Scott Gibbons (born March 2, 1969) is an American-born composer and performer of electroacoustic music. His work is notable for its rigorous use of single and unexpected objects as sole instrumentation (for example Unheard : Sonic arrangements from the microcosmos, which uses only sounds recorded at the molecular level using the prototype of a new type of microphone; and music for the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower which incorporated sounds of the tower itself). Gibbons has also created many works for large-scale spectacle with Groupe F to accompany fireworks, which embraces the sound of pyrotechnics as a part of the musical arrangement.[1]

Critical response

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"Gibbons' tendency to understatement is extraordinary. What he shows us seems to be... not the event itself, but the trail." - The Wire

"It's not really possible to say how it sounds, only that it does. Knowing what it sounds like is a particular kind of knowledge that only seems to be useful, or even exist, at the time of hearing itself." - Nicholas Ridout, Performance Research [2]

"Scott Gibbons' music... feels as if it is happening inside your own head." - The Guardian[3]

Lilith

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Lilith is an American dark ambient music group formed by Scott Gibbons in 1986. Early self-released albums contained little or no text to suggest authorship or titles, and were rooted in homemade audio devices and modified consumer electronics. By the early 1990s, Lilith's music had developed in a sombre minimalist direction, with growing research into extended compositions focused around very low frequencies. On signing with the Sub Rosa label, the name Lilith was taken after Earth's fictitious invisible moon to reflect that the music often suggested more than it revealed.

Most of their works use single sound sources for instrumentation; for example rocks on "Stone" (Sub Rosa: 1992). Unlike other artists working in similar directions, Lilith would perform in concert, and released two albums which were recorded live.

Members were:

  • Scott Gibbons (sound)
  • Rachel Wilson (sound)
  • Brien Rullman (video)

Selected works

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Discography

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  • 1987: Nipple runs. (White Noise)
  • 1988: Ripped nuns. (White Noise)
  • 1990: The Taboos of the Lashing Creeper by Lilith (Ladd-Frith)
  • 1991: Some Modes of Probability by Lilith (White Noise)
  • 1991: Mantle by Lilith (White Noise)
  • 1992: Stone by Lilith (Sub Rosa)
  • 1994: Orgazio by Lilith (Sub Rosa)
  • 1995: Redwing by Lilith (Sub Rosa)
  • 1998: Orbitronik by Orbitronik (World Domination Records)
  • 1999: My Computer My Stereo by Orbitronik (Thousand)
  • 1999: Unplugged by Orbitronik (Ladd-Frith)
  • 1999: Field Notes by Lilith (World Domination Records)
  • 2002: Dialtones by Levin/Gibbons/Shakar (Staalplaat)
  • 2002: Imagined Compositions for Water by Lilith (Disques Hushush)
  • 2002: Strawberry by Strawberry (Taigkyo)
  • 2007: Tragedia Summa by Scott Gibbons (Rarovideo)
  • 2008: The Cryonic Chants by Scott Gibbons & Chiara Guidi (KML Recordings/Sonic Invaders)
  • 2022: Il Terzo Reich by Romeo Castellucci & Scott Gibbons (Xong collection - artist records, Xing)

References

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  1. ^ "Archée : Cyberart et cyberculture artistique".
  2. ^ Nicholas Ridout, 'Two Parrots and an Answering Machine: Some Problems with Knowledge and Memory' Performance Research 7(4), 2002, pp. 42-47
  3. ^ Lyn Gardner, 'Tragedia Endogonidia' The Guardian May 15, 2004
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