Flow State

TKB (Guest rec from Ryan Mandelbaum)

Flow State — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 07:03:02 GMT

Today we have a guest recommendation from , a writer and occasional DJ, whose newsletter is a valuable source of thoughtful curation and honest reflections on the world of experimental sound.

Today I’d like to shine a light on an artist who is, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant and overlooked minds currently operating in the world of ambient and experimental adjacent sound, someone I recommend whenever I am given the chance: Timothy K. Brown aka TKB.

Trying to describe TKB’s sound in terms of musical reference points is nearly impossible because, simply put, there is nothing out there quite like it. It is a sound that I’d best describe as elemental – as if he somehow discovered a method for recording the ancient music of the earth itself, the essential and imperceptible melody that vibrates through everyone and everything. TKB’s entire discography is well worth delving into, but his three most recent releases (each respectively finding their way to the very top of my year end lists) are all perfect launching points.

2025’s Relentless Ambience is an otherworldly and at times disorienting listen filled with some of the most unique textures I’ve ever heard. Jon Hassell, Zoviet France, and even the work of James Ferraro and Spencer Clarke are the closest comparisons I can think of, but again… TKB’s world is entirely his own. 888 — 890, released just a few months later on World of Knots, takes a much more rhythmic approach, its exoskeletal rhythmic patterns far removed from any sense human involvement, rather resembling those found in nature – the fluttering of moth wings, the whisper of wind through leaves, the mating call of crickets dancing in and out of phase with each other.

His most recent release, Lo on the Ilm, is easily TKB’s most serene work yet. While it might be absent of the jittery and at times anxious sense of constant motion present in much of his work, it is nonetheless defined by the same sense of dark mystery, as if one is peering into the very deepest part of the night, and given access to its most forbidden secrets. Don’t let this description scare you off though – this is possibly the most beautiful album of the year, perfect to drift off to. A much needed corner of serenity in a constantly overstimulating world.

Relentless Ambience - TKB (73m, no vocals)
Bandcamp

888 — 980 - TKB (32m, no vocals)
Bandcamp

Lo on the Ilm - TKB (32m, no vocals)
Bandcamp

Have a great Thursday.

Across the Horizon Ep. 71: Lara Somogyi

Flow State — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:03:43 GMT

On today’s episode of Across the Horizon, host Bob Holmes of the band SUSS is joined by Lara Somogyi. Lara is a harpist and composer who recently released an album a [time] patterned on Mercury KX Records. They talk about her new music as well as the playlist of ambient music that she brought to the show, including Ólafur Arnalds, Clarice Jensen, Steve Reich, Koki Nakano, and much more.

For Flow State, we’re listening to two albums by Somogyi, whose music has appeared on many of our mixes and whom we featured last year. First up is the new record, a [time] patterned, on which she passes her harp through a medley of effects pedals.1 She says on the show, “I’ve been listening to a lot of music that shifts time for me, or makes me feel time physically. I started making the record because I was curious about time… I discovered I experience it through sensory markers rather than through numerical markers.” We’re also playing Désert from last year, a collaboration with Joshua Tree-born pianist Jean-Michel Blais. Included in our daily playlist for paying subscribers is her unmissable covers of “Running Up That Hill” and “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” among other selections.

a [time] patterned - Lara Somogyi (36m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Désert - Lara Somogyi & Jean-Michel Blais (39m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a great Wednesday.

Also check out her video with Reverb in which she demonstrates many of these effect pedals

Flow State Episode 345

Flow State — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:03:08 GMT

Today’s mix opens with a beautiful new track from Isik Kural, followed by new ambient by Maxime Denuc and elijah jamal asani. There are instrumentals by M. Sage and K. Leimer, and then a long new ambient piece by Windy & Carl (who have a new album out). There’s a saxophone-led instrumental by Cole Pulice and then a guitar-led slow burn jam by Time Wharp. We play a couple new low-key techno tracks by Mammo and Shinichi Atobe, followed by one of Patrick Cowley’s reissued HI-NRG pieces. The last two tracks are a triumphant piece by Akusmi and a sample that may be familiar. We hope you enjoy.

0:00:00 - Isik Kural - Motorcycles and Cherry Wind

0:02:45 - Maxime Denuc - Atlantis

0:09:04 - elijah jamal asani - thirtyonecircles /// soft shoulder(s) confluence near second mesa

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Flow State — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 07:03:05 GMT

Today we’re listening to Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese composer and pianist from Tokyo. We’ve recommended him a few times before. The occasion for today’s rec is last week’s publication of of Sakamoto’s memoir, Music Sets You Free. The book is a twofer: it’s the English translations (by Sam Bett) of two autobiographical works by Sakamoto, the first from 2009 and the second from 2023, the year he passed away. We’re playing two piano records released around the time of those texts – 2009’s Playing the Piano and 2024’s Opus. Sakamoto studied piano intensively in elementary school and recalled being “shocked” by Debussy in junior high:

I was browsing through one of my uncle’s collections of records when I found Debussy’s String Quartet…. I snuck it home with me and played it on the stereo entertainment system, this huge thing built like a piece of furniture and covered up with lace. What I heard next was a total shock to me. This was different from any other music I’d heard before. Nothing like the Bach or Beethoven I liked. The second that I heard it, I was mesmerized. My affinity for Debussy was so strong that it blurred my sense of self. I started thinking of him, despite being dead for ages, as if his life and mine were one and the same. I thought I was the reincarnation of Debussy. It made me question where I lived and why I could speak Japanese. I even practiced the man’s signature, filling multiple notebook pages with his name.1

Playing the Piano - Ryuichi Sakamoto (58m, no vocals)
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Opus - Ryuichi Sakamoto (96m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

We wish you a great start to your week.

Music Sets You Free by Ryuichi Sakamoto, p. 34

Patrick Cowley

Flow State — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 07:03:22 GMT

It’s Friday so we’re listening to something more upbeat. Today we’re listening to Patrick Cowley, an American electronic musician from Buffalo, NY. Born in 1950, he grew up playing the drums in local bands and then moved to San Francisco when he was 21.1 He was fascinated by newfangled machines called synthesizers and in the City College learned to play Moogs and Buchlas. At clubs and bathhouses he heard Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, and more.2 Across the ‘70s he developed his own style of synth-driven dance music, collaborating with the singer Sylvester on several hits. We’re playing two of Cowley’s solo records, which were released after he passed away of AIDS-related illness in 1982. Afternooners from 2017 collects instrumentals he recorded between 1979 and 1982 primarily for adult film soundtracks. Hard Ware, just released last year, collects ten tracks which in the words of the label are “sultry, psychedelic, sarcastic, and just a bit sleazy.”3

Afternooners - Patrick Cowley (69m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Hard Ware - Patrick Cowley (55m, vocals on tracks 3, 4, 6 and 10)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a wonderful weekend.

DJMag

NPR

Bandcamp

Egberto Gismonti

Flow State — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 07:02:46 GMT

Today we’re listening to Egberto Gismonti, a Brazilian composer, guitarist, and pianist from Carmo. Born in 1947, he started studying piano at age six, going on to study at in Paris, where he was drawn especially to Ravel’s voicings.1 Returning to Brazil, he incorporated choro, a fast-paced and expressive traditional Brazilian style into his work. That meant learning the guitar, and amazingly he became virtuosic at a second instrument. In the 1970s he signed with ECM, the German jazz label, which went on to release about a dozen of his records. Solo from 1979 is, as the title suggests, a collection of solo performances on guitar and piano. Alma from 1986 is a collection of energetic piano performances, showcasing his signature blend of classical rigor and folk expression.

Solo - Egberto Gismonti (53m, no vocals)
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Alma - Egberto Gismonti (41m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a great Thursday.

AllAboutJazz

Corntuth (Interview)

Flow State — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:03:13 GMT

Today we’re listening to Corntuth, an American ambient musician based in Brooklyn. His new record, The Nightingale Floor, is the 13th release from Flow State Records. We released three of his previous records: Music To Work To (2020), The Desert Is Paper Thin (2021), and Letters To My Robot Son (2022). He grew up playing guitar and piano, recording indie and folk rock songs with his brother, playing in bands and later gravitating toward ambient music via Brian Eno and Hiroshi Yoshimura. At the beginning of covid, he picked up a Yamaha DX7 which has been his go-to ambient instrument. The Nightingale Floor incorporates drum loops and field tape, the latter taken from a trip to Japan. The record is co-released by Aural Canyon, who are making it available on a limited edition cassette. We’re also revisiting The Desert Is Paper thin, an acoustic guitar-driven record in the ambient country style, featuring the late Pete Finney on pedal steel guitar. A conversation with Corntuth follows the streaming links.

The Nightingale Floor - Corntuth (36m, slight vocals on track 2)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

The Desert Is Paper Thin - Corntuth (40m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Amazon Music / Tidal

What’s your earliest memory of music?

Probably my dad singing “Summertime Blues” by The Who. I remember when we were very young that he would sing that song. “There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues.” I’m sure that’s not actually the first experience I had of music, but that’s a really early one.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Bob Dylan because I had very curly hair and I had a toy guitar. Before I could really speak, I was struggling to say Bob Dylan’s name.

Was the toy guitar your first instrument?

Yeah, it was. I wanted to play the saxophone when I was a kid. I grew up near a store called Daddy’s Junky Music, and I remember going there and there was a dude with really long hair. He told my parents that he played the saxophone when he was really young and it had broken his fingers. He thought that I shouldn’t play the saxophone. So that led me to playing guitar and then piano.

I put the guitar away for a long time and focused on piano. I can’t really remember why. But I came back to guitar because my brother started playing it. I remember the first song he taught me to play was “Wooden Ships” by Jefferson Airplane.

What was your journey with piano?

My mom was a pianist and she was involved early on in my learning to play. I remember every Sunday in the fall we would listen to the George Winston record Autumn. I think we maybe had a couple other Windham Hill records, but it was really that George Winston record that I fell in love with. My whole family loved it. I associated it with the warmth of being inside when it’s cold and dark outside. A lot of the things I wanted to learn how to do on piano stemmed from that record.

I had a high school jazz band experience, like a lot of people do, that I was pretty serious about, and that expanded my sense of harmony. I was in rock bands and played keys and guitar and worked on songwriting through that. But I think the George Winston experience and that kind of music stuck with me.

Shout out to George Winston and Windham Hill Records.

Shout out to In Search of The Turtle’s Navel too, just an incredible record.

When did you start making your own music?

I started very young. Because I was so obsessed with Bob Dylan, I always wanted to write songs. I’m sure I had some half baked attempts when I was a toddler.

My parents had a PC. It was like a chunky old Dell that had a microphone, and I found a way to make that the recording device. It would get blown out really quickly because it was not meant for music or complicated mixing. So each layer exponentially increased the gain. But I would make songs on that that were kind of indie folk songs.

When I was in 8th grade, the Gorillaz’ album Demon Days came out, and I lived in Boston. The day it came out, for whatever reason, they were at Newbury Comics in Boston. I went with my best friend. We got in line a couple hours early, and for whatever reason, we were the first people they let in. Danger Mouse was there, Damon Albarn, and Jamie Hewlett. Albarn was a hero of mine. I said to him, “I want to be a musician. What do you recommend?” And Damon Albarn was like, “You should buy a tape recorder, like a four-track tape recorder, and just record something every single day.”

So I went back home and told my mom what he said. My mom often recounted this story of this time we’d met Hank Aaron the baseball player and he talked about practicing with a stick and a bottle cap. This is not at all how we grew up. But my mom thought it was a good principle (selectively enforced) that you should really prove you were serious about something before getting a bunch of gear for it.

But I came back from the Damon Albarn conversation saying, “Look, Damon Albarn says I need to get a proper tape recorder.” Later on I got a proper tape recorder as a like graduation present, a Fostex digital recorder that had multi-track and onboard effects. And I went crazy with that thing and recorded a ton, making music with my brother. Then more computer tools started coming out and they helped a lot.

What kinds of computer tools?

We definitely were using Logic. We started a lot more home recording: indie rock, indie folk tracks. We listened to a lot of Rolling Stones growing up and my brother’s a great guitarist, so there was some stuff in the vein of “Moonlight Mile” by the Stones.

I was using open tuning a lot, along the same lines as the George Winston stuff I mentioned. I was more eager to write songs than I was to get very technically gifted at an instrument. Open tunings are sort of a hack to make something that sounds good and interesting fast. If you really want to know how to use them, you obviously have to spend a lot of time studying that specific tuning. I backed into that over years of hacking my way through them.

What was the origin of the Corntuth project?

I knew this guy named Tony, who has an amazing synthesizer company called Analog Craftsman, that was based near where I grew up in Massachusetts. In the early days of the pandemic, Tony was moving to the West Coast, and he knew that I’d always loved this Yamaha DX7 that he had, this amazing synthesizer from 1983. He hit me up when he was moving and was like, “I’ll give you a really sweet deal on this, if you want to take it off my hands.” So I immediately jumped at that. He also threw in a Yamaha R100 reverb unit, which is an amazing old digital reverb from the ‘80s.

I’d also been a devoted Flow State reader for some time and through that I’d gotten into ambient music. I remember listening to Thursday Afternoon by Brian Eno while I was working at a boring job and feeling really weird in a way that I kind of enjoyed. I was listening to a lot of what was being recommended in Flow State. Also the Vampire Weekend record Father of the Bride had a song called “2021” which sampled a Haruomi Hosono composition for Muji. I loved the song but I really loved the sample, so I started listening to that a bunch. Those were the things that made me start thinking about what I could do with that synthesizer.

How did you approach Nightingale Floor differently from previous albums?

A few things are different on this record. I took a lot longer with it, first of all. Most of the Corntuth records are improvisations, I just improvise a ton and fiddle around with sounds and then I edit it into something that feels more composed. On this there are definitely improvisations, but it’s more carefully crafted. I wanted to experiment with found sounds and ambient field recordings. And also rhythms, like specifically drum loops.

So for the first time I did a lot of rooting around trying to find drum samples from old drum machines. And in one instance there’s a loop from a contemporary drummer, whom I love – feeb. I had spent a lot of time traveling and specifically had one pretty big trip to Japan, which is a major pilgrimage for anyone who loves ambient music. It was the rainy season, and I felt like I kept winding up in places that sounded really interesting to me. Then in one older building, I met a man who told me they had a nightingale floor – this old floor that sounds like a nightingale singing when you walk on it. In the process of trying to record what that floor sounded like – just stomping around on it, trying to make it sing – I felt like I was basically doing what I do with a synthesizer, which is just like banging at various instruments and seeing what comes out of them and then making a record out of it.

So I had this desire to combine these field tapes with more compositions. And introducing outside elements that were scaffolding the music, like with rhythm as well.

How did you approach incorporating the drums?

I would listen to a ton of samples and try to find ones that connected with me for some reason. Once I found those, I would create really long loops of them. Then start playing on top of them, letting a structure emerge. I wanted there to be – not the feeling of a live drummer, but of variation in the drums. I wanted to figure out how I could put a bunch of moments in the recordings that grab your attention without breaking a sort of peaceful flow.

One of the ways I was doing that in the record was finding little moments in the drum loops where I could process the drum differently with the time-based effects that actually changed what the pattern being played was. You can hear that most clearly on “Align.” I would do a phase of that and try and find these little pockets where it could morph, then go back and play more and sculpt around that.

And the instruments you used?

As always, the DX7. I used a lot of harmonica too on this record. There are some moments where I’m doing extreme vocal processing on my own voice. And there’s a little acoustic guitar. But yeah, otherwise it’s the DX7, drum loops, and field tape.

Were there any other albums that you were listening to while making this?

Haruomi Hosono, a lot of that. I was listening to Ernest Hood’s Neighborhoods, especially how he works with field tape. I really fell in love with Susumu Yokota and Synergetic Voice Orchestra in the process of making this. Then there’s always the classic people like Harold Budd and Brian Eno. I was listening to Wet Land a lot by Hiroshi Yoshimura too.

What are you working on next?

Right now I’m working on two film scores. One has been in progress for a long time, which is part of why I took some time off making records. That’s been really fun. I think it’s also part of why I wanted to work with field tape because it’s really fun to put music to a story, or try to tell a story with music. So I’m finishing up those two film scores, and then I have a site-specific project out in Wichita, Kansas, which I am making plans for in November. I’m really excited about that. I’m hoping to have something from that to share early next year.

Flow State Episode 344

Flow State — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 07:03:59 GMT

Today’s mix opens with new ambient music by Hayes Bradley, Asio Silver, and The Black Dog. We revisit a favorite from the Harold Budd compilation Budd Box and then some more new instrumentals by Midori Takada & Jakob Bro, Cephas Azariah, and Le Motel. There’s a track from the prolific Oren Ambarchi’s record from last year, Ghosted III, as well as an incredible 2014 folk track from the duo Hazelius Hedin. The pace gently picks up with Okonski, Colossus, and Professor Kazkaz. A new single from Greg Foat brings it to a close. We hope you enjoy.

0:00:00 - Hayes Bradley - Monday’s Children

0:02:51 - Asio Silver - Nights

0:06:02 - The Black Dog - Theme 1

Joel Noct Brinson

Flow State — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 07:04:23 GMT

Today we’re listening to Joel Noct Brinson, an American ambient musician based in Portland, Oregon. We discovered his music via ’s post on . Brinson started a practice of daily sketches on his Buchla Music Easel, a portable semi-modular analog synth originally created in 1973. His June LP, the politics of being, emerged from these daily sketches, the tracks recorded in one take each. “Not composed but revealed,” he wrote. The nine pieces are slow-moving ambient works, with a ghostly quality, not scary but pretty haunted. We’re also playing his EP Fawn from 2024, three-module one-takes, in a similar style.

the politics of being - Joel Noct Brinson (47m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Fawn - Joel Noct Brinson (24m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

We wish you a great start to your week.

via Instagram

Professor Kazkaz

Flow State — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 07:04:40 GMT

It’s Friday so we’re listening to something slightly more upbeat. Today we’re listening to Professor Kazkaz, a collaboration between German electronic musicians Gregor Tresher and Marcus Schmahl. We found their LP, Algorhythms, via upsammy who named it her Perfect 10 record. “It’s mostly downtempo, IDM electronica. It’s very moody, murky, I think perfect for midnight drives on a long, windy road.” In our testing it also works at a desk. Released in 2007, Algorhythms is the duo’s only release. Like Boards of Canada, they pair emphatic drum loops with synth lines, whose optimism and wonder reflect the physics theme of the project. The tracks have names like “Quantum Dots” and “Ellipsometry” and “Zirconium.”

Algorhythms - Professor Kazkaz (71m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / ~~YouTube Music~~ / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have an amazing weekend.

Go Kurosawa (Guest rec by Sofie Birch)

Flow State — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 07:02:50 GMT

Today we have a guest recommendation from , a sound artist and composer, whose newsletter Ambient Abracadabra we highly recommend.

I randomly (or not at all) discovered Go Kurosawa's live set in KEXP, and fell totally in love with him and the music. I never watch these videos through (and definitely not twice), but I watched this and still watch it a lot. Somehow it inspires me so much to prepare for my Bivabippabualukka tour next year. I am used to mostly playing ambient solo sets, but this inspires me to explore band setups and playing differently. A couple of weeks after I started to watch this video, Go wrote me on instagram that he is a big fan of Bivabippabualukka, and we got mutually star struck! What a universe flow thing to experience! Check out his debut album Soft Shakes, packed with lo key psych rock trance spiritual flow beats.

Soft Shakes - Go Kurosawa (31m, some light vocals on half of the tracks)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a great Thursday.

Across the Horizon Ep. 70: Sarah Davachi (Pt. 2)

Flow State — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 07:03:59 GMT

On today’s episode of Across the Horizon, host Bob Holmes from the band SUSS finishes his conversation with Sarah Davachi from last week. Where the first part of their discussion focused on the titans of prog rock – Genesis, King Crimson, and Yes – this episode focuses on the fringes of the genre, including acts from Italy, Brazil, and Germany, as well as some of the solo ventures spawned by the bigger artists. And, finally, Bob gets to talk with Sarah about her latest minimalist masterpiece The Will of Tongues.

For Flow State, this is Davachi recommendation number nine for us. We’ve shared Will of Tongues twice now, her new album which you should really check out if you haven’t yet. We’re starting today with one of her earlier albums, Gave in Rest, from 2018. She studied Renaissance musicianship and church music, channeling those into compositions for synth and piano which linger on certain harmonics. We’re also playing Figures in Open Air from 2020, which has over two hours of live and alternate-take performances.

Gave in Rest - Sarah Davachi (43m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Figures in Open Air - Sarah Davachi (138m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a great Wednesday.

Flow State Ep. 343: Corntuth Premiere

Flow State — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 07:02:48 GMT

Today’s mix premieres the new Corntuth record, The Nightingale Floor, which comes out next week on Flow State Records and Aural Canyon. “I made this record after what felt like a very long series of journeys that took me away from making music for a while,” Corntuth wrote. “Here are the things I overheard, the sounds and feelings that caught my ear during the time. They built up until I realized they were one thing and ready to share. I’m so glad to be putting this out at last. “ The first 34 minutes is the new record in full, followed by a playlist of influences. The influences include Synergetic Voice Orchestra, Yoshiaki Ochi, Oscar Peterson, Ernest Hood, Sam Wilkes, Woo, Susumu Yokota, and more. We hope you enjoy.

0:00:00 - Corntuth - Kintoki Tunnel, i

0:02:29 - Corntuth - Phonebooth

0:07:26 - Corntuth - Nightingale Waltz

0:09:38 - Corntuth - Align

0:14:35 - Corntuth - Autoharp

0:17:40 - Corntuth - A-819

0:21:06 - Corntuth - Bitter Fish

0:24:28 - Corntuth - Big-Time Me

0:26:02 - Corntuth - Nightingale End of Summer

0:29:18 - Corntuth - Rainfrogs

0:31:08 - Corntuth - Kintoki Tunnel, ii

John Carroll Kirby (Interview)

Flow State — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:03:26 GMT

Today we’re listening to John Carroll Kirby, an American pianist and composer from Los Angeles. At age 12, he started taking piano lessons. “My mom told me I needed to do something other than school and video games,” he told us. “My best friend Michael did piano lessons, so I did it too.” He stuck with it, and studied jazz at USC, going on to record with Blood Orange, Solange, and Frank Ocean. Since we first recommended Kirby’s music back in 2020, he’s released two scores and four albums. Septet from 2021 was a standout – original, quirky compositions broadly in the jazz/funk vein. His latest record, Piano Works 2016-2026, just came out at the end of August. That one collects impromptu recordings made on pianos while touring. The pieces are delicate, intimate, but convey the tender and whimsical flavor that defines Kirby. A conversation with John follows the streaming links.

Piano Works 2016-2026 - John Carroll Kirby (44m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Septet - John Carroll Kirby (47m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

What’s your earliest memory of music?

Driving to Kindergarten, we had Greatest Hits cassette tapes of The Beach Boys and the Irish Rovers. We listened to them on repeat. I remember “In My Room” made me feel weird and sad.

How did you get started on piano? What was the piano you learned on, and the first piece you learned that felt like a real accomplishment?

I got started on the piano at about age 12. My mom told me I needed to do something other than school and video games. My best friend Michael did piano lessons, so I did it too. Both my Grandmothers had yellow pianos which I inherited. One Grandma tried getting into music, she tried to learn Appalachian dulcimer and harp, and singing but quit when her teacher asked her if she was deaf ;/ My first teacher was named Roark Hunnicut. We would spend a lot of time talking about trippy concepts, he liked Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley type stuff. Unconventionally the first tricky piece he taught me was the intro to “Riders on The Storm” by The Doors.

What were your first original recordings like? How did you make them?

My first recordings were cool, I wish I had them. I would use cassette handheld dictation recorders. They would sound distorted and compressed.

Which artists/albums pointed you in the direction of your own original sound?

My very first influences were Jimmy Smith, Ray Manzarek and Money Mark. I soon thereafter got into Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal, Duke Ellington, and Fats Waller.

Piano Works 2016-2026 collects impromptu pieces on the road. Which sessions stick out in your memory the most?

A few stick out: “Cecilia 14” was recorded in London. I was on a white piano, there was a beautiful Ragdoll Cat that would come in the house and sit with me. “Rain Walking” was recorded in Rome on a very old and broken, but beautiful piano. I composed the piece around the pianos limitations (dead notes, out of tune notes, overly sustained notes).

“Empty Room” was recorded New Years Day, at my friend Tex Crick’s house in Wollongong Australia.

How do you discover new music these days? Any recent notable finds?

Still a lot through friends turning me onto stuff, IRL or on IG, and my own research on the internet. I saw an interview with Jim O’Rourke where he recommended Kyle Gann, Hyperchromatica. My friend Macca played One Half of Bent, “Ecstasy,” on his NTS show the other day.

Name an underrated artist from the past 50 years.

Egberto Gismonti

What are you working on next?

I have an album with my band that should come out next year. I’ve been writing a new album with Eddie Chacon. Can’t wait to share all this stuff :)

Via Luna

Flow State — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 07:03:09 GMT

It’s Friday so we’re listening to something more upbeat. Today we’re listening to Via Luna, an instrumental math rock band formed in Kansas City in 2013. The band is Gregory Baker (guitar), Christopher Gordon (guitar), Blain Bridges (bass), and Mike McDonough (drums). Early on, they played around KC, including a brilliant show in 2014 on local station KJHK. They released their first album, Heavy Light, in 2015. The University Daily Kansan wrote the same year, “As each song plays, Via Luna takes the listener on a sonic journey of adventurous experimentations of instrumental emotion.” We couldn’t agree more. We’re also playing the band’s 2023 record, Muted Earth, which applies more effects pedals but displays the same level of camaradic virtuosity.

Heavy Light - Via Luna (33m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Muted Earth - Via Luna (26m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have an even weekend.

Cephas Azariah (Interview)

Flow State — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 07:02:35 GMT

Today we’re listening to Cephas Azariah, an Indian-born British composer based in Brighton. He grew up in a musical household, listening to Indian classical and church/gospel music. Film scores were his first major inspiration as a musician. He studied Music Theology and the Arts at Middlesex. These varied influences came together on his first album, Joy Paradox, which we recommended shortly after it came out in 2024. That record was mainly felt piano, like Nils Frahm or Ólafur Arnalds, with synth accompaniment. His new album is Conditions for Observing Light, which came out last Thursday. Through a broader range of instrumentation and effects, it achieves more of the cinematic feeling of the earlier influences – he cites Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar as particularly formative. A conversation with Cephas follows the streaming links.

Conditions for Observing Light - Cephas Azariah (40m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Joy Paradox - Cephas Azariah (52m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

What’s your earliest memory of music?

My grandad (on my dad’s side) used to play Mridangam – a South Indian classical percussion instrument – at home. My other grandad used to play harmonium and lead the church choir. Both of them were very musical and traditional church songs were a part of home life from a young age.

What were your first recordings like? What did you use to make them?

The first time I recorded music as an artist & composer was on an old (very tired) MacBook using Omnisphere. I bought a license to explore sound design as a new composer on the film & tv scene – it was great to have a variety of high quality sampled sounds to get the ball rolling. I’m big on putting ideas down when they arrive, Omnisphere was perfect for that!

Which were the artists / albums that most influenced your sound early on?

Interstellar soundtrack (2014) and film music in general. Anything with orchestral synth hybrid sounds. Tony Anderson was good at this too. Lots of emphasis on low mids and clarity around warm synth & piano combinations. Something about his music just sits so well.

Also I grew up in a home where gospel/christian music was always played so that stuck with me too. Mum had artists like Ron Kenoly and Darlene Zschech on repeat. Dad was into Karnatik (Indian classical) – AR Rahman’s film scores were also popular.

Your first record was felt piano-led, with orchestral / synth accompaniment. This new record seems to lean more into that extra-piano aspect, the synths and the strings especially. We’re curious how your compositional approach changed since Joy Paradox.

Joy Paradox was special in the sense that it was the first. I had to arrive and set the scene quickly as a new artist, giving new listeners the lay of the land. CFOL was an evolution of that, more towards the cinematic end of the spectrum. It’s nice to push the boat out and broaden the lane I’m in. In turn we have a more dynamic project where the quieter songs are smaller in personality and the bigger songs have a lot more going on. Minimal piano to broad-paint-brush strokes on synths.

I also think instruments play a big part in this. The first record was written when I only had my upright piano and the rest was written in the DAW with very selective sounds. Between writing Joy Paradox and eventually writing the second, I fell in love with analog synthesis – especially the Moog. This has been a significant factor in shaping the new project.

We loved this quote you gave to 15Questions: “I only listen to music on Mondays and in the mornings, while making coffee, I put on one side of a record. My ears are then preserved to hear my ideas and keep them far from sonic fatigue.” Is that still your routine? Also,do you find inspiration from other artistic media, if so what pieces most affected you while making Conditions?

Ahhh yes! This is a product of my Type C personality. In an alternative life, I’m working in a monastery somewhere peaceful (whilst being married and making music). The music Monday routine came from being overstimulated in general. Over COVID I had the chance to address some of this and return to one of my favourite hobbies which is listening to music! I understand the difficulties with this being a music artist, however it is possible to simply enjoy another person’s song without trying to gain something from it besides beauty. I’m not trying to learn production techniques or analyse intricate compositional aspects to mimic. Just the joy of hearing someone else’s good work. That requires intention. Monday morning is that time & place. In turn, yes, I have the ear space & headspace to carve out my own ideas as much as possible. I don’t care that I have limitations - musical, aural, skill, equipment, location - I can’t know it all and frankly don’t want to. I create with what I know and have – if it’s done well, that alone is enough.

Songs/Films/Books that have influenced my sound:

Grace by Tony Anderson
Perfect Days by Wim Wenders
Prayers by Dobrawa Czocher
Empires by Hillsong United
Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers
Immunity by Jon Hopkins
Loom by Ólafur Arnalds ft. Bonobo
Interstellar Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer

What’s your studio setup? What instruments/gear/software did you use to make Conditions?

Okay. My wife & I have recently moved so we took the opportunity to put a small studio in the garden.

Here’s a comprehensive gear list.

Instruments:

Small Upright / Pianette from 1980s
Nord Grand 2
Moog Matriarch
Moog Subsequent 37

Pedals:

Strymon Timeline
Meris Mercury 7
Walrus Audio Qi Etherealizer

Hardware:

Antelope Discrete 8 Synergy Core
Neumann KH 120 monitors
Coles 4038 (for piano)
Shure SM7B (for general audio)
Heritage Audio Synth Buddy
Ableton on MacBook M1 Pro Max

10 Plugins/VSTs I use the most

Landforms by Slate & Ash
Stratus by Spitfire Audio
Soundtoys Echoboy
Valhalla Shimmer
Omnisphere
TAL Chorus
Shapr by Battersea Audio
BEAM by Lunacy Audio
Soft Piano by LABS
CLAIRE by Native Instruments

CFOL was written mostly with what I have above, plus a couple pieces of gear I don’t have anymore – Sequential TAKE5 & Hologram Microcosm.

What are some records that you’ve spun recently that stuck with you?

Temporary Coexistence of Humans by Peter Sandberg
The Space in Between by Dâmares Gomes
Ain’t it Beautiful by Ivan Theva
Desert by Lara Somogyi, Jean-Michel Blais
Are We There Yet by Hillsong United
Hemisphere West by Toulouse

Name an underrated artist from the past 50 years.

There’s two: Büşra Kayıkçı and Jacob David.

What are you working on next?

Couple of scoring projects and a minimal piano record to contrast with CFOL. I’d also love to write a record that’s fully hardware – piano, couple of synths and my pedal chain. Let’s see what happens!

Across the Horizon Ep. 69: Sarah Davachi

Flow State — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 07:03:11 GMT

On today’s episode of Across the Horizon, host Bob Holmes of the band SUSS is joined by Canadian composer Sarah Davachi, who brings a playlist of her prog rock favorites including Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, and more. If you have wondered about the connections between neo-classical minimalism and ‘70s prog rock, this show is especially for you. Bob and Sarah also discuss the origins of her music as well as her latest triple album release, The Will of Tongues.

For Flow State we’re revisiting Davachi’s latest release The Will of Tongues, which is truly something. But first we’re playing her 2021 LP, Antiphonals, which contains the track “Gradual of Image” which opens this episode. “When I was making that album,” she told Bob, “I would think to myself, this is like a prog song but just the keyboards. If you isolated the keyboard track and slowed it way down, this is what it would be like.” With today’s rec she extends her Flow State record of being featured in the newsletter eight times, though somehow we haven’t recommended Antiphonals before.

Antiphonals - Sarah Davachi (44m, no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

The Will of Tongues - Sarah Davachi (139m, choir vocals on a few tracks)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a great Wednesday.

Flow State Episode 342

Flow State — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 07:02:09 GMT

Today’s mix opens with Ludwig Göransson’s piece “Sirens” from The Odyssey. There’s new ambient by Francesca Heart, Exportion, Sarah Davachi, and Carmen Villain. We revisit a Harold Budd track from his score for I Know This Much Is True. There’s an incredible cover of Led Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song” by Irish pedal steel guitarist David Murphy. We continue with some electronic music by William Orbit, Mariusz Szypura (remixed by Fennesz), and Pete Jolly. There’s jazz from The Bennie Maupin Ensemble and Jasmine Myra. The last section has two new singles by The Sweet Enoughs, which they released in the last month, their first new music since their excellent self-titled LP from 2020. We hope you enjoy.

0:00:00 - Ludwig Göransson - Sirens

0:02:33 - Francesca Heart - Wild at Heart

0:05:26 - Exportion - Upward, Everything Blushes Orange

William Orbit

Flow State — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 07:04:14 GMT

Today we’re listening to and remembering William Orbit, an English keyboardist and producer from London. We’ve recommended his music twice before. Born in 1956, he got into music production after dropping out of high school, forming the electronic band Torch Song and remixing artists like Depeche Mode and Madonna.1 In the ‘90s he made solo music and more remixes, and later in the decade was enlisted by Madonna to produce her 1998 album, Ray of Light.2 In 2000, he released Pieces in a Modern Style, renditions of classical pieces on synthesizers, reminiscent of Wendy Carlos and Patrick Gleeson. We’re also playing Pieces in a Modern Style Vol. 2, the 2010 followup which reimagines pieces by Bach, Saint-Saëns, Grieg, and more. Orbit passed away in July.

Pieces in a Modern Style - William Orbit (60m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Pieces in a Modern Style Vol. 2 - William Orbit (130m, non-lyrical vocals on a couple tracks)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

We wish you a great start to your week.

The Guardian

The New York Times

Carmen Villain (Interview)

Flow State — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 07:03:17 GMT

It’s Friday so we’re listening to something slightly more upbeat. Today we’re listening to Carmen Villain, a Mexican-Norwegian musician originally from Michigan. We previously recommended her music in 2021. She grew up in Oslo, where she’s now based. She began making music in the mid-2000s, starting with guitar-driven songs, and later pivoting to pure electronic music. The latter was influenced, she told us, by “a lot of ECM, cosmic free jazz such as Pharoah Sanders (Karma), Alice Coltrane (Journey to Satchidananda), Don Cherry (Brown Rice etc), Rhythm & Sound, Biosphere (Cirque), Moondog.” Her new album, Memoria, just came out today. Taking a page from Pauline Oliveros’s Quantum Listening, she practiced active listening while producing the record but also the active recollection of sounds: “I had never actively done that before, and sure enough I could hear a sound from my past by thinking of it.” We’re also playing Both Lines Will Be Blue from 2019, a series of “dubby ambient-jams,” in her words. A conversation with Carmen follows the streaming links.

Memoria - Carmen Villain (35m, basically no vocals)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Both Lines Will Be Blue - Carmen Villain (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

What’s your earliest memory of music?

I remember being completely obsessed with this classical music CD box set that my parents had, I’d put it on and dance around the living room, I must have been around 6 or 7? It included the sort of greatest hits, Vivaldi, Debussy, Mozart, Bach… but what really stuck with me was Ravel’s Bolero.

When did you start making music? What were your first recordings like?

I started making and recording music in my mid 20s. The recordings were very simple; songs, usually some loops made out of midi drums, guitars or samples, processed in a very simple way, reverbs, echoes, guitar pedals, etc.

You shifted from guitar-led songwriting to more ambient/electronic music – tell us about the creative impulses that led to that shift, and the artists/albums that helped you find that new direction for your sound.

I was very interested in the instrumental part of the production already from the start, I’d spend a lot of time on the details and the atmospherics of the tracks. My early albums had several purely instrumental tracks on them. When I started working on Both Lines Will Be Blue (my first fully instrumental album), it just felt more effortless, interesting and enjoyable to move my focus to only the instrumentals, It just felt like a natural transition to me. At the time I was listening to a lot of ECM, cosmic free jazz such as Pharoah Sanders (Karma), Alice Coltrane (Journey to Satchidananda), Don Cherry (Brown Rice etc), Rhythm & Sound, Biosphere (Cirque), Moondog..

What was your studio setup for Memoria? What instruments/gear/software did you use to make the record?

I started the whole process by booking in a day at Rainbow Studios in Oslo, and invited Johanna Orellana (flutes) and Eivind Lønning (trumpet) to just improvise various different takes, some based off prompts I would give them, others where they just did what they felt like. I also recorded some clarinet stuff there. I then took this new, great sample bank and started using that material along with other new and archival sound recordings in different ways in my own studio. I work in Ableton, and mostly used a variety of VSTs for programming and processing, a GR-1 and a couple of outboard pedals. The strings were recorded at André Bratten’s studio during our final touches on the mix.

The new record is thematically about memory, specifically “sound as memory.” Tell us about your relationship to that idea and specifically what inspiration you took from Oliveros.

I’ve been fascinated by memory and our perceptions of time for quite a while. They are just some of life’s big mysteries that I don’t think we’ll fully understand, but are what gives us a sense of meaning of who we are. I first read Pauline Oliveros’ Quantum Listening late spring of ‘25, and I felt she put many things related to sound I’d only abstractly thought about into such considered and beautiful words. As a musician, I had been aware of the practice of active listening as an essential part of my practice, be it while working in the studio, playing with others or hearing and recording a sound somewhere. What really stood out to me was how she encourages the reader to engage in active experiments, one that stood out to me was a prompt to try to remember a sound from your past. I had never actively done that before, and sure enough I could hear a sound from my past by thinking of it. I think on a whole, active listening can encourage a deeper curiosity and and connection with both ourselves and our surroundings, and that way unlock more empathy.

How do you discover new music these days? Any notable finds recently?

It’s mostly through friends recommendations, listening to NTS and other mixes by people I admire, Boomkat, Bandcamp. I also regularly check out the catalogue of labels that I like. I was listening to some of Eivind Lønning’s earlier collaborative records, and came across the Streifenjunko album Like Driving from 2018, its great.

Name an underrated artist from the past 50 years.

Johanna Orellana

What are you working on next?

Next up is playing shows, so I’ll be preparing for a couple of different iterations for that. I’m looking forward to do music for film, and also looking to do more music for stage and installation.