Podcasts by Now and Xen

073 - Brock Benzel from 2023-06-30T14:00

In this brief but informative chat with Brock Benzel, we explore uncharted territory, with a firm commitment to being true to the self, taking on challenges, putting the music first, a...

072 - Steve Mueske from 2023-06-29T14:00

An episode about synth and drums among other tidbits. Topics include names, aliases, Sevish himself, reverberance, randomness, evil, disguising tuning, non-octave tuning, flaws, beauty...

071 - Denny Genovese from 2023-06-28T12:56

In this episode, Denny Genovese recalls his history of creating and studying microtonal music, and his experience creating and performing in the impressive Exotic Music Ensemble. Join ...

070 - Danny Playamaqui from 2023-05-31T13:00

Check out Danny Playamaqui’s electronic music, a hugely expansive discography using a staggering variety of techniques. Danny conducts by-ear-tuning editing, strategic de-tuning, varis...

069 - Bryan Deister from 2023-05-19T13:24

Come join us for a pleasant studio chat with Bryan Deister, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and jazz pianist extraordinaire. Recently he has been exploring microtonal covers on the Lu...

068 - Chris Bandy from 2023-02-28T18:00

Chris Bandy, a cappella maestro and creative polymath, joins us to discuss the microtonality of his spectacular arrangements on YouTube. He works in Logic Pro using FlexPitch. Most of ...

067 - D&D's guide from 2023-02-28T13:00

Dave Keenan and Douglas Blumeyer have written an in-depth, specific guide about the mathematical principles of regular temperament theory that are groundbreaking in their consistency a...

066 - Mat Muntz from 2023-02-24T14:00

Experimental bagpipe and bass legend Mat Muntz brings his Croatian folk music expertise to the table… a topic most would say he has matsered in depth. Check out his latest album “Phant...

065 - Aaron Myers-Brooks from 2022-11-28T12:00

Check out this conversation with Aaron Myers-Brooks, Pittsburgh prog guitarist/composer extraordinaire. His latest album, “Oblique,” is a microtonal odyssey explo...

064 - The One Footed Bride from 2022-11-15T16:02

“One-Footed” is a piece written by Taylor Brook named after Harry Partch’s “The One-Footed Bride'' Just-Intonation diagram. We discuss the aforementioned piece wi...

063 - acreil from 2022-08-29T08:34:55

Check out acreil’s music! Algorithmic albums appended with “a.” Keeper of obscure words in lists. Hardware enthusiast and certified synth geek. We have a delightf...

062 - Skueue from 2022-08-22T08:16:32

Algorithmic August kicks off with Skueue, builder of the unnamed machine in Pure Data. This is an abstract, idea-filled episode packed to the brim with insights a...

061 - Nicholas Denton Protsack from 2022-04-30T10:00:25

Nicholas Denton Protsack’s music abounds with spectral delights of various kinds. Our talk today has a particular focus on notation, delving into the strategy beh...

060 - Aaron Breeze from 2022-04-12T10:00:05

How on earth does one create a 1200-tone tone row? Or even a 372-tone row in Sibelius? Find out in this wacky episode featuring Aaron Breeze, the swingin’ licc ma...

059 - Stephen James Taylor from 2022-03-31T15:55:16

In this colorful, rich episode, we take a look into the importance of visual and narrative elements in accompanying microtonal music and its ideas. Stephen James ...

058 - Anna-Maria Hefele from 2022-03-12T11:00:51

Anna-Maria Hefele, overtone singing sensation, has kindly graced us with her presence! Witness conversation about the tuning and construction of the intricate and...

057 - Ventifacts from 2021-11-12T11:00

A fascinating collaboration between Ben Spees, of The Mercury Tree, and Damon Waitkus, of Jack O’ the Clock. We take a look at the acoustic instruments used to cr...

056 - Ben Hjertmann&Emmalee Hunnicutt from 2021-11-01T11:00

“Visitors,” a lovely acoustic journey inspired by the visits of animals, is an album that leads to great conversation. Performed by Ben Hjertmann and Emmalee Hunn...

055 - Hear Between the Lines from 2021-07-30T10:00

We chat with Rami Olsen and Freddi Sturm, the brains behind “Hear Between the Lines,” about all things microtonal arranging/content! Topics touched upon include c...

054 - browsers and inharmonic sleep therapy (Sevish) from 2021-06-30T21:51:29

Sevish and I chat about software, instruments, and philosophical questions. We are both excited to continually witness more and more people become interested in m...

053 - Automatic Microtonal Guitar (Tolgahan Çoğulu) from 2021-05-24T10:00

Check out our latest conversation with the brilliant guitarist Tolgahan Çoğulu, inventor of the LEGO microtonal guitar and automatic microtonal guitar. We dive in...

052B - Subhraag Singh from 2021-01-12T12:00

Hey all! Since Now&Xen is on hiatus, I wanted to give you some content anyway, so here's the last episode we had on as a Patreon exclusive! I may be releasing select Patreon-exclusive episodes d...

052 - Eric Ederer from 2020-12-29T12:36:22

We dissect makam scales with Dr. Eric Ederer, using his fantastic instruments and deep knowledge of theory & praxis. Makam music uses a lot of different parameter...

051 - Dsilton (Georg Vogel) from 2020-12-12T07:05:39

We discuss the origin and style of the polystylistic jazz band Dsilton, as well as the 36-note keyboard that Georg Vogel often plays and the tuning setups. Be sur...

050 - Robin Meiksins from 2020-11-30T11:00

Join us for a conversation with Robin Meiksins, flute performer extraordinaire! She plays lots of new music, and as such is familiar with many contemporary techni...

049 - Taylor Brook from 2020-11-12T15:10:55

Composer Taylor Brook regularly works with Just Intonation, string players, and piano timbres. We discuss some of the notational and compositional challenges of w...

048 - Erica dal Bassa, soprano sfogato from 2020-10-31T09:00

Composer-performer Erica dal Bassa is an innovator in electronic and vocal music. We explore varied experimental topics such as bytebeat, singing techniques, narr...

047 - Michael Harrison from 2020-10-12T04:00

Composer Michael Harrison and I talk about his deep interests in Indian classical music (solfege, tuning, raga, and practice) as well as Just Intonation (septimal...

046 - Músico Nerd (Gustavo Silveira) from 2020-09-12T19:47:01

A stimulating conversation about content creation, electronics, and microtonal controllers! Gustavo is the original creator of the XT Synth, and his channel has c...

045 - Vivian Tylinska from 2020-08-25T11:00

Vivian and I chat about microtonal tuning systems, building instruments, playing guitar, and metal! Her Bandcamp name is Victory Over the Sun. You should be extre...

044 - Paul Dolden from 2020-08-19T11:00

Join esteemed Canadian composer Paul Dolden and I for a delightful romp through xenharmonic music that sounds alive and exciting. We rewrite the music curriculum,...

043 - Amelia Huff (Zhea Erose) from 2020-07-31T23:00

Voice expert Amelia Huff and I talk about the harmonic series in an in-depth way! Memes, witchcraft, acoustics, production, human-voice aesthetics, and novendecim...

042 - Sintel from 2020-07-12T18:00

Sintel is a biologist, visual artist, game creator, and multi-instrumentalist who uses a variety of tuning systems in his work. Our stimulating conversation cover...

041 - Hidekazu Wakabayashi (微分音チャンネル) from 2020-06-30T05:35:32

Hidekazu Wakabayashi is a multi-instrumentalist who puts his works on YouTube with lots of incredible visual content! We talk about traditional music, cover songs...

40edo - 🎧👂🔜🖤💗📛🎲🎰🎮🥇🚴🌫👂👂💘 from 2020-06-15T03:38:45

Sevish and Jacob Barton interview Stephen Weigel about his new absurdist postmodern EDM album, one that pushes the envelope with regards to how complexity is perc...

039 - Hitomi Shimizu (Syzygys) from 2020-05-30T14:00

We talk about the microtonal pop duo Syzygys and how they play with Harry Partch’s 43-tone Genesis scale. How do you make music sound interesting when your keyboa...

038 - Joe Monzo from 2020-05-29T14:24:15

Joe Monzo and I talk about lots of tuning theory and memories of events past. Comparisons are made between 37edo (alas! The episode is only 1 away!) and 22edo, as...

037 - Isaac Schankler from 2020-04-29T04:00

On this episode of Now&Xen, we talk with electronic guru Isaac Schankler about his relationship with microtonality as a composer, reasons to use just intonation o...

036 - James Mulvale from 2020-04-20T16:00

With James Mulvale, we discuss what it’s like to be new to microtonality, working in a DAW and with instruments. We also talk about microtonality in pop music and...

035 - Kraig Grady from 2020-04-12T16:00

In this episode, we talk about the instruments of the Shadow Theatre, Anaphoria, and the mysterious Clocks & Clouds. Soar through the sonic sky with us through ad...

034 - Hunter Ewen from 2020-03-27T15:29:39

We talk with multimedia composer Hunter Ewen about what it’s like to be alive in the 21st century. Microtonality has lots of potential to be used as a temporal fl...

033 - Aaron Krister Johnson from 2020-03-22T22:01:31

Join us for an exciting episode with the founder of UnTwelve, Aaron Krister Johnson! We talk about why Facebook sucks, early music, methods of music composition, ...

032 - Robert Lopez-Hanshaw from 2020-02-27T15:22:27

Microtonal choral music is exciting and intense! Robert Lopez-Hanshaw premiered a piece in 72-tone equal temperament featuring the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and C...

031 - Paul Erlich from 2020-02-26T03:33:48

In this episode, we explore a brief history of regular temperament theory, and also talk about the basics of microtonal interval construction. Listen

030 - Sevish, benyamind, Xotla from 2020-02-11T13:04:55

An in-depth look at the usability and selection of tunings in drum and bass music between these three giants! We talk a lot about the writing process and how micr...

029 - Kite Giedraitis, Aaron Wolf, Spencer Hargraves from 2020-01-29T04:53:19

This episode is an invigorating, aurally demonstrative conversation that took place in Portland, Oregon between Kite, Aaron, and Spencer in September 2019. It’s a...

028 - Löis Lancaster from 2020-01-17T23:12:57

Löis Lancaster is a microtonal performer and composer from Brazil who writes things in Bohlen-Pierce (and other tuning systems) all the time using Bohlen-Pierce g...

027 - Toby Twining (feat. Thomas Schuerich&Bill Alves) from 2019-12-31T05:20:02

Join us for a walk in the woods with renowned composer Toby Twining as we discuss his monumental choral work, the Chrysalid Requiem. Our topics include spiraling ...

026 - Christian Klinkenberg from 2019-12-30T03:25:54

Glacier 2.0 is opera for the future - a polysystemic array of multimedia influenced by jazz, improvisation, and shown on a visual score for all to see. For extra ...

025 - Amanda Cole from 2019-11-12T04:24:22

On this episode, Amanda Cole and Stephen Weigel discuss beating in sine tones, instrument design, harmonics, and wine glasses used for microtones among other topi...

024 - Reilly Spitzfaden from 2019-11-12T04:20:46

Reilly Spitzfaden (they/them) composes music for creatively designed acoustic instruments with a focus on timbre and tone color. In this episode, we discuss micro...

023 - Kyle Gann from 2019-10-31T16:55:11

Kyle Gann, avid minimalist and former student of Ben Johnston, discusses his new tuning textbook and two of his most influential compositions with Jacob Barton an...

22edo Room Talks from 2019-10-31T14:07:39

This episode is a tribute to 22-tone equal temperament, since it has been such a special tuning in the microtonal community for quite some time! Yes, “Room Talks”...

021 - Warren Burt from 2019-09-30T23:16:50

Take a soak in the musical seas of Warren Burt, who has been an avid pioneer in microtonality and electronics for nearly half a century! Stories of his personal j...

020 - Johnny Reinhard from 2019-09-10T04:31:28

Join us for an episode featuring Johnny Reinhard, legendary bassoonist and head of the American Festival of Microtonal Music. We shoot the breeze, discuss 128 tun...

UnTwelve '19 from 2019-08-27T03:53:47

Which household cleaning supply secretly identifies as a Bohlen-Pierce instrument? Find out in this episode!

Listen

018 - Bill Sethares from 2019-08-12T20:16:24

Bill Sethares joins us for a conversation about the relationship between timbre and tuning. Research from Kevin Hobby and Bill Sethares shows us how to design str...

017 - Dolores Catherino from 2019-07-31T23:52:34

Dolores Catherino joins us with interesting conversation about keyboard technique, polychromatic notation, the limits of perception, and artificial intelligence. ...

016 - Jude Thomas from 2019-07-11T17:09:04

Jude Thomas hosts the only all microtonal-radio program (Xen Radio) on KPISS, so we sat down with him to talk about the challenges of having a multi-genre program...

015 - Brian Riordan from 2019-06-25T12:27:31

UnTwelve 2018 composition winner Brian Riordan talks about his fascinating use of piano transducers and just intonation in “Recorded Ruins.” Indonesian slendro tu...

014 - PARTCH ensemble from 2019-06-12T19:30:38

How does one win a GRAMMY® award? Which never-before-heard recording of Partch hims...

013 - The Mercury Tree from 2019-05-31T15:40:31

The Mercury Tree is an experimental prog band from Portland, Oregon, and we interviewed them in the middle of their Spidermilk tour across the U.S. Spidermilk is ...

011 - Brendan Byrnes from 2019-05-11T17:09:23

Brendan Byrnes joins Sevish and Stephen Weigel for a chill chat about all things microtonal music. Brendan composes and performs both solo and with his band Ileve...

Easley Blackwood[10] from 2019-05-11T16:43:21

Which piece of music is favored most by Easley Blackwood’s cat? And which one of his etudes caused people at the O’Hare airport to call him “crazy” when played ov...

009 - Ben Fuhrman from 2019-04-16T17:40:37

Stephen and Ben discuss interactive technology and the merits of microtonal composition. Within interactive technology comes a host of questions, both about acous...

008 - Tolgahan Çoğulu from 2019-04-12T00:41:27

Istanbul has a long history and a diverse set of musical cultures, which include Anatolian folk music and Ottoman Turkish urban music. With thousands of guitars i...

007 - Bruce Hamilton from 2019-03-24T19:00:16

Bruce Hamilton and Stephen Weigel discuss technology and social gatherings in microtonal music. Workflow with polysystemic tunings and DAW’s is a big topic here -...

006 - Neil Haverstick from 2019-03-11T23:47:30

In this episode, Stephen and Sevish discuss performance, teaching, and tuning with Neil Haverstick. Neil Haverstick is an experienced country/blues guitarist and ...

005 - Jack Tickner from 2019-02-12T19:05:27

In this episode, Stephen and Sevish discuss microtonal guitar music with Jack Tickner, who is a part of many bands and projects and mods guitars into different fr...

004 - Chris Bailey and Jacob Barton from 2019-01-31T22:48:28

In this episode, Stephen discusses ear training and sliding-pitch techniques with two members of UnTwelve, Jacob and Chris. (Be sure to spread the word about UnTw...

003 - John Chalmers from 2019-01-24T23:54:30