William DentonJohn Cage playing chess with Teeny Duchamp in the back of a car in Bonn, 1982. Photo by Robert Masotti, taken from the liner notes to The Sessions (ECM New Series 1696).
slowforwardgillo dorfles e l’ipertrofia di segni significanti / luigi di cicco. 2026
Verso la fine degli anni Settanta, Gillo Dorfles in più di un’occasione parla dell’esigenza di porre un arresto all’ipertrofia di segni significanti, della necessità di una pausa, di stabilire un intervallo al flusso ininterrotto di sollecitazioni sensoriali. In un articolo sul Corriere della Sera, nel giugno del 1977, scrive: “La nostalgia del vuoto […] ci incalza: se in tempi remoti l’orrore del vuoto spinse l’uomo a colmare di segni (di impronte) le pareti delle caverne, le superfici delle anfore, oggi l’orrore del pieno lo dovrebbe spingere a cercare delle ‘aree di parcheggio’ dove sostare nel vuoto, nell’assenza di segni, nell’asemanticità più assoluta”.
Gabriel Hibert, “pour – rien – c’est – dire” (2026)
E ancora: “Ricreare l’intervallo: la pausa, il momento vuoto in un mondo troppo pieno, troppo gremito, troppo affollato, dove l’eccesso di pienezza preclude la vista e la conoscenza dei singoli momenti, oggetti, eventi […] Malauguratamente solo pochissimi intendono questa necessità ‘fisiologica’ del vuoto e della pausa. La maggior parte degli uomini […] è ancora profondamente ancorata all’errore del pieno e non all’orrore dello stesso”.
Sempre nel 1977, in dicembre, dopo aver assistito all’esecuzione di Empty words di John Cage, Roberto Calasso sulle pagine di Panorama commenta: “una delle malattie più gravi di cui soffriamo è quella del Pieno: la malattia di chi vive in un continuo mentale occupato da un vorticare di parole smozzicate, di immagini stolidamente ricorrenti, di inutili e infondate certezze, di timori formulati in sentenze prima che emozioni. Tutto questo produce molti disastri – ma soprattutto uno, da cui discendono gli altri: la mancanza, l’incapacità di attenzione”.
Negli stessi mesi Dorfles parlava di “nostalgia del vuoto”, Calasso di “piacere del vuoto”.
Dorfles suggeriva due soluzioni, due vie di fuga: la pagina bianca, vuota, o la nascita di nuovi segni, “segni vergini”, del tutto privi di codice.
Andi ChorleyMusic from the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle (sometimes shortened to Dusk at Cubist Castle) is the debut studio album by the American band the Olivia Tremor Control, released on August 6, 1996, by Flydaddy Records. It is an eclectic album that encompasses a variety of genres, including indie pop, neo-psychedelia, and psychedelic pop.
The second half of the album features more experimental songs, influenced by drone music and musique concrète. When asked about the inclusion of these experimental songs, [John] Fernandes said: "We wanted to change the way people listen to music ... Make people who love the Beatles also appreciate John Cage." - Wikipedia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuVwyW0-yP0
#TheOliviaTremorControl #ElephantSix #AthensGeorgia #NeoPsychedelia #Psychdelia #Music #JohnCage
Trevor BurrowsI wish this article were more in-depth about the new staging, but it gives a bit of info on a new production of Cage's Apartment House 1776.
Wish I could get to Detroit to see this!
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/21/nx-s1-5806321/apartment-house-1776-john-cage-opera
the roamerJohn Cage, 4'33''.
Joana Gama, piano, at the Rescaldo Festival, Lisbon, 18 February 2018.
4'33'' by John Cage | Joana Gama, piano
Angry Metal GuyEscaping Aghartha – Lurkers of Languid Waters Review
By ClarkKent
Every artist needs their muse. For Avery Dart, that would be the eel, the main subject of Lurkers of Languid Waters, a record from his experimental ambient/black metal project, Escaping Aghartha. Dart uses his music to bring awareness to various environmental issues, such as the plight of frogs, birds, owls, the ocean, and pollution. The problem facing the eel, in particular the freshwater anguillid eels of Japan, Europe, and America, stems from overfishing. Dart seeks to raise awareness and money for the cause of protecting them. A portion of the record’s profits go towards Nature’s Anguillid Eel Specialist Group, a group that studies the population of these mysterious fish. Escaping Aghartha hopes you can spare some room in your heart for a moray.
A little-known fact about eels is their ability to shapeshift throughout the various cycles of their life, and Lurkers of Languid Waters similarly shifts genre across its 74-minute runtime. There’s progressive black metal, doom, drone, noise, industrial, ambient, dungeon synth, and more. The album is as slippery as its subject, though lacking in its bite. Opener “Eel Black Market” serves as a microcosm for the whole. The shifting guitar tones struggle to grasp for purpose from the start, and a repellent combination of “dirty” vocals and grating riffs starts things off on the wrong fin. Across 16 minutes, the song’s hooks fail to catch hold—a good outcome for the fish, but bad for the music. Escaping Aghartha utilizes synths that sound like a video game soundtrack, droning riffs, chanting, and bubble noises that make you feel trapped in a fish tank. Sure, the initial shock of the strangeness on display may grab one’s attention, but the intolerable nature of the music won’t hold it for long.
The choices that Avery Dart makes give the impression that he purposely set out to make the listener uncomfortable. To start, there are the vocals, mostly from Dart, that range from tolerable to unlistenable. By the end of “Eel Black Market,” his snarls are incomprehensible and grating. On the blackened doom of “The Phantoms that Haunt and Linger,” they are weak and muffled, contributing to a lethargic malaise. On “Eaten to Obliteration,” they are raw and hoarse. A few experimental choices bring to mind John Cage, such as bell chimes (“Eaten to Obliteration”) and a nightmarish buzzing segment that sounds like a mosquito in your ear (“Altered Currents”). These sections feel added without musical purpose, just random noise. This mammoth record will put you in the shoes of the eel in their final journey, when they travel thousands of miles to the Sargasso Sea on nothing but their stored fat reserves, spurt out millions of eggs, and then sink to their deaths from exhaustion.
Remarkably, Lurkers of the Languid Waters undergoes a transformation once it crosses the hour mark. Hooks catch hold and stick. Buzzy guitars make way for hooky synths and blackened trems. Though “Transformations” is pretty good, it’s “Journey to the Sargasso Sea” where things really take a turn for the best. The album suddenly sounds musical and purposeful rather than meandering and dense. The synths and trems team up to conjure an uplifting, triumphant mood, serving as the soundtrack for the eel’s final journey. At 12 minutes, it’s a tad long, but its progressive structure keeps it engaging. This goes to show that a little bit of hooks can go a long way. If only Escaping Aghartha had applied this approach to the rest of the album.
I’ll give Dart this: I’ve learned a lot about eels and their plight thanks to my time with his record. The purpose of Lurkers of the Languid Waters is to spark interest, conversation, and perhaps even action to protect these misunderstood fish. Yet the mere existence of this album can only go so far if it’s a chore to listen to. I spent time with it because I took on the duty of reviewing it, but others likely won’t be so willing. I’d be more tempted to plunk down some money on a CD, which does feature some terrific artwork, if the music were just a little more tolerable. I’d love to help defend a cause like this, but my ears are important too.
Rating: 1.5/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hypnotic Dirge Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 22nd, 2026
The 🫠 ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ BBC Radio 3 🎶 #NowPlaying Bot
🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBC #Radio3's #NightTracks
John Cage & Bertrand Chamayou:
🎵 In a landscape
#BBCRadio3 #JohnCage #BertrandChamayou
molosovsky 🐿✊💗Bei »4′33″« von #JohnCage ist der Ort der Aufführung ja wichtiger, als die aufführenden Musiker.
Bei mir vor der Tür, uff de Gass ist das Stück zum Beispiel meist eher stressige Kacke, außer man steht halt auf Autowerkstatt-Lärm.
EDIT: Seh grad, es ist ca 12:20. Also eigentlich Mittagsruhe. EGAAAAL!
Don van Win
The Vinyl Ape 🦧JOHN CAGE / STEVE REICH / MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS / RALPH GRIERSON
Three Dances & Four Organs
1975 U.S. pressing
Early evening warped tomfoolery.
About to paint my study bookshelf, and wanted something weird and a little out there.
This fits the bill and then some.
A curated program featuring Reich’s landmark “Four Organs For Four Electric Organs & Maracas” piece, as well as John Cage’s three-part “Three Dances For Two Amplified Prepared Pianos”.
It is a #minimal , post-modern #classical mindfuck.
Definitely not something you’d listen to while driving in your car or cue up at a party. 😂
#vinyl #vinylrecords #vinylcommunity #vinylcollection #retro #vintage #art #music #abstract #artrock #weird #bizarre #fringe #stevereich #johncage
