Mnemonists was a collective of avant-garde musicians and visual artists from Fort Collins, Colorado, led by Mark Derbyshire and William Sharp, whose music mixed modern classical, experimental sound, noise, industrial and free jazz. They released their records on their own label, Dys, between 1981 and 1986; by 1985 Mnemonists had become a purely visual collective, while the music passed to a new group, Biota, which shared some of its members.

Some Attributes Of A Living System was first issued in 1980 in 500 copies on Dys, the first album to carry the Mnemonists name, and in 1985 it reappeared as half of a double LP together with Mnemonist Orchestra. It consists of 22 'Fragments' of improvisation within very simple arrangements, recorded in Fort Collins, with titles like 'Religion In Media', 'Labeling Diseases', 'Syllables From An Electric Reading Pacer' and 'Theory Of Tiles'.

A large cast took part, among them Steve Scholbe, Hugh Ragin on trumpets and trombone, Tom Katsimpalis, Sara Thompson on double bass and Steve Emmons on home-built synthesizers and sequencer. Reissued on CD by Klanggalerie.