Once it's recorded, then it's over.

May 14, 2018 3:35 PM

R.I.P. Glenn Branca. Avant garde composer, guitar player, No Wave godfather, designer of experimental instruments, dead at the age of 69.

Symphony No 13 (Hallucination City) for 100 guitars

Glenn Branca: Where my Ears Want to Go

posted by curiousgene (36 comments total)

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posted by Mei's lost sandal at 3:39 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by lapolla at 3:57 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by bigendian at 4:02 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by drezdn at 4:03 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by capricorn at 4:06 PM on May 14, 2018

I was just talking about Branca the other day. I'm very sorry to read this. He was a remarkable musician.

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posted by Joey Michaels at 4:06 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by coolxcool=rad at 4:09 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by acb at 4:14 PM on May 14, 2018

Aw, poop.
posted by LionIndex at 4:31 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by interrupt at 4:43 PM on May 14, 2018

♪
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:49 PM on May 14, 2018

Caught a gig by chance in a small niteclub in the early 1980s. No idea who he was. A couple of sets of intense 5 guitar drone punk with jazz drumming. Sounded like the harmony of the spheres! Quite inspiring. Later we teased my brother that he dozed off and missed the chord change in the final set.
posted by ovvl at 5:10 PM on May 14, 2018 [8 favorites]

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what? I can't hear you! what?
posted by mwhybark at 5:17 PM on May 14, 2018

Symphony Number 2 was my introduction to Branca's work. It changed how I listen to music.
posted by ardgedee at 5:19 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by aworks at 5:25 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by lasagnaboy at 5:25 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by heurtebise at 5:35 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by Going To Maine at 6:12 PM on May 14, 2018

⚫️
posted by sjswitzer at 6:21 PM on May 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

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posted by mustard seeds at 6:26 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by threecheesetrees at 6:57 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by porn in the woods at 7:42 PM on May 14, 2018

Huge presence, historical matey. I never got super into him, though I do have The Ascension from my days exploring Skronk Rock, which is good but different than his droney stuff.

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posted by rhizome at 7:56 PM on May 14, 2018

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on behalf of my non-Mefite spouse
posted by desuetude at 8:46 PM on May 14, 2018

A lifetime ahead of his time - Thurston Moore should be ponying up for an impressive monument, I think.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:54 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

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posted by cichlid ceilidh at 9:12 PM on May 14, 2018

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posted by barrett caulk at 9:54 PM on May 14, 2018 [6 favorites]

Fuck.

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posted by mykescipark at 11:29 PM on May 14, 2018

This interview from five years ago has more about what the man himself thought.

"Glenn Branca grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a city, then, at the beginning of a long, slow post-industrial decline." (Hey, me too; I never knew he came from there.) "In 1964, he heard 'You Really Got Me' by The Kinks for the first time on the radio, and almost immediately went out and bought a guitar." (Hey, me too... except for the part about buying a guitar. I still consider that the definitive rock song of all time.) "For instance, there was a really fantastic band called the Art Ensemble of Chicago... they could blow the roof off the house…" (Yes, he’s absolutely right again.)

RIP Glenn.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:45 AM on May 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

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posted by Kattullus at 4:11 AM on May 15, 2018

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posted by bouvin at 4:42 AM on May 15, 2018

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posted by Auz at 4:47 AM on May 15, 2018

Geeta Dayal's Guardian obit
posted by Going To Maine at 6:55 AM on May 15, 2018

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posted by fregoli at 12:38 PM on May 15, 2018

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posted by talking leaf at 2:11 PM on May 16, 2018

Premier Guitar
posted by thelonius at 1:21 AM on May 17, 2018