Composer and glitch musician Yasunao Tone has died aged 90

Japanese glitch musician Yasunao Tone has passed away at the age of 90, as confirmed by Artists Space.

According to the non-profit contemporary art organization, Tone died in Manhattan, New York, on Monday, May 12. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

Born in Tokyo, the composer was instrumental in founding Group Ongaku, an influential collective of improvisational artists, as well as Team Random, a computer-art group, before relocating to New York City in the 1970s.

Tone was also a significant figure in the Japanese Fluxus movement during the ‘60s and ‘70s, collaborating with artists such as Yoko Ono and Shigeko Kubota. This radical movement transformed the art scene in Japan.

As a musician, Tone was a pioneer of the glitch sound through his experimental compositions, utilizing compact discs and CD players to create high-pitched bleeps and sounds, which he later referred to as ‘Anti-Music’ in an essay.

His abstract and experimental approach challenged the traditional music of his time, employing “Fluxus philosophy” to subvert digital technology by “fighting with smart machines,” as he described in a past interview.

As a groundbreaking glitch artist, Tone received recognition from labels like Mille Plateaux and Warp, and was noted as “the first person to compose via the inbuilt potential for their digital disruption,” according to Artists Space.

“We will forever hold Tone close and carry with us his unrelenting wisdom and spirit, which shone through all of his activities and in his philosophical approach to life and art,” Artists Space wrote in tribute.