Laurie Anderson’s five favourite avant-garde albums
While you might recognise Laurie Anderson‘s song ‘O Superman’—which unexpectedly became a chart hit and, several decades later, a TikTok phenomenon—the musician has made numerous incredible contributions to the world of avant-garde performance that are considerably less well-known. Beginning in the late 1960s, Anderson started experimenting with art, but it wasn’t until the following decade that she started tackling much more out-there projects.
She blended her experimental approach to music with performance art, often collaborating or performing alongside notable figures like Frank Zappa and William S. Burroughs. Anderson even invented a few instruments and pioneered avant-garde techniques like shifting the pitch of her voice. In the ‘80s, she released her debut album, Big Science, and she has made various other records, spoken word projects and collaborations ever since, including various songs with Lou Reed, who she was married to for several years until his death.
Anderson has never adhered to commercialism, instead making music and creating art pieces that fully reflect her ideas and no one else’s. Naturally, her tastes are aligned with those artists who don’t tend to get much radio play—the experimental musicians who have similar outlooks on artistry as Anderson. She once revealed her five favourite albums, selecting some fantastic records that are not remotely surprising picks for someone as unique as her.
Disintegration Loops by William Basinski is a firm favourite of Anderson’s, who told Classic Album Sundays that it is “basically a mantra, I treat it as ambient music of a crumbling kind, it’s really beautiful.” Basinski made the album using old recordings of found sounds he’d made in the ‘80s, transferring these files digitally in 2001. As he did so, he noticed that the tapes had deteriorated, creating interesting sounds. He allowed this effect to continue, creating a haunting, repetitive effect. When Basinski finished with his project, he looked out the window and saw the events of 9/11 unravelling in front of him. This tragedy gave the album added potency, and as he sat and watched the chaos unfold, he filmed the smoke rising into the air before overlaying his music over the top.
Anderson also loves Anohni and the Johnsons’ I Am A Bird Now, released in 2005. The powerful record, which features a picture of Candy Darling on her deathbed on the cover, is soulful yet melancholic – it even features Reed. Anohni explores themes ranging from domestic violence and mortality to her experiences of being transgender. With moving songs such as ‘For Today I Am A Boy’, the album is a tender masterpiece. Anderson states that Anohni knows how to “use silence” in a “revolutionary” way.
Speaking of silences, Anderson appreciates the use of pauses in Astor Piazzolla’s work, specifically the album Tango: Zero Hour. Calling the breaks in his bandoneon playing “so dramatic,” Anderson added, “I’ve tried to learn from him how he phrases things. Tango: Zero Hour is full of this kind of drama.” Released in 1986, Piazzolla’s record sits in the nuevo tango genre, but it is wholly experimental, with the musician playing with improvisation, something that has inspired Anderson.
Jumping forward into the age of the internet, Anderson selected Negativland’s The World Will Decide, a companion piece to their 2019 album True False. The record, released the following year, features a strange AI-esque cover that reflects the strangeness of the music. Full of random audio bites that merge with strange sounds and synths, Anderson said, “It’s full of little troupes that are just hilarious.”
Finally, a lesser-known pick comes with Devin Hoff’s Solo Bass, released in 2008. “I’m a sucker for solo instruments. It’s about hearing what that thing can do without being enhanced or talking to any other instruments,” Anderson explained. The simplicity of the record doesn’t make it one-dimensional – this is a collection of songs that relies on the array of textures that can be found in just one instrument, subsequently resulting in an emotive and poignant album.
Laurie Anderson’s favourite avant-garde albums:
- Disintegration Loops – William Basinski
- I Am A Bird Now – Anohni and the Johnsons
- Tango: Zero Hour – Astor Piazzolla
- The World Will Decide – Negativland
- Solo Bass – Devin Hoff
