With the launch of the Sound Propositions podcast I’ve decided to finally cave in and pass the virtual hat: I’ve joined Patreon. Even though my workflow is improving with each episode, it takes a lot of time and effort to produce.  Any additional financial support will make it easier for me to make more episodes and eventually pursue new avenues for my music criticism. Preparing for and conducting interviews, editing them, shaping and writing each episode, choosing the music and sounds, editing and mixing it all, producing the final posts and getting it all online takes a substantial amount of work, and any little show of support would be greatly appreciated.  Even if you can’t donate, if you listen and enjoy please share with others you think would appreciate the artists I’m showcasing. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, you can support my Patreon for one month and then cancel future recurring payments, or send a donation to my Paypal, at thenewobjective@gmail.com.

If you’re here on this site, you’re most likely already familiar with my work. I’ve written about music and art ever since starting a zine with a friend in high school, back in 2000. In 2006, I co-founded the influential blog The Silent Ballet, before leaving in 2011 to co-found A CLOSER LISTEN. There I’ve published features, interviews, reviews, and curated a series of over 100 mixes, in which I invited artists, labels, journalists, and readers to participate. I’ve also contributed to various other print and online sources, including Cult MTL, SSG Music, and Northern Transmissions.

I am currently a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature, and, as you might expect, writing my dissertation (on aesthetics and politics in post-1968 Italy) has occupied much of my time in recent years, making it increasingly more difficult to keep up with music criticism.

In 2012 I launched a series called Sound Propositions, which has become my primary outlet for non-academic music writing. While that series continues periodically, I’ve recently launched a podcast of the same name, as an alternative, sonic, practice to draw a sharper distinction between my academic research and writing and my music criticism. Sound Propositions features conversations with artists exploring their creative practices and individual aesthetics, conceived of as a counter-narrative to a dominant trend in music journalism which fetishizes equipment and new technologies. This series tries to take the emphasis away from the ‘what’ and shine light on the ‘how’ and ‘why.’ Each episode combines interviews with music, field-recordings, and experimental sound design, for fans of experimental music, field-recording, drone, electro-acoustic, ambient, modern composition, and other contemporary electronic music genres.

You can find more information about the podcast here: https://soundpropositions.com/podcast/

I also curate Useless Sounds, a weekly informal presentation of unprocessed field-recordings. Often these area binaural recordings (headphone listening recommended), but sometimes they’re recorded in other formats, or even just directly to my phone or tape recorder. Useless Sounds occasionally features soundscapes and field-recordings from guest contributors as well. This first phase of recordings, including from guests, is focused on locations all around the Mediterranean region, from Italy to Turkey to Lebanon and back.

So I’m here asking for a bit of support.  If even a small amount of our monthly readers could chip in $1, or $3, or $5 or $10 each month, it would go a long way towards supporting this series and my other work. “Season One” of the podcast has been possible because I haven’t had any teaching obligations this year, but if it is to continue in the future I’ll be dependent on your contributions.  Love and respect.