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Like Psychotropic Events: The Immersive Multimedia Presentations of Intersystems

The drive to make immersive multimedia experiences seems to be more mainstream than ever in contemporary culture. From 3-D movies to VR headsets, the sensation of completely transforming the setting […]

August 12, 2022

“My Ears Feel Like Caves”: Deeply Listening with Pauline Oliveros

“MY EARS FEEL LIKE CAVES.” “I felt like a witch capturing sounds from a nether realm.” “Everything is watery and the sound of someone’s voice rides into my ears on […]

August 7, 2022

Off The Wall 2: Mickey Murray, Shuggie Otis, Betty Davis, The Apostles

‘Off The Wall’ is a series for the Torn Light blog where I talk about a handful of our specialty, rare, and hard-to-find records, ranging from personal favorites to records […]

July 30, 2022

“Please Allow This Music to Flow Into You”: Daniel Schmidt, Mills College, and the History of American Gamelan

American gamelan composer Daniel Schmidt said of his third album, Cloud Shadows, “Starting at perhaps age four or five, I would sit on the top step of our front porch, just under […]

July 24, 2022

Daniel Johnston, The Artist Walking Alone

The artist walks alone Someone says behind his back “He’s got his gall to call himself that He doesn’t even know where he’s at” The artist walks among the flowers […]

July 17, 2022

Torn Light Archives 7: Sing Out! – The Folk Song Magazine

Complementing last week’s blog on Jean Ritchie well, the Torn Light Archives returns with our most recent acquisition, two 1970s issues of the folk revival era magazine, Sing Out!. The […]

July 10, 2022

Jean Ritchie & The Beauty of Kentucky

A couple years ago, I started to play old-time music casually, at the start playing guitar, while eventually learning mandolin and singing as well. There is little else that feels […]

July 3, 2022

Paying Attention to Library Music

For a while now, I’ve had a fascination with music you’re expected to ignore, i.e. Muzak, easy listening, and stock music. It began when I read this fascinating article from […]

June 26, 2022

In the Improvisational Moment: An Interview with Alex Cunningham

Tomorrow evening, Torn Light Records is thrilled to host a performance by solo violinist, improviser, and visual artist Alex Cunningham from St. Louis. We are big fans of Alex’s work […]

June 16, 2022