Various

Subtitled: First A-Chronology 1921-2001. At last, the Sub Rosa label re-issues the highly-acclaimed Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music collection. Containing early and contemporary classics as well as pieces that had never been heard before. Volume 1 begins in the 1920s with the Russolo brothers, and examines each decade in turn -- Varèse, Cage, Schaeffer, Xenakis, the great pioneers crafting the first traces of a music that was markedly revolutionary: electronic music, created from nothing and an artifice without boundary that was to be entirely invented. Whereas composers such as Stockhausen, Berio and Pousseur had come from Serialism and began making electronic music as a continuation of their work with traditional instruments, others such as Boehmer and Oliveros immediately began composing using electronic bases. There were those who invented new methods, like Schaeffer and musique concrète, others were outsiders, revolutionaries and visionaries like Xenakis and Cage, and still others who derived their sound from Dadaism, the complex forms of free-jazz, John Coltrane, the acoustic and electronic improvisation scene, alternative rock, psychedelic and industrial music, the German Krautrock wave of the 1970s, and so on. The contemporary generation of electronic musicians on volume 1 are DJs, reinventors of drones, painters and sculptors using sound as a process, and maverick software creators. An absolute must for anyone interested in the roots and history of electronic music, now in a beautiful deluxe triple vinyl package including liner notes. Other artists include: Walter Ruttmann, Gordon Mumma, Angus Maclise, Tony Conrad, Philip Jeck, Otomo Yoshihide and Martin Tétreault, Survival Research Laboratories, Einstürzende Neubauten, Nam June Paik, Sonic Youth, DJ Spooky, and Ryoji Ikeda.

"Guy Marc Hinant's Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music is an important collection, an extremely valuable contribution to the recorded history of electronic music. I appreciate that he does not limit his selections to the 'non-commercial,' as so much interesting work has been, and is being, done by musicians who more often appear at clubs than concert halls, or at festivals rather than conferences." --CMJ