Is This Music?!?!

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Tyler J. Borden is a cellist working with, in, and around the constraints of the cello. Formerly from Western NY, he is now based in Brooklyn NY, where he spends much of his time finding ways to exploit the strengths and failures of himself and his instrument. If you like this episode, Subscribe, review, share, all the things!

Check out all of the ridonkulous things TJ does by following these links:

Part 2 of my chat with @carnagetheexecutioner in which we get very passionate about the importance of paying to see artists, then I published the episode a week after the show we talked about happened. Le Sigh.

Ivan Cunningham will not be contained to your feeble descriptors. But, he is a saxophone player, composer, curator, among other things.

Ya shoulda been there is a live show blog that lets you know who's playing and where and if it tickled my fancy. Empower your sense of curiosity with live music.

also, get your ears weird. Follow, subscribe, like, share!

On Tuesday, Feb 7, I went to see Robot Slide at the Ice House in Minneapolis. It was a good show. Ya shoulda been there.

This is a special re-post of "You Know When, Like, You and Drummer Just Click?" with Schuyler Tsuda.

Texu Kim: Whimsical, dissonant, textured, melodious new music that tears roots straight from the ground.

Rate, subscribe, review, and tell your friends!

Texu Kim Info:

Nelle June Anderson aka Soubrette composes, performs, creates, and ponders things complex enough to contextualize the fact that she wore a rotary telephone as a scarf when we got together to chat. Experimental popopera performance art.

Soubrette linkage:

Dreamy, heady, intricate pop from Liam Moore. Also rabbit holes. 

This episode features Ryann Daisy Swimmer, and oooooo buddy was it a fun one. This conversation is pure musical journey from high school punk bands, to delay loop art song, to Sufjan Stevens. What rabbit holes do we travel down along the way? As always, listen to find out. But, I can say that Daisy is such a warm person to talk to, and can make tenuous connections with the best of them (me). Get your ears weird everyone!

Send me some feedback or connect at isthismusicpod@gmail.com

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My guest on this episode is composer and bassist, Emily Koh.

How does one get seen? A pink resume can help. Cheery color schemes and refreshing marketing help, too. But what really lands is Emily's music- a complex thread of sound that can be as broody as the next complex contemporary, yet somehow always nudges upward as if to say "look, I did that". 

Well, Emily, we see what you did there. Come enjoy a conversation that centers on expectations, approval, and creating with your own palate. 

Questions? Feedback? Interview suggestions? Wanna be on the show? Email me at: isthismusicpod@gmail.com

Links:

Note: I had a typo in my notes, and pulled a Ron Burgendy in the intro. The piece featured in the intro is Marble, Glass, and VAPOR, not Paper. What a silly goose I am. Also, kudos, Schuyler, Marble, Glass, and Vapor is a much better song name.

On this season-opening episode, I chat with Schuyler Tsuda, a sound artist, noisemaker, composer, improviser, and synth-pop concocter. We talk about styles of music that I haven’t been able to wrap my head around (don’t worry, I’m getting there). We talk about getting your hands actually on instruments and taking away the guesswork. We talk a lot about harsh noise walls and what the hell is going on there. But, ultimately, we just vibed on being good ol’ kindred spirit metalheads. I think that’s gonna come up a bunch this season. If this doesn’t get your ears weird, well, then I want to know what you’re listening to.

As always, timestamps of episode music are below, as well as links to my guest, and a Spotify playlist!

My guest this episode is Jeffery Kyle Hutchins, a saxophonist, creator, improviser, mover, shaker, dream breaker, and wish maker. Kyle is, thankfully, responsible for some of the weirdest things I've seen live. He's really one of the first people I saw perform experimental music, now that I think of it. There's a cool music trajectory here, so don't miss it! We talk experiments, the need for over-emoting, what to do when no one wants to jam, with some pretty cool and funny anecdotes to boot. Fun fact: since exploring some of the music we talked about during our chat, Spotify has been suggesting "Afrofuturism through a jazz lens" as a genre that I'm into.

And guess what? I'm into it.

Music timestamps:

Intro: “I” and “III” by Binary Canary on iterative systems

23’43”: “Fm” by The Slits on Cut

24’56”: “Uncontrollable Urge” by DEVO on Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

32’50”: “Sound Fishes” by Pauline Oliveros on If Tigers Were Clouds

40’43”: “Prickly Pear” by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones on Rocket Science

40’43”: “Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115: III. Andantino - Presto non assai, ma con sentimento” by Johannes Brahms

40’43”: “13 Monsters” by Lightning Bolt on Ride the Skies

40’43”: “Something That Produces Results” by The Early November on The Room's Too Cold

41’02”: “We Owe This to Ourselves” by Anberlin on Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place

44’30”: “Sunday Morning” by No Doubt on Tragic Kingdom

46’06”: “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World on Bleed American

48’15”: “Bodysnatchers” by Radiohead on In Rainbows

49’21”: “What It Is To Burn” by Finch on What It Is To Burn

54’10”: “Delta City Blues” by Michael Brecker on Two Blocks from the Edge

55’41”: “Chronology” by Ornette Coleman on The Shape of Jazz to Come

56’38”: “Jupiter” by John Coltrane on Interstellar Space

Outro: “Ptah, the El Daoud” by Alice Coltrane on Ptah, the El Daoud

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

This episode I talk with Minneapolis-based rapper, composer, producer, director, and plenty other "-er" words, Joe Horton. We cover how music addresses the culture around it, the appropriate time and place for philosophy, the importance of fitting Wu-Tang into your definition of experimental, psychedelics, and just about a dozen other things. I'm still sifting through all the thoughts that Joe put in my head, but I can say that the playlist is one of my favorite so far. So, dive in and get your ears weird. 

Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0U6lNiN2v3YO4CmGwDpqXM?si=1efda6289b574c93 

Music Timestamps: 

Intro: Apogee (feat. Aby Wolf) by No Birds Sing on Definition Sickness 

26'43": Symphony No.6 In D, Op.104: Allegretto Moderato by Jean Sibelius on Symphonies Nos.6 And 7/'The Tempest' Suite No.2  

34'35": Cool Down Your Temper by U Roy on U-Roy Meets King Tubbys 

38'14": January On Lake Street by Atmosphere on Southsiders 40'08": Mushroom by CAN on Tago Mago 

51'06": Sarabande (Version for Piano Solo) by La Monte Young on Panorama of American Piano Music 

56'54": Drei Phantasien Nach Friedrich Hölderlin: II. Wenn Aus Der Ferne by Gregory Ligeti on Ligeti: Lux Aeterna 

57'59": Smoke in the Temple by Kill the Vultures on Carnelian 

1'00'45": Trapped by 2Pac on 2Pacalypse Now 

1'01'49": Protect Ya Neck by Wu-Tang Clan on Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 

1'09'31": Freakin Out by Death on ...For the Whole World to See 

1'10'56": Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk on Trans-Europe Express

Outro:  Toilet Tisha by Outkast on Stankonia

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

My guest this episode is Lizz Windnagel: director, musician, cat person. When we went to school together, I thought they were 2 kool 4 skool. Now that we've had some years between talking, they've only gotten 4 kooler. If there was some magical nerd school without jocks, I would be in the corner, wondering how to get to their table. In other words, I'm starstruck and it shows. Luckily, they are a kind, generous, and thoughtful person and theater-maker. Hunker down for a chat that goes from self-interrogation to cats, from Weezer to Kagel, and all the glorious glue in between. 

This episode I talk to Nina Dante, A force of nature, and member of Fonema Consort. We talk about storytelling, shedding that which does not fit your voice, amateurisms, and why remembering your tuning fork is more important than remembering your wallet. Where do such intense sounds come from? What about the zen? Listen along and find out. Nina and I recently recorded our interpretation of Bethany Younge's Her Dissapearance, which will premiere as part of 113's Twin Cities New Music Festival on July 8th. The festival runs July 8-10, and tickets can be found at www.113collective.com. 

Episode Spotify Playlist:

The guest this week is Adam Zahller, a staple of the Twin Cities' new music scene. Improv and structure lines blur together, and so does our conversation. Influence, discipline, the days of Napster, and quality time in Lincoln, NE. What makes the tinkerer tick? Well, Bad Brains will do the trick, but so does Bach somehow. 

NEW FEATURE: Click the Spotify Playlist link to take a deeper dive into the music covered in this episode, curated by your host, Justin Anthony Spenner. 

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4nYntsQmvuw3Ee86oFU4Jr?si=1BI0UBLJQtab3SthF6F1AQ

Music Time Stamps:

0'00" and 2'20": "Difficult Ferns" by Adam Zahller, from Resistance/Resonance by Duo Gelland

6'30": "T.V. Eye" by The Stooges, on Fun House

8'12": "Structure" by Glenn Branca on The Ascension

16'15": "She's Calling You (Live)" by Bad Brains on Bad Brains Live

19'16": "Ghosts of Thelema" by John Zorn on Moonchild

22'52": "Prelude & Fugue No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 847: Fugue" by Johann Sebastian Bach on Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II, BWV 846-893 (Glenn Gould, Pianist)

27'04": "Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on Finnegan's Wake, Pt. 4" by John Cage on Cage: Roaratorio

37'11": "Rillwand" by Adam Zahller (Recorded Live)

45'26": "I, purples, spat blood, laugh of beautiful lips" by Aaron Cassidy on Cassidy: The Crutch of Memory

53'58": "Fog Tropes" by Ingram Marshall on Fog Tropes/ Gradual Requiem/ Gambuh I

55'58": "60'-15' from Mantra" by Karlheinz Stockhausen on Stockhausen: Mantra

59'06": "Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10: I. Sehr ruhig und zart" by Anton Webern on Webern: Complete Works, Op. 1 - Op. 31 (Pierre Boulez & London Symphony Orchestra)

End: Piss Lasso by Adam Zahller

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

On this most introductory of introductory episodes, I chat with Joey Crane and Tiffany M. Skidmore, the powers-that-be behind 113 Composers Collective. We chat about their background, how they got into the sounds they create, the openness of how young people learn, how wild it is to experience something new, and some meta-level Scottish impressions.

Music excerpts and their timestamps are listed below, find them all on your favorite streaming service!

0'00": Gorilla by Joey Crane
5'05": Miniatures: No. 2 from The Golden Ass by Tiffany M. Skidmore
16'37": Act 3, Scene 3 from Philomela by James Dillon
31'55": I. Lento from String Quartet No. 1, Sz. 40 by Béla Bartók
36'35": Pleiades: III, Melanges by Iannis Xenakis
55'12": Pt 1: Departure from Black Angels by George Crumb

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.