Ashram Tapes:
The Devotional Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda
This is an exploration of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s devotional music, specifically the four albums she self-released through her Sai Anantam Ashram in Agoura Hills, California between 1982-1995. During this period of intense spiritual reflection Coltrane’s music took flight into higher dimensions.
We hear about these singular works and gain insight into Turiya’s intention through interviews with family members, students, musical collaborators and scholars including: Radha Botofasina, Varun Soni, Sita Michelle Coltrane, Purusha Hickson, Ashley Kahn, Brandee Younger, Flying Lotus, Shankari Adams, Ed Michel, Surya Botofasina, Marilyn McLeod Ellison, Reggie Workman, Baker Bigsby and Oranyan Coltrane.
Explore the Ashram Tapes ︎︎︎
Modern Composition L.A.
A cross-genre radio series examining the dynamic, new music emerging from Los Angeles. Each installment focuses on an individual composer’s contribution to the city’s fertile sonic landscape.
Through in-depth interviews, illuminating recordings, and the premiere of a new work by the featured composer, we illustrate how these distinct artists are shaping Los Angeles and how the city has influenced them.
Modern Composition L.A. surveys the wide-spectrum music endemic to Los Angeles—sketching a panoramic view of this ever-evolving creative climate.
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Deep Routes
Metro Art partnered with local community driven radio and arts foundation, dublab, to create this special programming series. Each episode is a multimedia dive into the various intersecting musical histories embedded into the streets, buildings, and neighborhoods of Los Angeles – with each corresponding to a Metro Rail transit corridor that is currently under construction: Regional Connector in Downtown LA, Purple Line Extension along the Wilshire Corridor, and Crenshaw/LAX connecting to Mid-City and Leimert Park.
Hear from a spectrum of musicians who defined their respective scenes along with a collaged soundtrack of hand selected music, interviews, archival photos, and a broadcasted livestream of the accompanying geographies as seen from a Metro Bike as visual accompaniment.
Explore the Deep Routes series ︎︎︎
Scratch Dubs
dublab's Frosty interviewed sonic visionary Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry in Los Angeles in 2020. The resulting conversation feels like flowing along on Perry’s mystic stream of consciousness. The Upsetter’s words of wisdom, animal sounds, and spontaneous songs were so astonishing that Frosty decided to invite some of his favorite artists to flip, melt, and mutate the raw interview into new forms. Enjoy these Scratch Dubs and feel free to remix the raw interview into a universe of your own creation.
Scratch Dubs versions by Bardo Martinez (Chicano Batman), BCGEO & Justin Tripp (GEORGIA), Bryce Hackford, Cafe Ale, Carl Stone, Dakim, Dntel, Jennifer Herrema (Black Bananas / Royal Trux), Jeremiah Chiu, Julian Mayorga, Lucrecia Dalt, Maral, Meridian Brothers, Omid, Rick Potts (LAFMS), Saul Williams, Secret Circuit.
Explore the Scratch Dubs remixes ︎︎︎
Listen to the interview with Lee "Scratch" Perry ︎︎︎
Celebration Spectrum
A collaboration artist Tanya Aguiñiga for a month-long public art installation in Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles within a county-wide ArtRise initiative promoting mental wellbeing through art. Together, we created an audio-visual offering as an ode to all of the celebrations missed during the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a proposed joyful ode, the installations highlighted the importance of marking time through gathering and the mental health benefits of celebration. Celebration Spectrum was a gathering space for joyful communion.
Learn more about Celebration Spectrum ︎︎︎
Learn more about Celebration Spectrum at Why We Rise LA ︎︎︎
Memory Flashes for Jon Hassell
Memory Flashes is a radio tribute to the father of fourth world music. This program features heartfelt remembrances of Hassell from Brian Eno, Terry Riley, La Monte Young and many other friends, family members, collaborators, and admirers.
Jon Hassell pushed beyond the boundaries to change the way we experience sound. As the originator of Fourth World music, the trumpet player and composer conjured shapeshifting sonic forms that floated at the edge of consciousness. His nuanced, dreamlike landscapes were sacred spaces where sensuality reigned supreme and the ear served as a path to the beating heart.
Listen to Memory Flashes via dublab ︎︎︎
NATURE SPACE: environments that inspire creativity
How does nature feed your creativity?
A collaborative audio-visual field recording collage produced for dublab and Haoma featuring crowd-sourced audio recordings and photos of inspiring natural spaces from artists, musicians, and thinkers sharing the sights and sounds serving as sources of inspiration. Thanks to Alex Pelly for making a beautiful video montage of the offerings.
Listen to Nature Space Vol 1 via Haoma ︎︎︎
Breakfast Leftovers
Breakfast Leftovers is a sound collage of 108 artists ranging from Devendra Banhart to Meredith Monk to Khruangbin, sharing musings on their first meals of the day.Here, you’ll find an offering of unfiltered culinary recollections and ramblings from musicians, sound engineers, record producers, visual artists, and filmmakers. When digested as a continuous string, these recordings provide snapshots of unveiled artists.
Breakfast Leftovers was acquired by Palais des Beaux Arts in 2021.