Yucheng Tao

Black No. 3#

Black No. 4#

Artist’s Statement#

In Black Nos. 3 and 4, I continue exploring the sonic and emotional terrain introduced in the first two tracks, while pushing the boundaries of genre. These pieces experiment with atonal structures drawn from avant-garde jazz, fused with the raw intensity and weight of dark metal.

The result is a kind of controlled chaos - unpredictable yet intentional - that reflects my ongoing interest in hybrid soundscapes where violence, beauty, and dissonance coexist. I’m particularly fascinated by how nontraditional harmonies and extreme contrasts can evoke a sense of both rupture and ritual.

These tracks are part of a broader attempt to collapse musical boundaries and build a language that lives somewhere between improvisation and architecture.

About the Artist#

Yucheng Tao is a Chinese international student based in Los Angeles, where he studies songwriting at the Musicians Institute College of Contemporary Music. His work has appeared in Wild Court,The Lake, Red Ogre Review, Aloka Magazine, Cathexis Northwest Press, and NonBinary Review, where he was also interviewed. He was named a semifinalist for the Winds of Asia Award by Kinsman Quarterly. His work has also been featured in over twenty journals, including Apocalypse Confidential,The Arcanist, Waymark Literary Magazine, Yellow Mama, The Mixtape Review, Down in the Dirt, Academy of the Heart, Alien Buddha Press, Ink Nest, Piker Press, Synchronized Chaos, Authorspress Press, and more.