Great Improvised Electronic Music

THroNG is about making great improvised electronic music. It’s improvised to always be fresh. And it’s not done: We constantly experiment to find new ideas, technologies and methods that can make it better.

Listening, Locked and Varied

THroNG is listening, locked, and varied. We listen for coherence and interplay. An improvisation cannot flower without listening. We’re locked because we share a click and a tempo. And we are varied: we have guitar, bass, drums, percussion, keys, EWI and an orchestra. Each of those is twisted, mirrored, splatted, amped up, reversed, and pitch shifted in a unique process that each player drives. This process is based on the primordial question, “What would sound good?”

Limited Feedback Interaction

THroNG is partially deaf. We create holes in the listening matrix, so not all players can hear all players. This is Limited Feedback Interaction (LFI). Feeback is limited in its interaction effects so no one concept can hegemonize the mix. LFI gives large-group improvisation a perfect attention to detail. LFI creates small-group intimacy in an intricate and complex mix.

THroNG Takes Technology Seriously

We don’t just try to be great musicians. We try to be great technologists, too. We mix classic and cutting-age technology in new ways, and we make some of our own technology, too. We take technology seriously.

THroNG is Free

We give away our music with no strings attached. While we don’t mind attribution, and we’d like you to make free products, too, we do not expect it. Do what you want. Make a million dollars from a movie with our music as your soundtrack. Be our guest.

THroNG is an Experiment

THroNG is the experiment posed by the question, “Can a work of fully-formed work of art arise without somebody directing the project?” Improvisation in THroNG is not just a way to make great music. It’s also a way to study distributed consciousness and artistic collaboration.