Music on a Long Thin Wire
By Alvin Lucier
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Track listing
- A Music on a Long Thin Wire 20:00
- B Music on a Long Thin Wire 20:30
- C Music on a Long Thin Wire 20:00
- D Music on a Long Thin Wire 19:30
- Total length: 80:00
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2 Issues
8 Reviews
For a lot of people experimental music has come to mean practically anything they deem strange rather than, as the name implies, a piece where the composer isn't entirely sure where the thing's going. Lucier is an example of the latter, and this is one of his more successful "experiments." As the title suggests, the sound is generated by a long wire, or monochord, which is set into motion by an oscillator. The sound is constantly changing as it bounces up & down the line and the result is mesmerizing.
Published
LCD 1011 CD (1992)
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Another experimental album more interesting in premise than execution. As nearly every other review of it will tell you, its title is quite literal - it was produced using a stretch of wire, which is pretty damn cool. Unfortunately this bit of backstory both receives and warrants more recognition than the music itself. The result is a vaguely pleasant, mildly ominous humming drone which hovers in and out of the foreground. For seventy-five minutes. While entirely tolerable, this thing just demands to go somewhere but never does. (The same problem permeates Sunn O)))'s discography decades hence, though that's neither here nor there.) There are slight variations but never enough to develop into a satisfying progression. And don't try to justify this with the fact that it's drone, I could name a dozen drone albums that do exactly what I wish this would. Come back with a Long Thin Wire 2 which incorporates this idea into a rewarding musical context and we'll talk.
Published
Take a oscillator, a 50 foot wire, a magnet...and what do you get? One long ultra minimal electronic drone fest. Really kind of nice too listen to once in awhile, and like a lot of these kind of recordings the impact depends on what kind of volume you choose to listen to it at.
Published
I appreciate the experimental bent of this album, its use of a fairly unique sound source, and its, well, thoroughness in exploring that sound source. As far as minimalism goes, and this is ridiculously minimalist, this is a fairly good album. I found it oscillated between soothing and haunting, and with rapt attention I got quite a bit of enjoyable out of discerning the subtle transitions and minute changes in texture. That being said, I cannot imagine myself relistening to this album more than once. For me, exploration of sound is always interesting, however, any re-exploration of sound relies on having found something good the first time. In the case of this record, what was discovered the first time wasn't very intriguing. Also, I find this recording suffers from what I like to call 'John Cage Syndrome', which means that it is far more interesting to talk about its methodology, sound source, experimentation, et cetera, than it is to actually listen to the work. In fact, I would go so far as to say that for this recording, if it had used some more banal means of producing these sounds, which seems entirely possible, it would be deemed a horribly boring album. I also have to agree with 77ships' review. This has been done better and earlier elsewhere. Still, it was worth one listen, and maybe a few years from now I will listen to it again.
Published
A couple more wires would have made this album much more interesting. One tone is just a little too minimal.
Published
This is funny. The sound blends into anything and everything in my surroundings, drifting out of my consciousness and then jumping out at me. I keep having to remind myself of the fact that a record is playing; the more immediate impression is that there's something wrong in the room I listen in, or something going on outside the window.
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Alvin Lucier: "_Music on a Long Thin Wire_ is constructed as follows: the wire is extended across a large room, clamped to tables at both ends. The ends of the wire are connected to the loudspeaker terminals of a power amplifier placed under one of the tables. A sine wave oscillator is connected to the amplifier. A magnet straddles the wire at one end. Wooden bridges are inserted under the wire at both ends to which contact microphones are imbedded, routed to the stereo sound system. The microphones pick up the vibrations that the wire imparts to the bridges and are sent through the playback system. By varying the frequency and loudness of the oscillator, a rich variety of slides, frequency shifts, audible beats and other sonic phenomena may be produced."
Although the idea sounds interesting the resulting music is structureless, boring and irritating. Other artists have executed this concept far better. Creating something interesting unlike this. I suggest:
Change of Direction by Ellen Fullman
Although the idea sounds interesting the resulting music is structureless, boring and irritating. Other artists have executed this concept far better. Creating something interesting unlike this. I suggest:
Change of Direction by Ellen Fullman
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