For more than 30 years, Michael Peters has explored the world looking for new sounds. Most of his musical output veers from the mainstream and has been difficult to categorize. The renowned WIRE magazine has reviewed two of his albums in their "Outer Limits" section, which says it all.


Michael's main instrument is the guitar - he studied with renowned guitarist, Robert Fripp and also is influenced by guitarists David Torn, Eivind Aarset, and Fred Frith. He extends the guitar using electronic effects, midi, and livelooping techniques. He has played in avant rock and open improvisational groups.

He also has experimented with sampling and cutting up random FM radio broadcasts to use as elements in live improvisation.

By the same token, he has become more and more fascinated by using more stuctured compositions, using the computer as a musical instrument.

For anyone with open ears, the world of sound outside of regular music is also full of wonder. Michael loves to record interesting environmental sounds (field recording) and then recontextualize and sculpt them using digital tools such as granular synthesis, incorporating the results into musical compositions and soundscapes.

Michael is a member of Looper's Delight, a very active international community of people who use looping technology for their music making. He also is a seminal and pivotal member of the Chain Tape Collective, a group of dozens of electronic and electro-acoustic composers whose musicians create collaborative music projects together.

From time to time, Michael Peters has also been active as a programmer and visual artist in the field of abstract computer graphics. He is an avid photographer and has designed his own websites as well as the one for the Chain Tape Collective.

In the year 2000, he started an ambitious project called MY2K where he created an all original 10 second piece of music for every single day of the year.

In 2008, he hosted the 1st International Livelooping Festival in Cologne, featuring ten livelooping soloists from Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, and USA. In 2009, he performed at livelooping festivals in Belgium, Italy, and California.

Michael Peters lives in a small village east of Cologne, Germany. He loves to sit on a bench outside, listening ...



  • Upcoming Gigs
  • October 16: Gütersloh Polyphony
    November 22: The Absurd, Lichtung, Köln
    November 26: Klangwellen, Köln
    November 30: Klangspielraum, Bonn
    March 25, 2012: Lied United, Köln



  • Recent News
  • Soundcloud page
    Some of my more recent guitar and livelooping work can be heard on my soundcloud page
  • From Strange to Impossible
    I wrote an article in Contemporary Music Review about the algorithmic music CD "Impossible Music"
  • Livelooping Italy
    Live in Florence and recording with Fabio Anile in Rome
  • Slide scanner gets new listeners
    "Sound is Art" curator Margaret Noble gets interviewed for Australian radio and plays some of my sounds
  • Livelooping the Helios Tower
    Two weeks before the Florence festival, the Treppenhauskonzert was a public rehearsal
  • Livelooping Festival in April
    Cologne saw the 2nd International Livelooping Festival on April 2nd, 2011
  • Stretched Landscape Remixed
    Download this collection of remixes for free
  • Binaural Sounds
    Massimo Liverani's binaural ambient album contains an unreleased Michael Peters track
  • The Trumpeting Window
    A collection of field recordings
  • Sessions with Matthias Ebbinghaus
    A download album of session recordings
  • The Absurd in Heliosturm Cologne
    Watch a video of a recent public performance of The Absurd
  • Bandcamp !
    All my albums can be downloaded from Bandcamp now

  • Twitter Updates



random flickr photos by Michael Peters ... reload page to see a different selection