Music From Other Minds

Program 717: Rock Experiments

KALW Broadcast Date: October 16, 2022 | Host: Mark Abramson

The program this week follows hot on the heels of our Music Festival for 2022, Other Minds Festival 26. To minimize staff burnout, we’ll keep it simple and listen to instrumental works written for mutated rock band from three masters of the genre – Rhys Chatham, Thurston Moore and Elliott Sharp. We’ll play a 43-minute work by Rhys Chatham from 1989, called “An Angel Moves Too Fast To See,” written for bass guitar, drums and 100 electric guitars. A few years before he wrote this piece, Chatham had participated in a mixed group of professional and amateur musicians called the East Village Orchestra, which played 3 dates at rock clubs in New York during 1985. That group consisted of between 60 and 110 musicians, dancers and painters drawn from the downtown art and music scene. The project was done for fun, as a celebration of the extroverted ambition of the artists. Chatham went on to take the idea to its logical extreme and composed music with intent and intellect. We’ll listen to an extended work of over an hour by Thurston Moore, “Alice-Moki-Jayne” from his 2021 album Spirit Councel. This work is dedicated to the wives of John Coltrane, Don Cherry and Ornate Coleman, all established artists in their own right. Instruments used are 3 12-string electric guitars, baritone bass guitar, drums and electronics. Finally, we open and close the program with shorter works by legendary downtown New York composer and guitarist Elliott Sharp. These are two tracks from his work with his ensemble from the 1980s, Carbon (which also featured harpist Zeena Parkins). Enjoy rocking out, and then we’ll all get some rest!

Program Audio

30-Second Spot