Underscore: Christine Ott

Underscore: Arooj Aftab

Underscore: Mirabai Ceiba

It's been 5 years since Darius Jones last released a record under his own name, and Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation), a solo saxophone record, breaks new ground for the genre and for Darius as a recording artist.

Sonosphere had the pleasure to sit down with Darius and discuss his approach to Raw Demoon Alchemy, his childhood in Virginia, improvisation and black futurism.

Underscore: Darius Jones

Today on Sonosphere we feature Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield aka Black Swan in the vocal concert tradition of late 19th century America. 

We will hear from Professor Adam Gustafson who has written about Greenfield as America’s first black pop star for The Conversation an academic journal and is a professor of music at Penn State. We talk about the Greenfield’s early life and rise in the operatic and pop scene in the 19th century. 

Get the track list and more info at www.sonospherepodcast.com

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield a.k.a. Black Swan

Today we discuss the first black owned recording company Black Swan Records which sold popular music to black audiences. Its existence was brief, it was only active for two years from 1923 to 1925. During this time however, the label released over 180 records - more than any other black owned record company until the 1950s. Today we’ll talk about the historical context in which the founder, Harry Pace, began and operated the label with mentor W.E.B. DuBois and how his partnership with Memphis blues man W.C. Handy kicked off Pace’s interest in the music industry. 
For more info and track listing visit www.sonospherepodcast.com
@snspod

Black Swan Records

Today we feature a live performance by Model Zero from the WYXR studio in Memphis, TN. Sonosphere interviewed the band after their latest single release, "Little Crystal." The band performed this song and the b-side "Leather Trap" on our show along with a few other songs from their self-title LP from 2019. We also talked with the guys about the difference between the last album and this new single. Join us!

www.sonospherepodcast.com

Model Zero Live on WYXR 91.7FM

Welcome to the Sonosphere podcast. This episode we feature our talk with Steven R. Smith. 

Steven is behind projects like Hala Strana, Ulaan Khol, Ulaan Passerine, Ulaan Markhor and releases solo recordings under his label, Worstward Recordings. Active since the mid-90s, Smith releases a solo album this year called Spring and out in September is his project's Ulaan Passerine's Sun Spear. We will hear tunes from both plus a playlist curated by Steven himself. Join us!

Underscore: Steven R. Smith

On this episode of Sonosphere we highlight the life and compositions of composer Margaret Bonds. So many people who made invaluable contributions to classical music have been nearly lost to history or are underappreciated in their time. Bonds is one of those characters. 

We learned more about her when we covered one of her mentors, American composer Florence B. Price earlier in 2021 - be sure to check  out that episode. Bonds like Price is lesser known in the field of classical music - being both female and African-American - often not covered among classical European-based composers dominating the history of classical music. 

One of Bonds’ largest and perhaps most important works–Montgomery Variations, written in 1965 during the Selma-to-Montgomery Freedom March and dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On this MLK Day we celebrate composer Margaret Bonds.

More information at sonospherepodcast.com

Birth of Modern Music Series 8: Margaret Bonds

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.

For more visit www.sonospherepodcast.com

Pow Wow: Joe Rainey Sings Solo

Today on the show I feature songs with the Moog synthesizer. I had the opportunity to visit the Moogseum in Asheville, NC. It is funded by the Bob Moog Foundation and I feature tunes from Lisa Bella Donna's commissioned album for the Moogseum's 15 anniversary. Bob Moog saw himself as a tool maker, creating tools for artists and muscians to bring their audio visions to life.

Moog Show

From the WYXR studio Sonosphere welcomes experimental sound artist and founder of Memphis Concrete, Robert Traxler. We play some tunes and talk about a few local and regional artists who recently played in Memphis. Join us!

With Special Guest Robert Traxler

Coming to you live from WYXR Studios Amy and Jenny welcomed electronic music artists Suroor and W1ndow. We talk about women in Memphis music, their new albums and the hard to pin down sound of the new electronic and experimental music movement in Memphis.

Sonic Sisters: Suroor & Window

Iceberg New Music Ensemble is back! Visiting Memphis and working with the Memphis Youth Symphony Orchestra! Check out the conversation we had with Iceberg members as well as members of Memphis' own Blueshift Ensemble. Don't miss the show at the Beethoven Club this Friday 8/23 at 7:30!

Iceberg New Music Ensemble

Today we spoke with Gabriela Fogo and Roberta Dos Santos - two Iris Collective Fellows from Brazil. Here the sounds from all over the country from Brazilian Classical music to bossa nova and beyond! Come listen to the Sounds of Brazil with us!

Sounds Of Brazil with Iris Collective

Today we are joined by professor at the University of Memphis Scheidt School of Music, flute player and member of the wind quintet called The City of Tomorrow and leads a band called The Overly Sensitive Orchestra. Elise brings a great group of compositions from Crumb’s Black Angels (which was a Vietnam War protest), some Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe (climate change/environmentalism), some music by LJ White (gender and trans visibility), Workers Union by Andriessen, and others. 

Music in Politics with Elise Blatchford

Dr. Artina McCain joins us today on Sonosphere. Dr. McCain curated the Mahogany Chamber series in partnership with PRISM ensemble and Crosstown Arts. The series is about bringing voices to the stage you don't often hear. The first one was around poetry and music, second was supporting MLK holiday and the next one features rhythms from around the world. Piano-flute duo and piano-piano duo make up the Dazzling Duos exploring Caribbean rhythms! You can check out this concert on Feb 23rd at Crosstown Arts Green Room, 2-4pm!

Mahogany Chamber Series

Memphis-based Charlie Davis (Trash Goblin, Detachment Kit) and David Johnson (James and the Ultrasounds, Tall David) met in Governor's school in 1998. Late night jams and decades long friendship resulted in the creation of Recent Future. Their respective artistic mindsets meld into bleeding edge synth punk that is both danceable and doom-laden - great for dancing your way into the uncertain, recent future.

Recent Future

Professors of Punk

Memphis Concrete Fest 2025

Today on the show we speak with Iceberg New Music about their upcoming show at the Beethoven Club in Memphis, TN. 

Iceberg New Music

The ultimate "underground" modernist artist in Paris, Satie didn't get a lot of credit when he was alive for his work. He was largely forgotten until John Cage found his Vexations composition fifty years after his death.

His music "did not resolve as it should according to tonal laws" says our guest Dr. Caroline Potter. She talks with us about how Satie broke from Parisian tradition and led an avant-garde scene which influenced ambient and minimalist artists for years to come. 

Join us as we traverse the eccentric life and work of Erik Satie.

Erik Satie Tracks:
Gnossiennes n.4
The Gothic Dances
Pieces in the Shape of a Pear
Gymnopedies
Let's Get on with it Chochoette
Medusa's Trap
Parade
Vexations
La Diva de l'empire

The Birth of Modern Music Part 2: Erik Satie

Today we will talk about French composer Edgard Varese,
often described as the “Father of Electronic Music.” Varese had a huge influence on John Cage and many other avant grade American artists in the 40s and 50s. Cage said of Varese, he “fathered forth noise,” which “makes him more relative to the present musical necessity than even the Viennese masters.”

Check out the playlist accompanying this episode featuring songs by Edgard Varese at Press Play on sonospherepodcast.com. Subscribe on itunes and check us out on Facebook and Twitter @sonospod

The Birth of Modern Music Part 3: Edgard Varese

Welcome to Sonosphere the podcast that explores the sounds all around us; in art and music movements through history.  

This is part 5 of our Birth of Modern Music Series on European composers of the early 20th century from the atonal compositions of Austria’s Schoenberg to the realization of total serialism of Olivier Messiaen we continue our coverage with German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and the evolution of electronic music. This episode we’ll hear from Stockhausen scholar Joe Drew; thanks to Ben Siler as the voice of Stockhausen.

Stockhausen tracks in order:
Kontra-Punkte
Kreuzspiel
Klavierstuck
Gesang Der Junglinge
Gruppen
Kontakte
Stimmung
Momente
Aus Den Seiben
Fur Kommende
Gesang Der Junglinge

The Birth of Modern Music Series Part 5: Karlheinz Stockhausen

This episode of Sonosphere takes a look at the life and work of composer Pauline Oliveros through the eyes and ears of those who worked with her and learned from her. We spoke with Claire Chase, Wu Fei, Monique Buzzarte, Tara Rodgers, and Kerry O'Brien about how Pauline touched their lives personally and professionally, and how her legacy shaped the musical world of today.

sonospherepodcast.com
WYXR 91.7 FM Mondays 4-5pm CT
 
 Join us.
 
Tracks in this episode:
Mnemonics IV - Pauline Oliveros
Ocean State - Tara Rodgers
A Bubble in My Eye - Monique Buzzarte
Dawn - Wu Fei
b_second - Deep Listening Band
Bye Bye Butterfly - Pauline Oliveros
Nike - Deep Listening Band
d_forth - Deep Listening Band
Tribute to Pauline Oliveros Sonic Meditations - Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
ICE Performs Pauline Oliveros "Concerto for Bass Drum"
ICE Performs Pauline Oliveros "Double X"

Pauline Oliveros

In this special, bonus episode of Sonosphere, we present An Evening with Wu Fei in collaboration with Crosstown Arts. This is Fei's live performance at the Crosstown Arts gallery on Cleveland Street in Memphis, TN on June 30, 2017. The intimate space lent itself to an interactive performance between the audience and Wu Fei, as she showcases what the guzheng can do through its thousand-year history.

Wu Fei is a composer and guzheng player. She is a native of Beijing and a current Nashville resident. She is a master of the guzheng, the ancient 21-string Chinese zither. At this performance Fei told stories of her upbringing in Beijing, her relentless practice with the guzheng and how she found improv at Mills College and through her time in New York's improv scene. She mixes her Western and Chinese traditional sensibilities with a contemporary, experimental dialect that only Fei can convey in her "down-to-earth," personable way. We thank her and Crosstown Arts for an amazing show!

An Evening with Wu Fei

Welcome to Press Play, a monthly interview and mixtape from record labels, musicians, and bands from around the globe and in our own backyard! This month's Press Play mixtape comes from a Toronto-based label called Adhesive Sounds (A/S). Sonosphere connected with A/S creator, Kel.

When did you create Adhesive Sounds?

The winter of 2014 was a time when I was basically housebound with an illness. I was forced to find some kind of creative outlet to keep me active and ease any symptoms of cabin fever.

During my imposed confinement, I started listening to more ambient and freeform music. Film scores were big on my listening menu as well as modern composers. I studied graphic design, and have an enduring interest in the relationship between sound and imagery and its packaging. Music has always been a huge part of my life and starting a label had been a pipe-dream. The label developed from this period of isolation. A blessing in disguise.

For more on our interview with Kel and a complete track listing visit sonospherepodcast.com

Press Play on Adhesive Sounds

This month Sonosphere talks with Martyn Heyne, composer, producer and engineer. Martyn has a new album out on November 17th called Electric Intervals on !K7 Records’ new imprint 7K!

We discuss the making of this album, which is his first full-length solo work. Martyn has worked as a producer and engineer with the likes of Nils Frahm, The National, Efterklang, Peter Broderick, and others.

We also chat about the creating the video of the single “Carry” with FELD, the Berlin based design studio behind the album’s imagery, and the nuisances involved in listening and recording music. 

Tracks in this episode:
The National - Don't Swallow the Cap
Martyn Heyne - Curium
Martyn Heyne - Carry
Funkstörung - Test

sonospherepodcast.com 
@sonospod

Martyn Heyne: Electric Intervals

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!

www.sonospherepodcast.com
@sonospod

Drones: A Brief History of Sustained Tones in Music

Welcome to Sonosphere, the podcast that explores the sounds all around us. 

The first artist we present in our 2019 Sound Observation series is Nadah El Shazly, Egyptian composer, musician and producer. She will be performing at Crosstown Arts' Green Room in Memphis, TN on May 31st as a part of her first tour in the U.S. We are so excited to have her in Memphis. Performance at 8pm.

Sonosphere spoke briefly with Nadah prior to her show. She talks about collaborating in the Cairo music scene, her debut album and her experiences on her first U.S. tour. 

Thanks for listening.

Nadah El Shazly

This month on Sonosphere we hear from Ken Zuckerman, co-founder of the Ali Akbar College in Basel, Switzerland and sarod aficionado.  Peter Lavezzoli, author, percussionist and vocalist also joins us as we discuss how Indian Classical Music has influenced modern rock, pop and ambient music today.

While we only scratch the surface of Indian Classical Music, you'll find how one man in particular, Ali Akbar Khan, took America and popular music by storm through his teachings that span across the world and across musical genres.

More information at www.sonospherepodcast.com

Indian Classical Music

Welcome to Sonosphere. Here we feature our second show live on WYXR. We couldn’t be more excited for today’s show. 

Last week, we featured an interview with abstract turntablist Maria Chavez and vocalist Christina Carter. Today, we will continue our journey exploring the record player. You will hear some music from Cut Chemist, Handel, Lee Scratch Perry, Cab Callaway, Grandmaster Flash and others during the next hour. We will highlight the rise of the radio disc jockey and sampling.

Check us out every Monday on WYXR 91.7 FM in Memphis 4-5pm CST

www.sonospherepodcast.com

Two Turntables and a Mic: Live from WYXR

The independently produced podcast that explores the sounds all around us; in art and music movements through history.

sonosphere

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