Paul Walde Subverts Nature as Culture The column of light is beamed directly into the sky. As if intended to summon some celestial visitor, the beam of photons is emitted from a circle of glowing discs, placed in the most unassuming place imaginable—a farmer’s field (don’t ET’s always land there?). This,[...] Read more

Featured Article Jonathan Bunce Issue 109

James Goddard Makes Brave New Spaces “Recorded music these days is like an inversion of the old-time medicine show—you know, those people who would go from town to town and put on this big carnival performance to sell their medicine. Now that ticket sales have become the main income generator for musicians,[...] Read more

Sound Notes Peggy Hogan Issue 139

Jessica Moss Explores the Orchestra Within If there is a through line connecting traditional Eastern European klezmer, indie rock, and experimental drone music, it can be found in the work of Jessica Moss. Whether her music is acoustic or electronic, post-rock or post-classical, a stark and dramatic amplified violin performance or a[...] Read more

Featured Article Mary Dickie Issue 143

Eighty-five scores celebrate Pauline Oliveros Still Listening: New Works in Honour of Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) is a project initially conceived to mark Oliveros’ eighty-fifth birthday on May 30, 2017. Eighty-five artists were invited to create eighty-five new compositions, each with a duration of eighty-five seconds. Organized by[...] Read more

In the Works Lawrence Joseph Issue 127

Listening as Territory “I grew up in a tiny village in the North Yorkshire Moors,” explains British sound artist Mark Peter Wright. “I was always outdoors, and I collected anything and everything: stones, feathers, empty shotgun cartridges.” Now in his early thirties and based in London,[...] Read more

Sound Bite Julian Cowley Issue 114

Inside The National Music Centre The Original New Timbral Orchestra, known simply as TONTO, has been called “a synthesizer the size of Nebraska.” The appearance of this electronic monolith makes an immediate impression. Housed in a twenty-foot semicircle of six-foot-tall wooden cabinets with knobs, keyboards,[...] Read more

Featured Article Jesse Locke Issue 128

A message from the Musicworks Board of Directors The Board of Directors of Musicworks acknowledges that the new and experimental music scenes covered in the magazine are built on a foundation of systemic racism, and that through our content we have facilitated and upheld that system. Musicworks is a long-standing publication dedicated to[...] Read more

Sound Notes The Musicworks Board of Directors Issue 137

The Avian is the Message Songbirds have a secret language. This is something I did not fully appreciate until recently, when I became immersed in their world. What may be music to our ears is bird-speak—a mating call, an aural fence, or simple prattle to stay in touch. There are people who can understand bird[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Su Rynard Issue 122

Ayelet Rose Gottlieb's Open-Heart Tunings There’s a faint but persistent ringing coming from the southwest corner of Ayelet Rose Gottlieb’s Vancouver apartment. We discover one of her young twins picking purposefully at the keys of a brightly coloured toy piano. The other twin comes over, attracted by this large stranger[...] Read more

Sound Notes Alexander Varty Issue 124

Silent Season: Intrinsically Connected to Nature While living in Union Bay in 2007, Jamie McCue spent his downtime hiking, camping, and fishing in Vancouver Island’s abundant forests and rivers. Deeply moved by the symphonic rhythms of wildlife, blowing winds, and flowing water, he imagined meditative soundtracks that complemented his[...] Read more

Sound Notes Leslie Ken Chu Issue 139