Rylee (@aalanzaa) is a brilliant mathematician, teacher, speaker, developer, musician, and facilitator of community. She’s a moderator at lines, a constant and encouraging presence in the norns discord, and in the last weeks of December last year she released an incredible collection of hyperpop and electronica songs as Alanza called 'Learning to R…

In July of 2020, Tyler Etters (@tyleretters) put out a request for contributions to start a project for norns named dronecaster (https://llllllll.co/t/dronecaster/34737). He found his first collaborator in Ryan Laws ('license' on lines), who helped build a SuperCollider template which not only deployed Tyler’s initial vision, but made it easy for o…

About a month ago, I stumbled on a treasure trove of recordings in a web repository at https://zbs.fm. These uniquely playful and far-reaching captures come from Z, a non-binary musician and athlete at Nonotuck on the Connecticut River. The recordings are bursting with exploratory energy + I was just so compelled to learn more about the processes a…

Hank Yates reached out to me in early 2020 after navigating the loss of his daughter, Ida, whose stillbirth occurred only ten months after his mother Kathy's passing.To focus his grief, he wrote each a requiem -- dual tributes which span the extreme edges of loss. 'Life of a Leaf' for Kathy memorializes a life well-lived, while 'The Mockingbird' fo…

Nick Angeloni is a composer, audio engineer, pianist and synthesist who releases work under the name n-So.One of the hallmarks of Nick's fantastic 2018 album 'A Stroke of Blue' is its careful balance of felted piano and electronics — it's an album that's full of accessible moments that twist in just the right way. Depending on the listener, the alb…

Joseph Branciforte is a multi-instrumentalist, recording and mixing engineer, composer, sound artist, and programmer based out of New York City. This episode was edited by Joseph himself, which has allowed me to approach it primarily as a listener. And I've been must struck by Joseph's balance between conviction and query.Though much is covered in …

Josh Mason's music is an alcove you've never noticed, in a park you've walked through a hundred times.Over the last eight years, he's released 20+ albums of solo and collaborative work.Through guitar, tape loops, digital and analog synthesis, Josh has established an enchanting lexicon. His music is an ever-evolving conversation about personal and p…

On a snowy Chicago afternoon, Carl Testa and Meredith Johnston (Warm Human) joined me for a live discussion about improvising with electronics to explore and expand the bounds of their classical instruments (Carl: string bass, Meredith: voice). It was a joy to learn how software interactions helps each produce distinct and compelling results. After…

Izzy Barreiro is an accomplished DJ, producer, composer, synthesist and teacher. They perform as @stud1nt and are part of the deeply necessary collectives Discwoman and KUNQ. They have taught classes everywhere from Moogfest to Ableton Loop. They are also the director of production at Whimsical Raps, a Brooklyn-based musical instrument company.In t…

Over the years, I’ve been lucky to watch Meredith Johnston perform in a variety of contexts — improvisational comedy across Chicago, film (2018's Pet Names), and most recently music under the moniker Warm Human — and every project is anchored in emotional exploration.Her upcoming album, Ghastly, tells deeply personal stories through a melange of sy…

a mix for Free City Radio (@freecityradio) on @radiockutEmily A. Sprague (@mlesprg) — Synth 3glia (@glia) — cosmophonic phonofunkJoshua Andrew — Modular Sketchbook: Beverly Beach, ORCool Maritime — Mossage (via @leavingrecords)warm human (@warmhuman) — dog yearsNick Turner (@tyrestasounds) — Union Pier WinterMeng Qi (@mengqimusic) — ?? wanfengandre…

Rodrigo Constanzo is a seasoned improviser + performer, which directly influences his approach to designing software interactions. Through careful consideration of the needs of the performer, he builds software that can be easily manipulated through gestures akin to playing acoustic instruments.Since 2011's The Party Van, Rodrigo has built many inc…

Sound + Process # 13 features musician, designer, programmer and teacher Meng Qi. A pioneering interface theorist, Meng Qi is perhaps best known for opening new dimensions of control and interaction with Peter Blasser’s Ciat-Lonbarde circuits. His earliest module, Voltage Memory, is the first synth module to have ever been both designed and manufac…

At the tail end of last month, Gohan Tapes (https://gohantapes.bandcamp.com) released ‘Spring’ — a new full length album from Joshua Saddler, who records as ioflow. On ‘Spring’, Josh combines field recordings, modular synthesis, and piano improvisations to capture memories like aural photographs. The sparse arrangements interplay with sounds of wil…

There’s something about Marcus Fischer’s music that fits this season. Last year, a lot of listeners shared how the snowstorms they were homebound by were the perfect backdrop to Marcus’s reflections. As another year closes, I am so excited to share another conversation with this wonderful artist. This isn’t something I expected, but Marcus has been…

My guest for this episode is Karl Fousek, an improviser who has spent the last five years crafting an incredible archive of live modular performances and studio albums. As a deeply devoted fan of experimental and electronic music and by dedicating himself to the mastery of his tools as a single instrument, Karl has developed a compositional agility…

The first time I heard Emily Sprague’s music was on lines. Somebody posted a video of hers, 'Three Sisters + Harmonic Oscillator', that had captured their attention as a high watermark...and it’s easy to understand how. The straightforward and earnest exploration of a beautiful module, through a looped melody you could listen to for hours, seemed t…

Prior to March 2015, lines (https://llllllll.co, the online community this podcast explores) didn’t exist. In its place simply stood the monome forum. As you’ll hear in the episode, it held much of the same energy in those early days as lines does now. One of the hallmarks of this spirit was MCRP, a project rooted in musical collaboration between t…

My guest for this episode is Piotr Szyhalski, a Polish-born artist who creates multimedia works under the name Labor Camp. His early pieces, large-scale Internet installations which defy the constraints of late 90’s technology, captured the attention of the New York Times, MTV, and the National Endowment of the Arts. Soon after, he began composing …

Marcus Fischer has been a staple figure in modern ambient and experimental music for the better part of the last decade. Characterized by his masterful use of tape loops, Fischer's works also build space and emotion through layers of baritone guitar and modular synths. His solo debut, 'Monocoastal', was released on 12k in 2010 to international accl…

This episode features the brilliant and buoyant Angela Guyton, whose recent work explores the intersection of sound, light and self. Through the use of biofeedback and Max patches, Angela uses her body and breathing to generate and manipulate visually arresting color sequences. Her website, www.angelaguyton.com, showcases her depth of thought and c…

This episode features the inimitable and joyful Nick Sanborn. Nick produces solo electroacoustic works under Made of Oak and is one half of Sylvan Esso. He also has spent extensive time touring with Chris Roseneau and is a member of the trio Cedar AV.The works featured are from many of Nick's projects, including a remix for Cedar AV member Erik (He…

This episode celebrates monome's 10 year anniversary by exploring the work of Sean Hellfritsch (http://seanhellfritsch.com). Sean is an accomplished musician and filmmaker (http://encyclopediapictura.com), having recently released 'Some Sort of Wave Portal' on Leaving Records as Cool Maritime. He is as warm as the California sun.Much of the feature…

This episode explores GLIA's 'muqarnas'. Over the hour, Dan and Jonathan (GLIA's offline name) discuss the impact the Persian language had on the album, improvising with electronics, creativity in prefab culture, and the depths to which instrumental artists encode themselves in their music.Selections from 'muqarnas' provide framework, excepting the…