Here's the thing: if you're going to play proper space rock you really need a saxophonist. I know you didn't want to hear that, but it needs to be said. I don't care if you think saxophones are naff, or if you think they're not rock enough. You're wrong. You need one. Seven That Spells know this. G is from their 2010 album Future Retro Spasm , and while the rest of the band lay down a pummelling, hypnotic single-note groove, sax player Lovro Zlopaša has his blue touchpaper lit. Stand well back and wait ...

A live version of Terry Riley's piece "In C". Recorded at Ella St. last summer with cortex on his bass/bari uke (thanks, cortex!). This was the first part of the tune. The second part didn't quite work out, but was fun. You may not believe it, but we were reading the music.

1974: Charlemagne Palestine - Four Manifestations on Six Elements by Winston O'Boogie">Dr. Winston O'Boogie on 05-11-2012 For aficionados of the modern minimalist movement, a small handful of works have achieved mythic status, often warping their creators into mysterious, nearly other worldly gurus of drone. The Black Record by La Monte Young comes to mind, as does Terry Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air , Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians , and possibly Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach . Each of these works, with the exception of La Monte Young, who is an enigma of his own ...

In the second of our new series, Tom Service writes about Pauline Oliveros, whose sonic explorations take on life, the universe and everything Nearly sixty years ago, Pauline Oliveros found her mantra. "Listen to everything all the time and remind yourself when you are not listening". This simple but transformative thought has filled her life in music. Oliveros (born in 1932), then in her early 20s and living in San Francisco, turned a tape recorder on, and, listening back to the sounds she had preserved, heard things that she had not realised were happening in real time – and a philosophy ...

Ahead of his gig this weekend with Fieldwork at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Vijay Iyer began his all-too-brief two night run yesterday at the Vortex. Tonight's show might be the final chance, the club says, to hear Iyer at the beloved Dalston venue as the stellar US/south Indian pianist-composer has got to the point in his career trajectory (he's just 40) that the larger concert hall venues beckon. The acclaim he and the trio, intuitively tactile bassist Stephan Crump and diminutive powerhouse drummer Marcus Gilmore habitually achieve has been quite remarkable, and while a critics' darling, indeed ...

Terry Riley's piece In C is considered to be one of the 20th century's musical 'big bangs', and his own early recordings of In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air have just been re-released. Andrew Ford talks to writer and musician Sid Smith about Terry Riley and the influence of his minimalism.

The Nashville Symphony Orchestra brings a wonderfully weird program to Carnegie Hall, including the New York premiere of a new electric violin concerto by Terry Riley, featuring the superb soloist Tracy Silverman.

1983: Melnyk">Lubomyr Melnyk - The Voice of Trees by Clifford Allen on 04-13-2012 Ukrainian-Canadian composer and pianist Melnyk">Lubomyr Melnyk emerged onto the contemporary music scene in the 1970s, but it’s only recently that his work has found an audience among those familiar with the “minimal” music of Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich. Melnyk’s keyboard studies are drawn from continuous, overlapping linear eddies (cf. the drawing in space of Pollock or Brice Marden) and pedal-sustained overtones, which he has termed “continuous music.” Looking to the Balinese gamelan and African rhythm choirs as well as a kinship ...

by Jason Bivins Composer Terry Riley needs no introduction to just about anyone by this stage of his career. A long way down the road from In C , Riley is still compelled by the use of timbre and repetition to induce changes in consciousness. To that effect, his long-gestating composition Aleph is consistent... Read More

(Detailed playlist , with listening links.) 1. Richard and Mimi Farina - "One-way Ticket" - Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard) 2. Charlie Feathers - "Deep Elm Blues" - Get With It: Essential Recordings 1954-69 (Reverant) 3. The Chaumonts - "I Need Your Love" (Bay Sound) 4. Rockin' Horse - "Oh Carol, I'm So Sad" - Yes It Is (Sing Sing) 5. Cate Le Bon - "Put Me To Work" - Cyrk (The Control Group) 6. Adalita Srsen & Robert Scott - "That's What I Heard" - Split EP with The Puddle (Fishrider) 7. Alvarius B - "The dinner party" - Baroque Primitiva (Abduction) 8. F.C. Judd - "Musique concrete is fascinating" - Electronics ...

We get a lot of records sent to us here at The A.V. Club . Fortunately, we end up liking some of them. In Playlisted , we share our latest recommendations. Album: Improvisations by Zomes (out now on Thrill Jockey) Press play if you like: Contemplative, trance-inducing deep listening zones in the tradition of Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, and Oneohtrix Point Never; music that approximates the sensation of staring intensely at a wall, but in a good way.  Some background: Zomes is the solo project of Philadelphian Asa Osborne. He used to play guitar in Lungfish, a post-hardcore outfit helmed by ...

Kazu Makino of Redhead">Blonde Redhead has announced the release of Works In Progress, a 15-song benefit album to support Japan and it’s ongoing efforts to heal post-tsunami. Born in Kyoto, Japan, Kazu’s love for her home country is strong. She wanted to help her homeland and turned to her friends and colleagues to ask that they donate tracks for the album. The response was unbelievable, and Kazu has collected an amazingly cohesive group of songs. Kazu said “It is so ironic that an event so devastating can allow me to do something that is so inspiring” Proceeds ...

Today marks the release of "We Are The Works In Progress," an album to benefit Japanese disaster relief featuring such artists as Terry Riley, Four Tet, Fever Ray, Deerhunter, Interpol and David Sylvain and Ryuchi Sakamototo performing alternate and demo versions of songs. The album was compiled and organized by Kazu Makino of Redhead">Blonde Redhead.

We had a pretty interesting week here at The 405; we brought you a bunch of new columns, the second edition of 'Black Vase', a new 'Plastic Platform' mix, an iPad book/site playlist, a load of reviews, a lot of news and more. Below you will find the playlist equivalent of the week we've had. Enjoy. You can listen to the playlist by clicking here . New Music Chart The Hood Internet - 'Nightchain' (Wale x Kavinsky) - ( link ) Perfect Hair Forever - 'My Teen Idol' - ( link ) Jesse Ruins - 'Shatter The Jewel' - ( link ) M.I.A. - 'Bad Girls' - ( link ) Keep Shelly In ...

A new instrumental track by Deerhunter called "Curve" appears on  We Are the Works in Progress , the compilation organized by Redhead">Blonde Redhead to benefit Japan in the wake of 2011's tsunami. As reported , the 14-song compilation, to be released on Redhead">Blonde Redhead's new Asa Wa Kurui label, features tracks from Fever Ray, Interpol, Broadcast, Liars, John Maus, Pantha du Prince, Terry Riley, David Sylvian/Ryuichi Sakamoto, and more. Hear Four Tet's track "Moma" here . It's out as a double LP on February 7 (pre-order here ).  Proceeds benefit the  Japan Earthquake Relief Fund and  Architecture ...