Articles

5 texts

Generated illustration: an empty loft concert space set up for a live recording — Generated illustration

Archive editorial on the music RANDOM ACOUSTICS published: how to listen to free improvisation, where the catalogue draws the line between composition and improvisation, the rooms the records were made in, electro-acoustic work and the solo album. Every text argues from the records in this archive and links to them.

Contents

How to listen to free improvisation
What free improvisation is and what to listen for, explained through RANDOM ACOUSTICS records: duo, trio and quartet line-ups and a first listening path.
Composition and improvisation: where the catalogue draws the line
Written, improvised or both? Reading RANDOM ACOUSTICS track lists, from Witzmann's percussion pieces and FOURinONE to Georg Graewe's note on Battuto.
Cologne and the Rhine-Ruhr: the rooms where these records were made
The rooms behind the RANDOM ACOUSTICS records: LOFT and the Stadtgarten in Cologne, the Museum Bochum, Amsterdam's Bim Huis and places further afield.
Electro-acoustic music: live electronics, tape and acoustic instruments
Tape, live processing and electronic instruments beside acoustic ones: the electro-acoustic side of RANDOM ACOUSTICS, from Earl Howard to Thomas Lehn.
The solo album and the unlikely instrument: tuba, horn, flute, drums
Solo tuba, horn, drums and keyboards, plus a flute and violin duo: how RANDOM ACOUSTICS recorded instruments rarely heard on their own.