Kim Cascone (December 21, 1955) is an Italian

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

who is known for his releases in the

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

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industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and electro-acoustic

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

on his own record label, Silent Records.

Biography

In 1989 Cascone became an assistant music editor for director

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

on ''

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'' and '' Wild At Heart''. Musically he has used various aliases over the years but became best known under the moniker Heavenly Music Corporation, a name taken from a track on the record ''

(No Pussyfooting) ''(No Pussyfooting)'' is the debut studio album by the British duo Fripp & Eno, released in 1973. ''(No Pussyfooting)'' was the first of three major collaborations between the musicians, growing out of Brian Eno's early tape delay looping exper ...

'' by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

and

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

. Cascone released four full albums under this name from 1993 to 1996. In 1996 Cascone sold Silent Records and Pulsoniq Distribution to work as a sound designer/composer for

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

's company

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. After leaving the company in 1998, Cascone went on to serve as the Director of Content for

Staccato Systems Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...

, a spin-off company from

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where he co-invented an algorithm for realistic audio atmospheres and backgrounds for video games called Event Modeling. He returned to making music in 1999 and has since been releasing records using his own name on various labels as well as his own label, anechoic (named after his last Heavenly Music Corporation release), which he established in 1996. Cascone has released more than 50 albums of electronic music since 1984 and has recorded or performed with Merzbow,

Keith Rowe Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both d ...

, Scanner, John Tilbury, Domenico Sciajno and

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

, among others. In academic writing, Cascone is known for his paper ''

The Aesthetics of Failure ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', which outlined the use of digital glitches and systemic failure in the creation of post-digital and

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

music. He is also on the advisory board of the academic sound journa
Interference
based in Dublin, Ireland. Cascone holds dual Italian and American citizenship as of September 2008. In 2016 Cascone rebooted his record label Silent Records. From 2016 to December 30, 2017, Cascone served as the music director for The Silent Channel on SomaFM, an online streaming radio station that features the Silent Records catalog.

Discography

*
Blue Cube
' ( Raster-Noton 1998) * ''Cathode Flower'' ( Ritornell 1999) * ''(Delete)'' (Fällt 2000) * ''Residualism'' ( Ritornell 2001) * ''Dust Theories'' ( c74 2001) * ''The Crystalline Address'', with Scanner ( Sub Rosa 2002) * ''Pulsar Studies'' (

anechoic An anechoic chamber (''an-echoic'' meaning "non-reflective") is a room designed to stop reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are also often isolated from energy entering from their surroundings. This combination means t ...

2004) * ''Rondo/7Phases/Blowback'', with Merzbow ( Sub Rosa 2004) * ''Gravity Handler'' ( CRC 2004) * ''Statistically Improbable Phrases'' (

2006) * ''The Astrum Argentum'' (

2008) * ''Pharmacie: Green & Red'' (

2008) * ''Music for Dagger & Guitar'' ( Aural Terrains 2008) * ''anti-musical celestial forces'' ( Storung 2009) * ''The Knotted Constellation (fourteen rotted coordinates)'' ( Monotype 2011) * ''Subflowers - Phi'' ( Emitter Micro 2016)

As Khem One

* ''Threshold of Eastern Octaves'' (

Silent Records Silent may mean any of the following: People with the name * Silent George, George Stone (outfielder) (1876–1945), American Major League Baseball outfielder and batting champion * Brandon Silent (born 1973), South African former footballer * C ...

2022) * ''Lunadronus - The Realm of Lunar Gauzes'' (

2020) * ''Heliodronus - Messenger of the Sun'' (

2019) * ''Copperopolis - Guitar Study'' ( Humanhood Recordings 2018) * ''Modal Gauzes No. 1 - Guitar Study'' ( Daathstaar 2018) * ''Pollen & Fragments'' ( Daathstaar 2018)

As PGR

* ''Silence'' (PGR, 1985) * ''The Flickering of Sowing Time'' (

RRRecords RRRecords is a record label and used and new record shop based in Lowell, Massachusetts. RRRecords was the first American record label to publish underground "noise music" in the early 1980s, and published the first American vinyl by Merzbow, Maso ...

, 1986) * ''Cyclone Inhabited by Immobility'' ( Permis de Construire, 1987) * ''The Black Field'' (Silent, 1989) * ''Fetish'', with Arcane Device (Silent, 1990) * ''The Chemical Bride'' (Silent, 1992) * ''The Morning Book of Serpents'' (Silent, 1995) * ''A Hole of Unknown Depth'' (Silent, 1996)

As Heavenly Music Corporation

* ''In a Garden of Eden'' (Silent, 1993 /

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, 2018) * ''Consciousness III'' (Silent, 1994) * ''Lunar Phase'' (Silent, 1995 /

, 2017) * ''Anechoic'' (Silent, 1996)

with KGB Trio

* ''Swiss Pharmaceuticals'' (

Utech The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.), formerly the College of Arts, Science and Technology, is a public university in Jamaica. History The university was founded as the Jamaica Institute of Technology in 1958. The following ye ...

, 2005) * ''Smoke on Devil's Mountain'' ( Scrapple Records, 2008) * ''Noise Forest'' ( Aural Terrains, 2009)

with Spice Barons

* ''Future Perfect State'' (Silent, 1995)

Bibliography

* Cascone, Kim.
Aesthetics of Failure
" Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000. * Cascone, Kim.

Parachute 107, 2002. * Cascone, Kim.
Grain, Sequence, System: Three Levels of Reception in the Performance of Laptop Music
Contemporary Music Review Volume 22, Issue 4, 2003. * Cascone, Kim
Evolving the Emergent Content Workshop
Interace Cultures - Artistic Aspects of Interaction - Christa Sommerer, Laurent Mignonneau, Dorothee King (eds.), 2008. * Cascone, Kim.

Junk Jet No.1, 2007. * Cascone, Kim.
The Use of Density Groups in Electroacoustic Music
Contemporary Music Review, Volume 30, Issue 2, 2011. * Cascone, Kim.
Residualism
Sound - Caleb Kelly MIT Press, 2011. * Cascone, Kim.
Subtle Listening – How Artists Can Develop New Perceptual Circuits
Infinite Grain, March 30, 2014. * Cascone, Kim.
Transcendigital Imagination: Developing Organs of Subtle Perception
Interference Journal of Sound, Volume 4, 2014.

References

External links

Interview with Kim Cascone on Ctheory.net

Interview with Kim Cascone on Cycling74.com

Review of CD "Music for Dagger & Guitar
- Joanna Demers
Dialogue 05: Kim Cascone

Interview with Kim Cascone for SEAMUS

Kim Cascone: Dark Stations and Black Fields

Interview with Kim Cascone for Postdigital Science and Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cascone, Kim Living people American male composers 21st-century American composers American electronic musicians Ambient musicians People from Albion, Michigan 1955 births 21st-century American male musicians Thessalonians (band) members