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La Monte Young

The godfather of drone or the high-priest of minimalist soundscapes; La Monte Young's music might sound difficult and too experimental (is there such a thing?) at first, but if the listener really gives it a chance to seep into his/her system, that person will soon be introduced to a whole new world of sounds and possibilities. That's what I like best about this artist's music: it's a challenge at first, but once you get into his music, there are so many new levels on which you can enjoy his work. At times it might get quite technical and mathematical (sound fractions, oscillations) and this is what La Monte Young is often out after, the possibilities of sound, how to work them, destroy them, new concepts, etc.; but at other times, this music is also quite pleasant simply as background music or for meditation. I personally like to listen to his work (most of it) because I always discover new sounds and dimensions every time I listen to it. I am not really interested (yet) in all the theory behind it all, some of it is surely interesting, but I am not a music scholar nor do I believe that music this complex should be exclusive to those who "know". That is simply snobbery.

There are as many ideas behind his music as there are new sounds coming to your ear in each of his works. His earliest music was quite academic, influenced by serialism. Then came Fluxus (which included other well known artists like Yoko Ono and Milan Knizak). During this period, Young "composed" many eccentric works, some would explain to simply hold a note for a very long time, others to build a small fire in front of the audience, to push a piano through a wall and if it went through, to keep on pushing until the performer couldn't go on or to draw a straight line and follow it. You get the idea. But his most interesting (and most well known) work is his work with drone, or sustained notes. He would often work with what is called just intonation a special tuning of instruments based on specific mathematical ratios of the oscillations (I couldn't possibly explain this to you). These works completely reinvent one's perception of music can or is supposed to be, well at least they had that effect on me. I liked drone music before La Monte Young, but this was quite extreme, especially upon my first listen, but I persevered and became obsessed. What I was hearing soon became very exciting; I would be discovering new sounds and ideas regularly and would then try to associate these discoveries with other music I also enjoyed. But this is a very personal experience, this is the farthest thing from commercial music and trying to convince others who are not on the same wavelength about this music's relevancy is a failed fight right from the start.

La Monte Young went on to become one of the most important (if not the most important) modern composers today. He has since worked with many artists who were a part of his Theater Of Eternal Music and who went on to become famous artists on their own: John Cale, who would later join Velvet Underground, Tony Conrad, Terry Riley. What is most unfortunate is how difficult his recorded output is to find (not only is it difficult in itself, but now you have to search high and low just to get to hear excerpts from whole compositions!). I had been looking for over two years for a copy of his Well-Tuned Piano (which I had first heard thanks to mp3 and file sharing) before I finally found a copy. I won't even tell you how much I paid for it (ok I will, but don't tell anyone - 950$US) on eBay but had to pay a hefty sum due to it's extreme rarity. There is so much of his work which is never even duly released at all. There are some bootlegs out there, but it is a known fact that Young watches with hawk eyes the spreading of his work (maybe he actually wants to keep it exclusive for some reason!?). Hopefully something will be done to remedy the situation, but considering the Well-Tuned Piano has been discontinued for practically twenty years, I seriously doubt it will happen anytime soon.

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