introduction to tusk is better than rumours
primers and album rankings of experimental musicians
‘tusk is better than rumours’ is a twice-monthly newsletter featuring introductory primers and album rankings for avant-garde/experimental musicians. its goal is two-fold:
to macguyver some dopamine for myself out of the fleeting attention paid to my writing by internet strangers
to listen to some tunes and have some fun
it’s a bad title and i know that already so don’t email me to tell me that. the idea is that the weirder, more overlooked, more cocaine-emboldened the music, the better it is. thus, tusk is better than rumours. it’s not a fleetwood mac fanzine (though that would definitely garner more subscriptions). i’ll mainly focus on musique concrete, early electronic, free jazz, and other ‘Other Music.’ mainly folks with intimidating discographies that you really oughta know about but don’t know where to start with. i’m talkin’ ‘bout all the hottest stars, including:
jim o’rourke!
graham lambkin!
alice coltrane!
throbbing gristle!
throbbing gristle’s associated acts!
cabaret voltaire!
cabaret voltaire’s associated acts!
pauline oliveros!
bruce gilbert!
laurie spiegel!
gil scott-heron!
alvin lucier!
harry partch!
jana winderen!
julius eastman!
hildegard westerkamp!
francisco lopez!
pierre schaeffer!
eliane radigue!
sonny sharrock!
luc ferrari!
wendy carlos!
raymond scott!
annea lockwood!
boredoms!
sun ra!
laurie anderson!
and more!
if you want to request a primer about a musician, email me at tuskisbetter@gmail.com.
the newsletter will be posted on the second and fourth mondays of the month, beginning on January 13, 2020. in between these artist primers i will also send out unplanned fun stuff, including genre and label primers, posts by guest writers, and other rankings and lists. but not enough to annoy you. heaven forbid.
In the meantime, tell your friends!