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Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020
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. Introduction by Jay Sanders.
For the past thirty 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 and private exchanges, and new dialogues held on the occasion of this collection. Even Lou Reed, a notoriously difficult interviewee, was impressed.
Alan Licht is a writer, musician, and curator based in New York City. He is equally known for his guitar work in the underground rock bands Run On and Love Child and in the experimental groups the Blue Humans and Text of Light. He has released eight solo guitar albums and more than a dozen duo and trio records of improvised music. Licht is a contributing music editor at BOMB magazine and his essays and reviews have appeared in Artforum, Parkett, the Wire, the Believer, Sight & Sound, and many other publications. He is the author of An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn, an extended personal essay about coming of age as a rock fan and musician; Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories, the first full-length study of sound installations and sound sculpture to appear in English; and Sound Art Revisited, an updated version of the latter, published last year; and he is a co-author of Will Oldham on Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, a collection of interviews with Will Oldham, and Title TK 2010–2014, a compilation of concert transcriptions, with Cory Arcangel and Howie Chen.
Jay Sanders is executive director and chief curator of Artists Space, New York.
For the past thirty 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 and private exchanges, and new dialogues held on the occasion of this collection. Even Lou Reed, a notoriously difficult interviewee, was impressed.
Alan Licht is a writer, musician, and curator based in New York City. He is equally known for his guitar work in the underground rock bands Run On and Love Child and in the experimental groups the Blue Humans and Text of Light. He has released eight solo guitar albums and more than a dozen duo and trio records of improvised music. Licht is a contributing music editor at BOMB magazine and his essays and reviews have appeared in Artforum, Parkett, the Wire, the Believer, Sight & Sound, and many other publications. He is the author of An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn, an extended personal essay about coming of age as a rock fan and musician; Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories, the first full-length study of sound installations and sound sculpture to appear in English; and Sound Art Revisited, an updated version of the latter, published last year; and he is a co-author of Will Oldham on Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, a collection of interviews with Will Oldham, and Title TK 2010–2014, a compilation of concert transcriptions, with Cory Arcangel and Howie Chen.
Jay Sanders is executive director and chief curator of Artists Space, New York.
- GenresMusicArtNonfiction
592 pages, Paperback
Published June 4, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 16, 2021
Superb book of interviews by the multi-talented Alan Licht. He is also our guest on Book Musik. Hear it here: Book Musik podcast
September 15, 2021
Tosh and I discuss this with author Alan Licht on our Book Musik podcast.
Alan is a musician and writer and his multidisciplinary approach to creativity is just one of the many things that he has in common with his subjects. The majority of his interviewees are active in some combination of music, writing, film, and the visual arts. There’s a creative perspective and aesthetic that flows through this collection of interviews from well-known artists like Lou Reed and Tom Verlaine to some of the key figures who influenced them such as Tony Conrad and Henry Flynt. As a peer and someone who has an enormous passion and respect for the artists he’s interviewing, Alan has a unique knack for getting everyone to open up to him and deliver a lively exchange.
Alan is a musician and writer and his multidisciplinary approach to creativity is just one of the many things that he has in common with his subjects. The majority of his interviewees are active in some combination of music, writing, film, and the visual arts. There’s a creative perspective and aesthetic that flows through this collection of interviews from well-known artists like Lou Reed and Tom Verlaine to some of the key figures who influenced them such as Tony Conrad and Henry Flynt. As a peer and someone who has an enormous passion and respect for the artists he’s interviewing, Alan has a unique knack for getting everyone to open up to him and deliver a lively exchange.
December 7, 2022
Writer and musician Alan Licht was uniquely placed to witness a period centered in the city of New York from the 1970's to 2020 where there were avant-garde scenes in that city's art, film, and music worlds that intertwined and overlapped with each other in unexpected and previously unlikely ways. This collection of interviews focuses on the people and personalities involved and points out movements, venues, and intersections that haven't been previously documented. it's a valuable and insightful guide to those scenes. Some of the people included are Michael Snow, Tony Conrad, Ira Kaplan & Georgia Hubley, Suicide, Lou Reed, Harry Flynt, Tom Verlaine, Glenn Branca, Rudy Wurlitzer, Angus Maclise, Alessandra Novaga, Milford Graves, and many others. A slice of a richly textured artistic life. - BH.
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May 13, 2022One of my favorite collections of thinking on music I've ever read.
December 1, 2024
Blank Forms Editions did an excellent job with this great collection of interviews conducted by Alan Licht. Standouts include interviews with Rhys Chatham, Christian Marclay, and Milford Graves.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews