The Swedish Sound-Art Scene Nadine Byrne Monochrome images of two young women—evidently sisters—stare out impassively from oval apertures that resemble Victorian cameo brooches. A gauzy ectoplasmic fabric oozes from their mouths while, in an aperture between them, their faces merge in a dreamlike blur[...] Read more

Featured Article Julian Cowley Issue 108

The Ever-Evolving Sounds of Thanya Iyer The music of Thanya Iyer (the name of the musician–composer as well as of her band) is impossible to define—both for her fans and for herself. “I can’t really place the genre of the music that we’re trying to do,” acknowledges Iyer from her home in[...] Read more

In the Works Chaka V. Grier Issue 132

First-place Winner, Musicworks 2017 Sonic Geography Writing Contest Childhood has no single place,  no secret garden, no single carousel to ride on, nor tree branch to fall from: just hours, that slip away, so similar to music,  which has no place either, just passing time it tries to keep up with[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Ina Čiumakova Issue 130

Binatone Galaxy Binatone Galaxy is an installation for used cassette players that looks on their obsolescence not as an ending, but as an opportunity to reconsider their functional potential. Superseded by digital audio players as recording and playback devices, cassette players become, in this work,[...] Read more

Visions of sound Stephen Cornford Issue 112

Jessica McMann Brings the Music Home While some creative people have been struggling to fill their time over the course of the pandemic, Cree dancer and musician Jessica McMann, who is a member of Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan—has been busy. But with powwows and in-person contemporary dance performances on pause[...] Read more

Sound Bite Elizabeth Chorney-Booth Issue 141

Derek Charke Derek Charke is irresistibly attracted to the North. In 2006 he found himself in the Yukon, dogsledding with the Kronos Quartet. For a composer with a love of the Arctic it doesn’t get better, or more surreal, than this. A few days earlier he had been in a Whitehorse hotel room where[...] Read more

Featured Article WL Altman Issue 113

The Creative Constructions of George Lewis “THIS PIECE HAS A NEW NAME,” ANNOUNCED GEORGE LEWIS, composer, trombonist, writer, and professor, speaking from the stage of the Community Church of New York. “I realized as I got into it that the old name—the name you have in your programs—doesn’t[...] Read more

Featured Article Kurt Gottschalk Issue 124

Aaron Oppenheim’s October 12, 2014 (excerpt) October 12, 2014 (excerpt) is a recording of a live performance held in New York City on October 12, 2014 as part of ABC No Rio’s COMA Series, which presents experimental and improvised music. “This piece uses samples of voice for all of its material, manipulated in real time[...] Read more

Sound Bite

Charlie Morrow, Sonic Nomad  “My work is what it is and I move in many worlds. I would have nothing except for being carried on the shoulders of friendship and shared interest.”   Intrepid sonic investigator Charlie Morrow’s early-’90s Lower East Side event, Urban[...] Read more

Featured Article Bart Plantenga Issue 134

First-place winner, Musicworks’ 2017 Electronic Music Composition contest The glitchy, vaguely dystopian composition constructed from manipulated vocals is almost widespread enough now to warrant its own genre tag. Laurie Anderson is, of course, its foremother. Recent interesting entries include Holly Herndon’s Platform, Katie Gately’s Pipes, and Giant[...] Read more

Sound Bite Daniel Glassman Issue 130