essay
Longform: A Spectre is Haunting Electronic Music
Marx would surely have loved the club, but would have been aghast at the economic conditions therein.
Chris Zaldua
Writer, music liker, sometimes event producer. Bay Area-based.
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interviewWords With: Ani Phoebe
Hong Kong, pop-up vending, records as journaling, cultural currency, sustainability, retail as cooperative ecosystem.
recordsNow Listening: A New Industrial Roundup
For New Industrial artists and labels, the refusal to be categorized is the category.
interviewWords With: Autechre, Vol. 2 (2015)
The complete transcript of my 2015 conversation with Autechre, published for the first time—in two parts.
interviewWords 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)
A nearly 10-year old feature on Autechre—with the complete interview transcript to follow.
essayLongform: The New Industrial
Or why Dean Blunt might be the truest spiritual successor to Throbbing Gristle.
interviewWords With: Simon Popp & Polygonia
Collaboration, musical backgrounds, Ableton vs. hardware, alternative percussion instruments, spontaneity, techno-jazz intersections, Munich and the midsize-city advantage.
recordsNow 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.
recordsLook Back: CS + Kreme – "Snoopy"
Déjà vu, haunted-romance R&B, lysergic downtempo, occult sensibility, "The Wicker Man," Coil.
essayLongform: Exiting the Vampire Algorithm
A defense of human-led music discovery in the digital age—with apologies to Mark Fisher.
interviewWords With: Cone Shape Top
Bay Area-Philly-NYC rave history, hiddenness vis-à-vis intentionality, artistic collaboration, community building, alternative commerce.