Ethan Helm's Geography of Loops
Inspired by the geological scale of Japan and the productive accidents of a standard looping pedal, Ethan Helm's 'Dreamscapes' extends a jazz improviser's instincts into the territory of self-reliance.
Ambient
A collection of some of the ambient music artists and releases featured on The Tonearm.
The Minimalist Gospel of Ben Seretan and John Thayer
On 'Sunbeam Of No Illusion', Ben Seretan and John Thayer find melody where ambient music usually forgets to look, treating amplified mistakes, grass-bundle drumsticks, and borrowed sustain as the raw material of a minimalist document of place.
Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore — "Come Join Us Here in the Future"
Barwick and Lattimore discuss 'Tragic Magic', a debut collaboration recorded on vintage instruments from the Musée de la Musique, the guilt and gratitude of leaving a burning city for Paris, and a shared dream of one day playing in James Turrell's Roden Crater.
The Intimate Machinery of David August's 'Hymns'
The German-Italian producer David August returns to the piano he has known since childhood on 'Hymns,' nine devotional improvisations treated with prepared strings and recorded to preserve every creak and breath of a century-old instrument.
In Dialogue with the Forest — Isabel Pine's 'Fables'
The classically trained string player recorded her new album across 15 wilderness locations in British Columbia, embracing imperfection, improvisation, and the unpredictable feedback of the natural world.
Insert Meaning Here — Bette A. and Brian Eno's 'Slow Stories'
Author and visual artist Bette A. discusses her 'Slow Stories' collaboration with Brian Eno, the pared-down storytelling she traces to Dutch culture, and her growing uncertainty about whether her progressive activism still fits the world she finds herself in.
Think Less, Do More — Aukai's Wager on Intuition
Markus Sieber's 'Chambers' came together across three days at Berlin's Funkhaus with no revisions permitted and no instrument off-limits, built entirely on the conviction that intuition knows more than planning does.
Wildflowers and Waveforms — Loula Yorke's Electric Commons
From squat parties to a cottage on a wildflower common, Loula Yorke has built a practice around beauty, ecological dread, and the feminist history that 'Hydrology' quietly carries forward.
All Inputs as Collaborators — Stephen Vitiello and the Art of Hearing
The veteran sound artist discusses 'Trinity,' his trio-format album with Lawrence English, and why every input in his practice—a space, a field recording, a late friend's unreleased tape—warrants the same respect as a living collaborator.
Between the Microphone and the Mind — The Surprising Work of Lawrence English
Lawrence English reflects on the impossible trios of 'Trinity,' acid nostalgia as a weapon against possible futures, and how the tension between the microphone and the psychological ear shapes his field recording practice.
The Cold Comfort of Louis Gardner's Solo Piano
The London pianist's 'Emotionally Suited To Be A Solo Pianist' began as a three-hour improvisation that captured winter's quieter truths about distance, solitude, and the strange calm that arrives when the world slows down.
Don't Fear the Reverb — A Conversation with Kramer
From producing Galaxie 500 and Low to his new ambient masterwork '...and the crimson moon whispers goodbye,' the musician and Shimmy-Disc founder reflects on spontaneous composition, the spiritual dimensions of reverb, and finally achieving his personal 'Rothko Chapel.'