Laurie Anderson has been a performance artist since her college days in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. While she has a master’s degree in sculpture, she is also an accomplished musician and composer; she plays the violin, keyboards and percussion as well as sings. She is also a pioneer in electronic music, having invented a number of devices that she has used in her recordings and live performances.
Anderson’s first studio album was 1982’s
Big Science which happens to be celebrating its 30th anniversary this month. The album went to number 29 on the UK charts and number 124 on the US Billboard Hot 200 chart. The music here, very minimalist in sound and featuring mostly spoken word, is a subset of her eight-hour performance production
United States Live.
