Hear This

John Bischoff
Tired of warm and fuzzy music, electronics wiz John Bischoff set out 25 years ago to invent a compositional language based on a sonic reality nearly devoid of human emotion. A pioneer in the concept of computer-network bands, the cerebral Mills College instructor also often performs as a soloist, interacting with experimental software tools and MIDI synths in lieu of more traditional instruments and living, breathing instrumentalists.

In an example of man's strange 20th-century marriage to machine, Bischoff creates soundscapes formed entirely out of synthetically generated textures -- and in the process rejecting conventional musicmaking constructs such as melody, harmony, and rhythm. As if testing John Cage's tenet that we can diminish the irritating effect of noise by actually listening to it, compositions like "The Industrial Revolution," "The Glass Hand," and "Surface" confront listeners with cold, hard layers of sound that rumble and stab the silence with an ambience that's at once fascinating and unnerving.

As an academic or philosophical study, Bischoff's work broaches some prickly issues: What is the role of music at the close of the century? How much distance connotes a healthy relationship between man and machine? Can computers create art? More questions (and possible answers) will likely be posed at this weekend's concert.

-- Sam Prestianni

John Bischoff performs recent solo works on Friday, April 23, at 8 p.m. at New Langton Arts, 1246 Folsom (between Eighth and Ninth streets). Tickets are $8; call 626-5416.