Books/Documentaries on Avant Garde
 

Alright, being an avid fan of Avant Garde especially of the Rock In Opposition variety, I've done a little studying here and there of things. But, feel there's probably more that I could look into.

So, I'm wondering, what all books have you read or documentaries have you watched that have enlightened you on things involving experimental music:

File Under Popular - absolutely brilliant set of thesises by Chris Cutler, one of the founding members of Henry Cow, and essentially the spokesman of the Rock Against Rock concept. Basically, goes in detail explaining what RIO is, and goes very in depth in the philosophies of the future(at the time 1982) of progressive rock, historical perspective of British prog, and even a bit on Residents/Sun Ra(****ING GOD!!!) for good measure. Every good reading. Contains a brilliant, even if self indulgent, set of suggested albums contained. Where I found about AMM and Negativland.

Step Across the Border - another brilliant piece, this time a documentary, by the other major founding member, and by far one of the most important figures in the genre, if not the most, Fred Frith. It's a little less intense, Frith presents his point in a more human emotional sense, but it fails to grasp the concept with full completeness. However, paired with File Under Popular really garners both the intellectual, and free spirited, aspect that creates the RIO thread of music.

Space Is the Place - Not sure whether to count it, or not, but Sun Ra's movie. Neat little camp piece that parodies blacksploitation, and 50s space films. A lot of Sun Ra philosophy, yet only for die hard fans, I'm thinking.

Frank Zappa interviews - any of them, they're ingenious. Zappa is so clear headed, socially conscious, and relevant on the music industry. Plus, anything PMRC era where he's on TV is brilliant.

John Cage documentary - don't know what it was called but I watched it on youtube, and damn... Completely and utterly amazed at how deep John Cage fearlessly challenged the norm. Basically, strung together with bits of John Cage philosophy as it explores his attempts to build his own sort of chamber of sounds(and his brilliance analyzing the location of sounds, and how they are just as musical as what's coming from your instruments). John Cage was a lifechanging thinker, and musical philosopher. Anything with him is platinum.

Any rate, that's about all I can think of except for random youtube excerpts, maybe a Frith interview here and there, etc. I was wondering if there were any more materials that allowed me to garner some knowledge on Avant Garde beyond the incredibly uninformed misnomer of "Patton invented it all", which I say with all due respect to Mr.Mike Patton.

Any suggestions?

It may be a bit dated at this point but the book Apocalypse Culture impressed me a lot when I read it around 20 years ago.

There's a decent documentary about Harry Partch on youtube.

ubuweb has a ton of free ones including Negtivland's brilliant "Sonic Outlaws"

This really isn't a documentary per se, but check out Destroy All Monsters: Grow Live Monsters. Great stuff, kind of like Harry Smith's early work.

-Musical Outsiders, an American Legacy - about Terry Riley, Harry Partch, Lou Harrison

and Terry Riley: Music with Roots on Aether;

-We Dont Care About Music Anyway - about japanese noise

-Derek Bailey: On the Edge: Improvisation in Music

-Wild Combination - about Arthur Russell. Still on A.Russell make sure you see Niblock's footage of him. Its on youtube

-Oskar Sala - Die Vergangene Zukunft Des Klanges

-Ohn: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music

-MY NAME IS ALBERT AYLER . one of my favorites

-Jandek on Corwood

and off course:

Sun Ra: Brother From Another Planet

and my favorite:

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise

and there is one on Ornette Coleman i dont remember the name

This was a cool Krautrock doc I caught if that helps

Oh... I watched that this weekend. I thought it was really well planned out and filmed.

I'm hoping to check out "Anarchy" by John Cage soon.

1. The topic is Anarchy.
2. It's written by John Cage.

If this book isn't amazing, I'm going to kill somebody.

Well, I'm off to kill somebody. It's just a series of these weird poem things that involve drawing a word downwards, and using every letter to create a new sentence. Gets old at about the fourth tone(and there's twenty)

I'm going to pick up 'Musicage' soon. Sounds a tad more promising.