-described 'avant garde'.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
well, according to Rolling Stone, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith just "reclaimed the avant-garde from noiseniks, dronesters, moaners, skronkers, mathletes and art-punks", so that seems like something one should be paying attention to. Actually it's not that bad, but it's essentially pretty easy-listening ambient with some ideas from Panda Bear's debut which I don't really associate with avant-garde music.
 

Leo

Well-known member
i love most of the stuff by steven warwick (aka heatsick). he's done everything from long weirdo banging tracks as sensate focus with mark fell (pretty much what you'd expect of a more danceable SND) to really cool off-kilter "pop" with ralph cumbers (aka bass clef) as HSBC. i've also seen him do a 45 minute-long live improv on little casio and sampler. recommended.
 

droid

Well-known member
'Avant' is a bit like 'ambient' in it's amorphousness. In aesthetic terms it simply mean 'wilfully inaccessible' or 'consciously experimental'. The integration of avant sonic qualities into popular or functional music is inherently contradictory.
 

droid

Well-known member
Matt had a great piece on early avant electronic LP's on his old site that pointed me to loads of good stuff. Shame its gone now.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
"reclaimed the avant-garde from noiseniks, dronesters, moaners, skronkers, mathletes and art-punks"

wow do I ever loath that sentence and the sentiment behind it, fucking Rolling Stone

o/t, I mean ya droid is right about "avant-garde" as as category but I think it's a good idea for a rolling thread. because it such a broad, indefinable thing curation is even more of a problem than it with most thing, so recommendations are useful.

nothing new, but some appropriate records I've liked lately

Bernard Bonnier - Casse-tête - early 80s diy musique concrete, great
Dariush Dolat-Shahi - Electronic Music Tar + Sehtar - Iranian stringed instruments combined w/electracoustics
Gunner Møller Pedersen - A Sound Year - staggering 12 piece electroacoustic magnum opus from Denmark
as well as Rob Haigh's pre-Omni Trio records that vary from NWW/Cab Volt territory to modern classical
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
also Remko Scha. I'm no DJ but I bet you could totally drop this into any modern harsh pounding techno set and it would work fine.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
The integration of avant sonic qualities into popular or functional music is inherently contradictory.
I don't really listen to Radiohead, but I have to admit that I do see the merit in their intentions here. Intermediary dissonance and weird quirky obstacles do add something interesting and significant to their music. A puzzled stop to look around and a half-duped smile to the camera. Ultimately, it never quite establishes the ground to question its own concept, tho, or any other real avant garde qualities, but it's a powerful formula.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
I often think of myself as a pretty useless person when listening to avant or experimental music. Like, why do I need this fucking abstruse senseless noise to externalize my seemingly complex issues. Couldn't I just project my shit onto the main fish character in Finding Nemo.
 

Leo

Well-known member
i love most of the stuff by steven warwick (aka heatsick). he's done everything from long weirdo banging tracks as sensate focus with mark fell (pretty much what you'd expect of a more danceable SND) to really cool off-kilter "pop" with ralph cumbers (aka bass clef) as HSBC. i've also seen him do a 45 minute-long live improv on little casio and sampler. recommended.

actually, think i misunderstood the thread at first, heatsick is more experimental. are you talking about the canonical avant garde?
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Nope, I don't even know what that is.

I can see there being interesting debate and even dissensus (lol) about what Avant Garde music is, what the value of self consciously Avant Garde music is, if it's even possible to be Avant Garde in 2017, etc.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
My other question is are there any DJs who play the sort of stuff bjork did who I can listen to shows from

Answer is obviously yes but who are these DJs
 

luka

Well-known member
the musique concrete stuff, the elctroacoustic stuff, the free improv stuff, some of the modern classical stuff eg xenakis and the romanian bunch. basically what the wire focuses in on when it's good and what it strays away from when it's less good. see also
pizza express vs cafe oto.
 

luka

Well-known member
pop avant would be stuff like coil, nurse with wound, krautrock, sonic youth, radiohead, bjork, adrian sherwood, zappa, beefheart etc etc
 
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