# Music As Primarily Art **URL:** \ **Category:** Music\ **Created:** [September 13, 2026, 11:47am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342 "2026-09-13T11:47:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/user_avatar/forum.testpressing.org/kidpasta/32/35006_2.png) [@Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/u/Kidpasta)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 11:47am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342/1 "2026-09-13T11:47:21Z")
![IMG_5184](https://forum.testpressing.org/uploads/default/original/3X/b/b/bbdde188433fa1f586f24282c9d8406df577f866.webp) Recently learned Rutherford Chang died last year. Some readers of this forum probably saw profiles on him in [NYT](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/arts/design/artists-obsession-with-beatles-white-album-on-display.html), [Dust & Grooves](http://www.dustandgrooves.com/rutherford-chang-we-buy-white-albums/), [BBC](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-28776667), or several others about his massive collection of The Beatles ‘White Album’ (over 3000 copies before he died) that he showcased in a gallery. Super interesting concept in that copies were catalogued by their barcode and ranged varyingly in their condition. He later superimposed images of some of the covers (above) and the recorded vinyl, which begins in sync and slowly unravels into noise. https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=false&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F79470361&show_artwork=true&maxheight=166 Reminds me of Basinski’s ‘Disintegration Loops’ in a way. I’m wondering what other projects are out there that delve more into the conceptual side of art. ---
**Author:** ![Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/user_avatar/forum.testpressing.org/kidpasta/32/35006_2.png) [@Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/u/Kidpasta)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342/2 "2026-09-13T11:51:22Z")
Obligatory Basinski video given the recent 9/11 anniversary… [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qYOr8TlnqsY/hqdefault.jpg "William Basinski - d|p 1.1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYOr8TlnqsY) ---
**Author:** ![GoldenHours](https://forum.testpressing.org/user_avatar/forum.testpressing.org/goldenhours/32/34206_2.png) [@GoldenHours](https://forum.testpressing.org/u/GoldenHours)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 3:14am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342/3 "2026-09-14T03:14:29Z")
I love this. Rutherford was my wife’s long-ago ex. I was never lucky enough to meet him, but we went to a retrospective of his in Beijing last spring (which included a room-sized replica of his store in lower Manhattan where his We Buy White Albums project took shape) and it was amaaa-zing. Besides Basinski, another project that comes to mind is the band Yacht? I feel like Claire and Jona (who are also friends of ours) are artists as much as they are “musicians.” But surely there are many others ---
**Author:** ![padsyms](https://forum.testpressing.org/user_avatar/forum.testpressing.org/padsyms/32/29146_2.png) [@padsyms](https://forum.testpressing.org/u/padsyms)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 9:51am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342/4 "2026-09-14T09:51:34Z")
Before [The Clock](https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/christian-marclay-clock), Christian Marclay did a lot of work that played with sound and sound sources. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IIFH4XHU228/hqdefault.jpg "Christian Marclay on Night Music") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIFH4XHU228) A few years back I nearly picked up a copy of [Record Without a Cover](https://www.discogs.com/release/357519-Christian-Marclay-Record-Without-A-Cover) when I’d become briefly obsessed with it. It is - I think - a collage like the above video but the idea is that its coverless state means each copy picks up scratches that make each record unique. Still obsessed with The Clock, less so this record. ---
**Author:** ![Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/user_avatar/forum.testpressing.org/kidpasta/32/35006_2.png) [@Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/u/Kidpasta)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 11:13am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342/5 "2026-09-14T11:13:49Z")
I’d know (and forgotten) about Record Without A Cover, but was unfamiliar with any of his other work. Your video reminded me of another (contemporary) artist, Maria Chavez, whose book on record, turntable, and stylus manipulation I have on my shelf. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ruDZM-mrTpA/maxresdefault.jpg "New Sounds Presents: Maria Chavez") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruDZM-mrTpA) I suppose there must be dozens of performance-based artists manipulating records? Another recording that now comes to mind is Alvin Lucier: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fAxHlLK3Oyk/maxresdefault.jpg "Alvin Lucier - I Am Sitting In A Room") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk) When I was younger and really getting into this stuff I had wanted to make an ode to ee cummings’ Grasshopper by cutting deep groves into a recording of grasshoppers so the needle jumped around. This is why my parents were adamant against art school. A life that could have been… ---
**Author:** ![Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/user_avatar/forum.testpressing.org/kidpasta/32/35006_2.png) [@Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/u/Kidpasta)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 11:16am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342/6 "2026-09-14T11:16:23Z")
I saw Yacht in 2005/06 opening for Thurston Moore. I had no idea they were still going about and creating! ---
**Author:** ![Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/user_avatar/forum.testpressing.org/kidpasta/32/35006_2.png) [@Kidpasta](https://forum.testpressing.org/u/Kidpasta)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 7:00am UTC](https://forum.testpressing.org/t/music-as-primarily-art/7342/7 "2026-09-22T07:00:31Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/omDK2Cm2mwo/maxresdefault.jpg "RYOJI IKEDA : THE TRANSFINITE") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omDK2Cm2mwo) I had forgotten about Ryoji Ikeda’s Transfinite! I used to pop in here a few times during the week, middle of the day, between classes I was taking around the corner at Hunter College. The video borders on seizure-inducing, but experiencing this in person was anything but that. If you’re able to watch long enough you’ll see people blissed and stretched out on the floor. It was a cool way to get creative juices flowing for projects I was working on. I’d say this is more visual than musical art, but the glitchy sounds set to binary projections played a huge role. Any others see this?