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.
Alan Licht (né en 1968) est un écrivain, critique musical, musicien et guitariste expérimental et commissaire d'exposition basé à New York. Il joue depuis 1980 dans divers groupes de rock undergound et groupes expérimentaux comme Run On, Lovechild, The Blue Humans, The Pacific Ocean et Text of Light. Il a publié de nombreux albums de guitare solo et de disques de musique improvisée en duo ou en trio, collaborant avec des musiciens d'avant-garde tels que Jim O'Rourke, Loren Mazzacan Connors, Rudolf Grey, Lee Ranaldo et Aki Onda.
Licht est rédacteur musical à BOMB magazine et ses essais et critiques sont parus dans Artforum, Parkett, The Wire, The Believer, Sight & Sound, etc.. Il est l'auteur de An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn, un essai personnel sur le passage à l'âge adulte en tant que fan de rock et musicien ; Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories, la première étude complète des installations et sculptures sonores à paraître en anglais, qui a donné lieu à une nouvelle édition réactualisée parue sous le titre Sound Art Revisited. Il est également coauteur de Will Oldham on Bonnie "Prince" Billy, un recueil d'entretiens avec Will Oldham, et, avec Cory Arcangel et Howie Chen, de la compilation de transcriptions de concerts Title TK 2010-2014.
