Mnemonists
Some Atrributes Of A Living System
Mnemonists, on the first album called Mnemonist Orchestra, is U.S collective of avant-garde musicians from Colorado, led by Mark Derbyshire and William Sharp. Their music is a mixture of modern classical, experimental sounds, noise, industrial, avant-garde and free jazz. Their releases were published by their own self-produced label Dys between 1981 and 1986. By 1985 the group had split off into separate groups for visual and audio work. From that time, Mnemonists operated only as a visual arts collective while the musical activity was taken over by a new group called Biota that featured a few of the musicians involved with Mnemonists as well as many new members. The two groups co-exist and share only a few members. Some Attributes Of A Living System was originally released in 1980 in a limited edition of 500 copies on the band's own Dys Label. It is the first album to carry the Mnemonists name and was re-issued in 1985 as half of a double LP by Dys - the other half being the first album, Mnemonist Orchestra. The songs are all entitled Fragments, consisting of improvisation within very basic arrangements. Again, this was recorded at Fort Collins, Colorado.