William Basinski (b.1958) is a classically trained musician and composer who has been working in experimental media for over 40 years in NYC and California. Employing obsolete technology and analogue tape loops, his haunting and melancholy soundscapes explore the temporal nature of life and resound with the reverberations of memory and the mystery of time. His epic 4-disc masterwork, The Disintegration Loops received international critical acclaim and was chosen as one of the top 50 albums of 2004 by Pitchfork Media. The Temporary Residence deluxe LP box-set reissue from 2012 was awarded best re-issue of the year and a score of 10 on Pitchfork. Orchestral transcriptions of The Disintegration Loops by Maxim Moston have been performed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Queen Elizabeth Hall (London) and La Batie Festival (Geneva, Switzerland), Dark Mofo Festival (Hobart, Tasmania), the Pitchfork Midwinter Festival (Chicago) with the Chicago Philharmonic, the Barbican Centre (London) with the London Contemporary Orchestra, and most recently at Le Lieu Unique (Nantes, France) with Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. Installations and films made in collaboration with artist-filmmaker, James Elaine have been presented in festivals and museums internationally, and his concerts are presented to sold out crowds around the world. Basinski was chosen by Music Director, Anohni to create music for the Robert Wilson opera, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic which had its world premiere at the Manchester International Festival n July 2011 and toured Europe in 2012 and North America in 2013.
In 2020, Basinski and Preston Wendel released a surprise new jazzy record under the name SPARKLE DIVISION, with special guests such as the late Henry Grimes on upright bass & others. SPARKLE DIVISION'S new album, FOXY!, with new member Gary Thomas Wright, will be released on Temporary Residence, Ltd. in 2023.
Basinski's solo work, Lamentations was released in 2020 and his collaborative album . . . on reflection with British sound artist Janek Schaefer in 2022, both on Temporary Residence, Ltd. A new cover version of David Bowie's Subterraneans with Alva Noto and Martin L. Gore of Depeche Mode was released on Noton, Germany in January 2023, and an archival recording from 1979, The Clocktower At The Beach was released on LINE in February 2023.