Sacred Music, Secular Spaces — The Spiritual Jazz of Rico Jones
The saxophonist's debut album 'BloodLines' draws from Indigenous, Hispanic, and African American traditions to create a suite that follows the arc of a hero's journey.
Listen to the Flower People
Action packed! This week we're shaking with the Shakers, searching high and low for that flow, enacting improvisational anarchy, and simplifying the modular. Plus: spicy recommendations and attitude.
Modular for Everyone — Aqeel Aadam's Plugin Democracy
The Philadelphia-based synthesist and software engineer specializes in distilling thousand-dollar Eurorack workflows into affordable plugins. His latest creation, Waymaker, democratizes the expensive world of modular synthesis for bedroom producers everywhere.
A Tradition of Aesthetic Hijacking
This week: engaging the détournement machine, the glory days of space art, and famous ALL CAPS rants of history. Plus, lots of clickable links, many wild recommendations, and the unveiling of a simple plan.
Rez Abbasi's Acoustic Meditation on Loss and Impermanence
Three decades into his career, Abbasi returns to acoustic guitar for 'Sound Remains,' processing personal loss while questioning what it means to let go in both music and life.
Haunting Broadcasts of Mechanical Voices
This week: audio detritus from the Cold War, the nonsense of poetry (and vice versa), and Slovakian gangster music—along with splatterings of links and recommendations.
Kicking Down Fascist Art With OMD's Andy McCluskey
The Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark frontman discusses why Kraftwerk matter more than the Beatles, how political resistance sparked 'Bauhaus Staircase,' and why his band refuses to make "shit records."
The Essence Remains Intact
This week: making big things happen in mid-town USA, letting the universe take care of you, the ritual of dissonance, and righteous acts of rebellious loving. Here, the essence is hardly rare.
A Tale of Two Cities — Isaac Sherman's Handcrafted Electronics
Isaac Sherman's debut 'A Pasture, Its Limits' spans years and cities, built from hardware synthesizers, gibberish vocals, and a belief that "the humanness comes through music when you strip away all the glitz."
Sean Imboden Finds Community Beyond the Big Band
The saxophonist and composer left Broadway's steady income to lead a seventeen-piece ensemble in Indianapolis. His latest album, 'Communal Heart,' proves that creative independence can flourish outside traditional industry expectations.
The Zone Between Ignorance and Mastery
This week's meanderings include questions about artificial expression, embracing the things that suck, when packet loss is a gain, and Liverpudlians who love their football. Half email, half newsletter.
James Holden and Wacław Zimpel Surrender to the Sound
The British music producer and Polish clarinet virtuoso built 'The Universe Will Take Care of You' in four spontaneous London studio days, capturing the act of playing without thinking.