Avant-Garde: Beauty In Sound

[Barbedwire Ropes]

Avant-Garde by definition means "before it's time". In music, the meaning is much the same. Bands of the genre are often very unique and eclectlic, offering many different textures and sounds within thier music and often incorporating foreign instruments and objects. Avant-Garde compositions are usually written in a way that is different from modern music and does not follow all of the strict rules of music theory, to the point where some bands purposely sound like deliberate noise. With Avant-Garde, there are no rules to how you compose your music.

I remember first discovering Avant-Garde a few years ago at an art gallery in Portland, Oregon. Its a night I will never forget. Up until then, I was used to listening to the traditional way of compositional music.....verse/verse/chorus/verse/bridge/interlude/verse/verse/chorus/end...you know what I mean, "radio" music/metal. But that night literally changed my life.

The bands performing that night were Agalloch, Sculptured and Woods of Ypres. All three are fantastic, but it was Sculptured that changed my life forever. They had a style I hadn't heard before, and quite frankly I have yet to hear again. They often use the style of each musician playing an entirely different time signature than the others in the band. So, in turn you are getting 8 different time signatures all going off at once (Guitars, Guitars, Keys, Bass, Right Bass Drum, Left Bass Drum, Left Drum Hand, Right Drum Hand)..suffice to say it is mesmerizing and they showcase this talent very well on their last album 'Embodiement'.

Other Notable Bands/Artists in the Genre Include:
Agalloch
Age of Silence
The Amenta
Arcturus
Bass Communion
Celtic Frost
Cynic
Deathspell Omega
Diablo Swing Orchestra
Disharmonic Orchestra
Enslaved
Ephel Duath
In the Woods...
Ihsahn
Iwrestledabearonce
Kayo Dot
Lux Occulta
Mr. Bungle
Mirrorthrone
Naked City
Psyopus
Sculptured
Sigh
Sirrah
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Solefald
Steven Wilson
Ulver
Unexpect
Vintersorg
Ved Buens Ende
Winds
Woods of Ypres
Zappa Plays Zappa


So are there any other people in the music forum that are in love with this absolutely beautiful form of expression?

 

[Mr. TM]

It truly is a beautiful genre mate, and like the genre insinuates, it is music before most people's time. Now I feel one of the best punk/hardcore albums of this year is iwrestledabearonce's Its All Happening. The single off of that CD that really hit big was Tastes Like Kevin Bacon, a song that I have listened to more than any other song released in 2009. They might be one of the commanding forces in moving the genre forward.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Diablo Swing Orchestra is awesome. I enjoy this stuff because it is different than what you usually see. I mean listening to Steven Wilson's solo album was a bit of an education I have listened to stuff like Celtic Frost and Diablo Swing Orchestra before it. I listen to new stuff all the time, new to me at least anyway. Avant-garde is an interesting label at least, it does give a very experimental implication to the music, which I applaud and when it gets pulled off it is pulled off very well.