3. Terry RileyA Rainbow In Curved Air
Another one from my student days. It’s like being on a rollercoaster of colours, this music – it’s so joyful and bright, the electric organ, the electric harpsichord are overdubbed right through. I find electronic music so often isn’t used to give music identity, but just create noise, and the trouble with electronic music in general is that there’s no limits for its volume – you’re just a dial turn away from breaking a house apart. With traditional instruments there are limits, and we should think about why that is. Avoid the temptation that’s there, and think of Terry Riley, and how electronics can give something soul.
Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Marc Hollander, Rat Scabies, Captain Sensible, Rhys Chatham, Mercury Rev
