Sonosphere

On this episode we talk with Carolina Eyck, one of the world’s foremost thereminist, about growing up with classical music and how she knew the Theremin would be her thing. Eyck releases her third LP for Butterscotch Records, Elegies for Theremin & Voice, on September 27th.  Ten pieces form a haunting work reflecting sadness and loss, anger and depression. Eyck shares with Sonosphere the process o...

This episode of Sonosphere features the North Indian instrument, the sarod. One of the most popular instruments in Hindustani music, the sarod's 20th century master was Indian composer, teacher and musician, Ali Akbar Khan. We speak with contemporary sarod virtuoso, Ken Zuckerman about mastering the demanding instrument and how he and Khan brought various innovations and inventions to the sound. ...

Welcome to Sonosphere's Underscore series where we highlight composers, artists, creators, and more. This episode we highlight Alex Weston,  a New York-based composer. This month he released his score for the Lulu Wang film The Farewell. On this episode we talk with him about his process for The Farewell and his approach to music in film versus his approach to commissioned works for live dance and...

Welcome to Sonosphere radio, today we welcome Robert Traxler, founder of the Memphis Concrete experimental music festival happening this month in Memphis – June 29th and 30th. In its third year, the Memphis Concrete music festival is featuring headliners Matmos, Moor Mother, Rapoon, Mykel Boyd, Tavishi and featuring a live score of the original Tron – all right here in Memphis at Crosstown Arts. ...

Welcome to Sonosphere radio. Occasionally, Sonosphere will post playlists curated by artists, record label owners, music enthusiasts, DJs, and sometimes by us. This week we’ll hear a collaborative mixtape session with from Natalie Hoffman of the band NOTS fame. She has a project now with Memphis DJ and electronic artist Ben Bauermeister called Optic Sink. Check out Optic Sink at the Memphis Concre...

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...

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...

Sonosphere's last Sound Observations series for 2018 ended on a high note. We welcomed Nicole Mitchell to perform flute with electronics. Thanks to Nicole Mitchell and Crosstown Arts for their partnership in this series. More information at sonospherepodcast.com and subscribe on itunes, follow us on social media @sonospod

We hosted our final Sound Observation series by inviting Nicole Mitchell to Memphis. In this episode, we present Afrofuturism:Building Communities, a panel that explored beyond the concept of Afrofuturism. Memphis based Publisher and Author Sheree Renee Thomas led the discussion featuring Nicole Mitchell, and a few Memphians, including Producer/Performer and CEO of James Dukes aka “IMAKEMADBEATS,”...

This episode Sonosphere visits Dirty Socks Studios, which is the base camp for Unapologetic. The studio is a sanctuary for those who dare to commit to their craft. The theme is dedication to yourself and your mission. Unapologetic is a collective that looks to push Memphis forward. The collective is a cast of characters that are as odd as their aliases. Lead by IMAKEMADBEATS, Unapologetic has put...

Korean cellist, composer, and improviser, Okkyung Lee talks with Sonosphere about her time at this year's Big Ears festival in Knoxville, TN, working with Evan Parker, learning to love the cello, and what's in store for her this year. sonospherepodcast.com @sonospod

This episode Sonosphere dives into Remix Memphis with Alex Greene and Luis Seixas, two Memphis musicians that make the duo The E.G.G.G. Remix Memphis grew out of a partnership with the Urban Arts Commission and the city of Memphis' 3.0 comprehensive planning initiative that worked to solicit participation from community leaders, residents and planners to inform future land use and neighborhood pla...

In this month's episode we highlight Sonosphere's Sound Observations series. Sound Observations is a quarterly performance and lecture series featuring experimental artists from around the nation. We were honored to host turntablist and DJ Maria Chavez, and vocalist and musician  Christina Carter of The Charalambides on May 11, 2018. Maria and Christina's site specific works took place in the atri...

Moogfest continued... brings you a brief interview with Kai Riedl, Operations Director at Moogfest. He says this festival seeks to bring new forms of creativity, form communities around art and technology, and create spaces for artists of all inclinations, genres, subcultures and movements. Although it seems timely to showcase female and non-binary artists this year, according to Kai, Moogfest has...

Sonosphere ventured out to MoogFest this year and we caught up with Memphis-based Delta Sound Labs. Their audiovisual installation called Vorticity was a collaboration between Delta Sound Labs + Nokia Bell Labs at American Underground in Durham, NC. This interactive, data-art set brought science and art together. Of the free programming, this fun, collaborative piece showcased what Delta Sound Lab...

This month the Sonosphere podcast highlights our conversation with Tess Roby from our Moog Fest visit back in May this year. She recently released her debut album Beacon on Italians Do It Better. Hailing from Montreal, Tess Roby brings dreamy synths and strong vocals on melodic tracks like "Given Signs" and "Catalyst." She talks to us about her inspiration for Beacon, how her photography inspires...

Sonosphere spoke with Rachel Grimes about her score for the film The Doctor from India. Rachel talks about the composition and the ways this film has inspired her to pay closer attention to the way she lives her own life. The interview took place via telephone on April 4th, 2018 and Rachel talks about the importance of this date. Enjoy!

This month the Press Play mixtape features Tara Rodgers, aka Analog Tara. Tara is a multi-instrumentalist composer and historian of electronic music and sound who produces techno tracks using analog sound sources. This is a mix of Analog Tara tracks from the album At the Switch Hotel from 2003, written, performed, and produced by Analog Tara on synths, drum machines & more. She’ll be presenting a...

Aukai talks about his history and his new album Branches of the Sun

Welcome to Press Play, the monthly playlist curated by labels and artists from around the world. Today Sonosphere highlights the French label, A N Y W A V E. This mix was a collaboration created by both Anywave co-founder Aurel Delamour and Anywave artist, Bad News from Cosmos with exclusive, unreleased tracks from Fléau and Patrick Wiklacz. We had the pleasure to correspond with Aurel about the i...

New York City-based composer collective ICEBERG New Music was in residence at Crosstown Arts for two weeks of concerts, workshops, and lectures back in June of 2017. We spoke with composers from the second of the two concerts in the Crosstown Arts series, and attended their workshops and lectures that ranged from a “Sound Scavenger Hunt” to a lecture on “Popular and Classical Music in 1960s Americ...

Mix curated by Ihcilon

Birth of Modern Music Part 6: John Cage by Sonosphere Podcast

Parsons Rocket Project is obsessed with all things celestial and spacey. Perhaps that's why they named their band after rocket scientist, Jack Parsons... Sonosphere corresponded with the members of PRP to talk about space, time, and the music in between. They also shared a dream-pop playlist flush with rock reverb, fuzz and disco thumps. Check it all out in the interview on our website: sonosphere...

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 c...