Synopses & Reviews
Is avant-garde rock music a contradiction in terms? Avant-garde trends emerged through the cultural and political upheavals of the 1960's, and acquired a new focus in the later Beatles, drawing upon many sourcees outside of rock, from John Cage to Cecil Taylor. In this fresh and challenging look at avant rock, Bill Martin outlines the entire phenomenon, from Yoko Ono, King Crimson, and Velvet Underground through the dynamic of progressive rock and punk in the 1970's and the watershed work of Brian Eno, to contemporary figures who continue to push the boundaries of rock: Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Merzbow, Bjork, Jim O'Rourke and many others.
Synopsis
Avant rock is produced by musicians who fight the commercial and political pressures to conform, because they have imagined what music could be if those pressures did not exist. In this fresh and challenging look at avant rock, Bill Martin outlines the entire phenomenon, from Yoko Ono, King Crimson, and Velvet Underground through the dynamic of progressive rock and punk in the 1970s and the watershed work of Brian Eno, to contemporary figures who continue to push the boundaries of rock: Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Merzbow, Bjork, Jim O'Rourke, and many others.
Synopsis
Critiquing avant-garde rock bands from the 1960s to the present, Bill Martin examines how social upheaval gave rise to this new form of musical expression. He covers early experimentation by artists such as James Brown; initiation into the mainstream and the resulting adaptations by the Beatles and the Who; and continues into the present looking at how groups like Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Jim ORourke, and others continue to innovate. An annotated discography is included.