Baltimore composer, electronics wizard and all-round rocker Dan Deacon has released a highly charged, minimalist-is-the-new-maximalist record, America, out now on Domino. Here he selects the contemporary classical music that shaped his own musical style and ideology.

Harry Partch
Delusion Of The Fury: A Ritual Of Dream And Delusion
Harry Partch, Various Musicians
Innova 726708640620

Meredith Monk
Turtle Dreams
Julius Eastman, Steve Lockwood, Robert Een, Andrea Goodman, Collin Walcott, Meredith Monk, Paul Langland
ECM 8115472

I found both of these records in the dumpster of my college library. The first hearing of both of them was completely unreal. I had never heard anything even remotely similar to their sounds. The artwork that accompanied them was also very inspiring and knowing that the performances of the pieces were just vitally important to both the composers got me so fired up.

Edgar Varèse
Arcana, Amériques, Ionisation
Royal Concertgebouw/Chailly, ASKO Ensemble 

The work of Varèse was the some of the first work I had to study when I was a freshman composition student. i remember being amazed about how so much of his work was destroyed either by fires (or by the him) and the fact that his complete works could fit on two CDs was...