Glenn Branca

On Tour

219,952 plays (34,515 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

141 shouts

Add to my Library Share

Harrisburg PA, United States

Glenn Branca (born October 6, 1948 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is an avant-garde composer and guitarist.

Branca studied theater at Emerson College in Boston in the early 1970s. While there, he began experimenting with sound as the founder of an experimental theater group called Bastard Theater. He moved to New York in 1976. His first encounter with the NYC music scene was with the N.Dodo Band whom he observed many times at their rehearsal space- Phil Demise’s Gegenschein Vaudeville Placenter. This is where he first met Jeffrey Lohn who was playing electric violin with the N. Dodo Band. He then formed two bands in the late 1970s, first Theoretical Girls (in 1977 with composer/guitarist Jeffrey Lohn) and later The Static. He also performed Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio in 1977, an experience that was very important in the development of his compositional voice (Branca 1979).

In the early 1980s, he composed several medium-length compositions for electric guitar ensembles, including The Ascension (1981) and Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses (1981). He soon thereafter began composing symphonies for orchestras of electric guitars and percussion, which blended droning industrial cacophony and microtonality with quasi-mysticism and advanced mathematics. Starting with Symphony No. 3 (“Gloria”) (1983), he began to systematically compose for the harmonic series, which he considered to be the structure underlying not only all music but most human endeavors.

Tagged as:

experimental, avant-garde, no wave, contemporary classical, post-punk
See more…

Similar Artists

Top Albums

The Ascension
Glenn Branca
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $13.98
- eBay Search
Lesson No. 1
Glenn Branca
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $13.98
- eBay Search
Symphony No. 5
Glenn Branca
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
Songs '77-'79
Glenn Branca
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $7.92
- 7digital
- iTunes $7.92
- Buy Album
- Amazon $10.95
- eBay Search

Top Tracks

1	Lesson No. 2	107
2	Light Field (In Consonance)	84
3	Structure	80
4	The Spectacular Commodity	61
5	Lesson No. 1 For Electric Guitar	55
6	The Ascension	52
7	First Movement	48
8	Third Movement	42
8	Second Movement	42
10	Lesson No. 1	38
11	Fourth Movement	31
12	Dissonance	23
13	My Relationship full track	19
14	You Got Me full track	18
15	Bad Smells	17

Buy top tracks at Amazon MP3

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

PollysParadise wrote:
Tuesday morning

The Spectacular Commodity, First Movement (Slow Mass), Light Field (In Consonance), Lesson No. 1 For Electric Guitar, i'm sure they must have other tracks as good as these, could someone name some?

View Profile | Leave PollysParadise a shout
NegFi wrote:
Tuesday morning

Oh, if you want to hear a bit before buying, you should check out the (authorized) videos on You Tube like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKdI1suTyEU

View Profile | Leave NegFi a shout
NegFi wrote:
Tuesday morning

it *may* come out on vinyl in the next year- right now it's cd only or download... I'm a little biased as too it's quality, since I'm on it, so I don't want to say. but the Village Voice said: "The Ascension: The Sequel—Branca's first new album in 12 years, and first with a small band since the '80s—is his balls-out rock record... "That was the idea: It's the sequel, it's old-school, and it kicks ass," Branca says of this new work's behemoth crunch, obvious from the opening three-minute ecstatic shred of "The Tone Row That Ruled the World," the infectiously coiled mind-meld "Lesson No. 3 (Tribute to Steve Reich)," and the 20-minute cataclysmic trip "The Blood.""

View Profile | Leave NegFi a shout
mattmacneil wrote:
Monday morning

I think I'm going to buy it digitally tonight, although I wish it would come out on vinyl. How is it anyway..compared to the original ascension?

View Profile | Leave mattmacneil a shout
NegFi wrote:
last week

I listen to it all the time- on my stereo... i don't let LastFM see what I'm listening to or watching... just my paranoia... i don't know what the holdup is with Amazon... it is being fulfilled by their warehouse (Glenn isn't personally packing cds and waiting in line at the post office). maybe the shipping options are weird for some reason- media mail or something... Anyway, it's also now available for legal download: http://www.digstation.com/GlennBranca I hope people like it, everyone put a lot of work into the recording.

View Profile | Leave NegFi a shout
Ragasmurf wrote:
last week

I bought it, but Amazon said it wouldn't be here until the end of March >_>

View Profile | Leave Ragasmurf a shout
jrisgod wrote:
13 days ago

Am I the only person to have bought The Sequel? Took a week to arrive from the US to the UK but I seem to be the only listener for all the tracks - come on people! No, I'm not leaking it....

View Profile | Leave jrisgod a shout
NegFi wrote:
20 days ago

yup The Ascension: The Sequel officially came out yesterday. Glenn is putting it out on his own label, so it may not be widely available in stores for a little bit. In the meantime, you can buy it directly from him here: http://www.amazon.com/Ascension-Sequel-Glenn-Branca/dp/B0037GTHMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AADUHOOL1K9S9&s=generic&qid=1266522783&sr=1-1

View Profile | Leave NegFi a shout
Ragasmurf wrote:
last month

The Ascension: The Sequel was released yesterday, wasn't it? Can't wait to hear it. Otherwise, I came across this: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/02/glenn_branca_re.html 'Some upcoming releases by Branca on Systems Neutralizers: 1. re-release of: "Symphony No. 9 (L'Eve Future)" 2. never released songs from late 70's no wave band: "THE STATIC" 3. early music: "Music from The Bastard Theater and The Dubious Music Ensemble" 4. "The Ascension: Three" 5. "Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City) for 100 guitars" 6. "Symphony No. 4 (Physics) live in Europe 1983" '

View Profile | Leave Ragasmurf a shout
Foogou wrote:
last month

Back again....Nero Milkseed has been listening to all kinds of odd, far-flung, intense and uncompromising sounds since the 1960s. Why not try your ears on his debut album: www.last.fm/music/Nero+Milkseed/The+New+Bleakness

View Profile | Leave Foogou a shout
EastHasting wrote:
last month

This stuff is good, will have to listen at it more carefully.

View Profile | Leave EastHasting a shout
staplefish wrote:
last month

this bitch is cray-z.

View Profile | Leave staplefish a shout
Foogou wrote:
January 2010

Nero Milkseed loves this, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, DNA, MC5, , Suicide etc.... You might love him if you listen. www.last.fm/music/Nero+Milkseed/The+New+Bleakness

View Profile | Leave Foogou a shout
Ragasmurf wrote:
January 2010

not completely, but in the essence, it is. similar build-up to, and as epic as the likes of Gy!BE. He must've been very inspirational for it at least.

View Profile | Leave Ragasmurf a shout
mattmacneil wrote:
January 2010

what the fuck, this ain't post-rock mothafuggga

View Profile | Leave mattmacneil a shout
rhinowing wrote:
January 2010

forget about Slint and Talk Talk...this is where post rock originated

View Profile | Leave rhinowing a shout
Ragasmurf wrote:
January 2010

piedes: Indeterminate Activities of Resultant Masses, if you can find it. Or Symphony No. 3.

View Profile | Leave Ragasmurf a shout
FootToFace wrote:
January 2010

what do you think?

View Profile | Leave FootToFace a shout
piedes wrote:
January 2010

I've listened to The Ascension, Lesson No. 1, and Symphony No. 1. Where should I go from here?

View Profile | Leave piedes a shout
Graybones wrote:
January 2010

Symphony No. 2 is fucking with my mind!

View Profile | Leave Graybones a shout