Studying sound art, electroacoustic music and experimental music has opened up a new world for me. Suddenly I am discovering the work of artists who have been creating work for decades. Recently I discovered Charlemagne Palestine who studied at NYU with Morton Subotnik. What is interesting about Palestine is how he seemed to have formally studied music only to break the laws of music to create compelling and sometimes dissonant sound structures. I also like the way he employs a bit of playfullness into his performance by surrounding himself with stuffed animals. Then of course there was the way in which he smoked clove cigarettes and drank cognac while performing–so deliciously decadent.
Here is a video of Palestine performing a portion of a three-hour organ drone at the Cathedrale St Pierre
