Glenn Branca
Encyclopedia
Glenn Branca is an American avant-garde
composer and guitar
ist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings
, repetition, droning
, and the harmonic series
. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
.
collage pieces for his own amusement. After attending York College
in 1966-1967 he started the short-lived cover band The Crystal Ship with Al Whiteside and Dave Speece in the summer of 1967. Branca studied theater at Emerson College
in Boston
in the early 1970s. In 1973 he moved from Boston
to London
with his then girlfriend Meg English. After moving back to Boston in 1974 he met John Rehberger. While there, he began experimenting with sound as the founder of an experimental theater group called Bastard Theater in 1975.
Working out of a loft on Massachusetts Avenue they wrote and produced the music/theater piece "Anthropophagoi" for a 2 week run. The lead actor John Keiser was chosen in The Boston Phoenix as one of the best performances of the year. In 1976 The Bastard Theater's second production was "What Actually Happened" at a new loft in Central Square, Cambridge and later at The Boston Arts Group. Considering the unconventional and sometimes confrontational nature of the productions, the shows still received interested reviews from the Phoenix and The Boston Globe. All music for Bastard Theater productions were original compositions by Branca or Rehberger and were performed live by the actor/musicians.
in 1976. His first encounter with the NYC music scene was with the N. Dodo Band whom he observed many times at their rehearsal space - Phil Demise's "Gegenschein Vaudeville Placenter". This is where he first met Jeffrey Lohn who was playing electric violin
with the N. Dodo Band. He then formed two bands in the late 1970s: Theoretical Girls
in 1977 with composer/guitarist Jeffrey Lohn and photographer/musician Barbara Ess, and later The Static. He also recorded Ess's band Y Pants
for their debut release on 99 Records
and performed with Rhys Chatham's
Guitar Trio in 1977, a noise music
experience that was very important in the development of his compositional voice (Branca 1979). In 1982 Branca launched his own record label
, Neutral Records
, releasing Y Pants' LP and the first few records by New York noise rock
ers Sonic Youth
.
In the early 1980s he released his first album under his own name, Lesson No.1. In the same year he composed several medium-length compositions for electric guitar ensembles, including The Ascension
(1981) and Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses
(1981). The Ascension appeared on his second same titled solo album in 1981, Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses was released not earlier then 2008 on cd. Soon after these two compositions, he began composing symphonies for orchestras of electric guitars and percussion, which blended droning industrial cacophony and microtonality
with quasi-mysticism and advanced mathematics. Starting with Symphony No. 3 ("Gloria") (1983), he began to systematically compose for the harmonic series, which he considered to be the structure underlying not only all music but most human endeavors. In this project, Branca was initially influenced by the writings of Dane Rudhyar
, Hermann von Helmholtz
, and Harry Partch
. He also built several electrically amplified instruments of his own invention, expanding his ensemble beyond the guitar. A few of these instruments were third bridge
zithers he called "harmonic guitars". And he built instruments with large amounts of strings he called mallet guitars, because they were percussion instruments played with drumsticks, monotone electric cymbaloms with an additional third bridge on resonating positions. Early members of his group included Thurston Moore
and Lee Ranaldo
of Sonic Youth
, Page Hamilton
of Helmet
, and several members of Swans
including Michael Gira
and Dan Braun
.
, the mayor of Aarhus
and other dignitaries. After receiving more than 25 major commissions since 1981 Branca's music has finally begun to receive academic attention. Some scholars, most prominently Kyle Gann
, consider him (and Rhys Chatham
) to be a member of the totalist
school of post-minimalism.
Beginning with "Symphony No. 7", Branca began composing for traditional orchestra
, although he never abandoned the electric guitar
. Branca also plays duets for excessively amplified guitars with his wife, and conducted his 13th symphony for 100 electric guitars at the base of the World Trade Center
in New York City
in June 2001. Since that time his 100 guitar piece has been performed in cities all over the U.S. and Europe. In 2008 he wrote his 14th Symphony, entitled "The Harmonic Series", which is performed by a traditional orchestra. The first movement of this symphony, named "2,000,000,000 Light Years From Home" premiered in St. Louis performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson on November 13, 2008. This was the 12th major orchestra to perform Branca's orchestral work since 1986.
In 2008, he was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Grants to Artists Award as well as a Caps
grant in 1983, an award from the National Endowment for the Arts
in 1988 and a NYSCA grant in 1998, all for music composition. In 2010 Fortissimo Records
re-released Brancas 1981 album The Ascension as a special edition on 180 grams vinyl and Branca wrote a piece The Ascension: The Sequel, which was released in the same year on the label Systems Neutralizers. This follow up piece led to new interest in his work and notable performances at Primavera Sound Festival
2011 and Villette Sonique
2011.
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
composer and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings
Scordatura
A scordatura , also called cross-tuning, is an alternative tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument, in which the notes indicated in the score would represent the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the actual pitch is altered...
, repetition, droning
Drone (music)
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...
, and the harmonic series
Harmonic series (music)
Pitched musical instruments are often based on an approximate harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous frequencies simultaneously. At these resonant frequencies, waves travel in both directions along the string or air column, reinforcing and canceling...
. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Arts , originally known as Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City founded by artists Jasper Johns , John Cage, Elaine de Kooning and others in 1963. FCA offers financial support and recognition to contemporary...
.
Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s
Branca started playing the guitar at age 15. He also created a number of tape sound artSound art
Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There are often distinct relationships forged between the visual and aural domains of art and perception by sound artists....
collage pieces for his own amusement. After attending York College
York College
York College could refer to:*York College, City University of New York Jamaica, New York*York College York, Nebraska*York College of Pennsylvania York, Pennsylvania*York College York, UK*University of York UK...
in 1966-1967 he started the short-lived cover band The Crystal Ship with Al Whiteside and Dave Speece in the summer of 1967. Branca studied theater at Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in the early 1970s. In 1973 he moved from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with his then girlfriend Meg English. After moving back to Boston in 1974 he met John Rehberger. While there, he began experimenting with sound as the founder of an experimental theater group called Bastard Theater in 1975.
Working out of a loft on Massachusetts Avenue they wrote and produced the music/theater piece "Anthropophagoi" for a 2 week run. The lead actor John Keiser was chosen in The Boston Phoenix as one of the best performances of the year. In 1976 The Bastard Theater's second production was "What Actually Happened" at a new loft in Central Square, Cambridge and later at The Boston Arts Group. Considering the unconventional and sometimes confrontational nature of the productions, the shows still received interested reviews from the Phoenix and The Boston Globe. All music for Bastard Theater productions were original compositions by Branca or Rehberger and were performed live by the actor/musicians.
New York: Late 1970s and 1980s
Branca moved to New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1976. His first encounter with the NYC music scene was with the N. Dodo Band whom he observed many times at their rehearsal space - Phil Demise's "Gegenschein Vaudeville Placenter". This is where he first met Jeffrey Lohn who was playing electric violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
with the N. Dodo Band. He then formed two bands in the late 1970s: Theoretical Girls
Theoretical Girls
Theoretical Girls were a New York No wave band formed by Glenn Branca and Jeff Lohn that existed from 1977 to 1981.-History:Theoretical Girls played only about 20 shows . It released one single which had some attention in England where it sold a few thousand copies...
in 1977 with composer/guitarist Jeffrey Lohn and photographer/musician Barbara Ess, and later The Static. He also recorded Ess's band Y Pants
Y Pants
Y Pants were an all-female No Wave band from New York City active from 1979 to 1982. The trio, made up of photographer/musician Barbara Ess , visual artist Virginia Piersol, and filmmaker Gail Vachon, developed a unique sound via their acoustic toy instrumentation of toy piano, ukulele and a...
for their debut release on 99 Records
99 Records
99 Records was an independent record label active from 1980-1984. 99 was run out of a record store with the same name, located at 99 MacDougal Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, and owned by Ed Bahlman...
and performed with Rhys Chatham's
Rhys Chatham
Rhys Chatham is an American composer, guitarist, and trumpet player, primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions...
Guitar Trio in 1977, a noise music
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
experience that was very important in the development of his compositional voice (Branca 1979). In 1982 Branca launched his own record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Neutral Records
Neutral Records
Neutral Records is an independent record label. Glenn Branca ran the label during the No Wave and post-punk scene in the Lower East Side, New York, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Among their releases were early records by Swans and the first EP by Sonic Youth as well as Confusion is Sex....
, releasing Y Pants' LP and the first few records by New York noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
ers Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
.
In the early 1980s he released his first album under his own name, Lesson No.1. In the same year he composed several medium-length compositions for electric guitar ensembles, including The Ascension
The Ascension (Glenn Branca album)
The Ascension is the second album released by Glenn Branca, it was re-released by Acute Records in 2003 with new artwork, and again in 2010 by Fortissimo Records on limited edition 180g white vinyl.-Track listing:# "Lesson No...
(1981) and Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses
Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses
Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses is a CD release by Glenn Branca from 2007, recorded in 1982. The CD also features an interview by Wim Mertens with John Cage who gives a very negative opinion about the music of Glenn Branca...
(1981). The Ascension appeared on his second same titled solo album in 1981, Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses was released not earlier then 2008 on cd. Soon after these two compositions, he began composing symphonies for orchestras of electric guitars and percussion, which blended droning industrial cacophony and microtonality
Microtonal music
Microtonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...
with quasi-mysticism and advanced mathematics. Starting with Symphony No. 3 ("Gloria") (1983), he began to systematically compose for the harmonic series, which he considered to be the structure underlying not only all music but most human endeavors. In this project, Branca was initially influenced by the writings of Dane Rudhyar
Dane Rudhyar
Dane Rudhyar , born Daniel Chennevière, was an author, modernist composer and humanistic astrologer. He was the pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology.-Biography:...
, Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science...
, and Harry Partch
Harry Partch
Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
. He also built several electrically amplified instruments of his own invention, expanding his ensemble beyond the guitar. A few of these instruments were third bridge
Third Bridge
The Bridge Deputy Darcy Castelo of Mendonça, colloquially known as the Third Bridge , is the second tallest bridge in Brazil, connecting the cities of Vila Velha and Vitória in the state of Espirito Santo...
zithers he called "harmonic guitars". And he built instruments with large amounts of strings he called mallet guitars, because they were percussion instruments played with drumsticks, monotone electric cymbaloms with an additional third bridge on resonating positions. Early members of his group included Thurston Moore
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
and Lee Ranaldo
Lee Ranaldo
Lee M. Ranaldo is an American singer, guitarist, writer, record producer, and visual artist, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth...
of Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, Page Hamilton
Page Hamilton
Page Hamilton is a guitarist, singer and record producer, mostly noted for his work with alternative metal band Helmet...
of Helmet
Helmet (band)
Helmet is an alternative metal band from New York City formed in 1989. Founded by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamilton, Helmet has had numerous lineup changes, and Hamilton has been the only constant member....
, and several members of Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
including Michael Gira
Michael Gira
Michael Rolfe Gira is an American musician, author, and artist. He is the main force behind the recently reformed New York City musical group Swans and fronts the Angels of Light...
and Dan Braun
Dan Braun
Dan Braun is a musician, composer, writer, editor, art director, and film producer.-Early music career:Dan Braun and his twin brother Josh started several punk bands in high school in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, including Platinum Hardcore and Hack Ptooey. Their first real band was called Spinal...
.
Recent work: 1990s to present
In the early 1990s, David Baratier attempted to document Branca's teaching style in They Walked in Line. In September 1996, The Glenn Branca Ensemble played at the opening ceremony for the Aarhus Festival in Denmark. The ceremony took place in the Musikhuset Opera House, and in the audience were the Queen of DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, the mayor of Aarhus
Aarhus
Aarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...
and other dignitaries. After receiving more than 25 major commissions since 1981 Branca's music has finally begun to receive academic attention. Some scholars, most prominently Kyle Gann
Kyle Gann
Kyle Eugene Gann is an American professor of music, critic and composer born in Dallas, Texas. As a critic for The Village Voice and other publications he has been a supporter of progressive music including such Downtown movements as postminimalism and totalism.- As composer :As a composer his...
, consider him (and Rhys Chatham
Rhys Chatham
Rhys Chatham is an American composer, guitarist, and trumpet player, primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions...
) to be a member of the totalist
Totalism (music)
In music, totalism is a term for a style of art music that arose in the 1980s and 1990s as a developing response to minimalism—parallel to postminimalism, but generally among a slightly younger generation, born in the 1950s....
school of post-minimalism.
Beginning with "Symphony No. 7", Branca began composing for traditional orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, although he never abandoned the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
. Branca also plays duets for excessively amplified guitars with his wife, and conducted his 13th symphony for 100 electric guitars at the base of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in June 2001. Since that time his 100 guitar piece has been performed in cities all over the U.S. and Europe. In 2008 he wrote his 14th Symphony, entitled "The Harmonic Series", which is performed by a traditional orchestra. The first movement of this symphony, named "2,000,000,000 Light Years From Home" premiered in St. Louis performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson on November 13, 2008. This was the 12th major orchestra to perform Branca's orchestral work since 1986.
In 2008, he was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Arts , originally known as Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City founded by artists Jasper Johns , John Cage, Elaine de Kooning and others in 1963. FCA offers financial support and recognition to contemporary...
Grants to Artists Award as well as a Caps
Caps
Caps is the plural of the form of headgear cap. Caps may also refer to:-Science and technology:* Caps, exploding pellets in a cap gun* CAPS , N-cyclohexyl-3-aminopropanesulfonic acid, a buffering agent in biochemistry...
grant in 1983, an award from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
in 1988 and a NYSCA grant in 1998, all for music composition. In 2010 Fortissimo Records
Fortissimo Records
Fortissimo Records is an independent record label and promoting collective from Milton Keynes, England run by Action Beats Don McLean.Taking their name from the Italian musical term for "very loud" , Fortissimo was formed in 2002, arranging gigs at Bletchley Youth Club, in Milton Keynes...
re-released Brancas 1981 album The Ascension as a special edition on 180 grams vinyl and Branca wrote a piece The Ascension: The Sequel, which was released in the same year on the label Systems Neutralizers. This follow up piece led to new interest in his work and notable performances at Primavera Sound Festival
Primavera Sound Festival
San Miguel Primavera Sound, commonly known as Primavera Sound or simply Primavera, is an annual music festival which takes place in Barcelona, Spain in late May and, in some years, early June...
2011 and Villette Sonique
Villette Sonique
Villette Sonique is a yeaarly music festival in Parc de la Villette in Paris, France featuring a combination of experimental music, Noise rock, Electronic and other genres. The festival is most of the time held in the last week of May....
2011.
Discography
- Lesson No. 1 (99 Records99 Records99 Records was an independent record label active from 1980-1984. 99 was run out of a record store with the same name, located at 99 MacDougal Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, and owned by Ed Bahlman...
, 1980) - The AscensionThe Ascension (Glenn Branca album)The Ascension is the second album released by Glenn Branca, it was re-released by Acute Records in 2003 with new artwork, and again in 2010 by Fortissimo Records on limited edition 180g white vinyl.-Track listing:# "Lesson No...
(99 Records99 Records99 Records was an independent record label active from 1980-1984. 99 was run out of a record store with the same name, located at 99 MacDougal Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, and owned by Ed Bahlman...
, 1981, Acute Records 2001, Fortissimo RecordsFortissimo RecordsFortissimo Records is an independent record label and promoting collective from Milton Keynes, England run by Action Beats Don McLean.Taking their name from the Italian musical term for "very loud" , Fortissimo was formed in 2002, arranging gigs at Bletchley Youth Club, in Milton Keynes...
2010) - Indeterminate Activity of Resultant MassesIndeterminate Activity of Resultant MassesIndeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses is a CD release by Glenn Branca from 2007, recorded in 1982. The CD also features an interview by Wim Mertens with John Cage who gives a very negative opinion about the music of Glenn Branca...
, (AtavisticAtavistic RecordsAtavistic Records is an American rock and jazz record label based in Chicago, Illinois, known particularly for its No Wave and free jazz recordings. It has released albums by Glenn Branca, Nels Cline, Lydia Lunch, Peter Brötzmann, various Ken Vandermark projects, Pinetop Seven, Swans, Elliott...
, 1981/2007) - Bad Smells from Who Are You Staring At? with John GiornoJohn GiornoJohn Giorno is an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, including Dial-A-Poem. He became prominent as the subject of Andy Warhol's film Sleep...
(GPSGiorno Poetry SystemsFounded in 1965, Giorno Poetry Systems was an American artist collective, record label, and non-profit organisation founded by poet and performance artist John Giorno with the direct aim to connect poetry and related art forms to a larger audience using innovative ideas, such as communication...
, 1982) - Chicago 82 - A Dip In The Lake (CrepusculeLes Disques du CrepusculeLes Disques Du Crépuscule was a Belgian independent record label.The label was started in 1980 by Michel Duval and Annik Honoré, residents of Brussels who had previously organised and promoted concerts in the city. Initial releases were by Factory Records artists, and were labelled as being...
, 1983) - Symphony No. 3 (Gloria) (Atavistic, 1983)
- Symphony No. 1 (Tonal Plexus) (ROIRROIRROIR , or Reach Out International Records, is a New York City-based record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper.ROIR was founded the same year that the Sony Walkman launched, and initially, the label exclusively distributed its releases in cassette format...
, 1983) - The Belly of an Architect (Crepuscule, 1987)
- Symphony No. 6 (Devil Choirs At The Gates Of Heaven) (Atavistic, 1989)
- Symphony No. 2 (The Peak of the Sacred) (Atavistic, 1992)
- The World Upside Down (Crepuscule, 1992)
- The Mysteries (Symphonies Nos. 8 & 10) (Atavistic, 1994)
- Les Honneurs Du Pied from Century XXI USA 2-Electric/Acoustic (various) (New Tone, 1994)
- Symphony No. 9 (l'eve future) (Point, 1995)
- Faspeedelaybop from Just Another AssholeJust Another AssholeJust Another Asshole was a short-lived no wave art/music/sound art magazine publication project launched from the Lower East Side Manhattan in the early 1980s. It was edited by Barbara Ess and Glenn Branca.- Just Another Asshole: The Book:...
(various) (Atavistic, 1995) - Songs '77-'79 (Atavistic, 1996)
- Symphony No. 5 (Describing Planes Of An Expanding Hypersphere) (Atavistic, 1999)
- Empty Blue (In Between, 2000)
- Movement Within from Renegade Heaven by Bang On A Can (CantaloupeCantaloupe MusicCantaloupe Music is a record label founded in March 2001 created by the three founders of New York's legendary Bang on a Can Festival: Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, and Bang on a Can Managing Director Kenny Savelson. Cantaloupe Music has made a massive impact in the new music...
, 2000) - The Mothman Prophecies [Soundtrack] (contributed 1-minute "Collage") (Lakeshore Records, 2002)
- The Ascension: The Sequel (Systems Neutralizers, 2010)
- Symphony No. 7 (Graz) (Systems Neutralizers, 2011)
See also
- No WaveNo WaveNo Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
- Noise FestNoise FestNoise Fest was an influential festival of no wave noise music performances curated by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth at the New York City art space White Columns in June 1981. Sonic Youth made their first live appearances at this show...
- Custom-made instruments
- List of custom-made instrument builders
- Noise MusicNoise musicNoise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
- Just Another AssholeJust Another AssholeJust Another Asshole was a short-lived no wave art/music/sound art magazine publication project launched from the Lower East Side Manhattan in the early 1980s. It was edited by Barbara Ess and Glenn Branca.- Just Another Asshole: The Book:...
- List of noise musicians
- Post-punkPost-punkPost-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
Further reading
- Branca, Glenn (November 1979). New New York: Rhys Chatham. New York Rocker, 16.
- Cole Gagne: "Glenn Branca", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 1, 2006), (subscription access)
- John Rockwell: "All American Music" (Knopf, 1983)
- John Schaeffer: "New Sounds" (Harper and Row, 1987)
- Tom Johnson: "The Voice Of New Music" (Het ApollohuisHet ApollohuisHet Apollohuis was a space for experimental music and visual arts, "focused in particular on...sound art, new music, performance art and the new media," founded in Eindhoven, Netherlands, by Remko Scha and Paul Panhuysen in a former 19th century cigar factory in 1980...
, 1989) - Cole Gagne: "Sonic Transports" (De Falco, 1990)
- Cole Gagne: "Soundpieces II" (Scarecrow Press, 1992)
- Alec FoegeAlec FoegeAlec Foege is an American author and magazine journalist. A former contributing editor to Rolling Stone, he is the author of three books: Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story Alec Foege is an American author and magazine journalist. A former contributing editor to Rolling Stone, he is the...
: "Confusion is Next" (St. Martins, 1994) - Geoff Smith and Nicola Walker: "New Voices" (Amadeus Press, 1995)
- William Duckworth: "Talking Music" (Schirmer, 1995)
- Bart Hopkin: "Musical Instrument Design" (See Sharp Press, 1996)
- Kyle Gann: "American Music in The 20th Century" (Schirmer, 1997)
- Bill Milkowski: "Rockers, Jazzbos and Visionaries" (Billboard Books, 1998)
- Roni Sarig: "The Secret History Of Rock" (Billboard Books, 1998)
- Bill Martin: "Avant Rock" (Open Court, 2002)
External links
- Edited monologue about Branca's career as told to Alec Hanley Bemis
- GlennBranca.com
- EST Interview by and (c) Brian Duguid.
- Theoretical Girls by Paris Transatlantic magazine
Listening
- Glenn Branca interview
- Glenn Branca: "Acoustic Phenomena" (3:59) published on the Tellus Audio Cassette MagazineTellus Audio Cassette MagazineLaunched from the Lower East Side, Manhattan, in 1983 as a subscription only bimonthly publication, the Tellus cassette series took full advantage of the popular cassette medium to promote cutting-edge downtown music, documenting the New York scene and advancing experimental composers of the time...
@ UbuwebUbuWebUbuWeb is a large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.-Philosophy:...