Danalogue Leaves Gravity Behind
Best known for his work in The Comet Is Coming and Soccer96, Danalogue steps out on his own with 'Teleportations,' a record built on vintage synthesizers that turns grief and upheaval into a voyage through deep space.
Speaking the Word of the Buchla — Suzanne Ciani's Orchestral Wave
On the occasion of CIANI/ORKEST, Suzanne Ciani discusses handing her solitary Buchla music to a 50-piece orchestra, the ocean and the wave beneath her compositions, and the young players bringing analog modular synthesis back.
Steven Bernstein, No Permission Required
The New York trumpeter, composer, and bandleader behind Sexmob and the Millennial Territory Orchestra returns with a pair of linked albums, 'ResoNation Trio' and 'Ultra Resonance,' and talks trumpet trios, dub reinvention, Levon Helm's Rambles, and the downtown scene that formed him.
Inside Alden Hellmuth's Tethered Galaxy
Saxophonist and composer Alden Hellmuth discusses growing up in Hartford's Jackie McLean tradition, her mentorship under Herbie Hancock, and the double-bass lineup behind her new album, 'Tether.'
Dave Douglas — The Sacred and the Unfinished
On 'Transcend,' his second record with the GIFTS quintet, Dave Douglas reflects on Ellington's Sacred Concerts, the slab paintings of Jack Whitten, and the moment Booker Little broke the dam for a generation of trumpeter-composers.
Civil Service, Protest Songs, and the Private World of Ora Cogan
On the heels of her Sacred Bones debut 'Hard Hearted Woman,' Ora Cogan reflects on the Fairy Creek blockades, somatic practice, the whitewashing of folk music, and what it means to write a trans rights song that doesn't scream.
From Dub to Dust — Billy Polo's Life Inside the VP Records Vault
Inside the VP Records vault, restoration engineer Billy Polo is in a race against the physical lifespan of tape — and the even shorter lifespan of the people who know what to do with it.
Beauty Out of Misery — Stephen Emmer's 'Asymmetrical Dot'
On 'Asymmetrical Dot,' Stephen Emmer turns grief and new birth into a multigenerational meditation, drawing on the Indonesian folk traditions his mother carried from Ambon to Amsterdam and the hushed compositional vocabulary that hearing loss made necessary.
Never Leave Time Unfulfilled — George Grella on 'Minimalist Music'
In 'Minimalist Music,' author and critic George Grella reframes minimalism's defining quality not as style or technique but as a specific, audible practice of composing with time — then turns to ask what becomes of that practice when those who invented it are gone.
Molecules Lining Up — Meredith Bates's 'The Observer Effect'
'The Observer Effect' finds violinist Meredith Bates recasting quantum mechanics, feminist intuition, and acoustic ecology as one long, uninterrupted act of listening.
Starting at Square Twenty-Seven — Nick Fraser's 'Areas'
On 'Areas,' his trio's third album, Nick Fraser brings Messiaen-inflected harmony, electroacoustic interludes shaped by John Kameel Farah, and a compositional vocabulary deepened by eleven years of playing with saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis.
The Sound of Not Listening — Maria Schneider's 'American Crow'
Schneider discusses 'American Crow,' the Rolf Schock Prize, her collaboration with David Bowie, and her conviction that the jazz ensemble's practice of listening without a fixed agenda remains democracy's most accurate blueprint.