Anthony Pateras: Sonic Phenomena in Real Time The music of Anthony Pateras covers vast expanses of composition and improvisation, of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, and combinations of these. He is also a virtuosic pianist. Between 2012 and 2019 he created Immediata, an ambitious series of fifteen albums, self-released[...] Read more

Featured Article René van Peer Issue 136

Joseph Shabason’s patient unravelling When we listen to music, are we meant to enter the hearts and minds of those who’ve created it? Or is listening more of an interior experience—of turning inwards and creating space to experience our own feelings? For Joseph Shabason, the answer to both questions is yes.[...] Read more

Sound Bite Brennan McCracken Issue 132

John Wynne FULL TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   A chill-blue image of ocean waves projects across the join of two white walls. At first the image appears still, but then you notice the waves undulating gently. On a table in front of the image, and housed in a small casket with[...] Read more

Featured Article Julian Cowley Issue 116

Hyposurface FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   On a 2004 visit to the MIT Media Lab, I encountered a small, flat wall with a skin of silver luminescent triangles covering a background of cables and metal frame. My host, the creator of Hyposurface, Mark Goulthorpe (dECOi Architects[...] Read more

Visions of sound Paul Steenhuisen Issue 108

Tim Olive’s Flexible Aesthetic It’s a typically humming Saturday night at the Tranzac Club. Different events are in progress in each of the Toronto venue’s three rooms. The Tiki Room (the smallest and most living-room-like of the three) is hosting a special edition of the Audiopollination series, which is[...] Read more

Profile Joe Strutt Issue 135

The Sonic Transmissions of Geronimo Inutiq Winter was ending. You could tell, because the sun had returned. Geronimo Inutiq borrowed his sister’s Ski-Doo and rode it past the Iqaluit city limit. The horizon stretched out in all directions: no trees, no buildings, just sky and ice, illuminated by light. “You feel quite[...] Read more

Featured Article Crystal Chan Issue 129

Eliza Kavtion’s Call and Response In her spellbinding live show, Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist Eliza Kavtion twists threads from documentary films, punk-rock distortion, and hip-hop innovation together with her wailing, virtuosic guitar playing. She and guitar become one: a fury of fuzzy drones, rhythmic sputters, and[...] Read more

Sound Bite Peggy Hogan Issue 137

Havana, Cuba What does a city sound like whose history spans periods of colonial opulence, Mafia casino decadence, and a dying communist revolution? The habanera, the salsa, and reggaeton. Havana’s storied past has produced a musical culture as varied and deep as the sociopolitical eras that it has[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Richard Simas Issue 112

Braids, Grimes, and Doldrums In 1981 in a small town called Dunedin in New Zealand, a trio of young musicians called The Clean, recorded a handful of fuzzy, sloppy pop songs on a four-track Portastudio. For connoisseurs of what is now known as indie-pop, their infectious energy and heartfelt yearning[...] Read more

Featured Article Jonathan Bunce Issue 110

Shannon McKee's "The Copy Room" As I step into the undersized side room of the middle-school office, I want to remove my high heels. I want to kneel on the thin, brown carpet and touch my forehead to the ugly floor. I want to offer up a soft song. Because when I—a teacher’s assistant for twenty-five twelve-year[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Shannon McKee Issue 121

Kaie Kellough Sounds It Out IT’S 2016, YET I FIND MYSELF SPENDING an inordinate amount of time talking about artistic output from the ’70s and ’80s. It was in the latter decade that esteemed Montreal-based sound poet Kaie Kellough’s favourite band, Bad Brains, emerged on the scene with a[...] Read more

Featured Article Dalton Higgins Issue 124