By a Mr. Niklas Lukassen

While I’m writing a series of posts about how I can make my music less self-serving, I need to ask how I can make this blog less self-serving. I think people land here and immediately read it as something akin to a friend’s flyer for their own show. It’s an ad for their self-serving creative…

David Michael Curry solo viola on Soundcloud

What is my music FOR? How can I make a contribution? One answer is balm. Solace. Painkiller. Healing. Dreams heal too. You have a bad experience, or you’re afraid of something, and your dream reflects it in a way that lets you process. Music is not just metaphorically similar to dreaming, it works the same…

Ask yourself what is your music for. There is plenty already. Why make more? What is the good reason to exist? Why disturb the silence? What makes it better than ambient sound? Commit to making a contribution to the world.

As part of the practice behind Hélène Vogelsinger’s modular synthesizer compositions, she explores abandoned places, connecting with their energies to create immersive moments. For her Patch Notes performance, she serendipitously stumbled across an abandoned castle in the French countryside.

My new video will be 51 seconds long when it debuts at 3:30 PM ET today. Add to your calendar

I like these words as a potential band name or album title: Paranoid Friend

The name “there is only” does not work and did not work. I have retreated to my given name. The hierarchy of band names: I will have to re-issue the Bandcamp/streaming release.

The excellent – raw, messy, soulful, but whip smart – mandolin player Frank Wakefield has died. It was a musical life well lived. The NY Times has a warm obituary. Frank Wakefield, Who Expanded the Mandolin’s Range, Dies at 89: “an innovative bluegrass mandolinist whose sweeping musicality led to collaborations with the New York Philharmonic…