Torn Light Records › Blog

“That Magical Empathy”: Atrás del Cosmos and Free Improvisation in Mexico

In Tamar Barzel’s chapter for Experimentalisms in Practice: Music Perspectives from Latin America on Atrás del Cosmos, a group often considered the first free jazz ensemble in Mexico, she aptly […]

April 9, 2024

The Lo-Fi Spirit of Linda Smith

A couple weeks ago, I deeply enjoyed reading the profile Claire Biddles wrote in the March issue of The Wire about Linda Smith, the beloved nineties home recording songstress. While […]

March 28, 2024

The Lone Composer and Technology as Collaborator

For this blog, I set out to write a little profile on Osmo Lindeman, the Finnish electronic composer who was at the forefront of digital electronic music in the late […]

March 4, 2024

The Art Ensemble of Chicago — Columbus, OH, February 3, 2024

On Saturday night, I was able to go to a concert I hadn’t thought I’d ever get to hear. The long-running, immensely influential Art Ensemble of Chicago performed at the […]

February 10, 2024

“The Acoustic Synthesizer”: The Organ in Current Experimental Music

As I was perusing some of the notable experimental releases of last year, along with looking ahead to 2024, a little trend jumped out at me. Releases by Sarah Davachi, […]

January 23, 2024

“The Evergreen Dilemma of the Empty Page”: Isaac Karns’ Infinite Directions

In 2023, Cincinnati-based musician and recording engineer Isaac Karns released Infinite Directions, a set of cards to “stimulate your creative process.” Featured on the cover of Tape Op magazine and […]

January 5, 2024

Experimental Folkways: Preserving and Innovating the World of Sound

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about Folkways’ experimental records. First, my interest was piqued with their recent release of Matmos’ Return to Archive on the label, which features the […]

December 21, 2023

“A Jewel of an Instrument”: The Folk Minimalism of Dorothy Carter’s “Trapezoids”

About a year ago, I wrote here about the German composer Robert Rutman, most known for his steel cello, a handcrafted instrument that he deemed an “American Industrial folk instrument.” […]

December 1, 2023

Documenting a Third Place: The Continuing Relevance of Ernest Hood

About a month ago, I selected Ernest Hood’s Back to the Woodlands, an archival release from last year, as my weekly staff pick. I found myself lulled by its gentle […]

October 2, 2023