Lary 7 - Larynx

Brilliant presentation from Blank Forms of musique concrete provocateur and denizen of late 20th century New York (back when things were still different), Lary 7, a Dr Frankenstein type character who constructed his own instruments from every day detritus for the purpose of various sound installations and performances. As wild and unorthodox as his practice was, i'd say this is more art world-oriented than the autodidactic outsider activity of someone like Charlie Nothing, rooted as it is in explorations of generation and process, following the long thread from Stockhausen and Cage through to someone like Christian Marclay or even Boyd Rice. What's most fascinating is how rhythmic patterns are fashioned from unexpected, non-musical (whatever that means tbh) sources, dissonance and atonality suddenly revealing a pattern, sense in the static. And sometimes there's no sense at all, an equally meaningful pursuit, sound for sound's sake, pushing at the boundaries of convention just to see what might happen, for the sake of one's own curiosity. Larynx is a pretty clever title all told, giving a voice to that which might not be otherwise spoken...