Blank Forms' fifth collection of archival, unpublished, or newly translated texts, takes its title from a series of interviews with Japanese free jazz pioneer Masayuki Takayangi that were published in Japanese in 1975-76 and are published here in English for the first time. The interviews provide a rare look at Takayanagi's eccentric practice and personality, both long under-recognized by audiences outside (and often, inside) of Japan. In this respect, the interviews speak to the goals of Blank Forms' publication enterprise, that is, to expand upon our work in performance programming, record production, and archival preservation, and to foster new dialogues on vanguard art and music from the past 50-plus years. Aspirations of Madness considers the work of not just Takayanagi but also, in different ways, the poets Louise Landes Levi and Kazuko Shiraishi, the musician and writer Joseph Jarman, the polymath Catherine Christer Hennix and her one-time student the poet Charles Stein, the musicologist Henry Orlov, and Maryanne Amacher. Aspirations of Madness features additional contributions by Alan Cummings, Bill Dietz, Peter Kastakis, Art Lange, Satoru Obara, and Tomoyuki Chida ..."--Provided by publisher