William Basinski

William James Basinski (born June 25, 1958) is an American avant-garde composer based in Los Angeles, California. He is also a clarinetist, saxophonist, sound artist, and video artist.

Basinski is best known for his four-volume album The Disintegration Loops (2002–2003), constructed from gradually decaying twenty-year-old tapes of his earlier music.

Biography

Early life William James Basinski was born in 1958 in Houston, Texas. He was raised in a Catholic family, and states that he had his first "really mystical, wonderful, magical" musical experiences as an infant at Houston's St. Anne Church. he began developing his own vocabulary using tape loops and old reel-to-reel tape decks. He developed his meditative, melancholy style experimenting with short looped melodies played against themselves creating feedback loops. On one occasion, he opened for David Bowie, playing saxophone with rockabilly band The Rockats.

In August and September 2001 he set to work on what would become his most recognizable piece, the four-volume album The Disintegration Loops. The recordings were based on old tape loops which had degraded in quality. While attempting to salvage the recordings in a digital format, the tapes slowly crumbled and left a timestamp history of their demise.

Discography

Studio albums Shortwavemusic (Raster-Noton, recorded in 1982, released in 1998) Watermusic (2062 Records, 2001) The Disintegration Loops (2062 Records, 2002) The River (Raster-Noton, recorded in 1983, released in 2002) The Disintegration Loops II (2062 Records, 2003) The Disintegration Loops III (2062 Records, 2003) The Disintegration Loops IV (2062 Records, 2003) Watermusic II (2062 Records, 2003) Melancholia (2062 Records, 2003) A Red Score in Tile (Three Poplars, created in 1979, released in 2003) Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive (Durtro/Die Stadt, created in 1981, released in 2004) Silent Night (2062 Records, 2004) The Garden of Brokenness (2062 Records, 2006) Variations for Piano and Tape (2062 Records, 2006) El Camino Real (2062 Records, 2007) 92982 (2062 Records, 2009) Vivian & Ondine (2062 Records, 2009) Nocturnes (2062 Records, 2013) Cascade (2062 Records, 2015) The Deluge (2062 Records, 2015) A Shadow in Time (2062 Records, 2017) On Time Out of Time (Temporary Residence Limited, 2019) Hymns of Oblivion (self-released, 2020) Lamentations (Temporary Residence Limited, 2020) The Clocktower at the Beach (1979) (Line, 2023) September 23rd (Temporary Residence Limited, 2024)

Collaborations Untitled (with Richard Chartier; Spekk, 2004) Aurora Liminalis (with Richard Chartier; Line, 2013) Divertissement (with Richard Chartier; Important Records, 2015) Selva Oscura (with Lawrence English; Temporary Residence Limited, 2018) " . . . on reflection " (with Janek Schaefer; Temporary Residence Limited, 2022) Aurora Terminalis (with Richard Chartier; Line, 2025)

Compilation albums The Disintegration Loops (Temporary Residence Limited, 2012) The Disintegration Loops: Arcadia Archive Edition (Temporary Residence Limited, 2025)

Film scores Pursuit of Loneliness (2012)