25 February 2023

GLENN BRANCA

 

I first heard Glenn Branca's name in the 1980s, associated with SONIC YOUTH members and early NYC no wave experimentation (I had no idea what "no wave" was at the time). Later I read Zorn mentioning him in the same context, but I never heard the sounds until I got a promo copy of Symphony No. 6: Devil Choirs At The Gates Of Heaven to play on my radio show in Ponca City, Oklahoma....and just think about that for a moment. More than three decades later (and four decades after it was recorded), these sounds still put me in an absolute fucking trance. 




2 comments:

billy said...

hells yeah. i remember reading about branca a million years ago and not really understanding the concept exactly ... and then i heard, i think, "ascension," and wondered why i hadn't gotten around to it sooner.

Anonymous said...

The Ascension is great, as is Lesson No 1.

I saw him early playing stuff from the Ascension and the performance created aural hallucinations, where I'd hear sounds (a small choir) coming from inside my head.

I imagine the orchestral arrangements might have had those moments live too. The recordings, not so much.