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 plans for the city. Art was an important piece. As a musician Alex was interested in the sounds of the ...
Oct 14, 2018•30 min
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 atrium of the Crosstown Concourse building, an old Sears Roebuck building retrofitted for art galleries, ...
Aug 24, 2018•40 min
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 had a history of being an inclusive festival. Tracks in the episode: Smerz - Worth It Caterina Barb...
Jul 27, 2018•11 min
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 Labs can create with innovative, high-speed Schlieren imaging equipment and two sonified datasets. Colo...
Jul 17, 2018•21 min
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 songwriting and how growing up in a musical family lead her to collaborating with her brother on her...
Jun 29, 2018•10 min
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!
May 09, 2018•20 min
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 free, open to the public artist talk at noon on the Crosstown Concourse Theater Stair in Memphis...
Mar 15, 2018•36 min
Aukai talks about his history and his new album Branches of the Sun
Feb 28, 2018•21 min
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 inception of the label and what's in store for the future. Check out the interview and track list at ...
Feb 13, 2018•1 hr
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 perfor...
Jan 31, 2018•37 min
Mix curated by Ihcilon
Jan 18, 2018•38 min
Birth of Modern Music Part 6: John Cage by Sonosphere Podcast
Dec 31, 2017•1 hr 13 min
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 ...
Nov 15, 2017•45 min
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 beh...
Oct 31, 2017•29 min
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 Absol...
Oct 17, 2017•2 hr 5 min
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 Wheel...
Sep 29, 2017•38 min
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 fev...
Sep 13, 2017•1 hr 11 min
A recap of Continuum Music Festival that happened in Memphis, TN August 3-5, 2017. Enjoy!
Sep 01, 2017•46 min
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 ...
Jul 27, 2017•41 min
In this special, bonus episode of Sonosphere, we present An Evening with Wu Fei in collaboration with Crosstown Arts. This is Fei's live performance at the Crosstown Arts gallery on Cleveland Street in Memphis, TN on June 30, 2017. The intimate space lent itself to an interactive performance between the audience and Wu Fei, as she showcases what the guzheng can do through its thousand-year history. Wu Fei is a composer and guzheng player. She is a native of Beijing and a current Nashville reside...
Jul 07, 2017•1 hr 11 min
This episode of Sonosphere takes a look at the life and work of composer Pauline Oliveros through the eyes and ears of those who worked with her and learned from her. We spoke with Claire Chase, Wu Fei, Monique Buzzarte, Tara Rodgers, and Kerry O'Brien about how Pauline touched their lives personally and professionally, and how her legacy shaped the musical world of today. sonospherepodcast.com WYXR 91.7 FM Mondays 4-5pm CT Join us. Tracks in this episode: Mnemonics IV - Pauline Oliveros Ocean S...
Jun 08, 2017•48 min
Sonosphere goes to Knoxville's Big Ears Fest. Today you'll hear our experience at one of the most anticipated cultural events in the world. We’ll hear from composers Anna Meredith, Colleen, Wu Fei, Frode Haltli, Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, and Andy Bliss & Kerry O’Brien of Neif Norf about their performance and experience at Big Ears.
Apr 27, 2017•37 min
Last year Sonosphere visited Marfa, Texas for the Marfa Myths music festival created by Mexican Summer and Ballroom Marfa. Now in its fourth year, Marfa Myths has grown to a three day fest with hundreds of individuals from around the country in attendance. This year's festival is upon us, so let's travel back in time to Marfa Myths 2016 during a two-day wind storm, where I talk with sound artist Maria Chavez about her performance informed by the wind and chards of vinyl; where harpist Mary Latti...
Mar 05, 2017•15 min
On two consecutive nights in April 2016, the first mellotron duet concert took place in a packed Crosstown Arts in Memphis, TN. Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey played Mellotrons provided by collector Winston Eggleston. After Winston finished building his own Mellotron, Robby was invited over to test it out and the idea for the World’s first duet for mellotron concert was born. We interviewed Robby, Jonathan and Winston on the impetus for the concert, their fascination with the mellotron and ot...
Jan 09, 2017•24 min
Welcome to Sonosphere the podcast that explores the sounds all around us; in art and music movements through history. This is part 5 of our Birth of Modern Music Series on European composers of the early 20th century from the atonal compositions of Austria’s Schoenberg to the realization of total serialism of Olivier Messiaen we continue our coverage with German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and the evolution of electronic music. This episode we’ll hear from Stockhausen scholar Joe Drew; thanks...
Dec 06, 2016•39 min
Welcome back to Sonosphere's Birth of Modern Music series featuring modern European, classical composers that inspired the experimental, avant garde art and music scenes of the 50s, 60s and resonate in music composition today. Today we will delve into the life and works of Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen escaped the world of composition’s shift to serialism through religion, nature, and birdsong, but he had a profound influence on the evolution of electronic music composition through composers like K...
Oct 27, 2016•42 min
Welcome to Sonosphere! This month's episode features Zac Ives co-founder and co-owner of Goner Records, Natalie Hoffman of NOTS, Chris Shaw of Ex-cult and JB Horrell of Ex-Cult and Aquarian Blood to bring you a Goner Fest 2016 Special Edition. Thanks to the Goner family and Memphis musicians for sharing their passion! Goner Fest 13 is this weekend starting tonight, Wednesday September 28, 2016 at Crosstown featuring flyers from the Memphis underground installation called Torn Down by Thursday. B...
Sep 28, 2016•34 min
Today we will talk about French composer Edgard Varese, often described as the “Father of Electronic Music.” Varese had a huge influence on John Cage and many other avant grade American artists in the 40s and 50s. Cage said of Varese, he “fathered forth noise,” which “makes him more relative to the present musical necessity than even the Viennese masters.” Check out the playlist accompanying this episode featuring songs by Edgard Varese at Press Play on sonospherepodcast.com. Subscribe on itunes...
Jul 30, 2016•37 min
The ultimate "underground" modernist artist in Paris, Satie didn't get a lot of credit when he was alive for his work. He was largely forgotten until John Cage found his Vexations composition fifty years after his death. His music "did not resolve as it should according to tonal laws" says our guest Dr. Caroline Potter. She talks with us about how Satie broke from Parisian tradition and led an avant-garde scene which influenced ambient and minimalist artists for years to come. Join us as we trav...
Jun 30, 2016•32 min
This episode is the first in a series of European composers who started a change in music - paving the way for avant-garde and disruptive sounds from the classical minimalist genre, to punk and rock and roll we hear today. We’ll start with Arnold Schoenberg, an Austrian composer who mapped out the coming modernist era. Schoenberg created new methods of musical composition involving atonality, serialism, and the 12-tone row. Don't forget to check out Press Play at sonospherepodcast.com for a play...
May 05, 2016•27 min
