Duane Pitre is an American avant-garde composer and performer. His work often focuses on the tensions between electronic sound and acoustic instrumentation, chaos and discipline, as well as site-specificity and performativity. The composer frequently works with long-tones and utilizes alternate tuning schemes that focus on microtonality, enabling him to explore unaccustomed harmonic intervallic relationships.
Now he has a machinegun, ho ho ho.
Since his first releases in the early 80s, uncompromising belgian artist Dirk Serries has garnered respect from and invitations to collaborate with recognised musicians like Steven Wilson, steve von till, justin broadrick, cult of luna and alan sparhawk of low. He has been commissioned to write works for dutch national television broadcaster vpro, the antwerp zoo as well as architectural festival biënnale rotterdam and worked on stage with the holland symfonia orchestra.
Based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, Gareth Hardwick creates music that is at once rich and minimalist, dense and subtle. By manipulating the natural tones of his guitar with effects and loops he can deform and reshape the sounds generated by his instrument until you're no longer sure what you're hearing - an organ, a voice, or no recognisable instrument. Between abstract sounds, fragile and delicate melodies reveal themselves to you; finding yourself lost in intricate textures you are suddenly awoken by an absence of structure or sound, of something that one can hold on to.
Stars of the Lid are a band specializing in drone-based ambient music. They list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt, Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as Talk Talk (both bands have tracks named "Taphead"), post-rock artists Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian Eno. Their music largely consists of beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement within the songs.