Fifteen Recommendations
Start your journey into our most recent interviews here - with music and videos. Updated almost daily.
Nina Vanhoenacker about Alternative Tuning Systems
Vanhoenacker's current album takes the cello through new tunings, fresh ways of performance and explorations into aleatorics and the borderzone between composition and improvisation. One thing is clear: When she plays her instrument, it is far more than just “an unbalanced piece of wood.”
MARIA Die RUHE about her Voice and Singing
There's a story to every song. With MARIA Die RUHE's latest single, there's even more to it than that. Recorded from a place of vulnerability and mortality, her performance is a reminder to never close our eyes to eternal truths: Love is not a weakness and the river of life will keep flowing.
BRUECKEN about Energy & Music
The post-rock fivepiece admit they're not a happy band. Behind their new album lie dark emotions, fears about the future and a deep disappointment in humanity. And yet, the sweeping, euphoric tone of their mostly instrumental compositions reveals glimmers of hope.
Carolyn Zaldivar aka Tangent Universes on All Things Modular
Field recording and playing the modular have something essential in common. They both treat the world and its sounds as an inexhaustible source of wonder. In Tangent Universes, these disciplines meet in a music that is reflective and expansive, familiar and mysterious all at once.
Mariana Ramos about her Voice and Singing
Mariana Ramos' acoustic songs are rooted in Creolan folk. The symphony orchestra, on the other hand, is a gargantuan apparatus. On “Sinfonico,” Ramos makes these two worlds feel as one – binding them together with nothing but her voice and absolute intention.
Lucy Kitchen about Lyrics
The songwriter's spellbinding new album serves as a reminder that folk music can be hypnotic and trance-inducing. Placid and floating on the surface, its sound is enriched by mellotron, strings and dreamy vocal layerings. The songs may be cast in a low light, but it's a light that never goes out.
Galcher Lustwerk about Emotions in Music
“My fear is that we stop evolving as listeners, becoming sonically illiterate, and accept capitalism as the only purpose for music. A world without music for music’s sake isn’t the world I want to live in.“
Morris Kolontyrsky (Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice) about Solos, Stillness and Shredding in Space
There is a place more remote than “Absolute Elsewhere”: The “Paradoxical Beyond,” an infiniscape folding time in on itself, a formless bubble linearly expanding and contracting with unpredictable, cyclical regularity. Bewildering and beautiful, it is home to Morris Kolontyrsky's “Origination.”
Camilla George about Directions in Jazz
When the saxophonist's debut album came out, celebrating her Nigerian heritage, “people couldn’t pronounce the names of the tracks or couldn’t understand their relevance.“ At the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, they'll be lining up to hear her live, transforming complex material into danceable anthems.
Wilson Tanner Smith Recommends Rich and Full Music, Super Coloristic Music and Music too Gorgeous to Resist
Includes albums by Alice Coltrane, Alabaster Deplume, Lia Kohl, Albert Ayler and Tomita.
Julia Hülsmann Shares her Creative Process
For her latest project, the pianist, known for her spellbinding quartet, doubled the amount of performers. The creative potential, however, seemed to multiply by much more. Underneath a layer of beautiful songs lies a galaxy of emotional resonance – intimate, imaginative and endlessly inventive.
Vadim Neselovskyi about Directions in Contemporary Composition
Usually, inspiration is a mysterious phenomenon for Vadim Neselovskyi. For his new project, meanwhile, the spark was clear. Originating as a diary of the war against Ukraine, PERSEVERANTIA turned into a valve, a process, a space for coping. And as long as the violence rages on, it won't be finished.
Aañi about the Magic of Sound
Performing in and with nature, the Italian-Dutch project's performances are private rituals of gratitude and giving back. Making music, as they put it, is less an act of invention but of making audible the sonic world that surrounds us at all times, everywhere we go.
Ioa Beduneau on All Things Modular
“For me, working with cables and plugs is abstract, mental and empirical,” French multidisciplinary artist Ioa Beduneau says. That's a surprise, since his music feels tangible, emotive and magical. The extreme minimalism of the music evokes feelings of introspection – and the desire to connect.
Nick Joz about Moving Beyond Modernist Conventions
For his album Hieroglyph & Stuttering, Nick Joz invited an ensemble of colleagues into the studio for improvisations that served to collect as many different sounds from them as possible - raw materials for a hallucinatory trip to the border between structure and formless infinity.
Anton Roolaart about the Songs and Lyrics of The Ballad of General Jupiter
“The preached approach now is often “release more frequently,” keep feeding the stream, keep the algorithm happy. I understand why people do it, but it can pull you away from the deeper work of building an album world.”
Rin Seo Shares her Creative Process
The composer's debut album is all about size: Its title piece alone is an ambitious tripart composition performed by a 15+-member band capturing the different moods of the Big Apple. And yet, the music feels as intimate as her ritual of a first cup of coffee prior to putting down the first note.
Laura van Hal about Directions in electronic music
The Dutch DJ and producer's compositional output is slim. But every track hits the spot. Van Hal's perspective is community-oriented and driven by a deep love for the roots of electronic music. Her trajectory may by now have become global but, as this interview proves, her heart is still local.
Yamirah’s Solar Explorers about Directions in Jazz
On the debut album of her new trio, Yamirah Gercke's guitar sounds like it's bathing in light. Luxuriously drenched in gorgeous reverb and placed prominently upfront in the mix, it's more than just beautiful - it's a voice of calm and wisdom in a world shaken by chaos and madness.
Jonas Olsson about Interpretation
“Every artist needs to continuously question their own habits and prejudices. Which parts of whatever artistic tradition are actually valuable, and which are just accumulations of bad habits?”
Inox Traxx about Emotions in Music
Techno started out as a manifestation of the machine soul. In the music of Inox Traxx, that machine is now beginning to speak: Echoes of voices – torn, deformed, and in search of a body – float through darkly lit corridors, as barebone beats pound themselves into a delirious trance.
Nusantara Beat Share their Creative Process
Initially, the sixpiece's debut album was to contain several cover versions. In the end, the band went all-in on their own material. Fusing percussive grooves with improvised jams and Indonesian folk, it's hard to imagine how this psychedelic flowstate could ever have turned out differently.
Blue Tomorrows about the Magic of Sound(s)
For her new collection of whispered watercolor-songs Sarah Nienaber took the term “recording in the box” literally. It was only inside a tiny, sound-proofed and air-tight room that she found the solitude and isolation required to place these dreamy pieces in the right ambient light.
JL Segel on All Things Modular
“Modular systems are linked to ritual. You have to enter an intentional and spiritual space of creation.”
Pullman Share their Creative Process
The story to Pullman's third album reads like a melancholic novel: Twenty years after their last release and sparked by terminal illness, five friends get together again to record music one last time. The result is a bittersweet soundtrack to the beauty of memories and the brutality of time.
BRUECKEN Recommend Music between Distortion and Chaos, Despair and Beauty
Includes albums by Cult of Luna, Mogwai, The Quiet Lamb, and Envy
Thadz and Slugo about Directions in Electronic Music
For outsiders, Chicago footwork can seem the stuff of historical essays, caught in a retro loop of tired cliches. In reality, as two fresh and sparkling new releases by Thadz and Slugo prove, the scene couldn't be more vital – celebrating its roots while pushing towards the future.
schntzl about Trance-Inspirations, Hyper-Visuality and Fata Morgana
Just like Taylor Swift works in eras, Belgian duo schntzl create new worlds for each project. After the playful improvisations of their previous release, their latest full-length was inspired by the emotional anthems of Belgian Trance – and the challenge of riding a “bicycle with an oval wheel.”
Tomoko Omura Shares her Creative Process
There's a naked brutality to the explosion of a Nuclear bomb that remains hard to grasp – and even harder for Hollywood to depict. For her new project of chamber jazz, violinist-composer Tomoko Omura didn't just research the history of these weapons but faced their horror face-on.
Michael Stephen Brown about Directions in Contemporary Composition
The New York composer doesn't feel any pressure to write for the future. Maybe that's why the sensual chamber pieces of his new album feel so uniquely anchored in the present. It is a music of intimate confessions and small gestures that coalesce into something profound and meaningful.
Liz Hogg Shares her Creative Process
6 years after a stunning collection of classical guitar pieces, the NY artist returns with a suite of outwardly straight-forward songs. Drawing from a vast pool of ideas, it feels surprisingly seamless, as motoric-in-spirit drums and heavenly vocal arrangements combine to create a sweet trance.
Myra about Directions in Electronic Music
“Techno is much more than just music,” Myra says. He work is living proof of that philosophy. Her latest track, a hypnotic sequencer ritual, is part of a compilation celebrating leading Amsterdam venue RADION and clubs in general as nodes of counterculture: “Dancing will always be political!”
Jon Porras (Barn Owl) about the Magic of Sound(s)
“Our visual world is overflowing with images that are just impressions. Perhaps there are social conflicts that persist because we collectively react to signals when we should be listening to stories.”
Carlos Giffoni Shares his Creative Process
Giffoni's hypnotic sound art isn't born on a grid, it follows an inner timeline. His new album collapses space for a collection of global collaborations. Exclusively containing contributions by colleagues with a distinct voice, the result turned out remarkably seamless.
PSTMRD on All Things Modular
“Working with cables and connections teaches you to accept uncertainty and changes how you perceive structure and time.”
Dory Hayley about Interpretation
Dory Hayley's take on Morton Feldman's “Three Voices” follows in the footsteps of iconic performers and classic recordings. And yet, it manages to add a new immersive depth to the piece – testimony to her creed that every performance unavoidably expresses a personal truth.
Geologist about the Magic of Sound(s)
The new album by the Animal Collective member is asking for cigarettes. As it turns out, it's a homologue for his melancholic collage music: Turning something tangible into smoke, watching it draw shapes in the air before dissolving, leaving the mind altert and a bittersweet taste on the tongue.
Annabelle Chairlegs Shares her Creative Process
The songs of Annabelle Chairlegs are populated by real-life people going through everyday things. And yet, the experience is intense, meaningful and beguiling in a broken way. Playful riffs, vulnerable arrangements, a voice oscillating between charm and pain – it's all about intention.
Kiyan Foroughi about Production, Technology, and Creativity
“The limitation is the art. It creates a universe and feelings around them. Constraints create meaning.”
SOHN Shares his Creative Process
The British composer-producer wasn't sure his new album was on the right track. Then he discovered he'd already finished it. Aiming for songs, his subconscious had led him in another direction – towards mysterious semblances, sequencer infinity, and heartbreaking ambient endlessness.
Diogo Strausz about Emotions in Music
"Aesthetics matter a lot. Imagine if Van Gogh's paintings were black and white."
Wes Smith about the Magic of Sound(s)
When he's not touring with Booker T, the Los Angeles saxophonist contributes to projects by the likes of Pharrell Williams, and Robin Thicke. But only now was he able to put together the band of his dreams – for an EP so warm, funky and soulful that you'd wish you'd never wake up from it.
Xol Meissner about his Voice and Singing
There are plenty “disembodied” or “ghostly” voices. Xol Meissner's, however, sounds as though it were conversely re-embodied after spending time between this world and another, like a ghost slipping back into a physical shell. Singing saved Xol Meissner. Maybe his music can save you, too.
Patrick Ellis about Directions in Contemporary Composition
“Music is all about creating, sharing ideas, and connecting with each other. If we take that away from the equation, then it is merely a digital product.”
Patrick Fitzgerald aka Stephen Hero Shares his Creative Process
Patrick Fitzgerald has literally written hundreds of songs, many of them gorgeous, many of them filled with poetic observations. What makes him pick one chord over another, follow this theme while dropping that one, what makes lyrics either beautiful or banal? If only he knew.
Björn Meyer Shares his Creative Process
Listening to Meyer play his bass is like looking deep into his eyes – an intimate connection wordlessly bridging the divide between sender and receiver. Locking into tactile patterns, then again feeling its way through dreams of baroque beauty, his new ECM album creates a space of deep resonance.
Sera Kalo about Lyrics
“Poetry can break your heart. But music can break your heart and rearrange your nervous system.”
Maximilian Hering about Drums and Drumming
Yes, there are drum solos on Maximilian Hering's “The Gathering.” But so are soulful flute lines and tender reed harmonies; and for every bar of relentless swing there is a corresponding moment of inward-looking stillness. It isn't virtuosity that drives these jazz pieces – but the rhythm of life.
Waan about Directions in Jazz
Waan's debut was one of my favourite jazz-adjacent LPs of the past years. Their new one looks set to keep me happy for another few. Drawing from the band's live performances, “We Want WAAN” leans towards pulsation, ecstasy, trance – and the simple pleasure of getting lost in the groove.
Morning Stars about Collaboration
When drummer Sebastian Vogel hit the big 5, his friends treated him to a special birthday present: A band. As befits a gift, Morning Stars are about friendship and fun. Songs are loose and filled with gorgeous vocal harmonies – while spinning out into epic arrangements with dervish-like motorics.
Miska Lamberg about the Magic of Sounds
Miska Lamberg's “Evening, window” is a gentle obduction into a different world: Melodies drift by like clouds, harmonies bleed into field recordings, cycles loop until they no longer have a beginning or an end. Images disappear until there's nothing left but an ear drifting in an ocean of sound.
Antonio Sánchez about Drums & Drumming
There is a rhythm to everything: our breath and our speech, our laughter and our cries, to the way we walk and the way we think. And so, drumming, for Antonio Sánchez is more than playing the drums - or maybe playing the drums, just the life it draws from, is ultimately about everything as well.
Angie Perera about Lyrics
Angie Perera's new single is as sweet and celebratory as her previous ones. But the African touch of the beats and the beauty of the lyrics sung in what she describes as imperfect Chichewa reveal this as something different and special – a tribute to her home of Malawi, a declaration of love.
Delaney Bailey about her Voice and Singing
Life is a struggle, life is unpredictable, life can get messy. So why should music pretend otherwise? Delaney Bailey's songs are odes to imperfection, arrows released with love but dipped in the bitter truth. Being this open can be painful – but it's where the healing begins.
Emile Martinez about Directions in Jazz
“Jazz came from people who had very little and created something world-changing. That’s the part that always hits me: the personal and collective sacrifices it took to keep this music alive, to pass it down, and to evolve it.”
Chaton Laveur about Kraut & Krautrock
Belgian duo Chaton Laveur are almost closer to the original Kraut spirit than some of the originators. Their songs weave melancholic dream pop moods around motorik groove patterns and psychedelic sound worlds – adding their own little star to a galaxy of wondrous constellations.
César Merveille about Directions in Electronic Music
Few enjoy being questioned. César Merveille actively seeks it out. “Community teaches you there isn’t just one way to make music,” he stresses, “There are infinite paths.” His new EP is a particularly lovely one – slightest variations in lush, hypnotic loops leading to a place of cosmic bliss.
Erik Hall about Interpretation
Hall's unique and moving interpretations are explorations of score and performer alike. He can be 18 musicians at once for Steve Reich, an intimate keyboard-trio for Simeon ten Holt, a human synthesizer for Laurie Spiegel. It's not a question of rules or faith - it's a question of love.
İlhan Erşahin Shares his Creative Process
Every project has a color for the Swedish-Turkish polyhyphenate. And so it is with the new full-length of his band The Istanbul Sessions - which shines with the red of passion, the blue of an open sky, the green of rolling grooves and the bright yellow of a sun setting over a world without borders.
TheARTI$T about Directions in R&B
After a lengthy absence from the headlines, R&B is finally in the spotlight again. For singer-songwriter TheARTI$T, however, this is not a comeback. As her delectably warm and comforting music proves, a music as timeless as this is always in season.
Arnau Obiols about Directions in Electronic Music
Krautrock was the gateway into electronic music for the Barcelona-based performer-producer. It continues to influence his work which spans a spectrum from psychedelic folk via drifty dub to house-driven spiritual jazz. It's not about being eclectic – it all slots together if you just let go.
Marina Trench about Directions in Electronic Music
The French producer sees art as a tool for a deeper understanding of ourselves, furthering dialogue with others and advancing freedom. The current obsession with technology and “rational” logic is leading us away from what really matters: “Sensibility and how it is interpreted.”
Tesfa Williams about Emotions in Music
“Music has the power to shift people emotionally. When you shift emotion, you can shift perspective.”
Ulrika Spacek Share their Creative Process
For their upcoming fourth album, the band spent a year writing new music, then another one shaping it. Occasionally embracing chaos full-on, the resulting pieces playfully twist the song format, blurring the boundaries between a live band and its electronically re-assembled ghost.
OMA about Directions in Hip Hop
Sampling remains an important aspect of hip hop culture. But who is going to provide the material for future generations to sample once the well has run dry? OMA are stepping up to the challenge with dark, soulful instrumentals that feed from free-flowing improv and real time interaction.
Erica Tucceri about her Path to Jazz and the Melbourne Jazz Scene
The way the Australian flutist describes her hometown makes it seem like the best place for record digging and seeing inventive musicians tap into creative energy stream each night. Still, her own music – dreamy, floating, ethereal - takes listeners to even more beautiful places.
Alex Ventling about Improvisation
“I would go as far to say that the initial idea doesn’t even matter compared to the transformation of it.”
Diogo Piçarra about his Voice and Singing
Piçarra's electronically charged future-rock has global appeal. But it could never be decoupled from his Portuguese roots. His love for music is based on his belief in its fundamental role: “Music is the most rudimentary and ancestral form of culture, a symbol of our prehistoric intelligence.”
Yuhan Su about Directions in Jazz
Yuhan Su's music is mysterious and magical, a smouldering stream of questions. “I’m always stimulated by things slightly out of balance and out of the ordinary,” she explains, “I play around gravity in music.” And yet, her genuinely exciting new path in jazz always has both feet on the ground.
Janina about DJing
“Music and dancing are like yin and yang, or day and night — one can’t exist without the other.“
Ife Ogunjobi Shares his Creative Process
We should be more like children, the Nigerian trumpet player feels: Fearless, carefree, confident in who we are. His new EP of delightfully sweet, deep and uplifting soul jazz expresses his own desire to enter this state and to keep creating without doubt, intellectual analysis and boundaries.
Victoria Pham aka VP about the Magic of Sound(s)
Music is a realm of pure imagination. What, the mesmerisingly utopian work of Victoria Pham seems to ask, if we used that power to rebuild music itself from the inside – extending, through that process, the limitations of what is imaginable in the first place?
Mark Harwood Shares his Creative Process
Chance is a friend for Mark Harwood. And yet, his two simultaneously published new albums are carefully sculpted - following a psychedelic trail of crumbs through a magical forest of kraut and soft noise towards a mesmerising conclusion.
Louis Matute about Directions in Jazz
The Swiss guitarist sees music as a different path for dealing with the topics of our time. The warm sound and elevating grooves of his new album are his personal way of processing anger, building bridges and transforming despair into hope.
Nate08 about Emotions in Music
For Nathan Thomas, the job of a producer is to step out of the music's way. The challenge to give his soulful garage-house anthems the shine they need without compromising their soul: “A bit of refining helps - but I try not to polish the life out of them.”
Camila Nebbia about Improvisation
What is music? Controlled chaos, directed dreaming - or hypermania, as Camila Nebbia's new trio with Gonçalo Almeida and Sylvain Darrifourq describe it: A state of low-level mania, a stream equally capable of exploding into bursts of noisy free jazz and withdrawing into sculpted ambiance.
Wilson Tanner Smith about the Magic of Sound(s)
The word “meditative” is sure to come up in relation to the work of Wilson Tanner Smith. But if anything, pieces like 22-minute drone-zone "Palace of Culture" remind us that meditation is not about stealing us away from reality – but making us more aware of it.
Anton Roolaart about Lyrics
Words can be an obstacle to enlightenment. For Anton Roolaart, however, as for the great Zen masters, the right lyrics bridge the divide between literal meaning and the truth hidden behind it. The doors don't have to be cleansed – just say the word and enter the infinite.
