February 19, 2002
Reed's 'Metal Machine Music' revived
By JAM! Music
"Metal Machine Music," Lou Reed's notorious bastard-child of an album, will get a new lease on life in concert.

The Undercover website reports that Reed's symphony of feedback and distortion is scheduled to make its live debut March 17 in Berlin and in Venice on March 20, as performed by German group Zeitkratzer.

The site said Reed plans to attend the Berlin performance of "Metal Machine Music." Released in 1975, the album was four 16-minute-long sides of grating electronic noise, and it was widely believed at the time that Reed issued the album to force his release from his label at the time, RCA Records.

The disc has since been reissued on CD, and a new generation of art-noise artists have cited it as an influence.

Zeitkratzer's website describes the band as "an international cast of musicians" founded in 1996, affiliated with the Podewil Akademie der Kuenste. The group's repertoire includes works by John Cage, Philip Glass, Eliott Sharp, and LaMonte Young.