Often hailed as one of the most important women in music, this distinction often eclipses the fact that she is one of the most important
electronic musicians today, regardless of gender.
Upon moving to NYC in 1977, she formed the ground-breaking no wave band DNA with Tim Wright and Arto Lindsay, later improvising on her own with drum machines, samplers, and eventually laptops.
She also formed the band Tohban Djan in 1987 with Luli Shioi, using more "traditional" instrumentation (although still quite surreal) to challenge images of femininity and Orientalism.
Her most recent work, Labyrinth(2001), combines MAX/MSP programming and drum machines to create an innovative, mind-bending, minimalist concept album. The computer is used not only to manipulate existing sounds through looping and gating, but to create completely new ones, showing the possibility of the computer as an instrument unto itself.
Her work for Tzadik and collaborations (Kim Gordon, Zeena Parkins, Mike Patton and DJ Olive to name a few) continue to warp and twist the way we see music.
A new full-length, Myrninerest (a tribute to artist Madge Gill), is set for release May 24, 2005.