A classically trained clarinetist who also studied jazz saxophone and composition at North Texas State University in the late ’70s, William Basinski landed in NYC in 1980, where an interest in the minimalist creations of artists like Brian Eno and Steve Reich prompted his own series of abstract compositions and tape-loop experiments. Although much of his most celebrated work was first created during in the early ’80s, Basinski didn’t have a proper solo release until 1998, when Raster-Noton issued *Shortwavemusic*. His crowning achievement is *The Disintegration Loops*, a four-album series documenting the physical disintegration of 20-year-old magnetic tape recordings as they repeatedly passed a tape head. Basinski completed the project just before the September 11 attacks, and spent much of that day listening to the Disintegration Loops while watching the burning World Trade Center site from his rooftop.
