The Essential Music Library: Avant-Garde/Experimental/Eclectic

Cafe Society
1

The Essential Music Library project is an attempt to get the many musical minds of the SDMB to sit down and discuss what works are absolutely necessary for a well-stocked musical library. There will be roughly 20 threads detailing a variety of genres so that we can get the depth that would be missing from a single-threaded discussion and the breadth necessary to cover what’s out there.

This thread’s topic is the avant-garde, the experimental, and the eclectic–in short, works or acts that don’t fit well into any single genre.

Previous threads: Project Planning | Classical | Rock | Jazz | Modern Rock | Blues | Punk/Post-Punk/New Wave | Opera/Choral Music | Rap/Hip-Hop | Gospel | Electronica | Contemporary Classical | Pop | Film Music/Musicals | R&B/Soul | Grass & Roots | Funk/Disco | Non-Western/World | Country & Western | Folk | Metal

2

Mr. Bungle - California
No question.

3

Bonzo Dog Band – eclectic as all hell, playing jazz, rock, standards, music hall, children’s songs, and much more. And doing it hilariously. Best pick would be Urban Spaceman (aka The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse), but Gorilla and Tadpoles are nearly as good.

Soft Machine – nice eclectic amalgmation of rock and jazz, with long improvised jams. Their Third is one of the best albums ever.

4

Everything by Laurie Anderson.

5

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica, often described as the most famous album no-one ever listens to more than once.

6

I’ll see your California and raise you Adult Themes For Voices, quite possibly the most unlistened to CD in my entire collection. It’s just Mike Patton making weird noises into a tape recorder. That’s it.

Also have to include Einstürzende Neubauten just for sheer noise weirdness and The Tiger Lillies for being…The Tiger Lillies.

7

I know it’s bad form to double post, but I can’t believe I forgot my own personal favorite, the ever sublime Ween.

8

Second Bonzo Dog Band- specifically “Keynsham” & “Beautiful Zelda” among others- they have one where the whole song is a parody of where they name all the instrumentalists in the song, and name about thirty- too funny!

Fripp & Eno- No Pussyfooting

Almost anything by Faust, Gong, & Can.

9

**Music for 18 Musicians ** by Steven Reich

10

The Shaggs, by The Shaggs. Possibly out of print now, which is a shame, but you can get a reissue of their debut album, Philosophy of the World.

Innocence & Despair, the Langley Schools Music Project

The Best of Elton and Betty White.

Anything by Wesley Willis.

Anything by Wild Man Fischer.

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Most of the aforementioned are “genre” artists that slightly deviate from the established tropes of their genres - bands like Can and Mr. Bungle are (incredible) rock bands that merely stretch themselves a bit. This list should include people who solely exist in the “experimental” or “avant” category.

That aside, this list needs to include:

John Cage
John Zorn
the Hafler Trio
Steve Reich
Luc Ferrari
Gershon and Kingsley
Raymond Scott
Nurse with Wound
Bang on a Can
the Boredoms
morton subotnick
harry partch
Terry Riley
Glenn Branca
Pierre Schaeffer
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Iannis Xenakis
Edgard Varese
Pierre Henry
LaMonte Young
Yoko Ono
Merzbow
Keiji Haino

That’s a good start.

12

Thank you. Laurie Anderson is the Perry Como of faux-avante garde.

But hello? Even VCO3 left off the artist behind whom any avant artist should always walk a respectful ten paces:

Diamanda Galás

13

What about Steroid Maximus’ album Ectopia, a new favorite I found out about through these forums?

14

No Einstürzende Neubauten? Coil? Gotta get the pop acts in there, too.

15

Ahem. Post #6. :wink:

16

Would the compositions of Ernest Bour, Clytus Cottwold and Gyorgy Ligeti fit this category? All introduced to me in Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.

17

Sorry for the split post; at work.

The artists in my iPod that I would include under this rubric would be:
**
Karen Finley
Nurse with Wound
Scott Walker
Stockhausen
Yoko Ono**
Artists in my iPod who are on the avant edge of their respective genres:
**
Aisha Kandisha’s Jarring Effects
Anita Lane
Bjork
Bushtucker
Can
Captain Beefheart
Carla Bozulich
Deus
DJ Krush
Foetus
Four Tet
Fridge
Jane Siberry
John Greaves and Peter Blegvad
Johnny Dowd
Mary Margaret O’Hara
Nobukazu
Prefuse 73
Rhythm and Noise
Scarnella
Sigur Ros**
Artists in iPod who are accidentally avant: Daniel Johnston
The Shaggs

18

To be fair, Thirlwell’s Steroid Maximus stuff is quite intentionally anything but avant garde: it’s a celebration of movie-soundtrack cliches.

19

Um, I left out Diamanda, I think because I had just typed her name, but of course she’s all OVER my iPod.

20

I’m not sure about this. I’ve also asked for the truly eclectic here; bands that, while they’re not necessarily on the bleeding edge, blend enough different styles that they’re difficult to classify. On the other hand, can you really say something like that isn’t experimental or avant-garde? I’m not sure, but I am glad to see Pierre Schaeffer and Diamanda Galas mentioned.