The strange world of the Los Angeles Free Music Society

(Credits: Far Out / Torn Light Records / Bleep)

Mon 4 November 2024 22:00, UK

More so than most genres, the origins of noise music are a source of continuous debate, likely as a result of its inherently broad parameters. The story of noise music is the story of experimental music, a style which has captured the attention of countless composers, artists, and groups over the decades. While the discourse surrounding avant-garde and experimental music stretches to include musicians from all corners of the globe, one aspect which is often overlooked is the legacy of the Los Angeles Free Music Society.

Experimental music blossomed in post-war Europe as a sudden resurgence in music and art inspired composers like Pierre Schaeffer to challenge the conventional boundaries of composition. The resulting sounds of musique concrète formed the foundation of all future experimental and noise music, but the story certainly does not stop with this group of inspiring French composers. Figures all over the world realised the potential of questioning musical conventions, leading people like Delia Derbyshire, Pauline Oliveros, and Toshiro Mayuzumi to experiment with music construction.

For the most part, though, these figures worked either in isolation or in very specific surroundings, like the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. This is where the Los Angeles Free Music Society differed from the rest. Established in 1973, in the wake of the hippie counterculture years which had spawned such figures such as Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, who blended experimental influences with out-and-out rock and roll, the society provided a place for outsider artists and budding experimental musicians to flex their creative muscles.

“We were artists using sound as our medium,” said Rick Potts, a founding member of LAFMS, “trying to find a different approach by letting go of the musician part.” Although the early days of the society consisted of around 12 music obsessives dedicating themselves to constructing experimental, avant-garde works for their own amusement, the movement soon spiralled into an extensive network of underground composers. LAFMS started to release records, put on concerts and even had its own publication for a time.

The Los Angeles Free Music Society was much more than an obscure club for musicians; it provided an essential sense of community to many inventive experimental artists who might have fallen into obscurity and isolation without the support of the society. Although the music and sounds created by members of the group were never at any risk of troubling the Billboard Hot 100, LAFMS did have a profound impact on the wider world of experimental music, inspiring countless future artists from Sonic Youth to Throbbing Gristle.

Through an underground network of experimental music obsessives, the various recordings made and published by LAFMS made their way into the hands and hearts of countless future artists. Groups like Smegma, Doo-Dooettes, and Le Forte Four, who released music via the society, became cult heroes within the experimental and avant-garde scene, inspiring a legacy which continues today.

A large part of the society’s appeal was that, in contrast to many other experimental music collectives, LAFMS has never been overly pretentious about its output. By the admission of its founders, the society was created for “weird-music lovers”, and that fact has never really changed. Anybody can contribute to the society, so long as they have the willpower and ambition to experiment with the creation of sound and music.

Speaking to the enduring legacy of the collective, LAFMS is still going strong to this day, continuing to foster the vibrant avant-garde and experimental scene of the American West Coast. The only difference between now and the early beginnings of the group back in the 1970s is that more and more people are recognising the society for their pivotal contributions to the landscape of avant-garde composition.

Related Topics

Subscribe To The Far Out Newsletter

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}