Roulette TV: Chris Cutler

Roulette TV is a cable access television program produced by the experimental music institution Roulette in New York City. Roulette TV captures the creative process of live performance, giving viewers a unique window into Roulette’s distinctive programming through in-depth artist-driven features including studio visits, performance footage, and interviews.

RTV listens to Chris Cutler unfold an expansive improvisation titled “Electrified Drumkit“.

This work requires a mass of percussion instruments, including a conventional rock/jazz drum set, timbales, pots and pans, electric toothbrush, small bells and drums, metal plates, mbiras, singing bowls, metal grates, and other common and invented small objects, all of which are scrapped, struck, bowed, vibrated, and transformed electronically into a kaleidoscope of continuously changing timbres. In his interview, Cutler discusses his involvement with Henry Cow, his theory concerning the development of musical notation, and the sociological and musical situation he believes this has engendered.

Aired on rTV: 2001
Performance date: 03/24/2001
Episode digital release date: 05/07/2010
Host: Phoebe Legere
Produced by Jim Staley
Directed by Uri Gal-Ed

Pop music legend, Chris Cutler has been involved in experimental music since the early 1970s, primarily with the British ensemble Henry Cow, which alternated complex thoroughly-composed pieces with spontaneously improvised sessions in concert tours, recordings, dance and theatre projects. In 1997, members of Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Orchestra, and Frankie Armstrong formed a big band to tour Europe. Cutler continues to participate in many advanced and pop music groups such as the Art Bears, Cassiber, Pere Ubu, Hail, and Wooden Birds, and collaborates with other new music creators. He has appeared on more than 100 recordings.
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Founded in 1978, Roulette’s mission is to support artists creating new and adventurous art in all disciplines by providing them with a venue and resources to realize their creative visions and to build an audience interested in the evolution of experimental art.

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