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Since January 2005, Music From Other Minds has presented new and unusual music by innovative composers and performers from around the world. Produced weekly for KALW 91.7 FM San Francisco by Charles Amirkhanian and the Other Minds staff, and aired at 8pm every Sunday, Music From Other Minds aims to open up radio listeners to experimental classical work by living and recent composers. We bring you the latest in contemporary music from around the world, and some glimpses into the past, to give a context for today’s music.

Follow this link for information and track listings from programs prior to program 501.
Follow this link to download a complete list of works played on MFOM up to program 702.

Previous Programs

Program 620: From The Archive - Charles Amirkhanian and Laurie Anderson in Conversation

In this episode of Music From Other Minds, Liam Herb presents a 1984 archived conversation between Charles Amirkhanian and Laurie Anderson prepared for a 1987 nationally broadcasted Ode to Gravity program. Together they discuss the origins of some her most emblematic pieces, her use of technology in her compositions, and the day she saw her doppelgänger.

Program 619: Electronic Dreams

In this episode of Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb surveys electronic and electroacoustic music from past and present. This program features works by Ingram Marshall, Percy Grainger, Laurie Spiegel, Pierre Schaeffer, Felicity Mangan, Hanna Hartman, and James Tenney.

Program 618: Lou Harrison's Young Caesar

In this episode of Music from Other Minds, Randall Wong plays possibly the first opera on an explicitly gay subject—Lou Harrison’s Young Caesar. This program features the 2017 LA Philharmonic revival of the work, an interview with the composer on the KPFA gay men’s program Fruit Punch from Christmas night 1974, and an archival recording from the original 1971 performance.

Program 617: Reflecting on 9/11

In this episode of Music from Other Minds, we’ll remember the events of September 11, 2001. The centerpiece of this program is William Basinski’s Disintegration Loop 1.1, a one-hour minimalist tour-de-force. We’ll also hear composer Steve Reich’s harrowing take on the disaster, English composer Gavin Bryars’s musical depiction of another disaster, the sinking of the Titanic, as well as work from composers Tunde Jegede, Joan Tower and the late Leonard Cohen.

Program 616: Sound Art

This episode looks at music that could be described as “sound art” – music made with found sound, synthesizer drones, video game sounds, ambient recordings, custom-made instruments, scientific instruments, accidental and improvised sounds. Featured work includes a collaboration between Japanese artists Akio Suzuki and Aki Onda. There’s a piece by William Basinski, which uses interferon recordings of a collision between two black holes from 1.3 billion years ago. And we’ll also hear from Ai Yamamoto, Lawrence English, DJ Olive, and the Conet Project.

Program 615: Maximal/Minimal

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays works by Catherine Christer Hennix, James Romig, and Ellen Arkbro that examine the intersections between the philosophies of maximalism and minimalism.

Program 614: Harry Partch's "The Bewitched"

On this Music from Other Minds, Randall Wong plays The Bewitched and other dramatic and lyric works by Harry Partch including the Gate 5 Ensemble’s performance of The Wayward: I. U.S. Highball-A Musical Account Of A Transcontinental Hobo Trip.

Program 613: From the OM Archive - Amirkhanian and Eno in Conversation, 1980

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb digs in to the Other Minds Archive with a rebroadcast of Charles Amirkhanian’s 1989 Ode to Gravity broadcast of his February 2, 1980 conversation with Brian Eno. Together they discuss artistic influences, lyric writing procedures, the recording studio as compositional tool, and listen to demo recordings from the then unreleased album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

Program 612: New Chicago Jazz

This week we’ll take a look at music coming from some of the younger experimental jazz artists based mainly, with a few exceptions, in Chicago. Among those are Makaya McCraven, who has made a number of albums with techniques normally used to build hip-hop music. We’ll also hear Chicago-based experimentalist Ben LaMar Gay, whose work stands out for it’s eccentricity and creativity. Trumpeter Jaimie Branch’s work projects major spunk and attitude. We’ll also hear work from a couple of ensemble projects featuring Moor Mother, the poet, musician and activist Camae Ayewa.

Program 611: Composer Submissions

On this Music from Other Minds program, Liam Herb featured music submitted by composers from around the globe. The program is composed of works by Jay Williams (GA), Bruno Liberda (Austria), Stephen Ruppenthal (CA), Michael Pisaro (CA), Orlando Jacinto Garcia (FL), Alvin Curran (Rome), Robert Worby (UK), and Stéphane Borrel (France).

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