Keith Rowe
Static, crackling textures and shortwave radio ghosts. Tabletop guitar played like a canvas, creating a space for deep, patient observation of sound.
Static, crackling textures and shortwave radio ghosts. Tabletop guitar played like a canvas, creating a space for deep, patient observation of sound.
Keith Rowe is the foundational figure of Electroacoustic Improvisation (EAI), a movement that bridged the gap between free jazz and contemporary electronic music. Emerging from the 1960s British experimental scene as a founding member of the collective AMM, Rowe famously abandoned conventional guitar technique by laying the instrument flat on a table and manipulating it with found objects.
This 'tabletop' approach effectively neutralized the guitar's history, allowing him to treat it as a sound generator rather than a harmonic tool. His work is deeply influenced by the visual arts, particularly the concepts of Jackson Pollock and Marcel Duchamp, applying the logic of abstract expressionism to sound. Over a career spanning six decades, he has collaborated with nearly every major figure in the avant-garde, including John Tilbury and Christian Fennesz, and remains a central figure for the Erstwhile Records aesthetic. His influence is seen in the works of noise artists, sound designers, and minimalists who prioritize texture and silence over melody.
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