Interviews
When I first heard about composer Katherine Young’s Biomes project – this framework for collaboration through composition and improvisation – and its description as an ecosystem, the joy centers in my brain lit up. I mean, yes, scientifically, a biome is an ecosystem, but Young’s presentation of this as a set of rules for sonic […]
Interviews
I think a lot about the sonic profile of important spaces in my life, and how to create things that share that imprint of a place with others. So many of my memories and relational connections are defined by sound. Roxane Métayer, Katya Shirshkova, and Sara Eelen, through Périodique des Chemins Boueux / Herbes Étincelles, […]
Songs of Our Lives
On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s John Thayer! John’s been on an incredible run as of late, from his solo record, “Winds Gate,” to the collaboration with Ben Seratan, and now, a new album with his partner, Lea Thomas as Miyaxx. We get into all of that before sinking into King Tubby, […]
Songs of Our Lives
This week on Songs of Our Lives, Sarah Davachi returns! I am thrilled to have Sarah back on the show, especially in celebration of her stellar (and monolithic!) new 3LP, “The Will of Tongues.” It’s one of 2026’s most incredible releases. After we talk about it, we get into Bauhaus, Harmonium, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, […]
There are a dizzying number of layers to “Matines,” the opening track from musique actuelle vets Martin Tétreault & Érick d’Orion’s new album, Cisterciennes. Textured repetitions grind through hypnotic, disassembled drones and gliding harmonics. The mix of turntablism and electronics is satisfying. Tétreault & d’Orion create a unique sonic language to twist varying tonal components […]
YAI is the duo of David Lackner and John Thayer. Fourth world dream motifs become immersive sonic universes on Sky Time. Surrealist jazz speculation melts into electronic sound worlds, building ephemeral shrines to the sun and portraits of the ether. This music is lush and expansive, finding inventive ways to wrap itself around us while […]
Abdul Hakim Bilal’s new album, Silene Undulata, expands the songwriter’s scope into new sonic zones. Combining drones and ethereal experimentations with more focused song structures, these seven tracks are an immovable force, a cathartic reflection. Bilal explains, “This album is purely Black music—always on the edge, and always intense to a white audience. This is […]
In this installment of the Capsule Garden, I’m focusing on music from African and Asian artists (while recognizing that some of these are released on US/UK-based labels). I always try to make sure the Capsule Garden isn’t solely focused on music from Western sources, and so it felt like a good time to do an […]
On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Dialect! I can’t stop listening to and thinking about his new album, The Atlas of Green. As I get deeper into it, new layers of its narrative are revealed, and sonically it’s just a delicate, beautiful excursion. So we talk about all of that plus making […]
Tension blooms in relentless, expanding waves on “when air collapsed within.” Sonic expressions move between calm, crystalline drips, and quiet moments to find grounding even as these quiet tones rise toward the sky. Each grain flickers in unique patterns leaving us feeling light as air. But our dear friend, the medic guides our thoughts through […]
After creating his Black Square painting in 1915, Kazimir Malevich couldn’t eat or sleep for a week. Based on a previous iteration for an opera of poet Velimir Khlebnikov, Malevich’s black square represented the year zero: the destruction of all modern values. Paradoxically, the work was also embryonic and opened him to all future possibilities, […]
On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s more eaze! It took us a year, but we finally made this episode happen and the wait was well worth it. We could have chatted for hours about both of her new records – —__–____ ‘s “Night of Fire” and the solo splendor of “lacuna & […]
Track Premiere: Black Rain “Tokyo Night City” With William Gibson’s Neuromancer celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Room 40 is releasing the first proper edition of Black Rain’s soundtrack for the audiobook version from 30 years ago. These recordings are legendary in certain circles but have remained largely unavailable until now. The duo captures the […]
Interviews
When I first heard about composer Katherine Young’s Biomes project – this framework for collaboration through composition and improvisation – and its description as an ecosystem, the joy centers in my brain lit up. I mean, yes, scientifically, a biome is an ecosystem, but Young’s presentation of this as a set of rules for sonic […]
Interviews
I think a lot about the sonic profile of important spaces in my life, and how to create things that share that imprint of a place with others. So many of my memories and relational connections are defined by sound. Roxane Métayer, Katya Shirshkova, and Sara Eelen, through Périodique des Chemins Boueux / Herbes Étincelles, […]
Interviews
Julio Lopez folds time and distance in on itself with Cloud Unknowing, their new album and booklet. These songs flow with a gentleness, always creating a soft landing, even as Lopez explores deep crevices and sharp edges in this music. This album is a vulnerable articulation of something buried in muscle and soil, and their […]
Interviews
Beautiful, often elegiac soundworlds bloom in morning sunlight, tones flickering in the distance like a dancing mirage. Voices are more than words. Time is a collaborator. Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go is a breathtaking achievement from Michael Cloud Duguay and his crew. For music that holds so much weight in its flowing chord progressions and stoic […]
Interviews
Tesoros, the new album from Argentine composer Lumtz, began life as something else. Las cosas que llevo en mi mochila (“things carried in a backpack”) grew and shifted, as the stream near Bariloche where parts of the album were made does through the seasons. Reflecting on this, Lumtz crafts a journal of small, vulnerable moments […]
