The Sound Propositions podcast has a unique format. Rather than two people chatting in front of the mic, each episode is an audio-documentary, blending music, field recordings, and sound design with the voice of each  subject. Sound Propositions features conversations with artists exploring their creative practices and individual aesthetics, conceived of as a counter-narrative to a dominant trend in music journalism which fetishizes equipment and new technologies. This series tries to take the emphasis away from the ‘what’ and shine light on the ‘how’ and ‘why.’ 

You can also find Sound Propositions wherever you listen to podcasts: Radio Public, Stitcher, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor, or any podcast feed that uses RSS.

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/soundpropositions

Sound Propositions [podcast]

This episode features a wide-ranging conversation with Montreal’s Roger Tellier-Craig, known for his work with Fly Pan Am, Godspeed, Le Révélateur and others. In 2019, Fly Pan Am released C'est ça, their first record in 15 years, but their 2020 tour plans were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tellier-Craig discusses his fascination with music as a studio art, the unexpected creative opportunities presented by quarantine, and the hyperreality of our present in which our fragile sense of reality seems poised to collapse at any moment.

Interview recorded in Montreal, May 2020
Produced and mixed in Montreal, March 2021

Read more at: https://acloserlisten.com/2021/03/14/sp-episode-18-into-the-uncanny-valley-with-roger-tellier-craig-podcast/

"la réalité qui bascule dans le néant"

----
Sound Propositions is written, recorded, mixed, and produced by Joseph Sannicandro.

SP* Episode 18: INTO THE UNCANNY VALLEY - with Roger Tellier-Craig [podcast]

Sound Propositions the podcast has the same mission statement as the written Sound Propositions features: to share in depth discussions with artists whose work we love, to delve into the details of their creative practice.

The inaugural episode of our new podcast, Sound Propositions, features interviews (with Resina and Lea Bertucci) and field-recordings recorded during the 2018 UNSOUND festival in Krakow, Poland. (You can read my review of the festival here.) The theme of this year's festival was "Presence," and so that became the point of departure for my interviews, particularly the ways in which absences can also be felt as a "presence."

Special thanks to Resina, Lea Bertucci, Ryan Diduck, Corey Bracken, and the entire Unsound team.

Read more, including a tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 1: (PRESENCE, or ) A METAPHYSICS OF ABSENCE – with Resina & Lea Bertucci [podcast]

Sound Propositions the podcast has the same mission statement as the written Sound Propositions features: to share in depth discussions with artists whose work we love, to delve into the details of their creative practice.

This episode features saxophonist and composer Phillip Johnston, known for his work with genre-bending jazz ensemble The Microscopic Septet, the Beefheart tribute Fast 'N Bulbous, and as the composer of silent film scores. Johnston moved to Australia over a decade ago, but NYC still feels like his home turf. We were both back in town last November for Thanksgiving, and we met to discuss memory, music, media, the history of silent film, and his long-association with the various music scenes of NYC.

Special thanks to Phillip, Joyce, Steve, and Smalls.

Read more, including a tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 2:  DANCING ON THE HYPHEN - with Phillip Johnston [podcast]

Sound Propositions the podcast has the same mission statement as the written Sound Propositions features: to share in depth discussions with artists whose work we love, to delve into the details of their creative practice.

This episode features Efraín Rozas, Peruvian-born, Brooklyn-based performer/composer and robotics/software developer interested in new paradigms of cognitive technologies and mythologies. He leads the psychedelic salsa group La Mecánica Popular, fusing groove-based Latin music with electronic and experimental explorations. Rozas' Myth and Prosthesis series utilizes software programming and robotics to produce sound installations and music, utilizing Latin American influences and modern technology to uproot Western concepts and mind/body duality. 

We discuss all these projects and more, including the role of NYC in the history of Salsa, and the future of electronic Latinx music to come. 

Read more, including a tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 3: ROBOT, TEACH US TO GROOVE - with Efraín Rozas [podcast]

Sound Propositions the podcast has the same mission statement as the written Sound Propositions features: to share in depth discussions with artists whose work we love, to delve into the details of their creative practice.

This episode features John Daniel, a Chicago-based musician best known for his ambient solo project, Forest Management.  I caught up with him from his childhood home in Cleveland over the holidays.  We discuss his latest LP Passageways (inspired by his childhood home), his influences, how his approach to music has changed, his new imprint Afterhours, and the importance of place, space, and community.

Read more, including a tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 4: GOING HOME AGAIN - with Forest Management [podcast]

Sound Propositions the podcast has the same mission statement as the written Sound Propositions features: to share in depth discussions with artists whose work we love, to delve into the details of their creative practice. Headphone listening recommended.

This episode features Joe McKay, profiling his label Dinzu Artefacts. We talk about his previous label, Spring Break Tapes!, his own artistic practice (as Monte Burrows), the importance of listening to the quotidian, and the persistence of physical media in an increasingly digitally mediated world.

Read more, including a tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

Cover image: still from Bill Fontana's "Arche Sonore" (1994)

SP* Episode 5: B SIDES - with Dinzu Artefacts [podcast]

This episode features a wide-ranging discussion with Mimmo Napolitano, one of the organizers behind the concert series La Digestion in Napoli. As a musician, he produces challenging and dynamic sounds inspired by musique concrète and noise. Utilizing the Revox B77 reel-to-reel tape player together with no-input feedback and other sounds, SEC_ has cultivated a very singular approach to live performance. This episode brings together his work with music from just a few of the many exciting artists who Mimmo has helped to bring to Napoli over the last decade. Mixed in are live recordings made during Musica Sanae in Napoli, as well as field-recordings recorded around the city earlier in the year (mostly as a part of my [Useless Sounds] series). Headphone listening recommended.

Read more, including tracklist at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 6: MUSIC SELDOM HEARD - with SEC_ [podcast]

This episode features a deep conversation with Toni Cutrone (best known as Mai Mai Mai) delving into all the various facets of his career. On the occasion of the release of his latest LP, Nel Sud, we met to discuss his southern Italian and Mediterranean roots, the rediscovery of Italian music from the 70s, and the difficulties (and joys) of running clubs and a cultural association in Italy's capital. Cutrone draws an implicit link between the same eclecticism that is on display in the Roma Est neighborhood he calls home with the ancient links of circulation which unite diverse Mediterranean identities.  

Nel Sud departs from where his Mediterranean Trilogy left off, exploring "the interrelation between pagan rituals and Catholicism, lives shaped by arduous labour and working-class dignity, the fragility of man subdued by nature, divinity and magic." It stands as his most ambitious, and best, album yet and shouldn't be missed. Amidst rising nationalism and right-wing populism, a work such as this all the more necessary: rather than solidifying a false standard of "purity" or advocating a fantasy of blood and soil, Nel Sud de-centers the received narratives, pointing to a long history of exchange and hybridization, of liminal spaces and fluid boundaries, of interlinked histories which cannot be contained by static understandings of identity. The music included here, much of which comes from Cutrone's various projects and those of his collaborators, reflects this diversity, and while it tends, ultimately, towards a rather bleak picture (juxtaposing the ruins of past empires with the contemporary ruins of decadent consumerist society) there is nonetheless something I find hopeful. In excavating the past in this way, perhaps we can ignite new imaginaries and new futures.

Read more, including tracklist at https://acloserlisten.com/2019/06/18/sp-episode-7-in-the-south-with-mai-mai-mai/

Sound Propositions the podcast has the same mission statement as the written Sound Propositions features: to share in depth discussions with artists whose work we love, to delve into the details of their creative practice. Headphone listening recommended.

Cover Image a panel from Stefano Tamburini and Tanino Liberatore's Ranx a New York

SP* Episode 7: IN THE SOUTH - with Mai Mai Mai [podcast]

Greyfade is a New York based label founded by Joseph Branciforte, dedicated to releasing high-quality physical and digital album length works of art. Greyfade's inaugural release is the aptly titled LP1, a collaboration between Branciforte and the acclaimed vocalist Theo Bleckmann. In this episode, Branciforte discusses why Greyfade is emphasizing HQ downloads via their own webstore, how he regards launching a label as an extension of composition, collaborating with Theo Bleckmann, and working with max/msp as a performative tool.

Read more, including tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 8: GREYFADED - with Joseph Branciforte (& Theo Bleckmann) [podcast]

Andrew Khedoori of the Preservation label talks about his latest series, Longform Editions, featuring compositions designed to encourage deep listening. Very much organized against the prevailing streaming ecosystem which encourages short tracks and distracted listening, Longform Editions has released 32 works and counting. The interview is set entirely against selection from the series, often playing out for much longer than I usually would give a single track. The final selection is the sole exception, a meditative piece from Deep Magic released on Preservation.

Longform Editions isn't necessarily interested in being overly prescriptive, dictating how we should or should not listen. Khedoori never makes a moral argument that things should be one way or another. But for those who feel increasingly overwhelmed and are looking for an escape, subscribe to the Longform series for your regular dose of music that encourages deep listening.

Read more at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 9: WHO CARES IF YOU DEEP LISTEN? - with Longform Editions [podcast]

Many of our readers responded enthusiastically to the Anthology of Electroacoustic Lebanese music compiled by the Unexplained Sounds Group in 2018. Earlier this year, I reached out to label founder Raffaele Pezzella (Sonolygyst) to discuss his label, his radio show, his solo work, and why he keeps digging for unheard artists.

We had a great chat, discussing his interest in dark ambient, conspiracy theories, and the technical pursuit of sound. I am also really into this playlist, if I don't say so myself. (You can hear the mix without the interview and vocal fades if you support this project on our Patreon.)

Find more, including tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

Sound  Propositions should be available wherever you get your podcasts, so  please keep an eye out and subscribe (and rate and review, it helps  others who might be interested find us).  New episodes will be published  every two weeks (more or less).

SP* Episode 10: EXPLAINED SOUNDS - with Raffaele Pezzella [podcast]

The Liminaria festival ran for five editions between 2014 and 2018, culminating with a collateral event in Palermo as part of Manifesta 12.  Based in the rural micro-region of Fortore, the frontier between Campania, Molise, and Puglia, Liminaria offered residencies and public presentations in which visiting artists worked with local residents to apply sound art methodologies to the unique geographies of this territory. Curators Beatrice Ferrara and Leandro Pisano take this period to reflect upon the successes and challenges of working in the rural south of Italy with virtually no budget, the important solidarities between the south of Italy and the Global South, and their recently published "Manifesto of Rural Futurism." 

Read more at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 11: RURAL FUTURISM - with Beatrice Ferrara and Leandro Pisano [podcast]

And now for the big finale. Alvin Curran has been at the forefront of challenging musical convention for over half a century. His work has pushed back against the institutional stranglehold on culture, encouraging anybody to make music, anywhere and with anybody. A dominant tendency in his oeuvre has been finding new ways to activate spaces and cultivate active listening and music making. His recent sound installation Omnia Flumina Romam Ducunt  serves as an entry point into a wide-ranging discussion encompassing many aspects of his long career.

Headphone listening recommended.

Read more at www.acloserlisten.com

SP* Episode 12: MAKING YOURSELF DISAPPEAR - with Alvin Curran [podcast]

After a longer delay than I would have liked, the Sound Propositions podcast is back. I’m very pleased to finally share this conversation with Bruno Stucchi, graphic designer and co-founder of the Die Schachtel label. Stucchi reflects upon the evolution of the label, the suppressed history of Italian experimental music, and the continued importance of big ideas.

Die Schachtel is a partnership between Bruno Stucchi and Fabio Carboni, who met online during the peak of eBay record collecting, before Discogs and social media convinced us that there is nothing new under the sun. (Not that these two will ever stop looking....) They exchanged records and, more importantly, they exchanged ideas, culminating in an ambitious excavation of the lost history of Italian experimentalism. The label debuted in 2003, and has since built a strong reputation for their meticulous editions, unquestionably one of the guiding lights of the current flourishing of experimental music in Milan and Italy more broadly.

Interview recorded in Stucchi’s studio in Milan, May 2019
Produced and mixed in Montreal, October 2020

Read more at www.acloserlisten.com
patreon.com/soundpropositions

TRACKLIST
ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR)

Luciano Cilio – “Liebsleid Fragment” (Dell'Universo Assente, Die Schachtel, 2004)
Pietro Grossi – “Progetto 2/3”  (Musicautomatica, Die Schachtel, 2003)
FIELD-RECORDING – grandine fuori 
Franca Sacchi – “Quando Mi Hanno Ucciso, Se Così Posso Dire, E Quindi Rinasco” [1972] – (En, Die Schachtel,2004)
Enore Zaffiri – “Tr/e.54.IV” (Musica Reticolare, Die Schachtel, 2004) 
Keith Fullerton Whitman – “Modena” (Playthroughs, Kranky, 2002)
Roland Kayn – “V. Invarianten” (Simultan, Die Schachtel, 2018)
Yes – “Roundabout” (Fragile, Atlantic, 1971)
Fabio Selvafiorita – “Untitled 7” (...A Gift For (°!°)..., Grey Sparkle, 2006)
Marino Zuccheri – Parete (Parete 1967 Per Emilio Vedova, Die Schachtel, 2005) [field recording on the site of the Italian Pavillion by J. Sannicandro]
Nuova Consonanza – “Concreto 1” (Azioni, Die Schachtel, 2006)
A Spirale – “Untitled 1” (Musica Improvvisa – Viande, Die Schachtel/ZEIT, 2010)
Area – Omaggio a Gianni Sassi
Christina Kubisch – “Listen Through The Walls” (On Air, Die Schachtel, 2004)
Gruppo NPS – “Insiemi” (Nuove Proposte Sonore 1965-1972, Die Schachtel, 2011)
Insiememusicadiversa – Untitled (Insieme Musica Diversa, Die Schachtel, 2004) 
Giuseppe Chiari – “La Luce” [1966] (Tempo Reale, 2019)
Valerio Tricoli – “Error” (Miseri Lares, PAN, 2014)
Marino Zuccheri – “Plastico, 1961” (Milan Rai Studio di Fonologia Musicale 1955-83, Die Schachtel, 2018)
Luigi Nono – “Non Consumiamo Marx” (Musica Manifesto N. 1 Di Luigi Nono, Die Schachtel, 2018)
François Bayle – “Espaces Inhabitables, V.” (Tremblement De Terre Très Doux, Ina-GRM, 1979)
Lino Capra Vaccina – “Canti delle Sfere” (Antico Adaggio, Die Schachtel, 2014)
Andrea Belfi – “Cera Persa 1” (Cera Persa, Latency, 2016)
Battiato – “I cancelli della memoria” (Clic, Bla Bla, 1974)
Tony Schwartz – “Wimoweh” (New York 19, Folkways, 1954)
Giuseppe Ielasi – “09” (Aix, 12k, 2009) 
Piero Milesi – “Between the Scale and the Apple” (The Nuclear Observatory of Mr. Nanof, Cuneiform, 1984)
FIELD-RECORDING – hammering somewhere in the building
Franco Evangelista – Die Schachtel (Die Schachtel, Deutsche Grammophon, 1971)
FIELD-RECORDING - Parco musicisti Milano, 2017

SP* Episode 13: OUTSIDE THE BOX - with Die Schachtel [podcast]

We sit down with director Serdar Kökçeoğlu in Istanbul to discuss the 2013 Gezi Park protests, how the sounds of the city have inspired his work as a film maker, and how composer İlhan Mimaroglu was inspired by the activism of his wife, Güngör. Kökçeoğlu has recently completed his first full-length feature film, Mimaroğlu. Going beyond a biography of Turkey’s most famous composer, the film explores İlhan and Güngör’s relationship and the cross-pollination between avant-garde music and radical politics. 

Plus an Istanbul scene report, a special mix, and an interview with Touch artist Ipek Gorgun. 

Read more at www.acloserlisten.com

This episode is accompanied by the İSTANBUL EKSPRES [mix]


TRACKLIST
ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR)

FIELD-RECORDING Turkish ice cream Istanbul [Useless Sounds] 2019
Erdem Helvacıoğlu – “Beyoğlu” (Listening Through Istanbul (Original Documentary Soundtrack, Diffuse Records, 2019)
SP Intro
İlhan Mimaroğlu ‎– “Wings Of The Delirious Demon” (Wings Of The Delirious Demon And Other Electronic Works, Finnadar, 1972)
Erdem Helvacıoğlu -  “Balat”  (Listening Through Istanbul (Original Documentary Soundtrack, Diffuse Records, 2019)
İlhan Mimaroğlu – “Wings Of The Delirious Demon” (Wings Of The Delirious Demon And Other Electronic Works, Finnadar, 1972)
Mimaraoglui film trailer 2019
Freddie Hubbard and İlhan Mimaroğlu – “Interlude II”  (Sing Me A Song Of Songmy (A Fantasy For Electromagnetic Tape), Atlantic, 1971)
İlhan Mimaroğlu – “Agony” (Face The Windmills, Turn Left, Finnadar, 1976)
İlhan Mimaroğlu – “To Kill A Sunrise”  (To Kill A Sunrise / La Ruche, Folkways Records, 1976)
FIELD-RECORDING – backgammon at a nargile café r 2019
İlhan Mimaroğlu – “La Ruche” (To Kill A Sunrise / La Ruche, Folkways Records, 1976)
FIELD RECORDING – In front of Kadikoy starbucks 2019

SP* Episode 14: LISTENING THROUGH MIMAROĞLU  - with Serdar Kökçeoğlu [podcast]

This mix accompanies the LISTENING THROUGH MIMAROĞLU episode,  featuring director Serdar Kökçeoğlu discussing his work and the Mimaroglu project in particular. I originally had in mind a second episode with interviews with other musicians I met while in Istanbul, but for a variety of reasons not everyone was comfortable speaking for audio, or we were otherwise unable to find an opportunity to record.  Of course there are also linguistic barriers. Save polished corporate aesthetics for the professionals, this podcast is more interested in something else. So instead I present İSTANBUL EKSPRES, a bonus mix of music from Istanbul artists old and new.

You can also read my interview with Ipek Gorgun. at www.acloserlisten.com

We spoke about some of her favorite Anatolian psychedelic bands, among other things. Since the 1990s, international music publications like the Wire have become hip to Turkish rock from the 60s and 70s. Artists from that era were often incorporating folk instruments from around the region into a rock ensemble context.  But that's just one facet of Turkish musical heritage.

Sample-based producers like Group Ses, working in styles influenced by hip hop, trap, beat tapes, etc, make up a vibrant scene of crate diggers, mining the rich history of Turkish (and Ottoman) recordings. 

İSTANBUL EKSPRES is my attempt to share some of this music. I don't claim any expertise, or pretense of exhaustive knowledge, just wanted to share  the music and voices of the amazing artists I met in Istanbul. 

TRACKLIST
ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR)

Grup Ses Beats – “Atardamar Operasyonu (DS2 Edit)” (Davulun Sesi Vol.2, Tektosag, 2013)
Erkin Koray – “Cemalim” (Elektronik Türküler, Doğan, 1974)
Ipek Gorgun  - “Fata Morgana” (Aphelion, Touch, 2016)
FIELD-RECORDING – Grand Bazaar 2019
Arif Sağ ‎– “Irfani (Silifke)” (Anadolu Döktürmeleri, Türküola, 1984)  
Koray Kantarcıoğlu -  “09 22 47 91 Take 2” (Loopworks Wounded Wolf Press, 2016 / Discrepant, 2018) 
Atay İlgün – “airn”  (radiant.data (music for vertigo)” [taiga], Wounded Wolf Press, 2017)
Ekin Fil – “Windblow” (Windblow, Longform Editions, 2018)
Sufus Hufus - ailerons (w- Kuntay Seferoğlu) (Pianissimo 2019)
Ipek Gorgun – “To Cross Great Rivers” (Ecce Homo, Touch, 2018)
Moğollar – “Eastern Love (Kara Dut Parmak Gibi)” (Eastern Love / Artık Çok Geç 7" Sayan, 1968)
Kunsf - Fireflies (2019)
Erkin Koray – “Türkü” (Elektronik Türküler, Doğan, 1974)
Grup Ses  - “ayran spill with gantz” (Alliance, Besides Records, 2016)
Ekin Fil – “Dead End” (Koma, Possible Motive, 2019)
Timur Selçuk – “Ayrılanlar İçin” (On Dit / Ayrılanlar İçin 7’, Barclay, 1967)
Grup Ses –  preview from (Program #02, Discrepant, 2019)
Ekin Fil – “Patterns/Visitors” (Koma, Possible Motive, 2019)
Ethnique Punch – Tiran (Davulun Sesi Vol.2, Tektosag, 2013)
Ekin Fil  - “Point Blank” (Koma, Possible Motive, 2019)
Grup Ses Beats / Ethnique Punch - “Külüstür” (Delidivan, Souk, 2019)
FIELD_RECORDING tam tutulma.



cover image: Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence

SP* Episode 14: İSTANBUL EKSPRES [mix]

Kassel Jaeger, once little more than a mysterious German moniker producing captivating music for our favorite boutique labels, has since been revealed to be François J. Bonnet, composer, philosopher, and now director Ina-GRM, France’s legendary center for electroacoustic research. No longer shrouded in mystery, his prolific output has lost none of its power. In the last year he’s released some of the best records of his career, including collaborations with Jim O’Rourke and Stephen O’Malley. Having grown accustomed to hearing Bonnet’s voice as host of France Musique’s L'Expérimentale, it was a trip to have the opportunity to sit down with him while he was in Montreal for 2019’s AKOUSMA festival. In this episode, Bonnet speaks with us about the development of his music, various acousmatic diffusion techniques, the privilege of composing for the acousmonium, and balancing the legacy of the GRM with the music to come. 

Interview recorded at Usine-C, Montreal, October 2019
Produced and mixed in Montreal, November 2020

More soon at:
www.acloserlisten.com


From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime, 
       Out of SPACE—Out of TIME. 
-Edgar Allan Poe, “Dream-Land” (1844)

All space, all time, [:]
Fill'd with eidolons only.
-Walt Whitman, “Eidelons” (1876)


TRACKLIST
ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR)

Kassel Jaeger – “NYC Bobcats” (Swamps / Things, Shelter-Press, 2020)
Éliane Radigue – Arthesis (1973) [Francois Bonnet diffusion] (Live at Akousma, Montreal, 2019)
Kassel Jaeger – “III” (Aerae, Senufo, 2010)
Francisco López – “AI-2012 - With/In [excerpt]” (a bunch of stuff (1980-2020) - 40 years of sonogenic composition, 2020)
Pierre Henry – Spirale [1955] (Voile D'Orphée I Et II / Entité / Spirale, Philips, 1969)
Éliane Radigue -  “CHRY-PTUS” (Giuseppe Ielasi Version 2006] (CHRY-PTUS, Schoolmap, 2007)
Luc Ferrari – “Cellule 75” (Cellule 75, Tzadik, 1998)  
François Bayle – “Espaces Inhabitables, V. – Amertumes”
 (1967) (L'Oiseau Chanteur, Phillips, 1968)
Kassel Jaeger – “Deltas” (Deltas, Editions Mego, 2012)
Bernard Parmegiani – “De Natura Sonorum, X.” (1978) (De Natura Sonorum, Recollection GRM, 2013)
Beatriz Ferreyra – “Echos” [1978] (Echos+, Room40, 2020)
James Tenney - “Fabric for Che” (1967) (Selected Works 1961-1969, Frog Peak, 1993)
Lucy Railton – “Forma” (Forma, Portraits GRM, 2020)
John Cage – “Imaginary Landscape N°5” (Early Electronic And Tape Music, Sub Rosa, 2014)
Kassel Jaegar – “Toxic Cosmopolitanism” (Toxic Cosmopolitanism, Editions Mego, 2014)
Kassel Jaeger & Jim O'Rourke “Wakes On Cerulean A” (Wakes On Cerulean, Editions Mego, 2017)
Kassel Jaeger – “Meith” (Meith, Black Truffle, 2020)
FIELD-RECORDING - à l'extérieur de l'usine (2019)

----
Sound Propositions is  produced by Joseph Sannicandro

episode cover image: Marisa Merz, "Untitled" (1985)

SP* Episode 15: EIDOLONS  - with Kassel Jaeger [podcast]

Dedicated to George Floyd

....

I. every precinct an autozone 	
II. a new world from the ashes of the old 
III. fuck12 
IV. minnesota nice
V. this aint a riot
VI. 8'46" 

----

I lived in South Minneapolis for 4 years, most of that time in an apartment building on Chicago Avenue and 39th St, just a block from the intersection where police murdered George Floyd. 

Music for Insurrection is a sound collage, blending field-recordings I made in South Minneapolis, livestream audio from the Uprising in May 2020, samples, and improvised instrumentation (flute, practice soprano sax, sampler, fx).  
Livestream samples from Unicorn Riot, friends' Instagram stories, and Youtube, including  a sample of Mel Reeves speaking to protesters. Excerpt from Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower (1993) read by me.

Headphone Listening Recommended 

Any proceeds will be donated to South Minneapolis-based community charities, including a community library we have been supporting at the George Floyd Memorial Intersection. Purchase available PWYC at Bandcamp. 
 
https://lostchildren.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-insurrection

Joseph Sannicandro presents 'Music For Insurrection' [bonus]

Esther Bourdages is an art critic, radio journalist, independent curator, and musician based in Montréal. She is an improviser of extraordinary sensitivity, bringing a playfulness to her tactile manipulation of vinyl records, sometimes outright mishandling them. This freedom to destroy is indicative of a resistance to structure and formalism, but Esther’s work can’t be easily dismissed as some sort of exercise in catharsis. Instead her approach to live improvisation is raw and expressive, and cultivated over decades of ongoing exploration. Much of her recent studio work is for radiophonic diffusion, often based on field-recordings and with a politicized context. We discuss her unique approach to vinyl, the history of Canadian artist-run centres, and the intersection of art and sound from multiple perspectives.

Read more at: http://acloserlisten.com/2021/01/21/sp-episode-16-freedom-to-destroy-with-esther-b-podcast/

Interview recorded in Montreal, October 2020
Produced and mixed in Montreal, January 2021


TRACKLIST
ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR)

Esther B. –Think about the rhythm (Audio Postcard, 2020)
Esther B. - excerpt a  (live at Spiro Space, 2019) 
Esther B. / Erik Hove / Thom Gossage - The Space between - 01 Exclusive piece_no1!(Particles, Contour Editions, 2021)
[the user] (Emmanuel Madan and Thomas MacIntosh) - “Silo # 5” (Silophone, The Kitchen, 2001)
Esther B. - excerpt b  (live at Spiro Space, 2019) 
Luigi Turra / France Jobin – “France Jobin Variation” (Fukinsei VARIATIONS, 2020)
Togetherness! – “Salaam/Looking for Gilchrist (Abdullah Ibrahim / William Parker)” (Togetherness!, Mr. E Records, 2018)
Martin Tétreault ‎– “Abandon” (La Nuit Où J'Ai Dit Non, Audioview, 1997)
Christian Marclay & Okkyung Lee – “Rubbings” (From The Earth To The Spheres Vol. 7, Opax, 2005)
Esther B.-  Silence film : quand l’audience devient la trame sonore 2016
Anne-F Jacques / Tim Olive – “Sur Place/Staying” (AMPLIFY 2020)
Joane Hétu / Diane Labrosse / Zeena Parkins / Danielle P. Roger* / Tenko ‎–  “Les Pluies Acides” (La Légende De La Pluie, Ambiances Magnétiques, 1992)
Esther B. (with Jon Ascencio, Aimé Dontigny, Édouard Jeunet, James Schidlowsky, David Turgeon) – “Untitled 4”  (It is not easy for doug engelbart to give a conference when Youppi and Mad Dog are in the house, No Type/Bricolodge, 2004)
Jean Tinguely – “Homage to New York (Radio sculpture) / Sculpture at the Tate 12 / Mta harmonie II” (Sculpture at the Tate, Audio Arts, 1982)
Esther B. - excerpt c  (live at Spiro Space, 2019) 
Maria Chavez – “The Rain of Applause” (Amplify 2020)

Cover image: Jean Tinguely

SP* Episode 16: FREEDOM TO DESTROY - with  Esther B. [podcast]

It’s been a tough year for New York. This episode we check in with GENG, the man behind one of our favorite labels, Purple Tape Pedigree, and see how these fine “purveyors of weaponized media and information” are handling the pandemic and the uprisings. With live performance no longer an option, the model of mutual support demonstrated by a crew like PTP is all the more important. GENG tells us about the history of PTP, the benefits of peer-support, community activism, and why it’s more important now than ever to understand hip hop as spiritual music. 

Interview recorded between Montreal and Queens, May 2020 and January 2021
Produced and mixed in Montreal, February 2021

Read more at: http://acloserlisten.com/2021/02/19/sp-episode-17-before-the-internet-with-geng-ptp-podcast

Dedicated to Milford Graves

TRACKLIST
ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR)

Milford Graves with Sunny Morgan ‎–  – “Nothing 19” (Percussion Ensemble, ESP Disk, 1965)
INTRO
Raekwon/RZA – “Ice Cream (instrumental)” (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, Loud, 1995)
Amani + King Vision Ultra – “An Unknown Infinite” (An Unknown Infinite, PTP, 2020)
King Vision Ultra – “excerpts from B Side” (Pain of Mind, PTP, 2018)
Amani + King Vision Ultra – “Guillotine” (An Unknown Infinite, PTP, 2020)
Milford Graves, Marshall Allen, Henry Grimes – “(live excerpt)” (Angel Orensanz Center / Arts for Art – 4 Dec 2012)
GENG – “Iron Man (Chopped _ Slowed by GENG)” (Screwing Yourself To Live: A Chopped & Slowed Tribute To Black Sabbath, PTP, 2012)
YATTA – “Bliss” (WAHALA, PTP, 2019)
Dis Fig – “Excerpt” (An Atypical Brain Damage, PTP, 2018)
Moor Mother – “This Week (Feat. GENG)” (The Motionless Present, Fear Anger Love, 2017)
King Vision Ultra – “Excerpt” (QUATTRO (death circus), PTP, 2020)
Amani + King Vision Ultra – “Scrapes (Feat. ELUCID)” (An Unknown Infinite, PTP, 2020)
Monie Love – “Monie in the Middle” (Live at the Apollo, 1990)
Amani + King Vision Ultra – “Monie Said So (Prod. Nick Hakim) (Feat. Monie Love)” (An Unknown Infinite, PTP, 2020) 
Queen Latifah – “Ladies First (Feat. Monie Love)” (All Hail the Queen, Tommy Boy, 1989)
Amani + King Vision Ultra – “Monie Said So (Prod. Nick Hakim) (Feat. Monie Love)” (An Unknown Infinite, PTP, 2020) 
Cannibal Ox – “Stress Rap (instrumental blend)” (The Cold Vein, DefJux, 2001)
DREAMCRUSHER – Excerpt from B-side (Panopticon!, PTP, 2020)
Kepla & DeForrest Brown Jr – “Reflex and Bone Structure.” (Absent Personae, PTP, 2017)
Mobb Deep – “[The Grave Prelude]/ Cradle To The Grave (instrumental)” (The Infamous, Loud, 1995)
billy woods – “Dirge (Feat. Vordul Mega)” (Camouflage, Backwoodz, 2003)
Ennio Morricone – “Paura E Aggressione (Short Version)” (Crime And Dissonance, Ipecac, 2005)
Bad Brains – “I Luv I Jah” (I Luv I Jah, Alternative Tentacles, 1982)
Moor Mother & billy woods – “Giraffe Hunts” (BRASS, Backwoodz, 2020)
Madvillain – “America’s Most Blunted (instrumental blend)” (Madvillainy, Stones Throw, 2004)
Public Enemy – “Leave This Off Your Fuckin' Charts (instrumental)” (Fear of a Black Planet, Def Jam, 1990)
Negativland – “A Nice Place To Live” (Points, Seeland, 1981)
Brand Nubian – “Step to the Rear” (One For All, Elektra, 1990)
RZA – “Banister Fight” (Kill Bill Vol. 1 OST, Maverick, 2003)
Giuseppi Logan Quartet – Bleecker Partita (The Giuseppi Logan Quartet, ESP Disk, 1965)
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Sound Propositions is written, recorded, mixed, and produced by Joseph Sannicandro.

SP* Episode 17: BEFORE THE INTERNET - with GENG PTP [podcast]

Since 2012, A Closer Listen has claimed a specialized niche in the music industry: instrumental album reviews!  By concentrating on this above all else (singles, videos, concerts, interviews, lyric albums, announcements), we’ve built a healthy fanbase and a strong reputation.

If music is recorded and nobody listens, does it still make a sound?