Glenn Branca for RIO (possibly post) - Progressive Rock Music Forum

^I saw Glenn Branca live in some performance called 'A Symphony for 100 electric guitars'. They were all reading sheet music in front of them, Branca was conducting furiously like Herbert von Karajan, but the sound resembled a racing motorcycle going through a tunnel, all the time.

Percussion, sir!

Well I've emailed Branca personally. Wrote a little fan mail and also told him about this site. Perhaps he doesn't give a rat's ass, but it's possible he would be interested in the chance to give his work more exposure. If he contacts me or the site or appears on the forum it might stir up some interest and increase his chances of being added.

Hey, it worked with Paul Draper from Mansun. Actually ended up talking to him personally, woohoo.

Now Terry Riley's here though, that could theoretically open a floodgate for experimental composers. Again it's the debate over whether this is a progressive site or a progressive ROCK site. I think Branca has a stronger claim than most because he actually uses rock instruments even though it doesn't sound like rock.

lucas wrote:

chamber rock ?

He is associated with indus rock, no wave and contemporary classical music. But it's not prog per se.

If this isn't progressive music, I'd very much like to know what is. A band in 2010 trying to sound like a band from 1976? Seems we have plenty of those 'regressive' acts on here without much problem. But truly progressive artists doing something new? Get ready for massive resistance from the 'experts' of PA.

definitely needs a place here. Branca's intuitive-challenging experiments for guitars are essential in the development of free form post-rockin excentricities (with early Chatham, Neu!, L.A Düsseldorf...)

krautrock or experimental post-rock for me.

bump

Logan wrote:

Now as I speak of experimentation, I am reminded of Glenn Branca who is out, now that guy was ahead of his time. Have to research why he is not in.

He was evaluated in both Psyche and RIO/Avant in the autumn of 2010, but neither team wanted him so he was passed to Krautrock, where philippe agreed he could be added, but nothing further happened until seventhsojourn 'bumped' the topic in the Kraut team thread in June 2013. Alex (harmonium.ro) was originally going to try to come up with a decent bio to assist philippe with the addition, but he left the site before he had done this, and shortly after seventhsojourn bumped the topic, philippe said he was leaving (temporarily) too, so still nothing happened. Andy Webb set Branca to 'cleared' on Progfreak about a year later (though the Kraut team didn't use Progfreak for tracking its evaluations in those days, so the 'cleared' entry actually appears in the Psych chart. Another Alex (Sheavy) then said in the newly created PSIKE team thread in January 2015 that he wasn't sure of the status of Glenn Branca, so he, or more likely Uwe (Rivertree), set him to 'new' again, with the pair eventually registeringn a 'move' and a 'no vote'. Uwe then set the artist to 'rejected' some time in late 2019 by the looks of it.

See: https://awesomeprog.com/artists/9605, PA tab.

^ Yeah, I think he was only cleared in Krautrock as a last resort after neither Psych or RIO/Avant would have him. Philippe did suggest experimental post-rock as an alternative to Krautrock, but after Post Rock was merged with Math Rock into a single sub genre, that option no longer made sense.

^ TO me he would suit the Post Rock/ Math Rock category or Avant. Either makes sense. He really appeals to my Swans tastes...

Here is Glenn Branca's "Lesson No. 1" off his 1980 EP (that EP is Prog to me, that trsvck and the longer "Dissonance").

And here is the title track off 1981'a Ascension, which I find bloody amazing (if one likes Swans, and post-rock like Godspeed.... this is more likely to appeal than if you like, say, 80s Camel).

Do you think that ahead of its time, what are some of the ones that you would mention?

Those albums are to that I think worthy.

And I like The Third Ascension a lot, released posthumously in 2019 and recorded in 2016.

Edited by Logan - January 06 2025 at 18:02