A-AW8: The higher crossover

In the past decade or two, we've seen a significant wave of pop-based musicians who've taken a deep interest in twentieth-century classical composition. Radiohead, Björk, and Joanna Newsom come immediately to mind. Here are two younger examples, who otherwise don't have much in common: Holly Herndon, a fast-rising electronic artist who studied at Mills College and names Galina Ustvolskaya and Maryanne Amacher as major influences: and Dywane Thomas, Jr., aka MonoNeon, a Memphis-born bass-guitarist and composer who draws on the microtonal tradition. (See also "Memphis Jookin with Microtones" and "Julián Carrillo in a Memphis Juke Joint.") I like a sentence in the MonoNeon Art Manifesto: "Have the southern soul/blues and funk at the bottom and the experimental/avant-garde at the top." And they say all the possibilities are exhausted....

This concludes Anti-Anniversary Week; for prior installments, read down.