Kenneth Atchley

In 2009, Atchley performed concert versions of turtle. The primary sound of this work is generated by six sine wave tones in the frequency range from 261.63 Hz and 440.00 Hz. Attending video landscapes are generated by defining and displaying sets of points within a single, germinal image.

In winter 2006-2007 he composed a set of works for strings. The pieces, collectively titled 7 stillnesses, exploit a range of avant-garde harmonic progressions with emphasis on passages in which a chord is held long enough that its value within the harmonic progression disappears. The title refers not to a determinable number of "stillnesses"; more to the mythic use of number to refer to subjective experiences of stillness and quietude. The writing extends techniques that Atchley developed in his electronic work. In this composition the combined harmonics of an ensemble of string instruments create pared down, absorbing, tonal sound-planes.

Atchley worked with choreographer Roseanne Spradlin in 2003 to create Rearrangement (or a Spell for Mortals) as a duet for Walter Dundervill and Athena Malloy. According to the New York Times, the piece "sounds like running water" and "the dancers explore issues of mortality in an appropriately enigmatic setting".

In September 1982, Atchley took part in a joint concert called the Rota-League Concert when the League of Automated Music Composers joined forces with an electronic-music band called The Rotary Club.

Kenneth Atchley (born 1954) is an American composer, noise, drone, and video artist, and a member of the San Francisco Bay Area electronic music community.