Atlantis Nath

Terry Riley will forever be best known for A Rainbow in Curved Air and In C — and for sure those are epochal creations, which splintered open oppositions between mainstream and underground, composition and improvisation, automation and control for ever. But his output has been prodigious in the decades since and there are so many extraordinary things to be heard it beggars belief, each in a space of its own. This one from 2002, for example, deserves to be singled out for sheer wildness and variety. Over an hour and a quarter it features Riley’s own chants and throat singing, fractured hip hop like beats, chopped up street recordings that seem like you’ve entered the endless noise and commerce of William Burroughs astral “Interzone,” whimsical string quartets, an intense 15 minute solo piano improvisation and more… and more… The sheer volume of creative outpouring here is mind-blowing — but that is Riley all over. This is a LONG way from minimalist.