On Ghost—the first track on the new recording by the late ’60s Toronto exploratory psychedelic group Intersystems—a fragmented series of vignettes concresces over the irregular pulse of an analog synth patch. The lyrics, like the music they share space with, are unsettling: children play in tattered clothing; a crow is silent, “all tired out fromContinue reading “Intersystems. #IV.”
Genre Archives
James Goddard Makes Brave New Spaces
“Recorded music these days is like an inversion of the old-time medicine show—you know, those people who would go from town to town and put on this big carnival performance to sell their medicine. Now that ticket sales have become the main income generator for musicians, recorded music is just an advertisement for the show.”Continue reading “James Goddard Makes Brave New Spaces”
Pursuit Grooves. Bess.
For some, the name Bessie Coleman will not ring a bell. She was the first African American–Indigenous female to receive an international pilots’ licence in 1921. Famous in her time, Coleman died at age thirty-four, nearly 100 years ago. Although her life is rarely discussed today, time has not diminished her importance and relevancy. OnContinue reading “Pursuit Grooves. Bess.”
BLACKOUT MUSIC
Deep black space is speckled with birdcalls and falling water until an ominous boom looms and the drumming of rat-a-tat-tat – insect infestation or insistent rain – is jarring and subsides in the darkness a piano perforates the heavy steely rumble of trains and we tumble up the keyboard to dissolve into sparkles tiny fireflyContinue reading “BLACKOUT MUSIC”
Bus Ride Home—October
Slow, manic whine of police sirens, urgent goose-call of fire engines, anxious “wait for me” of trailing first responders. All muffled under soft falling snow and crystallizing puddles and the breathing of almost three dozen passengers pressed close. And the incessant growl of city bus engine and tires and radiator, the whirring mumble not quiteContinue reading “Bus Ride Home—October”
Intersystems. Intersystems.
Released in late 2015 by the Italian label Alga Marghen in both CD and LP formats, the richly documented Intersystems boxes set the bar high for reissuing and critically examining the legacy of one vigorous—however obscured by the ensuing almost half century—branch of experimental sound art, spoken word, visual, and performance art of the lateContinue reading “Intersystems. Intersystems.”
Ayo Leilani Interrogates the Beats
“Eh Yo! Eh Yo, Leilani!,” she heard as she walked down a bustling New York City street. Turning around to see a friend calling out to greet her in the way that only the hip-hop generation can, Leilani (Hawaiian for “gift from the heavens”) realized she’d just found a captivating addition to her current name:Continue reading “Ayo Leilani Interrogates the Beats”