Seth Kim-Cohen is an artist, musician and critic. He is currently a full-time visiting artist at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He has presented artworks at venues spanning the cultural spectrum from CBGBs to Tate Modern. His writing has been published in magazines, newspapers, and journals in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. He is the author of In The Blink of an Ear: Toward a Non-Cochlear Sonic Art, Continuum, 2009 and One Reason To Live: Conversations About Music, Errant Bodies, 2006. His latest book, Against Ambience is published by Bloomsbury. He also blogs at Voice of Broken Neck. For comprehensive info visit: www.kim-cohen.com
………………

ER. We’re here primarily to talk about your new book Against Ambience, can you briefly outline some of its main themes/topics.

SKC. Against Ambience is an example of an endangered species – a book of good…

Editor’s Note: Here’s installment #3 of Sounding Out!‘s blog forum on gender and voice! Last week I talked about what it meant to have people call me, a woman of color, “loud.” The week before that we hosted Christine Ehrick‘s selections from her forthcoming book; she introduced us to the idea of the gendered soundscape, which she uses in her analysis on women’s radio speech from the 1930s to the 1950s.  In the next few weeks we’ll have A.O. Roberts with synthesized voices and gender, Art Blake with his reflections on how his experience shifting his voice from feminine to masculine as a transgender man intersects with his work on John Cage, and lastly Robin James with an analysis of how ideas of what women should sound like have roots in Greek philosophy.

This week regular writer Regina Bradley puts the soundtrack of Scandal in conversation with the agency of…

cover art by Kirstie Shanley from the “Chicago as a vinyl record” series

Jason Shanley aka Cinchelgives us a tour of some of the most interesting music coming out of Chicago today, a loving documentation of a scene that continues to nurture his own creative endeavors.   This mix is extra special because EVERY TRACK is something brand NEW. And seeing as this is our SIXTIETH mix, I’d just like to say an extra thank you to all of our supporters out there.  Listeners, readers, artists, labels. We love y’all.  (Joseph Sannicandro)

Download/stream at Soundcould, listen at Mixcloud

MINI-INTERVIEW

Tell me about the mix, which I guess is another way of saying, tell me about the state of the/your scene in Chicago these days.  Chicago of course has long had a strong regional music scene. Blues, House, hip hop and all, but also post rock and experimental…

This one has it all: intercontinental field recordings, sledding children, vocal manipulations, soundscapes, excursions in drone.  Natasha Barrett has been called “Norway’s most prominent composer of electro-acoustic music,” and on the basis of this double disc, she’s earned it.  Peat+Polymer isn’t just a showcase for her own talents, but for the breadth of experimentalism.

Opening triptych “Hidden Values” is a tribute to three inventions: the umbrella, glasses/contact lenses, and the lock and key.  By injecting voices and instruments into the mix, Barrett demonstrates a sweet sense of playfulness.  This is history, this is philosophy, this is fun!  While soft narratives may be gleaned, it’s just as easy to sit back and bask in the variety of sound: a droplet, a cluck, a laugh, a pluck.

On “Kernel Expansion,” Barrett removes voice from the equation, finding refuge in a bevy of sounds, from birds and wooden chimes to tapped objects…

Guest EO columnist Richard Allen introduces his electronic picks for early 2015: brand new albums by Canned Fit, Deison & Mingle, Marreck, Muted, Rone and Sonae, plus the year’s first great video, from Jilk and Haiku Salut.  

As hundreds of submissions have poured in over the past few weeks, the staff of A Closer Listen has been drowned in sound.  But with only nine staffers, we’ve had no way to cover them all.  This leads to our first guest column, as Richard Allen rises to the challenge laid down by Jeremy Bye.  (Thanks for the privilege!)

2014 was a pretty good year for electronic music, but 2015 looks to be a great one.  These electronic releases stand out in an extremely crowded field.

Cologne’s Sonae has been recording since 2007, but Far away is right around the Corner (Monika Enterprise, 23 February) is her first full-length.  It’s an…