William Basinski

William Basinski works as an experimental composer, sound sculptor, and video artist from his base in Los Angeles, California. Obsessed with reel-to-reel tape decks, he pursues an unceasing path of experimentation that centers on splicing and spindling magnetic tape. His distinctive approach yields deeply emotional music built from layered tones, drones, textures, and shades whose haunting beauty matches their somber quality. Although The Disintegration Loops from 2002 stands as his defining release, Basinski has continued to issue new recordings at a steady rate, extending the emotional resonance of his sound through projects such as the mournful Lamentations in 2020. Among his collaborative efforts are Sparkle Division, the jazz/hip-hop-influenced duo formed with Preston Wendel, and the 2022 album . . . on reflection created with Janek Schaefer.

Basinski received classical training as a musician. Born in Houston, he began his studies on clarinet at Richardson High School, an instrument he still performs. After graduation he pursued saxophone and composition at North Texas State University. A teacher there exposed him to the music of John Cage, an encounter that left a lasting mark. Soon afterward he discovered Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, and the initial two albums by Fripp and Eno. Drawn to tape loops and delay techniques, Basinski started his own experiments by placing cellophane tape over the erase head of a Sony Walkman and overdubbing his electric-piano compositions. He later refined these methods on two full-sized reel-to-reel decks that remain central to his process.

He first played his tapes for artist and curator James Elaine during the latter’s visit from San Francisco. Elaine, well connected in music and art circles, responded with enthusiasm and offered encouragement. The two began a relationship, prompting Basinski to move to San Francisco and begin working more seriously. Eventually they relocated to New York City and later Brooklyn, where they transformed a derelict loft into a functional studio and performance space named Arcadia. Artists including Diamanda Galas and Antony Hegarty performed there, and Basinski played clarinet in the original lineup of the Johnsons.

During the 1980s the composer concentrated on tape loops, analog keyboards, and Mellotron, building an extensive body of unreleased material. His earliest issued recording, Shortwavemusic, appeared on Raster-Noton in 1998 and originated from that earlier period. His second release, Watermusic, came out on his own 2062 label in 2000.

In July 2001 Basinski set out to produce new digital masters of archival pieces, some dating back twenty years. As the aged tapes transferred to digital format they began to break down. Rather than intervene, he allowed the gradual disintegration to unfold and captured its progression with digital timestamps. The transfer work continued through September 10. On the morning of September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center was destroyed in a terrorist attack. From his rooftop Basinski and neighbors watched the smoke and flames; he played The Disintegration Loops through loudspeakers while a borrowed video camera recorded the scene in a fixed position. The following day he combined the footage with the music. The first volume appeared in 2002, with three further volumes released in successive years as a commemoration and elegy.

Basinski maintained a rigorous schedule of releases. The River came out on Raster-Noton in 2002, followed in 2003 by Watermusic II, Melancholia, and A Red Score in Tile. David Tibet of Current 93 issued Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive on Durtro/Die Stadt in 2004. Over the next four years the 2062 label released both new and archival material, including Silent Night in 2005; The Garden of Brokenness and Variations for Piano and Tape in 2006; El Camino Real in 2007; and 92982—named for his Los Angeles zip code—along with Vivian & Ondine in 2009.

The Disintegration Loops received a live presentation at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art during the ten-year anniversary concert Remembering September 11, performed in the Temple of Dendur by the Wordless Music Orchestra under Maxim Moston’s orchestration. In 2012 Temporary Residence issued a limited edition of 2000 vinyl copies that included a DVD of Basinski’s film with its soundtrack and an additional compact disc containing the Wordless Music Orchestra performances from the Met and the Venice Biennale. The package also contained a large-format book with photographs and essays by the composer, Tibet, Hegarty, and Michael Shulman, director of the National 9/11 Museum, which added the work to its permanent collection.

In 2013 Basinski collaborated with sound installation artist Richard Chartier on Aurora Liminalis, released by Line, while Nocturnes appeared the same year on 2062. In 2015 he self-released Cascade and The Deluge and issued the further collaboration Divertissment with Chartier on Important. He premiered A Shadow in Time at London’s Union Chapel in February 2016, dedicating the piece to David Bowie, who had died the previous month; a recorded version followed on Temporary Residence in January 2017. In fall 2018 Basinski and Room40 founder Lawrence English released their joint album Selva Oscura, dedicated to experimental filmmaker Paul Clipson, whose associations with the ambient and drone community included work with Grouper, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, and Sarah Davachi. The title, drawn from Dante’s Inferno, translates as “twilight forest.” Like much of Clipson’s film work, the music evokes disorientation in place and time. The album appeared in October.

In 2019 Basinski issued On Time Out of Time, a drifting suite partly derived from interstellar recordings of two black holes merging. For Lamentations in 2020 he mined more than forty years of decaying analog loops and fragments to assemble new pieces that sustained the funereal character of his most recognized work. That same year Temporary Residence also released To Feel Embraced, the debut album by Sparkle Division, his duo with producer Preston Wendel; Basinski contributed saxophone and the late Henry Grimes appeared as a guest. In 2022 Basinski and Janek Schaefer issued . . . on reflection, a collaboration spanning eight years and dedicated to Harold Budd.