Crucial Listening

Making work out of bones, Bach in intergalactic excess, pre-admin ABC karaoke. The composer and improviser discusses three important albums.

Jennifer's picks:

Meredith Monk – Our Lady Of Late
Voyager – The Golden Record
ABC – The Lexicon Of Love

Jennifer's collaboration with Tony Conrad, In The Merry Month Of May, is out now on Drag City affiliate label Blue Chopsticks. Check it out on Bandcamp. Jennifer's website is here and she's on X as @JenniferWalshe.

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Fountains of ideas, mind blown in Rap City, candy wrapper responses. The New Brunswick-based trumpet player, improviser and composer discusses three important albums.

Nicole's picks:

Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
A Tribe Called Quest – Low End Theory
Steve Lacy – Snips: Live at Environ

Nicole's album Saudade is out on Ansible Editions. Check it out on Bandcamp. Find all of Nicole's other links (socials, website) right here.

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Dizzy rhythms, slippery transitions, sincerity and playfulness. The Oakland-based composer and performer discusses three important albums.

Michelle's picks:

Zeena Parkins – Zeena Parkins and The Adorables
Duke Ellington – The Best Of Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra
Caetano Veloso – Transa

Michelle's new record, Late Morning, is out now on AKP Recordings. Check it out on Bandcamp. Her website is here and she's also on Instagram.

Donate to Crucial Listening on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/cruciallistening

Obstetric ambient, sullen atmospheres, episodic engulfment. The classical ambient composer discusses three important albums.

Adam's picks:

Environments (Irv Teibel) – Environments 2
Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden
Main – Hz

Adam's new album, Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentothal, is out now on Kranky. Check it out on his Bandcamp. Adam's website is here.

Donate to Crucial Listening on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/cruciallistening

Train breakdown Feldman epiphanies, radical flatness in the primeval forest, the Gary Numan barracks theft. The New York-based composer discusses three important albums.

Kenneth's picks:

Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle
Morton Feldman (Kronos Quartet with Aki Takahashi) – Piano And String Quartet
Glenn Gould – Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1955)

Kenneth's new album, Three Cellos, is the first instalment in Greyfade's FOLIO series: a hardcover book and a high resolution download. Check it out here or over on Bandcamp. Kenneth's website is over here.

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Aggressive pianos, bursting arpeggios, music for the cool kids. The Australian composer and producer discusses three important albums.

Madeleine's picks:

Philip Glass – Glassworks
Dirty Three – Whatever You Love, You Are
Tim Hecker – Virgins

Madeleine's new album, Bodies, is out now on Room40. Check it out on her Bandcamp. Her website is here and she's also Instagram.

Donate to Crucial Listening on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/cruciallistening

Black metal for midwest drives, post-apocalyptic collage, ragas for John. The Manchester, UK-based ambient folk artist discusses three important albums.

Ethan's picks:

Wolves In The Throne Room – Two Hunters
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F# A# ∞
Pelt – Ayahuasca

The new Black Brunswicker EP, A Moment Of Clarity, is out April 26th on Nettwerk. You can hear several tracks over on the Black Brunswicker bandcamp, and also see a couple of official videos over on Youtube. Ethan is also on Instagram.

Donate to Crucial Listening on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/cruciallistening

Cathartic tragedies, dog-eating opera, guitar improviser spirit animals. The vocalist, lyricist and composer from 9T Antiope discusses three important albums.

Sara and Nima's picks:

Scott Walker & Sunn O))) – Soused
Ben Frost – The Wasp Factory
Sidsel Endresen & Stian Westerhus – Bonita

The new 9T Antiope album, Horror Vacui, is out 12th April on American Dreams. Check it out here. 9T Antiope is on Twitter. Sara is on Twitter and Instagram.

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Voice drips like milk, rays of soprano sunlight, filthy metal bass face. Producer, vocalist and DJ Felicia Chen discusses three important albums.

Felicia's picks:
 
Arvo Pärt – Te Deum
Portishead – Dummy
Goth-Trad – Psionics

The collaborative record between Dis Fig and The Body is out now via Thrill Jockey. Check it out here. Dis Fig is on Instagram and Soundcloud.

The Body and Dis Fig will debut the collaboration at this year's Supersonic Festival in Birmingham UK, which runs 30th August – 1st September. More info here.

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Driving in fury, letting the endings be real, slow and lonely. The free improvisation percussionist discusses three important albums.

Mark's picks:

Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell – Old And New Dreams (1979)
Evan Parker – Monoceros
Rebecca Saunders – Fury II

As always, Mark has a bunch of upcoming live dates. These include Evan Parker's 80th birthday residency at Cafe Oto, for which Mark has prepared a four-part percussion group. Mark's website is here.

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