Sonosphere

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 America.” Memphis-based contemporary chamber group Blueshift Ensemble collaborated with ICEBERG and performed the collective’s original compositions for the concert series.

I hope you enjoy our talk about Iceberg's mission, the future of new music, collaboration, blending genre's and more! 

Visit sonospherepodcast.com for track listing.

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: sonospherepodcast.com

Track listing:

Trailer Trash Tracys - Strangling Good Guys (0:00)

Ulrich Schnauss, Mark Peters - Slow Southern Skies (3:48)

Parsons Rocket Project - Exit Launch (8:05)

Amber Arcades - Turning Light (11:01)

Blouse - Happy Days (18:02)

No Joy - Second Spine (22:13)

PLS PLS - Jet Black (26:03)

Applesauce Tears - Fuzzy Mammoth (29:30)

Bee Gees - Jive Talkin’ (33:21)

No Joy - Hellhole (37:06)

Ummagma - Rotation (40:25)

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

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Interview with Ryan and Gibby of Dais Records followed by a playlist.

Tracklist:

2:45 Ragnar Grippe - Sand Part 1

30:02 Tor Lundvall - Hiding

32:56 Coil - 7-Methoxy-β-Carboline: (Telepathine)

55:49  GENESIS BREYER P-ORRIDGE & Thee Early Worm - Rather Hard to Libel

57:22 Choir Boy - Sunday Light

1:01:29 YOU - Feral

1:05:26 Psychic TV - Papal Breakdance

1:11:37 Annabelle's Garden - If

1:16:37 Youth Code - What Is The Answer

1:19:37 Drab Majesty - 39 By Design

1:24:30 Death of Lovers - The Absolute

1:29:35 Deviation Social - Machines Convulse

1:32:58 Sissy Spacek - Always Eating

1:33:16 Aaron Dilloway - Ghost

1:38:05 Iceage - Remember

1:40:17 Coum Transmissions - 73 Vibrant

1:43:07 Them Are Us Too - Marilyn

1:46:41 Twin Stumps - Siberia

1:50:58 Tor Lundvall - July Evening

1:52:30 Cold Showers - New Dawn

1:57:00 Martial Canterel - And I Thought

2:00:49 Drew McDowall - This Is What It's Like

This month Sonosphere teams up with the Rock 'n' Soul Museum and the Memphis Musicology podcast to bring you 60 years of Royal Studios. We visit with co-owner and music producer Boo Mitchell on a tour of Royal Studios in South Memphis.

Come celebrate with Boo and the Mitchell family at the Levitt Shell on October 14th featuring local, regional and national artists and November 18th for the grand finale event at the Orpheum. For more information visit royalstudios.com

Special thanks to Ezra Wheeler from the Rock 'n' Soul Museum and host of the Memphis Musicology podcast for co-producing this episode with Sonosphere. Visit memphisrocknsoul.org

For photos of the Royal Studios tour and more visit sonospherepodcast.com

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

A recap of Continuum Music Festival that happened in Memphis, TN August 3-5, 2017. Enjoy!

On June 24th and 25th of 2017 an interesting experimental electronic music fest descended upon the MidSouth with artists primarily from Memphis, Mississippi, and the southeast.

"I wanted to take electronic music back to its roots," said creator Robert Traxler. His inception for the fest came from the experimental spirit of the original electronic music artists like Delia Derbyshire, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Suzanne Ciani, Pierre Schaeffer, and many, many more from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. But musique concrete is not all we found at this festival. Harsh noise, techno, ambient analog improv sets, and a live score of Forbidden Planet were a few of the performances found at Memphis Concrete. 

Take a tour through the fest with Robert and some of the talented artists that participated in the Memphis Concrete Festival in the latest episode of Sonosphere.

Thanks to:

Robert Traxler

Dominic Van Horn (Aster, manualcontrol)

Luis Seixas

Ben Bauermeister

Kim Rueger (Belly Full of Stars)

Connor Brown (Cheap Spirits)

Kane Blanchard (Tatras)

Kole Oakes (Pas Moi)

The live Memphis Concrete sets heard here by Belly Full of Stars, Aster, Cheap Spirits, Pas Moi, Ben Bauermeister, Tatras, manualcontrol, and Robert Traxler were captured and edited by Robert Traxler. Two other tracks used by participants in the fest are "#2" by NEPTR and "Viginti Quintuplet" by Ben Ricketts. Thanks to all the artists for sharing their time and work.