Winter 2025/Spring 2026

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On the Cover: “Explorations in Black Noise: Quinton Barnes collapses the distinction between the personal and the political in music intended to move us beyond the dancefloor” by G raham Latham.Features: “Long-Range Audio Weaponry: DeForrest Brown, Jr. channels the radical frequencies of Detroit techno into philosophy, politics, and sound art” by Tom Beedham.“Joshua Frank’s solo adventures in the low-end laboratory” by Brennan McCracken.“Michael Scott Dawson widens the loops of his creative practice” by Matt Horseman.More stories:“Corie Rose Soumah explores multiple strata” by Rosie Long Decter.“The speculative rock dimensions of Tempête Solaire” by Jesse Eckerlin.“The meanings of free” by Jennie Punter (editor's note). Reviews of new music from:Bellbird, Cris Derksen, Robert Humber, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Jason Noble and Steve Cowan, Anna Pidgorna, Tristan Perich and James McVinnie, Praed Orchestra!, Aretha Tillotson, Don Scott and Jean Martin.Events:X Avant XX: Precious at the Music Gallery (Toronto); Send + Receive: A Festival of Sound, 27th edition (Winnipeg). Screen: I Am the Art: Nobuo Kubota (documentary) by Annette Mangaard. Musicworks 153 CD1 States of Intermeshing: smoke (2024) 8:01Composed and performed by Corie Rose Soumah (live electronics and synthesizers). Recorded in concert at the Haus der kulturen der welt in Berlin, November 7, 2024.2 HD 240430 (2025) 3:12 and3 Kronos (2025) 6:02Composed and performed by Tempête Solaire: Eric Craven (drums), Eric Quach (bass, fx), Elyze Venne-Deshaies (saxophone, fx). From the Tempête Solaire album La précession des équinoxes (self-released, 2025).4 Rock Dove Manoeuvre (2024) 4:35Composed and performed by Tempête Solaire: Eric Craven (drums), Eric Quach (bass, fx), Elyze Venne-Deshaies (saxophone, fx). From the Tempête Solaire EP Heliospheric Dialogues (self-released, 2024).5 Apex (2023) 3:27Composed by Tara Kannangara. Performed by Tara Kannangara (voice and piano), Kiya Kannangara (spoken word).6 Summerette (2026) 6:12Composed and performed by Michael Scott Dawson (guitar, tape loops, field recordings). From the solo album Guitar, Solo 日本ツアーテープ (We Are Busy Bodies, 2026).7 Two Solitudes (2022) 3:22Composed and performed by Michael Scott Dawson (guitar, piano, tape loops, field recordings, miscellaneous effects). From the solo album Music for Listening (We Are Busy Bodies).8 Barong (2026) 6:49Composed and performed by Joshua Frank (bass guitar). Unreleased preview from forthcoming solo bass EP by Joshua Frank.9 Ride Your Horse 騎你的馬 (2019) 3:41Composed by Gong Gong Gong (Tom Ng and Joshua Frank). Lyrics by Tom Ng. Performed by Tom Ng (vocals, guitar) and Joshua Frank (bass guitar).10 (Get Up On That) Damn Floor (2025) 4:42Written and produced by Quinton Barnes. From the solo album Code Noir, self-released, January 10, 2025.11 Art of Survival (2025) 2:57Music spontaneously composed by the Black Noise Ensemble. “Piano Suite no. 1” source material composed by Edward Enman. Lyrics by Quinton Barnes. Black Noise Ensemble: Quinton Barnes (voice), Michael Cloud Duguay (vibraphone, synthesizers, pump organ), Edward Enman (piano), James Goddard (alto saxophone, mbira, no-input mixer, bells), Lucas Huang (drums), Markus Lake (bass, programming), Matt LeGroulx (electric guitar, flute), Naomi McCarroll-Butler (bass clarinet, handmade flute, whistle, bells, electric air organ, drone-jo, 12-string guitar), and Ari Swan (violin). From Quinton Barnes’ album Black Noise, released June 6, 2025 (Watch That Ends the Night).12 Sense-Datum Volumetrics (2026) 6:06Composition, lyrics, performance, and production by DeForrest Brown, Jr. as Speaker Music. From the Speaker Music album Synoptic Audio, released on Planet Mu Records in April 2026.Musicworks 153 CD released February 2026© all rights reserved Show more