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“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

Vivien Goldman and the Immersive Creative Self

Most often, there is an assumed distinction between musicians and critics in the music industry. This distinction is more blurred in certain genres of music where it is more common […]

August 15, 2023

The Present Inside the Past: Hauntology and the Disintegration of Public Memory

When I listen to “Wildlife Analysis,” the opening track of Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children, it resonates within me in a way that transports my mind […]

July 2, 2023

On Musical Interruptions

Note: For this month’s blog, I’m uploading something a little different from our regularly scheduled programming. For awhile now, I’ve wanted to share something more in the essay format, and […]

June 4, 2023

“Growing in the Shade”: Bill Direen, Christchurch, and the Beginnings of Flying Nun Records

It is certainly not possible to discuss the entire history of Flying Nun Records in one blog post. This fact is proven by Audioculture, the New Zealand music website which […]

April 30, 2023

Torn Light Archives 11: ‘Coda’ from 1975-1976

I’m thrilled to return to the Torn Light Archives again, especially when I have material as solid as this to sift through. If you follow Torn Light on social media, […]

April 9, 2023