John Cage s father once advised him: If someone says can t, that shows you what to do. It s a safe bet that the 16 iconoclastic composers on this aptly named Naxos of America compilation would agree wholeheartedly with that defiant sentiment.

Sonic rebels one and all, they have consistently challenged accepted notions and standards of composition, performance, and even sound. Some have dedicated themselves to the subversion of existing musical forms; others have rejected those forms outright and created new ones of their own. Their anti-authority stance has been rooted as much in the social as the personal, directed at the dissonant trajectories of the century past as well as present. Faced with the uncertainties and complications of modern life, the onrush (some might say onslaught) of technology, and the growing instability both between and within nations, these artists have chosen to communicate their personal visions in a musical tone and language that is controversial, often confrontational, and always compelling.