So far no comments upon the artist/composer J.Cage interesting and intellectual, perhaps soon to be lost to time. Is he the American analog to Joseph Beuys or maybe the American zeitgeist makes them incomparable?
Really? I mean he has got compositional chops, but not nearly enough to be considered a great composer. Where I find Cage to be a genius is his mastery of generating unique sonic elements. Like his prepared piano peices, as a peice of music, aren't great : but the individual sounds he coaxes out of the piano are awesome. His works are incredibly fertile grounds for sampling, and I draw a lot of inspiration from his use of texture as a compositional theme.
Like his pieces about cacti : can't remember what its called - but the whole thing is just like goopy, bubbly, drippy sounds. Very interesting stuff to me.
