Robert Ashley

Classical music wandered into strange turf in the 20th century. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Automatic Writing, one of Robert Ashley's more beloved releases. All three of these pieces (two of which -- "Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon" and "She Was a Visitor" -- are excerpts from the opera That Morning Thing) explore what Ashley calls "involuntary speech." As a result, they can be consumed as both pure sound and experiments in narrative. Just keep the lights on, because this album is creepy.