What a Wonderful World (sic)
In this issue of Talk Of The Tonearm, we dance among hotel room provocations, merch table conversations, Princely psychedelia, and crops that need tending. Plus: clickable links galore.
Larry Tye on the Three Jazz Icons Who Wrote America's Civil Rights Soundtrack
In his latest book, 'The Jazzmen,' Tye examines how Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie fought racial injustice offstage, using their fame to push America toward a more equitable future.
Do What Thou Wilt … Except for Stage Diving
This one's packed to the gills, thanks to noises in Miami, Kokopelli's phallus, cosmic prodding, and the death of the guitar. Plus: an extra-heaping dose of savvy recommendations.
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."