The Tonic

1-bit sound, spectral minimalism, sleep cassettes and the life and death of one the last great Romantics feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Cyprus, Greece, Canada and the US. With music by Lena Platonos, Yannis Kyriakides, Angélique Ionatos & Nena Venetsanou, Claude Vivie...

Chromesthesia, a text-sound classic, dispatches from the Antarctic frontier, sixth-tone chords and a mega-cistern feature amongst others in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from the Armenian Diaspora, Austria and the US. With music by Joseph Bohigian, Charles Amirkhanian, Vahram Sarkissian...

Psychotropic strings, autonomous snare drums, cave music, the meta-voice and a trombone alone on the beach feature among others in a new episode of The Tonic, broadcasting this Wednesday between 1300-1430 (GMT), with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Latvia and the US. With music by Georgs Pelēcis, Aulejas Sievas (wom...

Interspecies communication, pipe organ techno, old time and a prelude for four diesel locomotives and harp feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Belgium and the US.With music by Henri Pousseur, Ann Eysermans, Maxime Denuc, Pierre Slinckx, Baudouin de Jaer, Gabriela Smith, M...

To mark the end of 2023 Luke Fraser presented a special edition of The Tonic including a personal selection of pieces featured in the show over the past twelve months. Featuring some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Belgium, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the UK and USA.

Sleep deprivation, the sound of reanimation (= creepy), 88 tambura and X Chairman Maos feature among others in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Sweden and the UK.With music by Georgia Rodgers, Anthony Manning, Jack Sheen, Natasha Barrett, John Leely, Leo Chadburn, Lo Kristenson, Adria...

The politics of migration, the toll of separation, the sounding of painting and the poems of Walt Whitman and Lauren Rile Smith feature in a new Episode of the Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Brazil, Australia and the US.With music by Carolyn Chen, Molly Herron, John McGuire, Dana Jesson, Kate Moore, Paul Cli...

Skeletons expunged, the hyper-visuality of Lagos, Boy Meets Girl (broken for you) anda spectral freeze of the scream from Psycho along with 29 spatialised piccolos feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Italy, Nigeria and the US.With music by Valentina Magaletti, Marco Baldini, I...

Griot classics, hardanger fiddle, tactile transducers and Messiaen in a tiki bar all feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Canada, Norway and Mali. With music by Alison Cameron, Fjóla Evans, Emilie Cecilia LeBel, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, Fodé Lassana Diabaté, Mamadou Diabaté, Ro...

Interspecies communication, pipe organ techno, old time and a prelude for four diesel locomotives and harp feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Belgium and the US.With music by Henri Pousseur, Ann Eysermans, Maxime Denuc, Pierre Slinckx, Baudouin de Jaer, Gabriela Smith, M...

Pagan minimalism and robotic folklore rub shoulders with live coding, textile design and the auspicious thirteenth sound in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Lithuania and Mexico. With music by Carlos Chavez, Julián Carrillo, CNDSD, Robotic Folk, Juste Janulytė, Bronius Kutavičius, Egi...

The mysterious Nok culture, the sound of Sealand, a ride of the ghost train, Martian ballet, the God of sleep, and (probably) Viking bagpipes feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Nigeria, the Netherlands and the UK. With music by Chris Watson, Jasmine Morris, Duval Timothy...

Zombies, mouth synthesisers, the scraping of shoe heels on a pavement, the reclusive pianist nun and the sound of Ethiopiyawi all feature in a new episode of The Tonic, in a show featuring some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Ethiopia, Haiti and Sweden. With music by Nathalie Joachim, Frantz Casseus and Lolita Cuevas, Ludovic Lamothe, Jean Rud...

This month in The Tonic: from Kenya - the sounds of Nairobi, the peace places of childhood, and the best of new ambient; from Denmark - echoes of jazz fusion and musicians as insects en masse; and from Holland - the lodestone of minimalism, math rock for normies and just a smatter of panpipe fun. Presented by Luke Fraser. With music by Nyokabi Kariuki, Joseph Kamaru (KMRU), Sophia Bauer & Raph...

The politics of migration, the toll of separation, the sounding of painting and the poems of Walt Whitman and Lauren Rile Smith feature in a new Episode of the Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Brazil, Australia and the US. With music by Carolyn Chen, Molly Herron, John McGuire, Dana Jesson, Kate Moore, Paul Cl...

An orchestral cyborg, an autotune choir, trick repetitions, trans and queer sonics, a forgotten Minimalist classic and The Four Pillars Appearing Under Resonating Apparitions of the Eternal Process in the Midwinter Starfield feature in a new Episode of the Tonic, with some of the best new and recent instrumental and electronic classical music from Ireland and the US. With music by Randy Gibson, Sa...

The faded charm of old Hollywood, the sonic decay of old gramophones and the last embers of summer feature in a new episode of The Tonic, focusing on slow, quiet or otherwise gradually unfolding pieces that appear on new and lesser known instrumental and electronic classical music releases from across the UK and Spain. With music by Clara de Asís, Enrique Granados, Edith Alonso, Isaac Albeniz, Raq...

Bach refigured, the thread of Ariadne, Joropo, Llanera, Bagualas, Habaneras and a dig into some vintage Cuban electronic music flesh out a new episode of The Tonic, in a show featuring some of the best new and lesser known instrumental and electronic classical music from Venezuela, Argentina and Cuba. With music by Gabriela Montero, Antonio Lauro, Beatriz Bilbao, Heraclio Fernández, Ignacio "Indio...

Beguine mysticism, extended modes, the Mexico City subway system, dithered quantisation and a river of butterflies feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Mexico, the US, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Sardinia, Italy, and France. With music by Caterina Barbieri, Luciano Berio, Carlotta Fer...

Process music, Turkish poetry, timbral fusion, electronic ethnography and Mahler suspended in zero gravity feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico and the US. With music by Franca Sacchi, Roberto Musci, Franziska Baumann, Jürg Frey, Cem Güney, Fazil Say, Michael Winte...

The sound of the Flatlands, Slovakian folk, Looney Tunes, Cyborg synthesis, ASMR, and an Enhanced Interrogation of Authenticity fill out a new episode of The Tonic, in a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from The Netherlands, Slovakia and the US. Presented by Luke Fraser With music by Ilja Zeljenka, Adrián Demoč, Iris Szeghy, Cathy Berberian, Matt Carl...

The Tonic returns in a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Icelandic, Swedish and Black British composers. With music by Marta Forsberg, Maria W Horn, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Skúli Sverrisson, Thurídur Jónsdóttir, Hafdís Bjarnadóttir, Elaine Mitchener, Errollyn Wallen, Philip Herbert, Eleanor Alberga and James Wilson. The featured image show...

Ancient tunings, Inuit throat singing, Carnatic lyricism, Doom Metal (but polite) and forbidden erotic poetry combine and cohere in a new episode of the Tonic, focusing on music by Norwegian, Canadian and Indian-American composers. With music by Marc Sabat, Bekah Simms, Alexina Louie, Shirish Korde, Asha Srinivasan, Shruthi Rajasekar, Arne Nordheim, Ruth Bakke and Bertil Palmar Johansen. The featu...

Persian mystic poetry, Iranian sci-fi, Nordic herding calls, Tudor jazz, lesser-known English pastorals, and some by-all-reasonable-assessment fairly ravishing pieces for cello feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, in a show weaving ties between electronic and acoustic classical music from Sweden, England and Iran. With music by Karin Rehnqvist, Ákos Rózmann, Ellen Arkbro, Reza Vali, Sote (A...

The latest episode of The Tonic features standout electronic and instrumental classical music by African American, Ukrainian and Canadian composers. With music by Matana Roberts, Hale Smith, Shelley Washington, Olly Wilson, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Nikolai Kapustin, Bohdana Frolyak, Valentin Silvestrov, Sarah Davachi and Kali Malone. The featured image shows I blóma [In Bloom] (2019), an audio installa...