watch The Afghan Whigs interpret John Cage’s 4’33” (happy birthday, John Cage!)

As you might remember, Mute Records is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and, as part of that, have asked bands from its roster (past and present) to interpret John Cage’s famously entirely silent work 4’33”, each with its own visual accompaniment, for a box set titled STUMM433. Here’s a little more on Cage’s piece:

Composed and premiered in 1952, 4’33” is a piece for any instrument or combination of instruments. The score instructs the performer or performers not to play their instrument for the duration of the piece (generally four minutes and 33 seconds). As challenging and thought-provoking now as it was when it was premiered, 4’33” completely changed popular thinking on silence, sound, composition and listening.

Earlier this year, Laibach offered up their take on 4’33” and now, on John Cage’s birthday (he would’ve been 107 today), here’s Afghan Whigs‘ take, which was shot and recorded at The Moore Theatre in Seattle, WA on August 9, 2018. It was the band’s final rehearsal at the end of their tour in support of In Spades. Watch the video below.

Other artists who will interpret 4’33” for STUMM433 include Depeche Mode, New Order, Wire, Moby, Goldfrapp, Liars, Lee Ranaldo, Richard Hawley, Lost Under Heaven, Carter Tutti Void, ADULT., Cabaret Voltaire, Nitzer Ebb, Mick Harvey, A Certain Ratio, Einstürzende Neubauten, and more. STUMM433 will be out October 4 via Mute as a vinyl box set, limited to 433 copies, that comes with silence-scented candles and more. There’s a CD/DVD box, too. Pre-orders are being taken now.

Net profits from the release of the STUMM433 box set will be split between the British Tinnitus Association and Music Minds Matter, charities “chosen to honour Inspiral Carpets’ founding member Craig Gill who suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of his tinnitus in the years up to his untimely death.”