A Select History of Experimental Music

From Performa Arts, a two-day experimental music fest in New York.

A mini-festival of noise music curated by visual artist Mike Kelley. Born in a suburb of Detroit in 1954, Mike Kelley was brought up with the city’s music scene, which spawned bands such as Iggy and the Stooges and MC5. In 1973, Kelley formed his own band, the now seminal Destroy All Monsters. “A Fantastic World” continues Kelley’s continued interest in musical subcultures and focuses specifically on avant-garde music and sound art that employs elements such as cacophony, dissonance, and atonality.

Staged over two days, the festival will present both historic works from artists such as John Cage, Fred Frith, Fluxus, Bruce Nauman, and Max Neuhaus as well as performances by contemporary proponents of experimental music including Airway, Joan La Barbara, Tony Conrad, Jad Fair & Lumberob, Arto Lindsay, Genesis Breyer P.Orridge, z’ev, and John Zorn.

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