monome at 20: memories of the grid, in pictures

Kelli Cain and Brian Crabtree are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their monome company and project this week. For anyone moved by their creations over the years, there will be no escape from the feels in this gallery — and, of course, I couldn’t resist adding some extra memories from that era.

In Phantasmagoria of Jathilan, enter the trance of a horse dance

Handmade instruments and electronic rhythms weave together with bone-chillingly moving vocals in the latest epic from Raja Kirk. This is serious anticolonial music: Jathilan recalls the horses enlisted in the fight against Dutch colonial forces, during a war that tore early 19th century Javanese society apart.

Peter Kirn - July 19, 2023

Laurie Anderson, in video, on the stories behind her custom-built instruments

A violin can be totally transformed – and the performance with it – from ice skates to neon instruments to ventriloquists’ dummies. Laurie Anderson in this film talks about her many ingenious instrumental inventions.

Peter Kirn - September 27, 2021