- An original master of trance.
- Charlemagne Palestine has widely been called a minimalist composer, but it's best if you keep that to yourself if you meet him. You may just end up getting an earful. He prefers "continuum" or "trance" artist. All of the descriptors seem to fit, though. Charlemagne's music is one of epic duration. His most well-known piece, Strumming Music, consists of him building up a storm of overtones from only a few repeated notes on the piano over the course of nearly an hour. The key difference between Palestine and composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich is the approach. Palestine's work is raw and full of life, and he often compared himself to abstract expressionist painters like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Performance-wise, you're also likely to often see him playing amid a number of stuffed animals while he drinks cognac and smokes. In short, he's one of a kind.