Nearing its two-decade existence, the Wonder Valley Experimental music festival will be happening once again this Saturday at the Palms starting at 4:00 p.m.
Experimental music is a general label for any music that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions, defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, institutionalized compositional, performing, and aesthetic conventions especially in pop music. These types of explorations can also be referred to as “outsider,” “noise,” “improvisational,” and “harsh drone” music, depending on your well-trained (or well-fried) ear.
The history of experimental music goes from the mid-20th century with John Cage’s indeterminacy techniques, to Pierre Shaeffer’s Musique Concrète, all the way into the 70s with Brian Eno and his influence on ambient electronic music and the harsher New York “No Wave” scene, to the 80s with bands like Throbbing Gristle and Einstruzende Neubauten, all the way to today’s excruciating apocalyptic racket of Wolf Eyes and Pharmakon. These days you’ll find noise music being performed at makeshift venues and basements all over the world on laptops, synthesizers, and spaghetti-wired daisy-chained guitar pedals for fans who want an even deeper, more inexplicable alternative to underground music. In other words, you’ll know it when you hear it.
Event organizer James Allen gave Z107.7 a more personal take on this weekend’s Wonder Valley Experimental festival, while giving a more defined idea of what attendees can expect:
“For me, this festival is more than an event. It’s a platform for growth and creative exploration, providing a space where sound can exist without predefined structures, immersing the audience in a sonic field that challenges conventional listening experiences. Some performances will be purely immersive, allowing the sound itself to shape the audience’s interpretation, while others will have distinct processes, intentional structures, or even clear messages. Ultimately, the festival fosters a boundary free approach to experimental sound practices. The Palms serves as the perfect venue for this event––it’s rich history, desert backdrop, and almost out of place presence reflected the very ethos of the music presented: unconventional, raw, and deeply connected to its surroundings.”
For more information on Saturday’s festival at the Palms, including the virtual edition where you don’t even have to leave your house, please visit: wvexperimental.info
