Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020
By Alan Licht. Introduction by Jay Sanders.
Conversations with the avant-garde’s leading lights—from Suicide to Anohni—by experimental music’s go-to interviewer, guitarist and sound artist Alan Licht
For the past 30 years, Alan Licht has been a performer, programmer and chronicler of New York’s art and music scenes. His dry wit, deep erudition and unique perspective—informed by decades of experience as a touring and recording guitarist in the worlds of experimental music and underground rock—have distinguished him as the go-to writer for profiles of adventurous artists across genres. A precocious scholar and improvisor, by the time he graduated from Vassar College in 1990 Licht had already authored important articles on minimalist composers La Monte Young, Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine, and recorded with luminaries such as Rashied Ali and Thurston Moore. In 1999 he became a regular contributor to the British experimental music magazine the Wire while continuing to publish in a wide array of periodicals, ranging from the artworld glossies to underground fanzines. Common Tones gathers a selection of never-before-published interviews, many conducted during the writing of Licht’s groundbreaking profiles, alongside extended versions of his celebrated conversations with artists, previously untranscribed public exchanges and new dialogues held on the occasion of this collection. Even Lou Reed, a notoriously difficult interviewee, was impressed. Interviews by Alan Licht with Vito Acconci, ANOHNI, Cory Arcangel, Matthew Barney, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, the Dream Syndicate’s Karl Precoda, Richard Foreman, Henry Flynt, Milford Graves, Adris Hoyos, Ken Jacobs, Jutta Koether, Christian Marclay, Phill Niblock, Alessandra Novaga, Tony Oursler, Lou Reed, Kelly Reichardt, The Sea and Cake, Suicide, Michael Snow, Greg Tate, Tom Verlaine, Rudy Wurlitzer and Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan.
Reproduced from 'Common Tones,' featured photograph is of Alan Licht (left) and projectionist Terry Daniels (right) performing with Text of Light in 2004 for Arika, Kill Your Timid Notion 04, at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland. Photo Bryony McIntyre.
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For anyone interested in avant-garde music, art or performance, Blank Forms’ super-generous new release, Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020 is intellectual gold. Collecting guitarist, sound artist and writer Alan Licht’s mostly never-before-published interviews, public exchanges and dialogues with everyone from ANOHNI to Tony Conrad, Richard Foreman, Milford Graves, Jutta Koether, Christian Marclay, Lou Reed, Suicide and Greg Tate—among many others—this is a deeply satisfying “unearthing of both personal and intellectual histories,” according to Jay Sanders, who contributes the Introduction. “In these interviews,” he concludes, “I hear Alan’s tough-minded on-the-ground enthusiasm and generosity of detail opening what might otherwise be private conversations among practitioners—revealing real contexts, motivations and affinities directly to his readers.” continue to blog
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FORMAT: Pbk, 4.75 x 7 in. / 592 pgs. LIST PRICE: U.S. $25.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $34.5 ISBN: 9781953691019 PUBLISHER: Blank Forms Editions AVAILABLE: 8/17/2021 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME
Common Tones Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020
Conversations with the avant-garde’s leading lights—from Suicide to Anohni—by experimental music’s go-to interviewer, guitarist and sound artist Alan Licht
Published by Blank Forms Editions. By Alan Licht. Introduction by Jay Sanders.
For the past 30 years, Alan Licht has been a performer, programmer and chronicler of New York’s art and music scenes. His dry wit, deep erudition and unique perspective—informed by decades of experience as a touring and recording guitarist in the worlds of experimental music and underground rock—have distinguished him as the go-to writer for profiles of adventurous artists across genres. A precocious scholar and improvisor, by the time he graduated from Vassar College in 1990 Licht had already authored important articles on minimalist composers La Monte Young, Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine, and recorded with luminaries such as Rashied Ali and Thurston Moore. In 1999 he became a regular contributor to the British experimental music magazine the Wire while continuing to publish in a wide array of periodicals, ranging from the artworld glossies to underground fanzines.
Common Tones gathers a selection of never-before-published interviews, many conducted during the writing of Licht’s groundbreaking profiles, alongside extended versions of his celebrated conversations with artists, previously untranscribed public exchanges and new dialogues held on the occasion of this collection. Even Lou Reed, a notoriously difficult interviewee, was impressed.
Interviews by Alan Licht with Vito Acconci, ANOHNI, Cory Arcangel, Matthew Barney, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, the Dream Syndicate’s Karl Precoda, Richard Foreman, Henry Flynt, Milford Graves, Adris Hoyos, Ken Jacobs, Jutta Koether, Christian Marclay, Phill Niblock, Alessandra Novaga, Tony Oursler, Lou Reed, Kelly Reichardt, The Sea and Cake, Suicide, Michael Snow, Greg Tate, Tom Verlaine, Rudy Wurlitzer and Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan.
