Alan Licht (born June 6, 1968) is an American

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

and

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 def ...

, whose work combines elements of pop,

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

and

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

. He is also a writer and journalist.

Biography

Licht was born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1968. His earliest musical influences, in the 1970s, were mainstream rock bands like the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

and Wings—he remarks in an interview with ''Paris Transatlantic'' magazine that 'What made me want to play guitar was that painting of Wings in concert in the gatefold of ''Wings Over America''. It looked so exciting... I wanted to be part of it.' Later, in school, he listened to

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

bands like

Mission of Burma Mission of Burma was an American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller (rock musician), Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass guitar, bass, Peter Prescott (musician), Peter Prescott on drum k ...

, Hüsker Dü and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

. However, his musical trajectory was set when his guitar teacher gave him a copy of

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

's ''Music for 18 Musicians'', which would lead to his discovery of other minimalist music. Licht majored in Film Studies at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

in New York. Since the 1980s, he has worked and recorded with the bands Love Child, Run On and The Pacific Ocean and with other

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

musicians including Jim O'Rourke, Rudolph Grey, and

Loren Mazzacane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genre ...

. He has also recorded several solo albums. Licht participated as drummer 42 in the

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan's noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7, 2007, at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York.

Musical style

Licht's music draws on a wide range of different styles, from tape-loops, to noisy guitar (sometimes using a prepared instrument), to pure pop music.

Writing

Licht is also a music journalist and writer on minimalist music, and in 2000, he published his first book, ''An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn.''Drag City 2000. In 2007 Rizzoli published his book ''Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories''. In 2021 his book ''Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020'' was published by Blank Forms Edition.

Discography

Solo

* ''Sink the Aging Process'' ( Siltbreeze 1994) * ''The Evan Dando of Noise'' (

Corpus Hermeticum The is a collection of 17 Greek writings whose authorship is traditionally attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. The treatises were orig ...

1997) * ''Rabbi Sky'' ( Siltbreeze 1999) * ''Plays Well'' (Crank Automotive 2000) * ''A New York MInute'' (XI 2003) * ''YMCA'' (Family Vineyard 2009) * ''Four Years Older'' ( Editions Mego 2013)

with The Blue Humans

* ''Clear to Higher Time'' ( New Alliance 1992)

with Jandek

* ''Glasgow Sunday 2005'' (Corwood Industries 2008) (Uncredited on 'Tribal Ether')

with
Loren Mazzacane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genre ...

* ''Live In NYC'' ( New World of Sound 1996) * ''Two Nights'' ( Road Cone Records 1996) * ''Mercury'' ( Road Cone Records 1997) * ''Hoffman Estates'' ( Drag City 1998) * ''In France'' ( FBWL 2003)

with Love Child

* ''Okay?'' ( Homestead 1991) * ''Witchcraft'' ( Homestead 1992)

with Run On

* '' On/Off'' (

Matador A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

1995) * '' Start Packing'' (

1996) * '' No Way'' (

1997)

with The Pacific Ocean

* ''So Beautiful and Cheap and Warm'' ( TeenBeat Records 2002)

with Aki Onda

* ''Everydays'' ( Family Vineyard 2008)

with
Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" li ...
and the Dust

* '' Last Night on Earth'' (

2013)

Bibliography

* * * * *

Biography

Musical style

Writing

Discography

Solo

with The Blue Humans

with Jandek

with
Loren Mazzacane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genre ...

with Love Child

with Run On

with The Pacific Ocean

with Aki Onda

with
Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" li ...
and the Dust

Bibliography

References

External links

Biography

Musical style

Writing

Discography

Solo

with The Blue Humans

with Jandek

with Loren Mazzacane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genre ...

with Love Child

with Run On

with The Pacific Ocean

with Aki Onda

with Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" li ... and the Dust

Bibliography

References

External links

with
Loren Mazzacane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genre ...

with
Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" li ...
and the Dust