Joseph Byrd, the\u00a0composer\u00a0and leader of the trailblazing psychedelic rock band The United States\u00a0Of\u00a0America, has died aged 87.<\/p>\n
The news was confirmed by his family in a notice to the\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/a>, which stated that he passed away suddenly on November 2 at his home in Medford, Oregon. No cause of death has been provided.<\/p>\n Byrd was the central architect of the highly influential group, who\u00a0were\u00a0formed in Los Angeles in 1967 and\u00a0were\u00a0credited with incorporating electronics,\u00a0musique\u00a0concr\u00e8te and experimentation into psych rock.<\/p>\n Their sole album, which was self-titled and released in 1968, made use of early synthesisers and tape manipulation and is representative of the West Coast anti-commercial counterculture movement. It has been referenced by the likes of\u00a0Stereolab<\/a>, Julian\u00a0Cope<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Broadcast<\/a>\u00a0as a key influence\u00a0and is remembered for pushing the boundaries of rock music, predicting later developments in experimental composition.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Byrd was born on December 19,\u00a01937\u00a0in Louisville, Kentucky and studied with the avant-garde composers\u00a0John Cage<\/a>\u00a0and LaMonte Young. His first live performance was at\u00a0Yoko Ono<\/a>\u2019s New York\u00a0loft\u00a0and\u00a0he was part of Cage\u2019s Fluxus movement of radical live performances.<\/p>\n He founded The United States of America with his then-girlfriend Dorothy Moskowitz after\u00a0relocating\u00a0from New York to Los Angeles, but they broke up after one record.<\/p>\n Byrd recorded another influential record \u2018The American Metaphysical Circus\u2019 in 1969 under the name Joe Byrd\u00a0And\u00a0The\u00a0Field\u00a0Hippies, and\u00a0later became\u00a0a professor of American music at Cal-State Fullerton.<\/p>\n