musique concrète

[ my-zeek kawn-kret ]

noun

, French.

1. tape-recorded musical and natural sounds, often electronically distorted, arranged in planned combinations, sequences, and rhythmic patterns to create an artistic work.

musique concrète

/ myzik kɔ̃krɛt /

noun

1. another term for concrete music

Word History and Origins

Origin of musique concrète¹

Literally, “concrete music”

Example Sentences

McCartney, meanwhile, was on a mission to absorb the full spectrum of the 1960s avant-garde, from visual art and short films to free jazz and musique concrète.

From Los Angeles Times

For Strickland, there is a common thread between his visceral reaction to sound, the films he makes and his love of musique concrète, a style of experimental music using recorded sounds.

From New York Times

The album, currently available to download on Bandcamp, offers exquisite musique concrète.

From New York Times

This was among the earliest examples of musique concrète, which uses recorded sounds as base material, manipulating them using electronic techniques.

From New York Times

Substrains evolved from the perhaps-too-elegant-sounding musique concrète into countless variants that attracted devoted communities of fans: harsh noise, power electronics, noise rock, noisecore, dark ambient, glitch, cut-ups, black noise, on and on and on and louder and louder and louder.

From Washington Post