Astralingua, the duo of Joseph Andrew Thompson and Anne Rose Thompson, recently released their new album Safe Passage. It’s a musically and lyrically lush work, bringing in everything from nuanced arrangements to a William Blake-inspired song, and its expansiveness makes for a wholly immersive listening experience. We talked with Joseph via email about the process of making the album, turning William Blake into music, and more.
Gave In Rest, the new album from Sarah Davachi, is both a powerful continuation of her expl0ration of beatific ambient and drone work and a fascinating study in applying influences from centuries-old compositional techniques. The result is an eerily timeless work, haunting and unpredictable, that sounds like little else out there. I chatted with Davachi about the album’s origins, her recent move to Los Angeles, and more.
As anyone who’s explored metadata, Wikipedia, or the hierarchies of self-created musical definitions can attest, music can be subdivided into a nearly-infinite array of genres, subgenres, movements, and styles. In his new book Appetite For Definition, Ian King delves into the history, aesthetics, and ups and downs of rock genres. As longtime admirers of King’s music writing, we’re thrilled to be co-hosting this event; Vol.1 Brooklyn Managing Editor Tobias Carroll will be in conversation with King.
To call Veriditas, the new album by Helios, immersive would be an understatement. Helios represents one aspect of Keith Kenniff ‘s musical output: you might also know him from his more classically-oriented work as Goldmund, or his work in the pop group Mint Julep. Here, he channels a decidedly nocturnal mood, blending sonic spaces with field recordings to create something wholly unpredictable. I asked Kenniff about the album’s genesis, his literary inspirations, and the experience of recording outdoors.
As you might expect from its title, Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki’s new book We Are the Clash delves into the history of a certain beloved punk band–but it’s the period that they focus on that might surprise some readers. Specifically, Andersen and Heibutzki explore the complex dynamics of the band’s final lineup, the music that they made, and how this uneasily juxtaposed with the rise of reactionary politics. Between this and the upcoming release of a new Joe Strummer […]
When Kevin Larimer, the editor of Poets and Writers Magazine, emailed and asked if I’d be up to take part in another “inspiration experiment” I instantly knew just who I wanted to invite. The first time we had tried this, two years prior, we worked with author Joyce Carol Oates. Oates kindly agreed to read her poem Too Young to Marry, But Not Too Young to Die, and then listen as a number of artists read and performed pieces written […]
BODEGA‘s new album Endless Scroll is a spot-on distillation of a slice of city life circa now, from contradictory impressions of the larger world to frustrations over rampant consumerism and technologically-driven alienation. Add some minimalist, propulsive postpunk to the mix and you have a mightily compelling record. We talked with singer/guitarist Ben Hozie about Endless Scroll, media saturation, and more.
Oakland’s Dick Stusso comes from a long musical line of off-beat singer-songwriters, with an unexpected take on the transcendental and a fondness for songs both harmonious and dissonant. In Heaven, his new album, jolts you whenever it seems too familiar; the resulting ten songs shift effortlessly from the comfortable to the surreal. He’ll be in Brooklyn next month, playing the Park Church Co-Op on June 8th as part of the Northside Festival. In advance of this, we asked him a […]