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Carl Stone Talks Sampling and His Self-Described “Process” Music
Carl Stone photographed by Edward Colver. As an undergraduate at Cal Arts in the early 1970s, composer Carl Stone studied with modern-classical legends like Morton Subotnick and James Tenney. While...
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The Macefield Music Festival Honors the Patron Saint of Fighting Developers...
The Macefield Music Fest team. The once-sleepy Seattle neighborhood of Ballard, just northwest of Lake Union, was for decades a gritty, dive-bar dotted fisherman’s village. Neko Case worked in one of...
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Dischord Records: A Roundtable
Minor Threat. Photo © 1980 by Susie Josephson Horgan. There are few labels that capture the pulsating beat of a particular music scene better than Dischord did for Washington D.C. punk in the ’80s and...
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Chris Whiter Explores Jazz Dystopias
Chris Whiter didn’t set out to make an album about Brexit (the UK’s recent decision, via public vote, to leave the European Union), but when you’re a British jazz musician and you record a multi-part...
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Album of the Day: Electric Wire Hustle, “The 11th Sky”
On Electric Wire Hustle’s third full-length, The 11th Sky, the New Zealand act keeps walking through a world where electronica and soul are one in the same. Since their acclaimed 2010 debut, vocalist...
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Young Paris: Love, Africa, Power
Young Paris photographed by Gioncarlo Valentine. Onstage, Young Paris and his live band channel the traditional essence of the rural Congo while, at the same time, tapping into big-city cool. The...
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The Dark Night in D.C. That Led to Hiss Golden Messenger’s Powerful New Record
M.C. Taylor. Photo by Andy Tennille. M.C. Taylor had a moment of intense self-reckoning in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. Outside, a blizzard smothered the nation’s capital in snow and ice,...
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First Wave Gurrlcore From Berlin
Gurr, the Berlin-based duo of Andreya Casablanca and Laura Lee, were looking for a new way to describe the music on their first full-length LP, In My Head, so they held a contest on social media. The...
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Strange and Perfect Connections: Mats Gustafsson at 50
Mats Gustafsson. Photo by Micke Keysendahl. Saxophonist Mats Gustafsson is still somewhat embarrassed that a three-day festival—held at the Vienna club Porgy & Bess in October 2014—was essentially...
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Album of the Day: Bhavachakra, “Bhavachakra”
In Buddhism, bhavachakra represents the cyclical nature of existence. The Mahayana Buddhists believe the symbol was invented by Buddha himself as a way to help people understand his teachings. The...
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Vulfpeck: The Gamewinners
It’s a sweltering September evening in New York and, onstage at the Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, Vulfpeck have a wound-up, sold-out crowd in the palms of their hands. After cajoling the front row...
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Big Ups: Black Milk Picks His Favorite Bandcamp Artists
Black Milk. Photo by Frankie Turiano for Bandcamp. Rapper/producer Black Milk isn’t an artist who minds sharing the spotlight. His last three albums—No Poison No Paradise, If There’s A Hell Below and...
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Leyland Kirby on The Caretaker’s New Project: Six Albums Exploring Dementia
Leyland Kirby. Photo by Matt Wilkinson. Memories don’t just light the cobwebbed corners of Leyland Kirby’s mind. They’re a driving force in everything he does, from the experimental pop edits of V/Vm...
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After a Three-Year Hiatus, Blank Banshee Breaks His Silence with “MEGA”
Blank Banshee knows how to keep his audience baited. It’s been three long years since his last record, and he’s spent the last several months issuing cryptic, email-based teasers for an album that was...
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Album of the Day: The Orb, “COW / Chill Out World!”
Having essentially set the template for ambient music as the ’80s ended, Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann are even more musical and—crucially—a touch less whimsical than usual on their latest outing....
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How Brazil’s Political Protests Inspired Luisa Maita’s “Fio de Memoria”
Luísa Maita. Photo by Julia Braga. On a mild São Paolo evening in June 2013, a raucous protest against corruption in the Brazilian government exploded, seemingly out of nowhere. As word began to...
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American Football Are More Than Hometown Emo Heroes
American Football never meant to be legendary. The Urbana, Illinois trio—comprised of guitarists Mike Kinsella and Steve Holmes and drummer Steve Lamos—recorded one self-titled album in 1999, played a...
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Flock of Dimes’ Jenn Wasner Says Yes to Small Miracles
“Little green tree frogs:” Jenn Wasner’s newfound fascination with the green amphibians surrounding her Durham, NC home offers a window into the woman herself. Wasner focuses on the small miracles,...
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Hobbyist’s Limited 7” Will Benefit Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network
Many bands use exclusive, limited-edition items as a way to stoke fan enthusiasm and reward devotion and vigilance. But when the Marc Mozga and Holly Prindle of the Chicago duo Hobbyist decided to...
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Album of the Day: Rioux, “Fragmenta”
Erin Rioux’s experimental electronic music is the perfect illustration of the joy that accompanies discovery for discovery’s sake. Its songs morph as surprisingly as the color clouds in his...
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