Avant-Garde | Musicosity

Avant-Garde

Ed Askew

Ed Askew, a gay man, cut one of the best and most obscure LPs in the original ESP Disk’s vague rock/folk/freak series, issued eponymously and since reissued as Ask the Unicorn, before apparently dropping off the edge of his world. Years later, thanks to detective work by - naturally - Mr Clint Simonson of the De Stijl Records imprint, it turned out that not only was Askew still breathing but he had actually recorded a follow-up to his ESP Disk in 1970 that had lain in the can for decades.

Read more about Ed Askew on Last.fm.

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Kayo Dot

Kayo Dot is an avant-garde group that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the disband of maudlin of the Well. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik label that year. The music of Kayo Dot bridges several genres, from heavy metal to classical music. Their songs involve complex instrumentation (composed by singer and frontman Driver), generally without refrain. They are substantially longer than typical rock songs, often ranging from 8 to 15 minutes in length.

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Cuong Vu

Cuong Vu is widely recognized by jazz critics as a leader of a new generation of innovative musicians. A truly unique musical voice, Cuong has lent his trumpet playing talents to a wide range of artists including Pat Metheny, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Cibo Matto, Mitchell Froom, and Chris Speed. Since moving to New York in 1994, Cuong has been active leading various groups, most notably his trio with Stomu Takeishi (bass) and Ted Poor (drums).

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Medicine And Duty

Line up:
Andy Pyne (Puffinboy, Foolproof Projects) - drums, vocals
Jack Cooper (Guillotines, Mr jack Cooper) - synths, samples, bass, vocals
Matt Colegate (Teeth of the sea) - synths, guitar, vocals Andy and Matt formed the band Raised by Wolves in 2003 to make completely improvised music, and were joined in 2006 by Jack Cooper to form Medicine and Duty. Still making improvised music (nothing from their 4 cd's is ever played live and no two shows the same), they take influence from no-wave, kraut rock, free jazz and percussive & electronic music of all kinds.

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Philip Jeck

Philip Jeck studied visual art at Dartington College of Arts. He started working with record players and electronics in the early '80's and has made soundtracks and toured with many dance and theatre companies as we as well as his solo concert work. His best known work "Vinyl Requiem" (with Lol Sargent): a performance for 180 '50's/'60's record players won Time Out Performance Award for 1993. He has recently created "Vinyl Codas I-IV" for Bavarian Radio, "Coda II" winning a Karl Sczuka prize for Radio Art.

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Mare

At least two bands call themselves Mare: one was a progressive sludge band from Oakville/Burlington, Canada, the other is a black metal band from Trondheim, Norway. 1) Mare from Oakville/Burlington was a band orchestrated primarily by frontman Tyler Semrick-Palmateer, previously on vocal duty for tech-metal outfit The End. In a unique mixture of , and and other textures that defy immediate genres or categorization...

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Balanescu Quartet

The Balanescu Quartet is a London-based avant-garde string quartet founded in 1987 by Romanian-born violinist Alexander Bălănescu. The group achieved fame through the release of Possessed, consisting of complex cover versions of songs by German experimental electronic music band Kraftwerk. The driving force behind the quartet has always been main composer and founder Alexander Balanescu. The quartet are mainly notable for their very distinctive style of music, which encompasses odd time rhythms, sound dissonances and complex arrangements.

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Yasunao Tone

YASUNAO TONE (刀根康尚) was one of the first Japanese artists active in composing "events" and improvisational music. He has been active in the Fluxus movement since 1962 and has also been an organizer and participant in many important music and performance groups such as Group Ongaku, Hi-Red Center, Team Random (the first computer art group organized in Japan). Primarily a composer, Tone has worked in many media, creating pieces for electronics, computer systems, film, radio and television, as well as environmental art.

Read more about Yasunao Tone on Last.fm.

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Magma

There are multiple artists with this name: 1) Magma is the French brain-child of drummer/composer Christian Vander formed in Paris in 1969, disbanded in 1983 and reformed in 1996. Starting with a base of experimental rock heavily influenced by jazz and 20th century classical music, the band developed such a unique style of progressive rock that it became a new genre called "Zeuhl." Characterized by insistent and repetitive rhythms, dramatic vocals, virtuosic solos, heavy bass playing, and jazzy drums, Zeuhl has been emulated by numerous followers from all over the world.

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