When

The brainchild of Norwegian composer/percussionist/keyboardist Lars Pedersen, When has produced a far-ranging body of work dating back to the early '80s, running the gamut from dense, dissonant orchestral music to sample-based collages to Beach Boys-inspired psychedelic pop. Given this range of sounds and styles, When's music is remarkable for its avoidance of the distanced, post-modern pastiche approach favored by numerous other avant-garde collagists, instead demonstrating a darker, more morbid stance evidenced throughout his catalog by such titles as Death in the Blue Lake,...