Programmers & Synthesists

Known as the Sonic Sorceress, composer and synthesist Lisa Bella Donna has a talent for fusing the esoteric with the technical. Working from a remote Appalachian home-base, the composer's days are spent mapping sounds in dense woods, drinking cowboy coffee, and cooking tin...

A pioneer of modern electronic music, Morton Subotnick initiated technical innovations and created new sonic paradigms with his groundbreaking 1967 album Silver Apples of the Moon. Now in his 90th year, Subotnick is still as energized and dynamic as ever. As a tech geek and...

I'm sure a lot of you are asking "who was Herb Deutsch and what does he have to do with rock 'n' roll?" The short answer is sometimes it's the people behind the scenes that change the course of history.

Suzanne Ciani is one of my neighbors (who has become a good friend), so it's almost too easy for me to overlook how massive her contribution to music and record production is. That is also due in part to the fact that she is a very warm and open person, and is offhandedly...

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is one the most innovative composers working today. With his experience in punk and metal bands, and as a vocalist, his compositions are grounded in a way that is usually sorely lacking from conservatory fare. Startlingly prolific, he has released over 20...

I still remember my first experience hearing Taylor Deupree's Northern on a winter night back in 2007. Reaching into a stack of borrowed CDs in my apartment, I randomly selected a disc for some musical accompaniment while washing the dishes. The album began so stealthily...

Tycho's Scott Hansen is a busy man. As the frontman, principle songwriter, producer, as well as the creator of the band's album art and live visuals, he has no shortage of things on his plate. It's the sound of the future that owes so much to the past. I sat down...

The ease of modern music software has allowed for the creation of an abundance of average, homogenous, electronic records; but over the last 14 years, Dan Snaith's project, Caribou, has consistently stayed above the fray. Here's a peek into Dan's musical mind, and...

For years I've received brief emails from Damian Taylor. He might be in some remote location or some major metropolitan center, making records with a wide variety of artists. Frequently he'd have some specific, interesting question; some of which I could answer. When I...

It only makes sense that with a renewed interest in analog synthesis, modular synths would make a comeback. However, rather than the hulking beasts Keith Emerson tortured on stage, or pampered studio dwellers, like TONTO, the new Eurorack style systems are lightweight, portable...

Mouse on Mars have been electronic pioneers since the early '90s, being one of the first bands to successfully create electronic music for the non-raving crowd — one of the more important bands bridging the gap between samplers and indie rock. Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma...

Larry Fast is a rare breed. One that is on the forefront of artistically combining human with machine with music in mind in order to create a listening experience that goes beyond conventions. For over thirty years, this ubiquitous and prominent New York-area keyboardist (Tony...

You should check out this album because: 1. It contains stories from a people's history of the United States, stories of strikes and mining towns, that you're unlikely to find anywhere else, and 2. It has vibe. It is the product of a high-ceilinged mansion (Kingsway...

I'm told most of this record was tracked in a basement in Seattle on 1/2" 8 track by David Bazan, who wrote, sang, drummed and guitared all the songs. They are, for the most part, subdued melodic songs with sparse, simple arrangements. The recording is very impressive...