sound propositions
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REVERSE POLARITY
Negativland has always been about media literacy; their sound collages and pranks are not only humorous but reveal something about how media function. But in recent years, as the world has changed around them, their relationship to this aspect of their practice has had to evolve. What was subversive in the 80s is mostly met…
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QUANTUM BLUES
France Jobin has been exploring quantum theory for many years now, an interest that has shown up in her compositions, sound installations, and work with VR. But the pandemic finally afforded the Montreal-based minimalist composer time for deeper study with a personal brain trust of physicists she’d assembled over the years. Jobin recently released Infinite…
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DIS/EMBODIED
Having first captured our attention with Monolithic Nuance (2018) for Longform Editions, Megan Mitchell’s Cruel Diagonals has continued to impress with each new work. With Fractured Whole, she set herself the task of producing an album using nothing but her voice as raw material. While she deserves recognition as a gifted vocalist, she deserves at least as much praise for her…
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FREE TIME
Andrea Belfi discusses his latest album, Eternally Frozen, a canon-based composition for percussion, electronics, and brass ensemble. Inspired by a visit to LA’s Museum of Jurassic Technology, Belfi draws upon the story of Deprong Mori, a mythological bat that could use its powers of echolocation to phase through solid matter, before being captured by an American researcher,…
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LANE DISCIPLINE
Kranky co-founder Bruce Adams sits down to discuss his new book, You’re With Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music. (UTPress) Adams explains the unique conditions that put Chicago at the heart of the ‘90s indie rock scene, the emergence of the kranky aesthetic, and sings the praises of Labradford. Adams’ book is full of personal memories and reflections, including…
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SHUT UP AND LISTEN!
The second half of season 3 of the podcast is on the way, but this summer has been keeping me busy on all fronts. Coming up will be episodes with kranky, Jessica Moss, Archivio Diafonico, and a special episode celebrating 10 years of A CLOSER LISTEN. Until then, I thought it was past time to…
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FOOD + MUSIC [MF DOOM TRIBUTE]
RIP Daniel Dumile(July 13, 1971 – October 31, 2020) GENG PTP aka King Vision Ultra memorializes the legacy of the late MF DOOM, who died on Halloween day 2020. GENG shares some memories about NYC hip hop in the 90s, muses on the similarities between KMD and De La, and praises the enduring influence of…
![FOOD + MUSIC [MF DOOM TRIBUTE]](https://soundpropositions.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/mf-doom-operation.jpeg?w=300)
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FREEDOM TO DESTROY
Esther Bourdages is an art critic, radio journalist, independent curator, and musician based in Montréal. She is an improviser of extraordinary sensitivity, bringing a playfulness to her tactile manipulation of vinyl records, sometimes outright mishandling them. This freedom to destroy is indicative of a resistance to structure and formalism, but Esther’s work can’t be easily…
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PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY
DeForrest Brown, Jr. is a media-theorist, curator, and self-described rhythmanalyst. He releases digital audio as Speaker Music and under his own name. While he’s been based in NYC for the better part of the last decade, he was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, which also happens to be where Sun Ra first landed on…
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UNFOLLOW ME
Max Alper is best known for La Meme Young, his popular Instagram account turning niche experimental music jokes into dank memes. But a deep interest in music pedagogy is at the heart of everything Alper does, including his non-profit Sonic Arts For All!, an organization that puts music technology directly into the hands of K-12…
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INTO THE UNCANNY VALLEY
This episode features a wide-ranging conversation with Montreal’s Roger Tellier-Craig, known for his work with Fly Pan Am, Godspeed, Le Révélateur and others. In 2019, Fly Pan Am released C’est ça, their first record in 15 years, but their 2020 tour plans were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tellier-Craig discusses his fascination with music as…
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BEFORE THE INTERNET
It’s been a tough year for New York. This episode we check in with Geng, the man behind one of our favorite labels, Purple Tape Pedigree, and see how these fine “purveyors of weaponized media and information” are handling the pandemic and the uprisings. With live performance no longer an option, the model of mutual…
Sound Propositions 