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Angus MacLise

Angus MacLise (March 14, 1938 – June 21, 1979) was an American musician, poet, composer, and multimedia artist whose experimental work defined key elements of the 1960s New York counterculture and avant-garde music scene.^[1]^[2] Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, MacLise developed an early interest in percussion through studies in Haitian drumming at the Katherine Dunham School in 1945, medieval European dance music at the Dolmetsch School in the UK from 1948 to 1951, and jazz techniques at the Buddy Rich School from 1952 to 1960, alongside private lessons in free-form percussion.^[1] His career gained prominence in the early 1960s downtown Manhattan arts milieu, where he co-founded the Dead Language Press in 1958 with Piero Heliczer to publish Beat poets and his own visionary writings, including the 1961 pamphlet Year, which proposed a radical redesignation of calendar days for ritual celebration.^[2]^[3] In 1963, MacLise became a founding member of La Monte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music (also known as the Dream Syndicate), collaborating with Young, Marian Zazeela, Tony Conrad, and John Cale on sustained-drone compositions that emphasized repetitive, trance-like percussion and just intonation, influencing minimalist and experimental music.^[1]^[3] He briefly served as the original drummer for the Velvet Underground in 1965, contributing to the band's formative free-form sound on early tracks like "Heroin" and "Venus in Furs" using hand drums and bongos, before departing later that year due to his aversion to fixed performance schedules and commercial gigs; he also suggested the band's name, drawn from a book owned by Conrad.^[2]^[3] Throughout the decade, MacLise engaged with Fluxus festivals, created soundtracks for underground films by Jack Smith and Ira Cohen, and performed with figures like Yoko Ono and Terry Riley, while developing his multimedia project DREAMWEAPON, which integrated poetry, calligraphy, and ritualistic percussion.^[1]^[2] MacLise's travels from 1964 onward—to Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India—deeply informed his adoption of ethnic percussion traditions, Sufi-inspired drones, and Eastern philosophies, which he incorporated into recordings like The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968) and later works such as The Swayambhu Opera (1977).^[1]^[3] In the 1970s, he received grants from the Cassandra Foundation (1970) and the Creative Artists Public Service Program (1973) for his multimedia endeavors, and published poetry collections including The Cloud Doctrine (1974) through Dead Language Press.^[1] Settling in Kathmandu, Nepal, in his final years, MacLise ran a bookstore and café, continued composing, and raised his son Ossian, who was later recognized as a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist lama; he died there at age 41 from complications of hypoglycemia, tuberculosis, and malnutrition exacerbated by drug use.^[1]^[2] Posthumously, MacLise's archival tapes and writings have been reissued, cementing his legacy as a shamanistic figure in underground music and poetry, praised by collaborators like Young as one of the era's greatest percussionists and poets.^[3]^[2]

Early Life

Birth and Family

Angus William MacLise was born on March 14, 1938, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.^[1] He was the son of a book dealer, which likely contributed to an environment rich in literature and intellectual pursuits during his early years.^[4] MacLise's childhood was marked by an early immersion in diverse musical traditions, beginning at age seven when he studied Haitian drumming at the Katherine Dunham School in New York.^[1] From 1948 to 1951, he attended the Dolmetsch School in Haslemere, Surrey, United Kingdom, where he explored medieval European dance music.^[1] These experiences, combined with subsequent training in Latin and ballroom drumming (1950–1960) and jazz techniques at the Buddy Rich School (1952–1960), fostered a foundation in percussion that shaped his artistic development.^[1] No records indicate siblings or specific details on family dynamics, but MacLise's precocious engagement with music and poetry during this period hinted at the independent, creative path he would later pursue.^[1]

Education and Early Influences

MacLise attended Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York, where he developed an interest in poetry and met filmmaker Piero Heliczer, with whom he later collaborated on literary projects.^[5] His formal education emphasized the arts from a young age, beginning with studies in Haitian drumming at the Katherine Dunham School in 1945.^[1] Between 1948 and 1951, he attended the Dolmetsch School in Haslemere, Surrey, United Kingdom, focusing on medieval European dance music, which introduced him to historical percussion techniques.^[1] From 1952 to 1960, MacLise studied jazz technique at the Buddy Rich School, while also training in Latin and ballroom drumming during the 1950s; additionally, from 1953 to 1957, he worked with percussionist Doc Friese of the Symphony of the Air, performing with the Queens Symphony Orchestra and the All-City High School Orchestra.^[1] These experiences highlighted his early talent for music, particularly in free-form and experimental percussion, and laid the groundwork for his avant-garde pursuits. His father's profession as a book dealer further encouraged an appreciation for literature and creative expression.^[5] In the late 1950s, after high school, MacLise moved to Paris, where he and Heliczer founded the Dead Language Press, a small press that produced mimeographed poetry chapbooks, marking his initial foray into self-publishing his own poems alongside works by other writers.^[6] This period exposed him to key artistic inspirations, including the Beat Generation through the press's publications of poets associated with the movement, as well as jazz and experimental music encountered via his percussion training and European cultural milieu.^[7] These influences shaped his interdisciplinary approach, blending poetry with rhythmic experimentation before his arrival in New York in 1962.^[5]

New York Avant-Garde Involvement

Arrival in New York

In 1962, Angus MacLise relocated to New York City from Paris, where he had co-founded the Dead Language Press in the late 1950s with Piero Heliczer, and settled in the Lower East Side, immersing himself in the vibrant underground arts scene that included the Fluxus movement and the Judson Dance Theater.^[8]^[1] He lived communally in artist lofts shared with figures such as Heliczer, Jack Smith, La Monte Young, and Marian Zazeela, embodying the bohemian ethos of the era's downtown experimental community.^[8] MacLise quickly connected with Young and Zazeela through their shared interest in sustained-tone music and performance, joining the inaugural lineup of the Theatre of Eternal Music (also known as the Dream Syndicate) alongside Billy Name, where he contributed percussion to extended improvisations exploring drones and rhythm.^[1]^[9] This collaboration marked his entry into minimalist circles, providing rhythmic foundations to Young's compositions during loft rehearsals and public events.^[9] His early performances in New York included a series of seven concerts in the summer of 1962 at the 10-4 Gallery on Fourth Avenue and 10th Street, featuring MacLise on drums with Young on sopranino saxophone and voices by Simone Forti-Morris or Zazeela, as well as 1963 appearances at the Third Rail Gallery and Hardware Poets Playhouse with Young, Zazeela, and Tony Conrad.^[9] These loft-based events highlighted his role in the avant-garde's interdisciplinary experiments, blending percussion, poetry, and multimedia.^[1] Through the Theatre of Eternal Music, MacLise formed key relationships with emerging minimalists, including John Cale and Tony Conrad, who joined the ensemble in 1964, fostering a network that influenced the development of drone-based music and performance art in the mid-1960s downtown scene.^[1]

Association with The Velvet Underground

In mid-1965, Angus MacLise was recruited by John Cale and Lou Reed to join their nascent rock ensemble as the original drummer, drawing on his prior avant-garde collaborations with Cale in La Monte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music to blend experimental drone elements with rock structures.^[10]^[11] MacLise also suggested the band's name, drawn from a book owned by Conrad.^[3] This connection from New York's underground scene facilitated the band's formation as a hybrid of rock energy and sustained tonal explorations. MacLise's involvement helped solidify the group's core lineup, including guitarist Sterling Morrison, as they rehearsed in lofts and small spaces. MacLise participated in the Velvet Underground's early performances in 1965, including loft rehearsals and a November event at the WBAI Film-Makers' Cinematheque, where his improvisational approach prioritized free-form rhythms over conventional rock beats.^[10] His percussion work was integral to developing the Velvet Underground's signature "wall of sound," achieved through unconventional rhythms on instruments like bongos and tablas that layered dense, pulsating textures alongside Cale's viola drones and Reed's guitar.^[11]^[10] MacLise departed the group in late 1965, objecting to the imposition of commercial pressures and rigid schedules that conflicted with his commitment to art as a non-monetary pursuit; he was replaced by Maureen Tucker.^[11]^[10] This exit occurred shortly before the band's residency at Cafe Bizarre, which led to their discovery by Andy Warhol and the start of paid engagements.

Later Career and Travels

Independent Musical Projects

After departing from The Velvet Underground in 1965, Angus MacLise pursued a series of independent musical endeavors rooted in improvisation, trance, and experimental percussion, often incorporating non-Western influences and tape manipulations. His work emphasized communal performances and sound explorations, diverging from conventional rock structures toward ritualistic and meditative forms.^[1] In 1967, MacLise co-founded the Joyous Lake ensemble, a freeform group featuring his wife Hetty MacLise on vocals and flute, alongside Loren Standlee, Ziska Baum, and Raj Samyana, active through 1970 in New York and California settings. This collaboration produced key recordings, including the soundtrack for Ira Cohen's psychedelic film The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968), where MacLise contributed barrel bongos, congas, and thunder drums in extended improvisations evoking "dream music" concepts through layered tape loops and ethnic percussion timbres. The piece, spanning nearly 40 minutes in its title track, exemplified MacLise's shift to hypnotic, non-metric soundscapes that blurred boundaries between music and ritual.^[12]^[1] Concurrently, from 1967 to 1969, MacLise participated in the Berkshire Trance Orchestra, a fluid collective dedicated to freeform trance compositions with rotating members, further extending his Theatre of Eternal Music roots into looser, percussion-driven sessions. These efforts overlapped with ongoing collaborations, such as those documented on Brain Damage in Oklahoma City (recorded 1967–1971), where MacLise provided hand drums, thunder sheet, and spoken elements alongside Tony Conrad's limp string violin and Jackson Mac Low's recitations, capturing underground benefit performances with raw, psychedelic intensity.^[1]^[13]^[14] By 1969–1970, MacLise's output included the soundtrack for Gerard Malanga's film The Children, blending percussion and ambient sounds for poetic effect, and the multimedia event Epiphany at St. Mark's Church, where he directed and performed ecstatic rites with tape manipulations and group improvisation. These U.S.-based projects, circulated via private tapes among New York experimental circles, reflected an evolved style building on his foundational Velvet Underground drumming—characterized by irregular rhythms and hand percussion—but oriented toward ecstatic, non-commercial expression. In 1970, amid preparations for travels abroad, MacLise contributed musical accompaniment to John Giorno's poetry recitals, marking a transitional phase in his independent oeuvre.^[1]^[15]

Journeys to Asia and Spiritual Exploration

Building on his earlier travels from 1964–1965 to study ethnic percussion traditions in Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, in 1971 MacLise embarked on an extended journey to South Asia as part of a broader exploration of ethnic percussion and cultural traditions that shaped his evolving artistic and spiritual interests.^[1] During this period, he immersed himself deeply in Tibetan Buddhism and Hindu mysticism, drawing inspiration from the ritualistic and meditative elements of these traditions.^[16] This trip marked a pivotal shift, bridging his earlier experimental music in New York—characterized by drone and noise explorations—with more introspective, trance-like pursuits.^[3] From 1970 to 1979, MacLise maintained extended residences in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he adopted an ascetic lifestyle reminiscent of monastic discipline, living simply amid the city's expatriate and spiritual communities.^[6] He engaged in studies with local lamas, participating in Tibetan Buddhist rituals and ceremonies that integrated communal chanting, visualization, and symbolic practices.^[16] These experiences in Kathmandu, including collaborations with figures like Ira Cohen through the Bardo Matrix press, fostered a sense of communal mysticism while he operated cultural hubs such as the Spirit Catcher Bookshop.^[6] MacLise's spiritual practices during this time centered on dream yoga and tantric meditation, techniques derived from Tibetan Vajrayana traditions that emphasize lucid dreaming, energy cultivation, and non-dual awareness to transcend ordinary consciousness.^[16] These methods profoundly influenced his "Dreamweapon" philosophy, a conceptual framework blending shamanic trance states with multimedia ritual, which he had initiated in New York but refined through Asian immersion as a tool for psychic exploration and collective dreaming.^[3] Amid these travels, MacLise produced field recordings capturing the sounds of local rituals, such as meditative chants and ceremonial percussion in Nepal, which informed later releases like those in the Dreamweapon series.^[3] He also composed unpublished manuscripts on shamanism, including poetic explorations of ritual calendars and esoteric symbolism, preserved in his archives and reflecting his synthesis of Western occultism with Himalayan traditions.^[4]

Artistic Contributions

Poetry and Literary Works

Angus MacLise's early poetic output emerged in the New York avant-garde scene of the early 1960s, characterized by experimental forms and a stream-of-consciousness style influenced by Beat literature. His first notable publication was Year, a chapbook issued in 1962 by Piero Heliczer's Dead Language Press, which reimagines the calendar as a poetic sequence assigning evocative, mystical names to each day of the year.^[17] This work exemplifies MacLise's interest in cyclical time and symbolic language, blending personal introspection with broader cosmic themes.^[5] In the mid-1960s, MacLise continued producing poetry amid his involvement in multimedia experiments, though few publications from this period survive in print. By the early 1970s, after relocating to Kathmandu, Nepal, his writing deepened into hermetic prose-poems layered with occult imagery and Eastern spiritual motifs. A key example is The Subliminal Report, published in 1975 as part of Ira Cohen's Starstreams Poetry Series by Bardo Matrix Press, which explores subconscious realms through fragmented, visionary narratives.^[1]^[18] During this time, MacLise also edited Ting Pa, a bilingual Tibetan-English poetry journal issued from 1972 to 1979 under his Dreamweapon Press, featuring contributions from international poets and showcasing his own works on dreams, psychedelia, and tantric mysticism.^[5]^[17] Recurring themes in MacLise's poetry include psychedelia, dream states, and Eastern mysticism, often intertwined with occult symbolism drawn from Tibetan Buddhism and alchemy. His verses evoke altered consciousness and spiritual transcendence, reflecting his immersion in Kathmandu's countercultural expatriate community.^[17] Estimates suggest MacLise produced over a dozen unpublished collections, preserved in archives such as Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which hold extensive manuscripts, typescripts, and drafts of his poetic experiments.^[4] These works, primarily disseminated through small-press releases like Unicorn Editions and Bardo Matrix, highlight his commitment to esoteric literary forms outside mainstream channels. Posthumously, MacLise's poetry has gained recognition through archival compilations and releases. In 2015, Pleasure Editions published Translations from the Far Country: Selected Poetry and Fragments, a selection drawn from his vast archive, compiling textual works that underscore his influence on underground literature. In 2023, Fantôme Phonographique released The Kathmandu Cycle, a compilation of his spoken word poetry recordings from Kathmandu.^[19]^[20] Earlier efforts, such as contributions to broadsides like the 1975 Spirit Catcher Bookshop edition, have been cataloged by rare book dealers, ensuring his literary legacy endures alongside his musical contributions—occasionally, his poetry readings incorporated percussive elements from his drumming background.^[21]

Film and Multimedia Experiments

Angus MacLise engaged in experimental film and multimedia projects as part of the New York avant-garde, often integrating his percussion work with visual and performative elements to explore themes of ritual, psychedelia, and transcendence. Collaborating closely with his wife, Hetty MacLise, and filmmakers like Ira Cohen, he contributed sound design and appeared in works that blurred boundaries between cinema, music, and live art. These efforts were shaped by the innovative spirit of Andy Warhol's Factory scene, where experimental techniques pushed the limits of traditional media.^[22]^[1] A seminal example is his soundtrack for Ira Cohen's The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968), a 20-minute underground film featuring Hetty MacLise in the cast alongside Jack Smith and others. The film employed superimposition techniques by shooting through an inflated Mylar balloon, producing warped, hallucinatory distortions that evoked opium dreams and shamanic visions. MacLise's live-recorded percussion—using hand drums, thunder sheets, and other custom instruments—created a droning, improvisational score with collaborators Tony Conrad and Jack Smith, enhancing the film's ritualistic atmosphere. Restored after decades in obscurity, it premiered commercially in 2006 and continues to influence psychedelic cinema.^[23]^[24]^[25] MacLise extended these experiments into interdisciplinary performances at venues like Judson Church, where he combined live drumming with film projections during avant-garde events in the 1960s. During the couple's 1970s travels to Asia, including extended stays in Nepal, they documented spiritual and cultural encounters through informal travel footage that incorporated multimedia elements like overlaid percussion and visual sketches. Many of these works, including related films and recordings, are preserved at the Anthology Film Archives, with digitizations in the 2000s and 2010s enabling retrospectives such as the 2011 Dreamweapon screening series.^[26]^[11]^[4]

Visual Art and Performance

Angus MacLise produced a diverse body of visual art that encompassed drawings, paintings, and calligraphy, often characterized by improvised, freeform handwriting resembling Tibetan script and ancient glyphs.^[16] His works from the 1960s included collages influenced by Brion Gysin's experimental Arabic calligraphy, as well as handwritten charts that synaesthetically connected musical instruments, colors such as magenta and greens, and natural sounds like waterfalls or hurricanes.^[16] These pieces reflected a cosmic and ritualistic sensibility, drawing inspiration from Tibetan art forms including thangka paintings, which informed his intricate assemblages and layered compositions.^[16] Manuscripts and ephemera, such as the pamphlet Year (1962) proposing an alternative calendar, further demonstrated his interest in reimagining time and space through visual means.^[11] In the realm of performance, MacLise was an active participant in the early Fluxus scene during the 1960s, collaborating with figures like George Maciunas and Yoko Ono on avant-garde events that blurred boundaries between art, music, and theater.^[22] A notable example is his contribution to the 1965 "New York Underground: 8-Hour Spectacle, Appearance of the Stars," where he provided calligraphy for event fliers and integrated percussion into multimedia happenings featuring the Velvet Underground as "Falling Spikes."^[16] These Fluxus-affiliated performances from 1963 to 1965 emphasized chaotic, conceptual improvisation, aligning with MacLise's broader exploration of ritualistic expression.^[22] The "Dreamweapon" installations of the 1960s represented a pinnacle of MacLise's performative output, creating immersive environments that combined visual elements with sonic elements to evoke trance-like states.^[22] These works, later highlighted in the 2011 retrospective Dreamweapon: The Art and Life of Angus MacLise (1938–1979) at Boo-Hooray Gallery, included drawings, photographs, and ephemera that underscored his polymathic approach, with a sound installation at 265 Canal Street featuring over 100 hours of archival recordings.^[22]^[11] Rare exhibitions of his visual works, such as those drawing from his Kathmandu-period assemblages, appeared in select New York galleries, influencing the raw, interdisciplinary aesthetics of the later no wave movement through their emphasis on occult symbolism and handmade intensity.^[16] MacLise's practice evolved toward more ritualistic performances during his time in Asia in the 1970s, where spiritual travels to Nepal shaped immersive happenings in Kathmandu that blended visual art with ceremonial elements, as seen in recordings like The Joyous Lake (1971).^[16] These events, often involving handmade rice paper prints and collaborative assemblages via his Bardo Matrix/Dreamweapon Press, fused thangka-inspired visuals with live improvisation to create environments evoking ancient rites.^[22] His spiritual explorations in Asia thus provided a thematic foundation for this shift, prioritizing transcendent, participatory art over conventional gallery formats.^[16]

Personal Life and Death

Marriage and Family

Angus MacLise married Hetty McGee (also known as Mary Hetty McGee) in a ceremony officiated by Timothy Leary in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, shortly after MacLise relocated to Berkeley, California, following his departure from the Velvet Underground in 1965.^[4] The couple's union blended personal commitment with shared artistic pursuits, including collaborative film and multimedia projects that reflected their intertwined creative and domestic lives.^[17] The MacLises had one son, Ossian Kennard MacLise, born in 1967 in Massachusetts after Hetty endured two prior miscarriages.^[4]^[27] The family lived in New York until relocating to Asia in 1970. Their family dynamics were shaped by nomadic travels, with Ossian accompanying his parents through India and settling in Kathmandu, Nepal, where the boy was recognized at a young age as a tulku, or reincarnated lama, by Tibetan Buddhist authorities including the 16th Karmapa.^[17]^[28] Throughout their marriage, MacLise and Hetty maintained an enduring partnership, transitioning from urban communal households in the United States to an expatriate life in Nepal, where they operated the Bardo Matrix collective and raised Ossian in a spiritually immersive environment.^[6] This peripatetic existence underscored their resilient family bond, even as it integrated personal relationships with experimental artistic endeavors.^[29]

Illness and Death

In the late 1970s, Angus MacLise's health deteriorated significantly while living in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he suffered from chronic hypoglycemia exacerbated by malnutrition and an ascetic lifestyle of spiritual immersion and limited resources.^[11]^[30] His years of extensive travel across Asia, including strenuous treks in the Himalayas, further strained his physical condition.^[17] MacLise was admitted to Shanta Bawan Hospital in Kathmandu, where he died on June 21, 1979, at the age of 41; the cause was listed as hypoglycemia and pulmonary tuberculosis resulting from malnutrition, exacerbated by years of drug use.^[11]^[17]^[1] He was cremated according to Tibetan Buddhist rites at the Vijeshwari Temple in Kathmandu, with his ashes subsequently scattered by family members.^[31]^[32]

Legacy

Influence on Experimental Arts

Angus MacLise's percussion work in the early Velvet Underground and his solo recordings contributed to the development of drone music through his involvement in the Theatre of Eternal Music. Alongside John Cale, Tony Conrad, and La Monte Young, MacLise was part of the group's exploration of just intonation and endless tones, helping to establish a foundation for minimalist composition in the 1960s that extended into rock experimentation.^[33] His unorthodox drumming style, often evoking falling rain or world music rhythms, infused the Velvet Underground's initial sound with avant-garde unpredictability, influencing the band's departure from conventional rock structures.^[34] Contemporary analyses, such as Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again (2005), trace post-punk's experimental roots to the Velvet Underground's innovations, challenging rock conventions and inspiring subsequent underground movements. In the visual and performing arts, MacLise's participation in Fluxus events and multimedia collaborations advanced interdisciplinary practices that blurred boundaries between music, poetry, and visual spectacle. As a collaborator with Fluxus founder George Maciunas, he helped pioneer chaotic, conceptual happenings that challenged traditional art forms, laying groundwork for later multimedia experiments.^[35] These efforts influenced the development of performance art by promoting ephemeral, participatory works that integrated sound and movement, as seen in his own pieces like Dreamweapon, which combined ritualistic percussion with visionary aesthetics.^[11] MacLise embodied the underground ethos of the 1960s and 1970s New York scene, serving as a countercultural bridge between Western avant-garde traditions and Eastern spiritual philosophies. His immersion in downtown arts circles—from La Monte Young's experimental music collective to Andy Warhol's Factory happenings—fostered a holistic approach that merged occultism, poetry, and improvisation into a rebellious artistic practice.^[4] This synthesis resonated in the broader counterculture, promoting trance-like states and transcendental themes that echoed Beat influences while anticipating hippie-era explorations of altered consciousness.^[36]

Posthumous Recognition and Releases

Following Angus MacLise's death in 1979, his widow, artist and archivist Hetty MacLise, undertook significant efforts to preserve and organize his extensive body of work, including manuscripts, recordings, and ephemera. In 1980, she entrusted a substantial portion of the materials to composer La Monte Young for safekeeping, where they remained until their transfer to the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University. This collection, known as the Angus and Hetty MacLise papers (dating from the 1950s to 2010), encompasses poetry, calligraphy, sound recordings, photographs, and artifacts from his time in Nepal, addressing previous scholarly gaps in understanding his later spiritual and artistic explorations in Asia.^[37]^[4] The 2011 retrospective exhibition Dreamweapon: The Art and Life of Angus MacLise (1938–1979), organized by Boo-Hooray Gallery in New York, marked a major revival of interest in his multifaceted oeuvre, featuring manuscripts, calligraphy, photographs, posters, and memorabilia alongside performances and screenings. Accompanying the exhibition, Boo-Hooray released several archival vinyl editions, including Dreamweapon I (2011), which compiled early 1960s tape recordings of his experimental sound works. This initiative extended to Dreamweapon II (2014), a collaborative LP with Hetty MacLise that drew from 1965 sessions, further highlighting his trance-inducing percussion and poetic integrations.^[16]^[11]^[32]^[38] In the 2020s, MacLise's recordings have gained wider accessibility through digital platforms and new archival releases, with albums such as The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (originally compiled in 1999 from 1968–1972 sessions) now available for streaming on services like Apple Music, introducing his psychedelic soundscapes to new audiences. A notable 2023 release, the 3CD box set Tapes on the Art Into Life label, features remastered excerpts from over 100 hours of reel-to-reel tape recordings of live improvisations, theatrical performances, and sound experiments from the 1960s and 1970s, drawn from the Columbia University archive and mastered by Jim O'Rourke.^[39]^[40] The Columbia archive's ongoing digitization and public access have facilitated scholarly examinations of his underrepresented Nepal period, where he co-founded the Bardo Matrix Press and produced rice-paper publications blending occultism and Eastern mysticism, as detailed in the collection's finding aid. These efforts underscore a growing recognition of MacLise's role in bridging New York experimentalism with global countercultural movements.^[4]

References

[1]
ANGUS MACLISE: A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY - MELA Foundation
Born: Bridgeport, Connecticut, March 14, 1938 ; 1945, Katherine Dunham School; studied Haitian drumming ; 1948-1951, Dolmetsch School - Haslemere, Surrey, U.K.: ...Missing: biography | Show results with:biography
[2]
ANGUS MACLISE: THE PETE BEST OF THE PUNK GODFATHERS
Jan 24, 2022 · Angus MacLise (1938-1979) was, as the Velvet Underground's original drummer, an essential element of their early free-form sound.
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Perfect Sound Forever: Angus MacLise tribute - Furious.com
MacLise mostly played hand drums and bongos, sharing his understanding of drone and noise picked up in his travels, which included India and the Middle East.
[4]
Angus MacLise of Velvet Underground in 'Dreamweapon'
May 5, 2011 · Angus MacLise, an original member of the Velvet ... Angus William MacLise was born in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1938, the son of a book dealer.
[5]
Angus and Hetty MacLise papers, 1950s-2010
Angus MacLise was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1938, the son of a book dealer. MacLise's lifework included music, calligraphy, performance art, poetry ( ...
[6]
[PDF] Angus and Hetty MacLise papers 10260984
Jan 14, 2025 · Angus MacLise was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1938, the son of a book dealer. MacLise's lifework included music, calligraphy ...
[7]
Angus Maclise - verdant press
Angus MacLise was a musician, poet, artist, and counterculture figure who was a mainstay of the downtown New York arts scene in the 1960s.Missing: biography | Show results with:biography
[8]
Explicit Aquarium & Heart. Piero Heliczer and the dead language ...
Aug 1, 2024 · ... Angus MacLise, publishing his own works as well as those of Beat Generation poets and writers. After a stint in England, where he made ...
[9]
Tag Archives: Angus Maclise - verdant press
Angus MacLise was born in Bridgeport Connecticut in 1938. He studied music and dance before moving to Paris in the late 1950s. In Paris he and his high school ...Missing: family background
[10]
[PDF] Notes on The Theatre of Eternal Music and The Tortoise, His Dr
In New York in 1962, I took up saxophone again, this time sopranino, and began to play with the drummer Angus MacLise. The earliest recorded example of my ...
[11]
Inside the Birth of the Velvet Underground - Rolling Stone
Oct 2, 2017 · Cale recruited Angus MacLise, another member of La Monte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music, to be the group's percussionist. Reed, meanwhile ...
[12]
Velvet Underground, Expanded Cinema and Cafe Bizarre
Sterling Morrison recalls that he, Lou Reed, John Cale and Angus MacLise took part in a production that Piero Helcizer and MacLise were organizing in early ...Missing: Dome | Show results with:Dome
[13]
https://www.discogs.com/release/686418-Angus-MacLise-Brain-Damage-In-Oklahoma-City
[14]
https://www.soundohm.com/product/brain-damage-in-oklahoma
[15]
Brain Damage in Oklahoma City - Angus MacLise - Soundohm
"Comprised of eight tracks, the acme of this collection is the two large ensemble pieces, "Dreamweapon Benefit for the Oklahoma City Police Dept. parts 1 & 2," ...Missing: Weather | Show results with:Weather
[16]
Guide to the Angus MacLise Sound Recordings - Yale University
1965 through the 1970s, MacLise was active in the New York City underground music scene, integrating trance, improvisation, spoken word, poetry, and ...
[17]
Angus MacLise | Frieze
Oct 1, 2011 · Angus MacLise is best known as the first drummer for the Velvet Underground. According to some accounts, he quit the Velvets of his own volition, in 1965.Missing: biography University Minnesota
[18]
Angus MacLise - BLASTITUDE.COM
MacLise was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on March 4, 1938. At school he developed an interest in music, especially percussion and took lessons in Latin ...
[19]
The Subliminal Report | Angus MacLise - Granary Books
This is no. 382 from an edition of 500 copies. Angus MacLise printed signature on back cover. Starstreams Poetry Series, no. 4 [Dreamweapon Works 2]. Cover ...
[20]
ANGUS MacLISE POETRY - Pleasure Editions
A collection of written work by the poet and countercultural icon, drawn from his vast archive and presented in a classic paperback format.Missing: themes psychedelia dreams Eastern mysticism
[21]
Results for: Poetry | Author: Angus MacLise - Granary Books
Poetry ; Spirit Catcher Bookshop Broadsheet, July 1975. Linn, Carey, Angus MacLise, Roberto Francisco Valenza, Ira Cohen, John Fungi, and Jigme ...
[22]
Dreamweapon: The Art and Life of Angus MacLise 1938 - 1979
Best known as the original drummer of the Velvet Underground, MacLise's lifework included music, calligraphy, performance art, poetry, drawings, plays, and ...Missing: events | Show results with:events
[23]
Long, Strange Trip for a Hypnotic Film - The New York Times
Aug 27, 2006 · It took 38 years, but Ira Cohen's cult film, “The Invasion of ... Angus MacLise, the original drummer of the Velvet Underground. Xavier ...
[24]
The Invasion Of Thunderbolt Pagoda: Mylar Hallucinations & Sonic ...
Apr 12, 2021 · Originally screened in 1968, The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda is one of the most evergreen time capsules from the apex of the psychedelic ...
[25]
The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968) - Ira Cohen - Letterboxd
Rating 3.6 (404) The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda ; Director · Ira Cohen ; Producer · Will Swofford ; Cinematography · Sheldon Rochlin Diane Rochlin ; Composer · Angus MacLise ...
[26]
DREAMWEAPON: Exclusive MP3 download from original Velvet ...
May 12, 2011 · ... Anthology Film Archives, as part of that exhibit, there will be. ... Angus MacLise soundtrack), early 70s video work by Marty Topp and three ...
[27]
Ossian | POV - PBS
Ossian Maclise is not an average American teenager. Born in Massachusetts, he has been living in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery since the age of four.
[28]
Angus MacLise: forgotten founder of The Velvet Underground
Sep 21, 2023 · MacLise, now divorced from the VU story amid the sands of time, embodied the bold, weird, counter-counterculture intent behind the band's inception.Missing: odd 1960s
[29]
Ira Cohen And Angus Maclise - The Robert Beer Blog
Oct 24, 2011 · In 1967 Angus drifted down to Berkeley where he met and began to work with Hetty McGee, and Timothy Leary married them at a hippy-wedding ...
[30]
Angus MacLise – The Kathmandu Cycle | Sea Urchin Editions
During his stay in Kathmandu in the 1970s, MacLise occasionally made trips to the west. Together with his wife and son and in the company of Ira Cohen and Petra ...Missing: India | Show results with:India
[31]
[PDF] HETTY MACLISE ARCHIVE - Bibliopolis
The collection primarily documents Hetty MacLise's life during which she was known as Mary (or Hetty) McGee,. Mary Catherine Burton, and Mary Scholten, and ...
[32]
Angus MacLise (1938-1979) - Find a Grave Memorial
Cremated, Ashes scattered. Specifically: He was cremated at the Vijeshwari ... More about the MacLise family name. By Ancestry®. Remove Ads. How famous ...
[33]
Dreamweapon: Angus MacLise Retrospective In New York - The Wire
The first overview of the work of The Velvet Underground's original drummer Angus MacLise takes place in New York in May. The starting point for the ...
[34]
Always at the End | Frieze
A pioneer of drone-based minimalist music, he was a member of the Theatre of Eternal Music – also known as The Dream Syndicate – which included John Cale, Angus ...
[35]
Where Sonic Youth and the Velvets Found the Noise - West Side Spirit
Feb 16, 2015 · The intersection of Fluxus and rock come together in a totally different way on a batch of recordings by Angus MacLise, a Maciunas collaborator ...
[36]
Angus MacLise – Sounds Central
Trance is an important aspect in Angus MacLise's sound works. The drummer, composer, poet and calligrapher was a link between Beat culture, New York City's ...
[37]
The Angus MacLise Archive at Columbia University - Boo-Hooray
American artist, poet, percussionist, and composer Angus MacLise was active in New York, San Francisco, Paris, London and Kathmandu from the 1950s through the ...
[38]
https://www.discogs.com/master/385325-Angus-MacLise-Hetty-MacLise-Dreamweapon-II
[39]
Angus MacLise - Apple Music
Angus MacLise is best known as the original drummer of the Velvet Underground, although he dropped out of the lineup before they had made any records.Missing: Cafe Bizarre Dome