Francisco Lopez, a giant in sound art and ambient music, is far from a typical Xenakis protege. His soundscapes evolve slowly and patiently, and he is as allergic to rhythm as he is to any other delimiter of musical time. But that didn’t stop him from creating a fascinating remix of one of Xenakis’ most controversial pieces – Persepolis – for a recent project produced by Asphodel records. Persepolis was commissioned by the Shah of Iran in 1971 for the 2500th anniversary of its namesake, an Ancient Greek city in modern-day Iranian territory. Unreal, right? While his academic counterparts wrote diligently for universities, orchestras, and art collectors, Xenakis took his craft to an idealistic, anti-western, neo-totalitarian pariah-state and went to town. More on that in a few days…
We interviewed Francisco and asked him about why he thought Xenakis had such appeal in the noise, metal, and ambient communities. Listen here to his illuminating response.
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