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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

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