Interviews
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Sound Propositions 020: AMULETS
Photo: Chloe Jarnac AMULETS is the solo project of Randall Taylor, who produces music via an evolving system of tape loop processing in conjunction with his electric guitar. What began as joke witch house project became more serious once Taylor instrumentalized a TASCAM four-track Portastudio for performance purposes. Taylor has also become known for his…
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Franco Battiato: all the records and all the songs
In recent years, audiences in the United States have finally been discovering the Italian artist Franco Battiato. Battiato’s reputation has grown in part due to Superior Viaduct re-releasing four of his classic albums from the early 1970s on vinyl there for the first time. But in Italy, Battiato is a massive star beyond comparison. Aspects…
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Eidolons
Kassel Jaeger, once little more than a mysterious German moniker producing captivating music on our favorite boutique labels, has since been revealed to be François J. Bonnet, composer, philosopher, and now director of Ina-GRM, France’s legendary center for electroacoustic research. No longer shrouded in mystery, his prolific output has lost none of its power. In…
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LISTENING THROUGH MIMAROĞLU
Servet Koçyiğit, Soft Landing (detail), 2020 We sit down with director Serdar Kökçeoğlu in Istanbul to discuss the 2013 Gezi Park protests, how the sounds of the city have inspired his work as a film maker, and how composer İlhan Mimaroglu was inspired by the activism of his wife, Güngör. Kökçeoğlu has recently completed his…
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OUTSIDE THE BOX
I’m very pleased to share this conversation with Bruno Stucchi, graphic designer and co-founder of the Die Schachtel label. Stucchi reflects upon the evolution of the label, the suppressed history of Italian experimental music, and the continued importance of big ideas. Die Schachtel is a partnership between Bruno Stucchi and Fabio Carboni, who…
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Making Yourself Disappear
Alvin Curran has been at the forefront of challenging musical convention for over half a century. His work has pushed back against the institutional stranglehold on culture, encouraging anybody to make music, anywhere and with anybody. A dominant tendency in his oeuvre has been finding new ways to activate spaces and cultivate active listening and…
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Sound Propositions 019: KMRU
Joseph Kamaru aka KMRU is a young artist from Nairobi, Kenya who has cultivated a unique sound utilizing field-recordings as compositional aids. While his bandcamp and soundcloud have been home to prolific self-released work over the last few years, 2020 is sure to raise his profile with three new full-length releases. Much of his self-released…
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Sound Propositions 018: Ahnnu
Leland Jackson has spent the last decade juggling two monikers, but there are many more than two sides to his music. Jackson grew up in Japan, where his father was stationed in the Air Force, before moving back to the States. He hooked up with the Chocolate Milk collective in Richmond, Virginia, later relocating to…
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Interview: Linear Obsessional’s Richard Sanderson on ‘For Syria’
Interview: Linear Obsessional’s Richard Sanderson on ‘For Syria’ Since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War, the Middle East seems to have been unable to regain any sense of stability. Internal conflicts, imposed borders, powerful oligarchs and outside interventions have resulted in a complex web of human suffering with no end…
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Sound Propositions 017: Gonçalo F Cardoso (Gonzo)
Discrepant label boss Gonçalo F Cardoso explores the noise(s) of his homeland Portugal on Ruído(s), his final work under the Gonzo moniker. One part sonic capriccio, one part subjective dream journal, Ruído(s) is a fitting farewell to Gonzo’s roving audio diaries. While Cardoso will still be releasing music under other names, he will use the…
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François J. Bonnet (Kassel Jaeger) on Éliane Radigue, the GRM, and Quebec
Originally published at Cult MTL as “Montreal’s Acousmatic Music Festival is Here.” We spoke to composer Groupe de Recherches Musicales director and performer François J. Bonnet ahead of the 16th annual Akousma. Composer Éliane Radigue studied with musique concrète pioneer Pierre Schaeffer in the 1950s, later becoming assistant to Pierre Henry in the 1960s. They…
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Sound Propositions: The Tapeworm
This year marks the tenth anniversary of The Tapeworm, the London-based cassette-only label founded by Philip Marshall. In the years since, the label has branched out into The Wormhole, an avenue for experiments with non-tape formats, and The Bookworm, their publishing venture. The broader press reaction to the so-called tape revival of the last decade…
Sound Propositions 