william basinski - is this the best ambient/drone stuff around or what?

i had a heavy phase with this guy years ago, i even got to do an amazing phone interview with him once...but for some reason, for the past year or so, i just haven't been able to get the same feeling out of his music. i still let it run when a track comes up in my sleep or writing playlist, and it's nice, but i don't know...i have some kind of mental blockage with it now. re: ambient, this also happened for me with stars of the lid, though eno, budd, gas, and ambient vangelis are still fine...

<3 this:

https://twitter.com/WilliamBasinski/status/628610802526752769

^ looking very debonair as usual btw, like some sort of parisian gangster mountie

London Gig

http://store.unionchapel.org.uk/events/23-feb-16-william-basinski---shadow-in-time-uk-premiere-union-chapel/

I'm going to try and use disintegration loops to get my toddler to go to sleep at night. Max Richter and Eluvium have failed. I'm counting on you William.

Should work like a charm. Some weeks last year during a distressing period my girlfriend used 92982 with great success.

http://www.mmlxii.com/products/576589-92982-2xlp

First great news of 2017: new album! http://p4k.in/1GqqFRZ

Looking forward to listening to this Friday.

Actually, check that. At work, at least during the inauguration, I'll have my Disintegration Loops playing in the background.

If U.S.A is still a thing when I get up on Saturday, I'll check the new one out...

Next month in Pasadena William Basinski is being honored at a benefit for Fulcrum Arts, and he and Lawrence English will perform their new Selva Oscura live for the first time.

Fulcrum (with which I’m involved) supports a lot of amazing artists including sound artists and experimental music. They’ll be presenting a new piece by Lawrence English later this year, for instance, also in LA.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fulcrum-arts-annual-benefit-honoring-william-basinski-and-ligo-caltech-tickets-51407507238

tonight in manchester was wonderful - and efficient! took to stage at 9pm sharp with nothing more than a laptop. 40 meditative minutes - no encore. and so down to earth for a chat afterwards!

The first version of the 'bored nightclub girl' meme I saw was a disintegration loops based one. That probably says more about me than anything else.

An entertaining short interview here.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/10/music-william-basinski-interview-9-11-the-disintegration-loops

Ha, thanks for that. The new record is vintage stuff btw.

I somehow didn't know or had forgotten about his 9/11 beliefs.

In terms of his music, I'm quite out of the loop.

And now for something completely different

https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/album/hymns-of-oblivion

… so he's been waiting for an apocalypse?

I rather like this! It's not nearly as apocalyptic once you're halfway through, bordering on hopeful towards the end.

kind of shocking to hear his voice! just getting started

I know right?! There's a hint of Michael Hutchence in there, which fits with it being recorded 30 years ago. Would like to hear what you make of it once you've listened all the way through.

tbh i don't see myself returning to it too often, but there are some really compelling tracks! probably unsurprisingly, i think i favor the songs with slower, sparser arrangements. in some ways it reminds me of dead can dance's Spleen and Ideal (referencing that particular one because it's the DCD album i'm most familiar with since it's the only LP of theirs i own so far)

"because", "the great warriors", and "the chemistry of life" were the ones that stood out to me on first listen

ok what the hell is going on

2020 is a very confusing year

https://sparkledivision.bandcamp.com/album/to-feel-embraced

Adds a bit of extra meaning to this twitter comment the other day in reply to The Quietus and Heather Leigh...

We are Sparkle Division! comin' through....thank you very much!) xoxox, you go girl! i love you!!!

— william basinski (@WilliamBasinski) July 24, 2020

Also, a few tracks in and this sounds great.

Ha, yeah, this is pretty mental considering the Basinski seal over it. I do like it! It half reminds me of Matthew Herbert's 'Goodbye Swingtime', which was 'cleaner' in its approach but came from an equally unusual suspect. This gets more choppy, glitchy and OPN-y as it continues.

I don’t know WB’s stuff but I’ll just leave this album by UK ambient drone master Sangam here: http://newmotion.ca/album/escapism-path

this Sparkle Division alb is really nice and features the late great Henry Grimes on the poignant Oh Henry. can't ask for more than that really.

I'm banned from using violent speak so I won't describe it as "kaleidoscopic"!

the sparkle division record is good. the other day i was watching lethal weapon 2 and thought "why don't people make more music that sounds like the soundtrack to lethal weapon 2" and lo

thought this was going to be about the slight lamentations delay (LP pressing related, of course)

idk how people listen to this stuff on LP, every time you really make progress toward achieving oneness with cosmic godhead you gotta get up and flip the fuckin record

I never realized he was so queer and fabulous

https://mif.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FEATURE-e1497260395653-650x397.jpg

he's in the new Wire and the first picture looks like one for the old men that look like lesbians thread. (and the others looks like iggy pop). not sure i'd seen a pic of him before.

that's the pic I was looking for! the poolside shot

another music group I'm in was laughing about this:

I was comfortable picturing Basinski as a man who made no effort to look cool and the new wire cover has him out here tryna be Bowie. Can't listen to his ambient sounds with same trust now. He is not committed to serenity and anonymity he is trying to be a rock star.

— Harmony Holiday (@Harmony_Holiday) October 19, 2020

also, he played saxophone on the 1980 LP by LA punk supergroup Black Randy & The Metrosquad!

Basinski has the best publicity photos

also, he played saxophone on the 1980 LP by LA punk supergroup Black Randy & The Metrosquad!

!!!

and the name of that album is...

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0348063897_16.jpg

I never realized he was so queer and fabulous

A few years ago at The Lab in SF, he presented an all night sleepover where he would perform Out of Time Out of Mind (a few months prior to release) and then play back all of the Disintegration Loops for about 6 hours (event went from like 10pm to like 5am). Everyone brought comfy pillows and mattress pads and stuff, it was great.

But... I never had seen the dude before and when he walked out he was wearing a skin tight disco outfit made of either sequins or that disco fabric you see a lot and dark sunglasses. He was FABULOUS and definitely a ROCK STAR. He also spoke with a gay southern drawl too. Had no idea he was a Texan, gay and utterly and completely fabulous. I was basically like "holy shit I know nothing about you dude, but the music you make evokes a very different mood and personality than your physical self expression and I am definitely here for it".