On this week’s Sonosphere show on WYXR 91.7 FM, Optic Sink joined me for a live DJ set! You’ll hear lots of dance tunes and a couple tracks from Optic Sink’s latest album, Glass Box out now. Check it out! The band is on tour in Oct. don’t miss them in your town!
electronic music
Pow Wow: Joe Rainey Goes Solo
Joe Rainey is a Pow Wow singer. He is not used to singing solo, because pow wow is inherently communal, but this debut is every bit as powerful. The album is Niineta, released on Justin Vernon and the Dessner brothers’ 37d03d label, showcases his command of the style – faithful to tradition – accompanied by cinematic, bass-heavy production from Andrew Broder.
Join Sonosphere as we dive into the sounds of contemporary pow wow fused with vast experimental and electronic oceans of sound. Joe Rainey lent his voice and experience to this episode and I think him for sharing his story through his learning of, preservation of and lifting up of pow wow and indigenous music. Friday, May 26, 2023, Joe will perform at Crosstown Arts in the Green Room.
“The record is an unusual proposition: A rare fusion of pow wow—an Indigenous culture of music and dance—and experimental electronic production that pairs Rainey’s singing with Broder’s synths and wildly abstract beats. Holding it all together are sampled live recordings of pow wow singing and drumming stretching back decades, many of them made by Rainey himself.” – Pitchfork
Check out his archive on Soundcloud and YouTube.
Underscore: Christian Fennesz
Today on Sonosphere Amy talks with Christian Fennesz, electronic music composer and musician. Amy caught up with Fennesz at the annual Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. As the first in-person fest in two years, Big Ears was bigger than ever. Acts from all over the nation and the world descended upon the smokey mountain city and brought amazing sounds, visuals, and excellence in musical composition. Always a Sonosphere favorite!
Join Chris and Amy live from WYXR studio in Memphis for some tunes by Fennesz and collaborators like Sparklehorse, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ulver, and more! Christian Fennesz left for his U.S. tour after Big Ears. For more information on Fennesz please visit his website.
Track List:
- Fennesz/Ulver – Only the Poor Have to Travel
- King Midas Sound/Fennesz – On my Mind
- Fennesz/David Sylvian – Transit
- Glenn Gould Gathering
- Sparklehorse, PJ Harvey – Piano Fire
- Sparklehorse/Fennesz – Goodnight Sweetheart
- Fennesz/Ryuichi Sakamoto – Haru
- Tim Hecker – Celestina
- Jim O’Rourke/Sonic Youth – Hungara Vivo
- Oneohtrix Point Never – Auto & Allo
- Jensen Sportag – Rain Code (Fennesz Remix)
Detective No. 1
Ready to score.
Today we talk with Detective – a collective of musicians, singers, songwriters and friends. In 2019 they released an album showcasing the range of their skills – from Blaxploitation to eerie sci-fi synths, this group really does it all!
We discuss Detective’s influences, favorite movies and technique’s they used to arrange the album. We also talk with Josh Breeden, aka St. Francis Elevator Ride, the “visual maestro” of the group. Josh brings video and digital art and design, driving the whole band’s film noir and horror aesthetic.
Come out to Black Lodge on Friday, March 18th for the entire experience!
Underscore: Arooj Aftab
Sheltering in Place with Analog Tara and Carolina Eyck
Welcome to Sonosphere. On this special episode we catch up with a couple artists we’ve featured on our podcast to see how they’ve been faring in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we hear from producer and electronic composer Tara Rodgers, aka Analog Tara. Tara performed here in Memphis for our Sound Observation series a couple years ago in partnership with Crossotown Arts. Then we’ll hear from theremin master, musician and composer Carolina Eyck. Carolina Eyck is working on a project in Berlin and Tara catches up on some of her live stream shows, new music coming soon and what she’s been reading in this time of social distancing. I hope you have been safe and well. And if you’d like to share some stories or music with us email us at sonospherepodcast@gmail.com
sonosphere · Shelter in Place with Analog Tara and Carolina Eyck
The music you hear from Tara Rodgers is her Fundamentals album that can be found here and Carolina Eyck’s music is from her album Elegies for Theremin and Voice and can be found here.
Our past episode featuring playlist by analogtara is here and the interview with Carolina can be found here.
Thanks for listening.
Drones: A Brief History of Sustained Tones in Music
In this month’s episode of Sonosphere, we focus on the use of drone sounds in music. There is a lot to cover with Drone music, often known as a part of the genre of Minimalism and modern ambient.
Sonosphere caught up with Joanna Demers, author of Listening Through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music, Drone and Apocalypse, and others.
We will focus on the drone itself, what is drone music, and the common drone instruments as a continuation of the Birth of Modern Music series on avant-garde, classical music and minimalism.
This episode begins with the evolution of the drone sound as a musical style and aesthetic used in many parts of the world. Join us!
Kai Riedl: Moogfest Continued…
“….the synthesis of music, art and technology.”
Moogfest continued… brings you a brief interview with Kai Riedl, Operations Director at Moogfest. He says this festival seeks to bring new forms of creativity, form communities around art and technology, and create spaces for artists of all inclinations, genres, subcultures and movements.
Although it seems timely to showcase female and non-binary artists this year, according to Kai, Moogfest has had a history of being an inclusive festival.
Check out the interview below!
Tracks in the episode:
Smerz – Worth It
Caterina Barbieri – Information Needed to Create
Mouse on Mars – Dimensional People I
Jon Hopkins – Singularity
Michael Stipe – Everything’s Coming Undone
And don’t miss the past episodes we posted on this year’s Moogfest participants Tess Roby and Delta Sound Labs.
Vorticity: Delta Sound Labs at MoogFest
Sonosphere ventured out to North Carolina for MoogFest this year and we caught up with Memphis-based Delta Sound Labs.
Their audiovisual installation called Vorticity was a collaboration between Delta Sound Labs + Nokia Bell Labs at American Underground in Durham, NC. This interactive, data-art set brought science and art together. Of the free programming, this fun, collaborative piece showcased what Delta Sound Labs can create with innovative, high-speed Schlieren imaging equipment and two sonified datasets. Colorful bubbles sliding around the screen were generated and distorted with every new person walking through the scene.
“The sets are converted to analog control voltage using Delta Sound Labs’ Control module and then mapped to determine the timbral structure of two voltage controlled oscillators through a form of distortion synthesis called wavefolding. Each data set forms two short sections, which are repeated continuously,” as explained by the guys themselves. Check out their Moogfest experience on their blog.
video from deltasoundlabs.com
For more on our trip to MoogFest – check out our podcast interview with Tess Roby!
Tess Roby at Moog Fest 2018
Hi guys, this month we highlight our conversation with Tess Roby from our Moog Fest visit back in May this year. She recently released her debut album Beacon on Italians Do It Better.
Hailing from Montreal, Tess Roby brings dreamy synths and strong vocals on melodic tracks like “Given Signs” and “Catalyst.” She talks to us about her inspiration for Beacon, how her photography inspires songwriting and how growing up in a musical family lead her to collaborating with her brother on her debut.
Enjoy!
Sonosphere 