• An essay on digital distraction. “The problem of concentration is recursive. Any strategy for sidestepping distraction calls for strategies on sidestepping distraction.”  • An article on Sublime Frequencies’ world music recordings. “The label Sublime Frequencies…was initially a response to the reigning approach of ethnomusicology, which they perceived as prizing a kind of detached, academic… Continue reading

• An article on “chill” music playlists on Spotify. “These days, to describe someone as “chill” is to propose that they’re slightly apathetic, but in a delightfully easygoing way. The rise of chill as an aspirational state suggests that perhaps the best thing to feel is not much at all…Spotify presently classifies chill as a… Continue reading

• An article on forgetting. “Forgetting is a dynamic ability, crucial to memory retrieval, mental stability and maintaining one’s sense of identity. That’s because remembering is a dynamic process. At a biochemical level, memories are not pulled from the shelf like stored videos but pieced together — reconstructed — by the brain.” • A review of… Continue reading

• An article about writing. “Informal language is the athletic clothing of ideas.” • An article about artistry and asceticism. “If it is fact that a kind of excess often accompanies the making of art, then there’s another kind of excess — less cinematic, for sure — that seems closer to the point: Artists, even… Continue reading

• A review of a set of new Autechre recordings. “It’s the visceral sound of machines powering down then quickly lurching back into motion. It’s that sense of perpetual rhythmic collapse, the feeling that entire songs are slipping out from under your feet. It’s gorgeous and terrifying and awe-inspiring and incomprehensible and frequently even funky—but… Continue reading

• An interview with Jon Hopkins. “With the program I use now, Ableton, it’s quite easy to imagine how one sound could lead to the birth of another. On the track ‘Feel First Life’, I have a synth sound that gradually morphs into a choral sound. That idea of a 15-part choir appearing out of the fabric… Continue reading

• An article about Mouse On Mars. “Music is a strong anarchic force,” Mr. St. Werner said. “It’s probably our last bastion of anarchic wilderness, that trace of nature that keeps just growing, keeps crossbreeding, keeps immigrating and migrating and cross-fertilizing and expanding our perceptual apparatus. It’s also a great means for orientation and for… Continue reading

• A video explaining how film sound design shapes our perception. • An article about AI-generated art. “What happens in a world where effort and scarcity are no longer part of the definition of art?” • An article about incorporating African musics into Hollywood film scores. “The most difficult part is that as soon as… Continue reading

• An article on leftfield dub. “Certain operators in the electronic diaspora can be found exploring dub studio practices to create idiosyncratic music that feels inherently spawned from the heritage of soundsystem music without adhering to any particular rules.” • An article on the “secret” chord for songs that sounds happy. “Unexpectedly, [the researchers] found… Continue reading