Sound Propositions is an ongoing, semi-regular series of conversations with artists exploring their creative practices and individual aesthetics, conceived of as a counter-narrative to a dominant trend in music journalism which fetishizes equipment and new technologies. Rather than writing copy that can just as easily have come from a press release or a catalog, this series tries to take the emphasis away from the ‘what’ and shine light on the ‘how’ and ‘why.’ You can find the previous eight interviews, as well as additional articles and features, here.

There’s a school of thought amongst field recordists that favors alienating oneself from the provenance of one’s recordings in order to hear the recordings with fresh ears, and to better respond to the sound as a material object (or sound object) in itself. This practice can make the reduced listening preached by Pierre Schaeffer and other musique concrète composers easier…