INTERVIEWSKARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

German splatter-composer Karlheinz Stockhausen saw no limits to what you could do (or reasonably should do) with sound, rhythm or texture; so he broke every rule and invented new ones over the course of a career that spanned more than 50 years. He'd make orchestras battle or compose for music boxes; he'd make manipulated tapes ooze into live instruments; he'd bring ring modulators into concert halls. His slurred tapes, synesthesia-inducing sounds, and expressionist bursts of percussion accidentally mirrored the effects of hallucinogenics; so, of course, he influenced everyone from the Beatles to The Who to Zappa to Miles Davis to Kraftwerk (former students!) to Björk to AnCo.

Back to the Centipedia glossary

NEXT: Studio Ghibli