Patrick Nickleson is the author of The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art, Music, and Historiography in Dispute, an academic study that radically reconsiders the origins and boundaries of musical minimalism. Uninterested in searching for the earliest work of musical minimalism, or even in doing the admittedly necessary work of expanding the canon to include lesser known but equally important figures, Nickleson instead underscores a different set of shared traits that he sees in (early) minimalism: the importance of collective authorship, often collaborating in a form of “bandness”; the priority of recording to tape over written scores; and distinguishing between “(early) minimalism” and the later canonization of Minimalism as we know it since the early 1980s. In addition to the book, we discuss searching for obscure records online, our shared love of Constellation Records, and the influence of Tony Conrad.

Read more, including a tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com
—-
Sound Propositions is written, recorded, mixed, and produced by Joseph Sannicandro.

Sound Propositions S04e02

SP* Episode 32: INDISCREET MUSIC -  with Patrick Nickleson [podcast]

Reverberations d’une crise / Sounding the housing crisis
Métro Laurier, public speak out
Suoni per il Popolo festival
10 June 2023

Broadcast @n10-as Thursday May 5, 1pm, on @cjlo1690am May 2, 9am, on CKUT 90.3 FM @radiockut Friday, June 28, 5pm on Radio Renoviction and on the May 8 edition of S.A.N.E, 8-9pm on CKUW 95.9 FM Winnipeg. Photo by Ivan de Jacquelin. Sound system support at event by Danji @anabasine 

https://suoniperilpopolo.org/fr/horaire/reverberations-dune-crise-une-enquete-sonore-sur-le-logement-a-montreal

A mix of a creative speak out organized by contributors to the project Réverbérations d'une crise: une enquête sonore sur le logement à Montréal (https://www.reverberationscriselogement.org). This event took place during Suoni per il Popolo festival. This soundscape draws from audio recorded at the action registered by sound artist Joseph Sannicandro @thenewobjective, edits by Joseph, with music editing by Stefan @spirodon Christoff and synth by Jordan Christoff. Joseph writes:

"This audio work documents a community speak out against the housing crisis in Montreal, held at the public plaza in front of Metro Laurier on 10 June 2023 under the auspices of the Suoni per il Popolo arts and music festival. Selections from each of the many contributions are edited into a melange of speeches and screams and music and urban noise.  Reflections on gentrification, sovereignty, and the complexities of living on indigenous land. The recording taken directly from the mixing board is augmented with binaural recordings made while walking around the event. Thus headphone listening might present a unique perspective. I sometimes layered contributions, in order to share more from some contributors. For instance, allowing Jason Blackbird to accompany his voice with his own trumpet playing, or layering multiple vignettes of Stella’s powerful words. As editor and co-producer of the Reverberations d’une crise podcast, an eight episode series weaving together contributions from a collective of Montreal tenant sound artists, I reworked contributions from all the participants into a collective collage. The episode ends with a composition by collective member Jordan Torres Bussière, performed on site at the end of the event, as well as the final section of my collage, played back on portable speakers in various configurations at Metro Laurier later that night. - Joseph Sannicandro"

In this piece you hear these voices:

A sound work by Stefan Christoff featuring community activist François Saillant 

Hubert Gendron-Blais (sound artist)
https://www.hubert-gendron-blais.org/

Deanna Radford (poet)
https://poetryinvoice.ca/read/poets/deanna-radford

Paula Dykstra (poet) 
+ Philippe Battikha @philippebattikha (musician)
https://www.philippebattikha.com

Alejandro Saravia (poet)

Jason Blackbird Selman (poet / musician)
https://poetryinvoice.ca/read/poets/jason-selman

Members of Syndicat des locataires autonomes de Montréal (SLAM)
https://linktr.ee/slam.matu

Moh Abdo, Comm-Un https://comm-un.org

Sandra Wesley, Director of STELLA Montreal
https://chezstella.org

Theo Lyons
+ Jordan Arsenault
https://thedutymyth.blogspot.com

Gaurav Sharma
Organizer at the Immigrant Workers Centre
https://iwc-cti.ca

Bengı Akbulut
Academic and activist
https://explore.concordia.ca/index.php/bengi-akbulut

Stella Adjokê (artist)
https://stellaadjoke.com

Juhi Sohani 
Community advocate

zLadyBug (poet)

Liz and Jay
Members of Wolf Pack Street Patrol
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/wolf-pack-hits-montreal-streets-protect-vulnerable-indigenous-women

Pierre Parent
Indigenous street outreach worker and formerly incarcerated person

Jordan Torres Bussière @jordantorresbussiere (sound artist)
https://soundcloud.com/jordantorresbussiere

Joseph Sannicandro / Reverberations d’une Crise collective - sound collage guerrilla installation
(reworking sounds from Réverbérations d'une crise: une enquête sonore sur le logement à Montréal collective)

Réverbérations d'une crise speak-out on the housing crisis in Montréal

A mix for the program Underground sounds, airing Mondays from 8-10pm on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, below is the track listing, thank you for listening!

Artwork is from the DIY for Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) benefit compilation (https://lumpensoup.bandcamp.com/album/diy-for-dulf) and is by Toast (https://www.instagram.com/crustytoast.art)

01. Goats And Lasers, Why Oh Why Bry Lovejoy Goats Amp Lasers Remix
02. Cranberry Virgin, Evermore Bathroom
03. PISS,  a little girl's horse craze betrays her
04. Emma Goldman, Irrational Exuberance or Something Like That
05. TJ Felix, I'VE SEEN THE BEST MINDS OF MY GENERATION DIE PREVENTABLE OVERDOSE DEATHS
06. Goats & Lasers, lottery
07. Roach McGuirk, Coulrophobia
08. The Heterosexuals, If
09. Magda Baker, Bon's Off Broadway
10. Natlak, Vermin with Badges
11. Lumpen Soup, The Tower
12. 2 Dollar Jesus, thirteen forty-two
13. Low Dead Space, Die in Vancouver
14. TJ Felix, Throw my Ashes at the Sun
15 M01E, W.A.A.O.D
16. Girlwife, Church-State
17. June Hawthorn, punch
18. Chaos Disorder & Panic, Homes not Games
19. Soledad Coyoli, Quédate
20. Andrew Hurst, Lonely Hunter
21. Julia Cohen, When You Spot The Shore, The Palm
22. Matthew Blair, In A Windowless Room At Dusk
23. Philippe Battikha & Mitch Van Dusen, Bludgeon
24. Errance, Fulminance
25. Errance, Nord
26. Errance, Et si elles n'y arrivaient jamais...
27. Errance, Sans aller
28. Errance, Les possibles finalités
29. Errance, Rage
30. Errance, Lorsque se dispersent les tempêtes
31. Errance, Fracas de nous
32. Totenbaum Träger, EyIran, blown-out
33. Totenbaum Träger, Escalades

A mix for Underground sounds on CKUT 90.3 FM, 01/2025

Our next guest is Stefan Christoff (@spirodon) a Montreal-based activist and artist active in various experimental musical projects revolving around the intersection of sound and activism. Stefan helps coordinate #MusiciansForPalestine and collaborates with musicians from around the world, including Sound Dreams, Sam Shalabi, Lori Goldston and Anarchist Mountains. He also hosts Free City Radio (@freecityradio) on several Canadian radio stations and works with several cultural and social justice spaces in Montreal.

www.operator-radio.com

Mutant Modality w/ Stefan Christoff - 26th May 2025

Skramz. Screamo. Emoviolence.

Welcome to emotive hardcore, a sound that has no definitive origin but is a blend of a variety of settings and tones. 

I'm honored this round to be joined by two very excellent friends, Geoff Rickley of the band Thursday and GENG PTP aka King Vision Ultra. Each of us have curated different snapshots of origin stories, packed living rooms, harsh and melodic sounds, and one big middle finger to America.

We're all ready proud of this. It came from an organic dialogue and if we weren't restricted with time limits probably could've gone on for at least another hour. 

Expect a positive ferociousness.

STRAW:
Rodan - Bible Silver Corner (intro music)
Rites of Spring - For Want Of
Moss Icon - As Afterwards the Words Still Ring
Slint - Nosferatu Man
Universal Order of Armageddon - Mud
Evergreen - Trudy Pushpin
Bessie Smith - See if I'll Care
Indian Summer - Woolworm
Mohinder - Expiration
Drive Like Jehu - Here Come the Rome Plows

GEOFF: 
Frail - Love
You and I - Seascape
Saetia - The Sweetness and the Light
Q and Not U - End the Washington Monument (Blinks) Goodnight
pageninetynine - Richmond is a Hole
Heroin - Meaning Less
Jeromes Dream - Reminders to Parallel
Usurp Synapse - "Man, That's a Big Ass Shirt!"
charles bronson - Marriage Can Suck It
Reversal of Man - Bless the Printing Press
COMBAT WOUNDED VETERAN - My Spine! My Spine! My Spine!
Ink + Dagger - Full Circle

GENG: 
The Judas Iscariot - Thespian Imperative
Murdock - Sweet Stuff
Countdown To Putsch - Coke Okay
Merel - So Lovely Warmth
Policy Of 3 - 1%
Iconoclast - Tales of Vicious Rabbit
MAKARA - Missing Green
Guyver-One - Zero (Version 2)
Yaphet Kotto - Fact Or Fiction
Shroomunion - Bubble Gum Tears And Bloody Fears
The Hareste - pain in decibels
Inkwell - Wash
circle takes the square - We're Sustained by the Corpse of a Fallen Constellation
Portrait - Less Sugar
Off Minor - Remainder
Born Against - Five Dollars An Hour

STRAW + requests*:
At the Drive-In - One Armed Scissor*
Envy - Left Hand
Piri Reis - When Life Hand You Grenade
Peace of Mind & Anomine - I Want My Life (And I'll Get It!!)
Crochet - You Have Destroyed My Flower-Like Life
Braid - A Dozen Roses

Cause & Effect: Emotive Hardcore (with Geoff Rickley & GENG PTP)

Ukrainian Field Notes - 30 May 2025 - Oleksii Podat

Produced for Resonance FM by Gianmarco Del Re
 Tracklist
* Oleksii Podat - I Regret Everything I Have Ever Done Online
* Oleksii Podat - Learning to Stumble Oleksii Podat - my mom sends me photos from relatively safe places (version 2)
* Adaa Zagorodnya - Beznazva Syoma
* Oleksii Podat - to commit, to let go
* Oleksii Podat - If I die here I was murdered by daytime television
* Oleksii Podat - Golden Hour


Ukrainian Field Notes - 30 May 2025 - Oleksii Podat

A Beautiful Day To Die

RA.1000 launches with Theo Parrish, live at fabric: a vanishingly rare club mix from the king of deep crates and impossible transitions.

There are DJ sets and then there are Theo sets. No matter how many times you've caught him in action, every time still feels like the first. Running hot, levels smoking, isolator working over time. You think you know dance music? Think again.

Parrish's debut on the RA Podcast is a milestone for the series, one we've sought for over 15 years. So it was only right that Theo led off our 1000th celebrations. Recorded live at fabric last December as part of RA's party with the London club for their 25th anniversary, this three-hour segment documents the crescendo of his eight-hour marathon. 

The Detroit legend doesn't release mixes often, and when he does, they're usually studio recordings: think NTS shows, his 100% Detroit edition of DJ-Kicks or classic tapes Body (1997) and Methods of Movement (2000). A capture of the Sound Signature boss on the dancefloor is hard to come by.

Sure, there's galvanising build-ups and crowd-pleasers, but laced throughout a Parrish beatdown are rarities designed to shock the system. In a business dominated by marketing, the vinyl master towers above thanks to a relentless hunger for lustrous melodies, moods and textures of all stripes, which he and he alone can fold into an inspiring and exhilarating joyride.

On RA.1000, blissful reggae precedes new wave disco; '80s R&B morphs into synthy techno; bleepy Chicago jack makes way for a poignant vocal ballad. It's Theo through and through. Once again, he proves that anything and everything is possible with the right records.

@theoparrish @fabric @soundsignaturedetroit @crownruler

Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Theo Parrish

The mastermind behind Basic Channel, Hard Wax and Rhythm & Sound doesn't do mixes. For RA.1000, he made an exception.

Trace Mark Ernestus's path, and you trace the evolution of electronic sound itself. The timeline of contemporary Berlin is unimaginable without him. At first, that meant Hard Wax, the crucial hub that shaped the early era of the city's techno revolution. Carl Craig once said it plainly: "Mark was ground zero."

From there, Ernestus never stopped. There's the birth of dub techno and the near-flawless catalogue that followed through Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound. There's his immersion in Senegalese mbalax with Ndagga Rhythm Force. Lately, that means Open Ground the Wuppertal bunker that's letting people hear music as never before.

As part three of RA.1000, Ernestus has kindly supplied his first studio DJ mix. As you might expect, it's technically immaculate, but more than that, it feels like a substantial and generous conduit to one of the world's most vital genres.

Amapiano remains underexplored in music media. Publications like our own are still learning to keep pace with the South African sound's global pull, animating millions across the globe. 

You'll hear the range and richness of the genre across the near two-hour mix, from the gothic, percussive stomp of Caltetonic's "Bambela"  to the devotional glow of GemValleyMusiq's "Something Spiritual."

Through all of this, Ernestus has remained understated. He lets the music speak for him, with a quiet honesty that lies in decades of opening doors—creating the conditions for new sounds and scenes to flourish and carry the culture forward.

@opengroundclub @hardwax 

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1011. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Mark Ernestus

For RA.1000, DJ Sprinkles' first mix in over a decade is a powerful meditation on the genocide in Gaza.

Dance music often relies on simple narratives: release, escape, unity. But those narratives can often feel inadequate, and even at times, hollow. Or, as Terre Thaemlitz might bluntly put it, just "shitty."

For her first mix in around 15 years, Terre Thaemlitz AKA DJ Sprinkles, challenges us to think differently. "I felt this 1000th podcast should reflect the moment in which it was made," she told us in her Q&A.

And what is this moment? Every day since Israel's 2023 assault on Gaza began, an average of 28 children have been killed. That's an entire classroom, every day, for over 600 days (at the time of writing). It's a staggering figure that only captures a fragment of the listless cruelty imposed on the strip.

Faced with such a genocide, what can music really do? How political can it truly be?  For their RA.1000, Thaemlitz gives us an unflinching rebuke to the idea that music should provide escapism. The mix weaves ambient fragments and jazz passages, woven around samples from Israeli media and the voices of outspoken Jewish critics like Gabor Maté and Norman Finkelstein. 

The result is not just a protest, but a document of our time. For Terre Thaemlitz, music is never just music. Her RA.1000 serves as a reminder that in an age of relentless suffering, the most political act is to reject the illusion of escape, and search for something greater.

Read the interview and find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1013. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Terre Thaemlitz / DJ Sprinkles

A live discussion at the Suoni per il Popolo festival in Montreal in June 2025 that was streamed live on Radio AlHara in Palestine. This discussion focuses on various projects, actions and campaign initiatives in Montreal to lift up and support the Palestinian struggle for liberation. There is a particular focus on the role and importance of cultural workers engaging in the struggle here. 

Thank you to Joseph Sannicandro for the technical support in Montreal and to Ibrahim Owais for the technical support in Palestine. 

This panel includes the participation of the following voices:

Tara Alami, writer and organizer with the Palestinian Feminist Collective

Razan AlSalah, filmmaker, educator and member of collectif Regards Palestiniens

Sonya Ben Yahmed, activist, writer and researcher

Jasmin Ghorbani, academic and organizer with Cinema Politica Concordia 

Ehab Lotayef, community activist and poet

Sanaz Sohrabi, artist and researcher of visual culture

Kiva Stimac, artistic director of the Suoni per il Popolo festival 

Zoë Thomas, doctor and musician who will play a live set on violin 

Yasmine, an organizer from the Gaza solidarity encampment at McGill University 

Dominic Marion, of the Make Fuzz Not War project via Tall House Recordings

Aymen from Bikers for Palestine


Palestine solidarity organizing in Montreal - Radio AlHara x Suoni per il Popolo

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?

SP* Episode 32: INDISCREET MUSIC - with Patrick Nickleson [podcast]

acloserlisten

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