The Tonearm Podcast Por Lawrence Peryer arte de portada

The Tonearm

The Tonearm

De: Lawrence Peryer
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The people and ideas moving culture forward. With host Lawrence Peryer.

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The Tonearm Arte Historia y Crítica Literaria Música
Episodios
  • Bellbird: Montreal's Jazz Collective Heeds the Call

    Bellbird: Montreal's Jazz Collective Heeds the Call
    Mar 29 2026
    Today, we're putting The Tonearm's needle on the Montreal jazz collective Bellbird.Bellbird formed during pandemic park jams and has since become one of the more compelling voices in Canada's avant-garde jazz scene. The quartet consists of Claire Devlin on tenor sax, Allison Burik on alto sax and bass clarinet, Eli Davidovici on bass, and Mili Hong on drums. No guitar, no piano, just three mostly single-note instruments and a drum kit, which turns out to be more than enough. Their debut, Root in Tandem, earned serious praise. Their second album, The Call, came out on February 6th on Constellation Records. It was built from bird sound transcriptions, Mary Oliver poems, and sessions in the countryside, and it doesn't sound like anything else on that storied label's roster.Two members of the collective, Claire Devlin and Eli Davidovici, are here to take us through the story.(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Bellbird's album The Call)—Dig Deeper• Artist and Album:Visit Bellbird at bellbird.band and follow them on Instagram and YouTubePurchase Bellbird's The Call from Constellation Records, Bandcamp, or Qobuz, and listen on your streaming platform of choiceVisit Bellbird's page at Constellation Records• Individual Members:Claire Devlin — tenor saxophone; follow her on InstagramEli Davidovici — bassAllison Burik — alto saxophone and bass clarinet; follow them on InstagramMili Hong — drums; follow her on Instagram• Label:Constellation Records — Montréal's celebrated independent label, home to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Matana Roberts, Sam Shalabi's Land of Kush, and more• Recording and Compositional Context:Hotel2Tango — the Montréal studio where The Call was recordedOrford Musique — the Quebec residency center where Bellbird developed the album's material• Musical References and Inspiration:White Bellbird (Procnias albus) — the Amazonian bird whose recorded call Allison Burik transcribed and analyzed as the foundation for the title trackMary Oliver, "Wild Geese" — the poem that inspired the track "Soft Animal," published in House of Light (Beacon Press, 1990)• Montréal Scene:Casa del Popolo — Montréal venue and community hubSuoni Per Il Popolo — Montréal's annual festival of experimental music, free jazz, and improvisation, presented at Casa del Popolo and La Sala Rossa• Previous Release:Root in Tandem (2023) — Bellbird's self-released debut—Dig into this episode's complete show notes at podcast.thetonearm.com—• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate The Tonearm ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. • Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of The Tonearm in your podcast app of choice. • Looking for more? Visit podcast.thetonearm.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Talk Of The Tonearm email newsletter. You can also follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, YouTube, and LinkedIn. • Be sure to bookmark our online magazine, The Tonearm! → thetonearm.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    51 m
  • Sam Wenc: The Experimental Language of the Pedal Steel Guitar

    Sam Wenc: The Experimental Language of the Pedal Steel Guitar
    Mar 22 2026
    Today, we're putting The Tonearm's needle on guitarist and composer Sam Wenc.Wenc is a Philadelphia-based artist who has spent nearly a decade building one of the more distinctive bodies of work in American experimental music, mostly under the name Post Moves.Now he's released his first album under his own name. It's called Language at an Angle, and it came out on Lobby Art Editions in January. The record grew out of a year of live performances—from Philadelphia to Japan—and it captures Sam doing something specific with pedal steel guitar: striking it, bowing it, treating it as both a sound source and a physical object. The result sits somewhere between drone, jazz, and a kind of American folk music you can't quite place.Sam's here to walk us through the record, his move to Philadelphia, and what it means to finally put his own name on the work.(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Sam Wenc's Language at an Angle)—Dig Deeper• Artist and Album:Visit Sam Wenc at samwenc.com and follow him on InstagramPurchase Sam Wenc's album Language at an Angle from Bandcamp or Qobuz, and listen on your streaming platform of choiceLobby Art Editions — Sam Wenc's label, releasing Language at an Angle and his previous catalog• Susan Alcorn:Susan Alcorn — official website of the pedal steel pioneer to whom Language at an Angle is dedicatedAnd I Await the Resurrection of the Pedal Steel Guitar — Alcorn's landmark 2007 solo albumSusan Alcorn: Revolutionary Voice of the Pedal Steel Guitar — The Tonearm's tribute, including a full conversation with Alcorn on her album CANTOSusan Alcorn obituary — WRTI• Collaborators:Sam Yulsman — pianist on Language at an Angle; studied with George Lewis at ColumbiaBark Culture — the Philadelphia trio of Victor Vieira-Branco (vibraphone), John Moran (bass), and Joey Sullivan (drums); members appear in Wenc's live bandVictor Vieira-Branco — vibraphonist and Bark Culture leaderBark Culture — Warm Wisdom — the trio's 2024 debut album• Venues:Roulette Intermedium — Brooklyn venue where Wenc held his album release showThe Stone — New York experimental music venue referenced in the episode• Musical References and Influences:George Lewis — composer, trombonist, and Columbia University professor; Sam Yulsman trained with himOkkyung Lee — South Korean cellist and improviser; Wenc cites Alcorn's improvisations with her as influentialMarshall Allen / Sun Ra Arkestra — Marshall Allen, still active in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood, is mentioned by Wenc as part of the city's deep musical lineageOlivier Messiaen — composer whose work Susan Alcorn famously transposed for pedal steelVíctor Jara — Chilean singer-songwriter; Alcorn covered his songs• Additional Context:Mississippi Records — the independent archival label Wenc manages alongside his own music workSam Wenc — Post Moves: Heart Music — released on Where to Now? Records, representative of his work under the Post Moves alias—Dig into this episode's complete show notes at podcast.thetonearm.com—• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate The Tonearm ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.• Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of The Tonearm in your podcast app of choice.• Looking for more? Visit podcast.thetonearm.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Talk Of The Tonearm email newsletter. You can also follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, YouTube, and LinkedIn.• Be sure to bookmark our online magazine, The Tonearm! → thetonearm.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    45 m
  • Zeena Parkins: Invention, Loss, and the Living Harp

    Zeena Parkins: Invention, Loss, and the Living Harp
    Mar 15 2026
    Today we're putting The Tonearm's needle on Zeena Parkins, composer, improviser, and one of the most singular forces in experimental music.Zeena has spent four decades dismantling what the harp can do: through electronics, object preparations, and a series of custom electric instruments she built herself, she's turned a concert hall fixture into something alive and unpredictable.Her collaborators range from Björk to John Zorn to Pauline Oliveros. Last year, she released two records paying tribute to her years teaching at Mills College before its closure: Modesty of the Magic Thing and Lament of the Maker. And she's performing this spring at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. She's also a Guggenheim Fellow and a three-time Bessie Award winner for her work composing for dance.We cover all of it: her instruments, her process, and what it means to make music at the edge of what's possible.(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Zeena Parkins' album Lament of the Maker)—Dig DeeperArtist and RecordingsVisit Zeena Parkins at zeenaparkins.com and follow her on Instagram and BandcampPurchase Lament for the Maker (Relative Pitch Records, 2025) from Bandcamp or Qobuz, and listen on your streaming platform of choicePurchase Modesty of the Magic Thing (Tzadik, 2025) from Qobuz or Squidco, and listen on your streaming platform of choiceCollaborators MentionedWilliam Winant — percussionist and longtime collaborator; Parkins discusses finding Lou Harrison instruments in his studio and performing Modesty of the Magic Thing with himFred Frith — guitarist and composer; Parkins replaced him at Mills and performed with him in Skeleton CrewLaetitia Sonami — sound artist and Mills colleague; composed "She is a Butcher in My Dreams" for Lament for the MakerJames Fei — composer and Mills colleague; composed "In Such Circumstances of Miscalculations" for Lament for the MakerJennifer Monson — choreographer; one of Parkins's most significant long-term dance collaboratorsChris Cutler — drummer; encountered Parkins in Europe and brought her into News from BabelNayland Blake — artist who curated the San Francisco gallery show where Parkins gave her first solo concertEnsembles and ProjectsSkeleton Crew — experimental rock trio with Fred Frith and Tom CoraNews from Babel — group with Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, and Dagmar Krause; Parkins discusses joining after meeting Cutler in EuropeTable of the Elements — American experimental music label; released Parkins's first solo recordRoulette Intermedium — Brooklyn venue where Parkins and Winant perform Modesty of the Magic Thing just before Big EarsArtists and Figures DiscussedJay DeFeo — Bay Area visual artist whose work, particularly The Rose and the Seven Pillars of Voice series, inspired Modesty of the Magic ThingThe Rose at the Whitney Museum — DeFeo's monumental painting, now in the Whitney's permanent collectionLou Harrison — American composer whose handmade instruments, bequeathed to William Winant, are central to Modesty of the Magic ThingDaphne Oram — British electronic music pioneer who worked at the BBC; Parkins mentions her as inspiration for an upcoming electric harp recordFestivalsBig Ears Festival — Knoxville, Tennessee; March 26–29, 2026; Parkins performs Modesty of the Magic Thing with William WinantOther Minds Festival — San Francisco; site of the West Coast premiere of Modesty of the Magic Thing—Dig into this episode's complete show notes at podcast.thetonearm.com—• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate The Tonearm ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.• Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of The Tonearm in your podcast app of choice.• Looking for more? Visit podcast.thetonearm.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Talk Of The Tonearm email newsletter. You can also follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, YouTube, and LinkedIn.• Be sure to bookmark our online magazine, The Tonearm! → thetonearm.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    57 m
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