Chris Zaldua - Thoughts of a Certain Sound

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Chris Zaldua

Writer, music liker, sometimes event producer. Bay Area-based.

Words With: Autechre, Vol. 2 (2015)

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Words With: Autechre, Vol. 2 (2015)

The complete transcript of my 2015 conversation with Autechre, published for the first time—in two parts.

Words With: Autechre, Vol. 1 (2015)

Paid-members only

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Words With: Autechre, Vol. 1 (2015)

The complete transcript of my 2015 conversation with Autechre, published for the first time—in two parts.

Look Back: A Ghost in the Machine (an Autechre feature from 2015)

Look Back: A Ghost in the Machine (an Autechre feature from 2015)

A nearly 10-year old feature on Autechre—with the complete interview transcript to follow.

Longform: The New Industrial

Longform: The New Industrial

Or why Dean Blunt might be the truest spiritual successor to Throbbing Gristle.

Words With: Simon Popp & Polygonia

Words With: Simon Popp & Polygonia

Collaboration, musical backgrounds, Ableton vs. hardware, alternative percussion instruments, spontaneity, techno-jazz intersections, Munich and the midsize-city advantage.

Now Listening: Black Decelerant, Lara Sarkissian, Darlynn, Geier aus Stahl, Hotspring

Now Listening: Black Decelerant, Lara Sarkissian, Darlynn, Geier aus Stahl, Hotspring

Meditative jazz textures, filmic soundscapes, sunny vocal-led house music, funky machine music, ambient-ish songwriting with dub sensibility.

Look Back: CS + Kreme – "Snoopy"

Look Back: CS + Kreme – "Snoopy"

Déjà vu, haunted-romance R&B, lysergic downtempo, occult sensibility, "The Wicker Man," Coil.

A late 90s digital image created in Bryce 3D.

Longform: Exiting the Vampire Algorithm

A defense of human-led music discovery in the digital age—with apologies to Mark Fisher.

A glass storefront door pictured from the inside looking out bearing the letters "CST," depicted in reverse.

Words With: Cone Shape Top

Bay Area-Philly-NYC rave history, hiddenness vis-à-vis intentionality, artistic collaboration, community building, alternative commerce.

Now Listening: Innode, Swiftumz, Ali Berger, Cola Ren, Bézier

Now Listening: Innode, Swiftumz, Ali Berger, Cola Ren, Bézier

Percussive alien electronics, fuzzy power pop, jazzy house music, crystalline Eastern-Western downtempo, analog-future techno with live drums.

Endtroducing...

Endtroducing...

Welcome to Thoughts of a Certain Sound, a new publication—part newsletter, part zine, part journal—examining contemporary culture through a musical lens. My name is Chris Zaldua, and I'm a Bay Area-based writer, music obsessive, and event organizer (or "culture producer," if I'm