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T. Ichiyanagi and A. Lucier
Appearance/Music for Solo Performer: Compositions
EM RECORDS/- Cat No: EMC-028LP/OP-0019
- updated:2026-08-11
Just when you’ve almost forgotten about them, Omega Point and M-Record are back with another controversial joint release. This time, it’s a mind-blowing, incomprehensible wall of noise—Alvin Lucier’s “Music for a Solo Performer,” known as the first musical work to utilize human brainwaves, performed, of all people, by John Cage’s circle back in the ’60s. The other track is the master tape recording of Toshi Ichiyanagi’s masterpiece “Appearance”—an early Omega Point release that sent shockwaves through the contemporary music scene—making for a powerful double bill. Transcending mere rarity, these works—which can be described as proto-industrial—capture the very essence of experimental music. Amid today’s ambient music craze, immerse yourself in their deafening sound and challenge historical dialectics!!
Track List
This audio recording was discovered on a tape unearthed by Toshi Ichiyanagi at his home; it is a live recording of a concert performed in 1967 at Hope College in Michigan by Cage, David Tudor, Toshi Ichiyanagi, and others.
The mid-1960s were a time when Cage and Tudor were in the midst of developing electrically amplified performance sounds, and at this Hope College concert as well, deafening sounds were unleashed through their relentless amplified performance techniques. Lucier’s *Music for a Solo Performer* (1965) is the earliest recording available today relative to its year of composition, and it is being released to the world for the first time. This 1967 version, which features the Cage school’s electrical realization techniques and is entirely different in character from the one released by Lucier and Pauline Oliveros on Lovely Music in 1982, is a mass of sounds devoid of any intelligible meaning—unless one is familiar with the context, it might sound like nothing more than road construction in the neighborhood. The live performance of “Brainwaves” is handled by the masterful Tudor.
Toshi Ichiyanagi’s “Appearance” (1967) was his latest composition at the time, published as the lead article in the renowned *Source Magazine*; Cage himself participated in this explosive performance, which blended live electronics with acoustic instruments. While the performance itself is identical to the version released by Omega Point in 2006, the source tape used for this release is believed to be the master tape; it exhibits significantly higher linearity and substantially improved sound quality. It is also an extended version that includes audience reactions, which were not included in the 2006 edition.
This release includes a foreword by Omega Point (explaining the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the tape), a reprint of Toshi Ichiyanagi’s 2006 commentary on “Appearance,” and a commentary by sound artist Minoru Sato, a scholar of Lucier’s work who was acquainted with the composer during his lifetime. (*The cover image is a set illustration from *Music for a Single Performer*)
=Product Specifications=
+ 2-page insert
+ Japanese and English liner notes