For over a decade, Zola Jesus - aka Nika Danilova, has been releasing deeply engrossing music that draws on a wide range of musical traditions, from goth to industrial to electronic... and even classical. 

Pitchfork Radio's Elia Einhorn speaks with Nika about how proximity to nature influences her songwriting process, the challenges and rewards of finding interesting acoustic spaces for Zola Jesus' live performances, and the never-ending process of creative reinvention.

Sound & Space with Zola Jesus

Roberto Lange, aka Helado Negro, is a composer of sound, video and performance pieces who approaches each project with a sense of playfulness, spectacle, and connection. 

For this episode of Sound & Space, Roberto takes us on a private tour of his Brooklyn home and studios, the birthplace of many of the important aural and visual hallmarks of Helado Negro. After the tour, Pitchfork Radio's Elia Einhorn catches up with Roberto about clarity vs. obscurity in his songwriting and how he creates deep sonic textures that only reveal themselves through multiple listens.

Sound & Space with Helado Negro

William Basinski is a minimalist ambient composer, best known for his work using analog tape loops. Over the decades, his work has drawn inspiration from everything from September 11th to the sound of black holes colliding. 

For this episode of Sound & Space, we get front row seats to a rehearsal for the orchestral arrangement of Basinski's seminal work "The Disintegration Loops" with the Chicago Philharmonic. William and Pitchfork Radio's Elia Einhorn also discuss how physical spaces inform musical presentation and just what “art scientists” actually do.

Sound & Space with William Basinski

In many people’s minds, the thought of an art museum conjures a space that’s focused on the visual. In this episode of Sound & Space, we’ll hear how The Art Institute of Chicago demonstrates that sound can be an equally important part of the museum experience. 

Pitchfork Radio's Elia Einhorn catches up with staff members from The Art Institute of Chicago and receives a special preview of Iterations, the museum's new series of performance commissions, which is kicking off with an installation and performance by Istanbul-based artist Cevdet Erek. Listen now.

Sound & Space with The Art Institute of Chicago and Cevdet Erek

In this episode of Sound & Space we visit the iconic Dream House, an immersive sound and light environment created by the legendary minimalist composer La Monte Young and his creative partner and wife, Marian Zazeela. 

Pitchfork Radio's Elia Einhorn also chats with a Dream House devotee who also happens to be a member of Animal Collective: Avey Tare. Avey shares stories about Dream House’s formative impact on him as a young artist, its influence on Animal Collective, and how his visits to Dream House have been a perception-shifting experience unlike any other.

Podcast cover art: Jung Hee Choi, Color (CNN), live realization, “NEW AIRSTRIKES TARGET ISIS-HELD OIL FACILITIES”. © Jung Hee Choi 2014.

Sound & Space with Dream House

In this edition of In Sight Out, a series of podcasts from Pitchfork that explore new perspectives on arts and culture, music writer Leor Galil speaks with Whitney.

After Chicago glam-rock outfit Smith Westerns broke up at the end of 2014, guitarist Max Kakacek and drummer Julien Ehrlich broke off to experiment with a different musical approach. They synthesized sweet Chicago soul melodies, plaintive country songwriting, and gentle ’70s folk: Ehrlich took on lead vocals behind the kit, and his comforting falsetto coo solidified the sound they began to make under the name Whitney. Their 2016 debut, Light Upon the Lake, made them indie-rock darlings, and catapulted them to unassuming stars in their hometown.

Before Whitney performed at the 2019 Pitchfork Music Festival, Kakacek and Ehrlich sat down with Leor Galil at the Chicago Athletic Association to talk about their band’s history and their forthcoming second album, Forever Turned Around.

Whitney - In Sight Out

In this edition of In Sight Out, a series of podcasts from Pitchfork that explores new perspectives on music, art, and culture, Pitchfork editor-in-chief Puja Patel speaks with Haim.

The Los Angeles sisters Danielle, Este, and Alana Haim have been playing music as long as they could hold instruments; as children, they played in a cover band called Rockinhaim with their parents. They formed Haim in 2012, and turned heads with their single “Forever” shortly thereafter. Their debut, Days Are Gone, arrived in 2013, a catchy, effervescent blend of pop-rock, R&B, and soft rock. They returned in 2017 with their sophomore effort, Something to Tell You, and most recently released the new single “Summer Girl,” which they debuted at their performance at Pitchfork Music Festival.

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