Pynchon and Music: Interview with Steven Ricks

[Allen Ruch]

Hey ho,

I just wrapped up a pretty in-depth interview with Utah-based electroacoustic composer, Steven Ricks:

http://shipwrecklibrary.com/the-modern-word/interview-steven-ricks/

Ricks created two wonderful pieces based on “Gravity’s Rainbow”—“American Dreamscape” and “Beyond the Zero.” They are, hands down, two of my favorite pieces of avant-garde music inspired by Pynchon. He’s also written several pieces inspired by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

While the interview focuses on the influence of Pynchon on his work, Ricks also discusses his development as an electronic musician. It’s a fairly long interview, but if you have any interest in composers such as Stockhausen, Birtwistle, Davidovsky, and so on, the interview contains a lot of great anecdotes. Also links to some really terrific avant-garde music.

Anyway, hopefully some of you will find this interesting—Ricks’ music is definitely worth hearing!

Also, a shout-out to Christian Hänggi, who prepared a few of the questions and helped me pound the interview into shape.

—Quail