About

“Thanks for the site, it’s essential” – Joe Morris

“[Avant Music News] is like the CNN news ticker of weird music.” – Taylor Ho Bynum

“I just wanted to personally thank you for your wonderful website, and your support in 2011. It has truly meant a lot to all of us at the Tri-Centric Foundation.” – Kyoko Kitamura

“Avant Music News is a great publication that anyone interested in music that falls (well) outside of the mainstream should be aware of.” – Barry Cleveland

Since 2003, Avant Music News has been the daily source of new about weird, non-mainstream, complex music. We publish daily links to articles regarding tour dates, releases, reviews, interviews, and various other items of interest. From time to time, we also publish our own reviews and interviews.

Styles of music that we cover? Avant-garde, modern classical, free jazz, ambient, progressive rock, noise, electronic, improv, and combinations thereof.

To contact us about anything, or just to say hi, write mike@avantmusicnews.com

Staff

Mike Borella – Editor in Chief

Mike founded AMN on April 29, 2003, posts most of the articles and links, and keeps the site up and running. By day, Mike is a patent attorney focused on telecommunications and software technologies, and is based out of the Chicago area. He is lucky enough to have a wonderful wife of many years, as well as two children. Aside from listening to music and going to shows when he can, Mike is an avid reader and bicyclist, and enjoys gritty television shows and movies.

Daniel Barbiero

Daniel is a double bassist and composer active in the Washington DC-area experimental music world. He has been contributing reviews to AMN since 2011.

Stephen Fruitman

Stephen Fruitman was born and raised in Toronto but has been living in northern Sweden far too long now. A Ph.D in the History of Ideas, he teaches at the local university and School of Architecture, translates and writes about culture and the arts.

Dan Coffey

Dan is the English Literature Librarian at Iowa State University, and a long-time fan of avant-garde music. In addition to writing for Avant Music News, he writes book reviews for ForeWord Magazine and Poets Quarterly. Dan also hosts a podcast titled Papers for the Border which features music that lies in the margins. Information on the podcast can be found at http://pftbpodcast.wordpress.com/.

Monique Avakian

Monique is a performing poet and writer living in New York. She writes poetic jazz reviews and conducts an interview series with contemporary musicians and poets. She is also founder and curator of 5over4.blogspot.com, a home for the video~poem, where film is used to engaged multiple layers of metaphor. Her character-driven and socio/politico poetry performances and creations can be found on YouTube and Vimeo.

Tom Orange

Tom has taught English in Morocco, India, Indonesia, and a number of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. In his last domestic home base of Cleveland, Ohio, Orange was a programmer and Jazz Director at WCSB 89.3 FM, a co-founder of the New Ghosts concert series, and an active performer in the local improvising and experimental music scenes.