Glenn Branca
The Ascension
** 2022 Much-Needed repress ** Glenn Branca's first full-length album The Ascension is a colossal achievement. After touring much of 1980 with an all-star band featuring four guitarists (Banca, fellow composers Ned Sublette and David Rosenbloom, and future Sonic Youth member Lee Ranaldo) along with Jeffrey Glenn on bass and Stephan Wischerth on drums, Branca took his war-torn group into a studio in Hell's Kitchen to record five incendiary compositions.
Originally released in the summer of 1981, …
Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020
The collection of previously unpublished interviews and extended versions of Alan Licht's famous conversations with figures in the American art and music scene.
The Third Ascension
The Third Ascension is a return to the 4-guitar, bass and drums format of his legendary 1981 release The Ascension as well as 2010's The Ascension: The Sequel. The recording is a live performance by The Glenn Branca Ensemble at NYC's The Kitchen in 2016. Emerging from the late 70's No Wave scene and moving into composition, Branca’s 45 years of work as a composer included music for experimental rock bands, large ensemble instrumentals for electric guitars, symphonies for both electric instrumen…
Symphony No. 1 (Tonal Plexus)
Recorded across two nights in 1981 at New York's legendary Performing Garage and originally released in 1983 on cassette, Symphony No. 1 has been remastered for vinyl and reissued for the first time as a heavyweight 180 gram 2LP set in a deluxe gatefold jacket. The limited edition pressing features additional liner notes written by Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) alongside the original notes by Jon Pareles (The New York Times) and now includes photos by Paula Court (New York Noise). The ensemble …
Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City) For 100 Guitars
Recorded 2/28/2008 in Italy. "Glenn Branca's work as a composer spans music for experimental rock bands, large ensemble instrumentals for electric guitars, 16 symphonies, chamber ensemble pieces, an opera, a ballet, choral works and music for film, dance, theater &installation art. Now considered by many to be one of the most influential living composers (both in the fields of alternative and experimental rock, as well as contemporary classical music), Branca's work has inspired and influenced …
Symphony No. 2
2015 repress, originally reissued in 1992. Atavistic has quietly erected the near complete recorded works of Glenn Branca, whose vision of guitar-generated power-symphonic sound is, in simple terms, one of the most exhilarating and important musical gestures of the contemporary era. First issue of this '82 performance; 10 guitars (including Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo on special Branca-engineered "mallet guitars"), plus the massive force of Zev's bass drum & metal
Lesson No. 1
Long awaited, finally available as an expanded double-LP set, here's the repress of no wave pioneer Glenn Branca's iconic Lesson No 1. After cutting his teeth in the late '70s No Wave scene with bands Theoretical Girl and The Static, Glenn Branca made his first solo statement, Lesson No. 1, in 1980. The inaugural release on legendary post-punk / dance label 99 Records, Lesson No. 1 unveils Branca's visionary guitar concepts with two monstrous, side-long compositions that helped forge NYC's downt…
Selections From The Symphonies (For Electric Guitars)
Intro sampler collection of Glenn's various guitar orchestra classics for the uninitiated. Glenn has personally selected a track listing representative of his absolute unique-on-this-planet vision, with material ranging from the delicate celestial beauty of Symphony No. 3 to the demonical, otherworldly terror unfurled in No. 10. Selections is the ultimate 'in' to Branca's work if you're yet unacquainted with the most influential composer of the era.
Songs \'77-\'79
Documents the early recordings of Glenn Branca within the realm of his legendary no-wave ensembles The Static & Theoretical Girls. Contains all the recordings from both singles by these groups, plus "outrageous and inspired home cassette recordings from the time." Crucial no-wave-into-the-eighties reference point, and some extremely influential music.
The World Upside Down
2004 repress. Branca's long anticipated foray into orchestral music. Recorded in Nov, 1990. Performed by The New York Chamber Sinfonia, 'The World Upside Down' is a masterpiece of bright, organic structures & tones tempered in the eerie darkness typified by Branca's best work...Sonically and emotionally boundless, seemingly comprised of interplanetary musics from the netherworlds, 'The World Upside Down's celestial nature will especially appeal to fans of Branca's crystalline 'Symphony No. 3' re…
Symphony No. 6 (Devil Choirs At The Gates Of Heaven)
1993 CD release and one of Mr. Branca's absolute masterworks: 10 guitars and bass & drums, beautifully studio-recorded. Originally released by Blast First in 1989.
Indeterminate Activity
Long rumored first issue of incendiary masterwork rec. NYC 1981 during the peaked out early era of Guitar Army ensembles & shortly after the release of "Ascension" on 99 Records. Incl. contributions from THURSTON MOORE & LEE RANALDO of SONIC YOUTH plus mainstays Craig Bromberg, Barbara Ess, Jeffrey Glenn, Sue Hanel, David Rosenbloom & Ned Sublette. Incl. 2 bonus pieces: JOHN CAGE's infamous anti-Branca interview w/Wim Mertens at Chicago's Navy Pier in 1982 & a gorgeous previously unreleased piec…
Branca Ensemble Live At The Kitchen
The Branca Ensemble, captured at their biggest & most brutal performing his powerful elegies live in 1995, at NYC's then institution-of-the-moment, The Kitchen. Gorgeous 3-camera live shoot, excellent HEAVY sound courtesy Sir Wharton Tiers, handsome package." NTSC all-region, 70 min., 5.1 surround sound.
Symphony N°5
Subtitled "Describing Planes Of an Expanding Hypersphere". Recorded in 1984 but held up in a post-production stasis until now, this is music for 5 guitars, mallet guitar, violin, drums, bass, keyboards, that is being touted as the "most dense, cacophonous Branca symphony yet." Glenn's music gets quite often inaccurately described as wall-of-sound/noise/guitars/whatever. A wall exists for the purpose of containment. 'Symphony No. 5' is expansive beyond limits, smashing the wall (at least sonicall…