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“I thought it could be interesting to use field recordings as representations of different natural events. The field recording in ‘Interlude’ is actually the wind around the Wallace Monument in Stirling… it is mimicking the sound of the waves. At the end of ‘Stems of Water,’ recordings sprinklers in the garden in Amasya mimic a waterfall mentioned in the lyrics.”

In making his latest album, Isik Kural attuned to natural world textures, many found around his birthplace of Istanbul, and paired them with more vocal focal songwriting. Moon in Gemini was released on September 9, 2024, marking Isik’s second length record with RVNG.

“The more you’re reaching out and trying new little theories, the more you see out there yet to be attempted. Especially when you get to a certain age, you just want to make sure that you reached as much as you could.”

Gregory T.S. Walker speaking with Claire Biddles for The Wire’s profile on Minstrels & Minimoogs, the Colorado based composer’s 1985 album of medieval moog madness ressiued on August 23, 2024 by Freedom To Spend, RVNG archival imprint.

“What Is Not Strange? is dream music. It’s the music of my dreams. I think that’s what I always strive for.”

Tashi Wada on the inner life of What Is Not Strange?, released on RVNG June 7, 2024.

“Often associated with the period between death and rebirth, the tibetan word bardo is more broadly defined as any ‘gap’ or ‘in-between’ experience, with the ‘life in-between’ being the bardo we are all currently traversing. Bearings proposes ongoing states of displacement and precarity—the suspension of one’s bearings—and the search for a foothold within this constant state of flux. In other words, we are always in a bardo because impermanence never takes a break.”

Ka Baird on their multi-dimensional meeting of streams, Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos, released by RVNG on March 22, 2024. Pictured here with Nisa, one of several collaborators featured on Bearings.

“Quantum Web is about interconnectivity. The meanings and implications of a ‘web’ are manifold: it is defined as ‘a network of fine threads constructed by a spider…used to catch its prey’ and also ‘a complex system of interconnected elements’ such as the world wide web, or a web of lies. It is simultaneously something we are creating ourselves, and something we are inextricably linked through and tangled up in. A beautiful trap. But also the infinite invisible thing that we are all a part of.”

Discovery Zone, aka JJ Weihl, on her trip through inner + outer space, Quantum Web, released on RVNG March 8, 2024. Inspired by cybernetic philosophy, Quantum Web is but the latest phase in the ongoing continuum that is Discovery Zone.

“Certain elements are indeterminate and left to the whims of individual band members, which lends a sort of tension to the live experience—the possibility of failure/victory over death.”

Horse Lords adopted a sort of non-documentary approach, aiming to capture their own performances as much as the artifice of the live experience itself. The resulting record, As It Happened: Horse Lords Live, released on RVNG March 1, 2024, is a blistering snapshot of the band riding that elusive line.

Thee lords on their first of two us tours this year, with a cameo by formidable tour companion Ka Baird, pictured below.