Bentley Anderson is a New York City based musician, working in the realm of noise / experimental music. His projects take shape in solo and collaboration improvisation, and in rock band formats. The art of improvisation is key in Anderson’s work, exploring the language of sound and the performance of improvisation as composition. As a guitarist, Anderson has embraced a personal way of engaging with the instrument, using alternate tunings to achieve resonant dissonance, abstract rhythms, trance-like drones, and non-traditional song writing. His music focuses on a texture-based aesthetic that attempts to form a narrative expression with sound. Also, inherent in Anderson’s music is the punk ethos of raw expression, an urgency of emotion, unhinged attitude, and as well, a contemplative introspection.
Upon moving to New York City in 2005, Anderson began work as a live sound engineer and as a studio assistant and archivist for acclaimed rock band Sonic Youth. As a live sound engineer, he spent years working at the renown experimental music venue Issue Project Room and touring the world with Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo’s solo bands respectively, including two visits to Porto Primavera Festival. As a musician, he has shared the stage with Martin Rev (Suicide), Wolf Eyes, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Leila Bordreuil, and Brain Chase among others. Decontrol is a cassette label run by Anderson that releases his own work as well as others in the experimental music community of NYC.