Doing Music

How hard is it to break the cultural coding around an instrument and realize its true potential? In this episode of Doing Music, Emily Hopkins talks to Craig Schuftan about her life-long relationship with the harp and her exploration of the instrument's experimental possibilities. Joined by her partner and sound engineer Russ, Emily details the various electro-acoustic methods she uses, the deep well of sound that comes from running her harps through pedals and her desire to inspire with her successful YouTube channel. As a classically-trained player now scoring high-profile soundtracks on her own terms, Emily's story is a relatable quest to maintain her own identity with an instrument everyone thinks they know.

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Edmar Castaneda 

The Emotron - Life Without Horses

Wah Pedal on Harp is Ridiculous

Addi & Jacq

Zeena Parkins

Keep up with Emily Hopkins on YouTube, Instagram and via her website.

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How hard is it to retain the irreverent spark that started a musical partnership nearly 20 years ago? In this episode of Doing Music, MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser talk to Craig Schuftan and Christa Belle about their instinct for the absurd throughout the course of their career. We learn about their roots in musical academia and their love of strange, disgusting music, and their learned experience that the weirdest sound you make might be the best one. From relishing the plasticity of early virtual-analog synths to avoiding over-thinking the creative process, Andrew and Ben take us into what makes MGMT such a psychedelic force in the field of pop-rock. 

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Alvin Lucier

Anthony Braxton 

Situationist International

Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves

Royal Trux - Accelerator

Seeburg 1000

Keep up with MGMT on their website, Instagram and YouTube. Their latest album, Loss Of Life, is out now. 

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

When does self-doubt overtake the creative process? On this episode of Doing Music, L'Rain's Taja Cheek tells Craig Schuftan and co-host Christa Belle about the doubt she faces down when committing her musical ideas to a recording, especially when she’s working with others. A New York-based multi-instrumentalist with a mercurial twist on electronic soul, Cheek tells us about the various stages of her music making, from quick-fire voice notes and being alone in busy places to her love of lo-fi sound. It's a fascinating insight into the inner workings of a musician who prizes the patient art of the album to convey her ideas more deeply. 

Explore further:

National Sawdust Artists in Residence Program

Terry Riley - Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band

Everybody Shut Up by DJ Pacman

Keep up with L’Rain on Instagram and via her website — and check out her music on Bandcamp.

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When you flip a sample for a Hot 100 hit, are you trading on nostalgia or breaking an iconic sound to the next generation? In this episode of Doing Music, Malibu Babie tells Craig Schuftan how she approached the big samples that turned into big hits for artists like Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion. As a producer toying with the space between pop, rap and club music, she explains the exciting results that come from crossing over styles and shopping them out to unlikely artists, and the ways she'll try to get a collaborator in the right headspace before getting into the beats.

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I’ll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones and Paul Morley

Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic and her Ted Talk

Lil Jon feat. E-40 and Sean Paul - Snap Yo Fingers 

WhoSampled: Missy Elliott feat. Ciara and Fatman Scoop - Lose Control

Keep up with Malibu Babie on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

For Lukid, bouncing out unfinished sketches is an essential part of the music-making process. In this episode of Doing Music, host Craig Shuftan finds out how Luke Blair drew on a well-stocked archive of ideas to revive a past project after a 10-year hiatus. Along with his untrained melodic process and many-sided approach to sampling, Blair opens up about the existential dread that pushed him towards finishing new music, the art of forgetting and the strange allure of working within constraints. 

Explore further:

Philip Guston - Paint What I Want to See

The KLF - The Manual 

Keep up with Lukid on Twitter, Instagram and Bandcamp — and check out his latest album TILT.

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

How do you go about teaching a history of electronic music which fairly credits Black innovators? In this episode of Doing Music, King Britt talks to Craig Schuftan and Christa Belle about his groundbreaking Blacktronika course at University of California San Diego. In the process of educating students about seminal music movements pioneered by Black communities—from funk and disco through Chicago house and Detroit techno on to drum & bass and beyond—the acclaimed US producer reveals the positive impact being an educator and instigator has had on his own music making. Learn about the importance of nurturing community and hear illuminating stories from a lifelong devotee to the culture. 

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Blacktronika on Instagram

Lynnée Denise

Juan Atkins

Alvin Toffler - Future Shock

Kodwo Eshun - More Brilliant than The Sun

DeForrest Brown Jr. - Assembling A Black Counter Culture

Bob Gluck - You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band

Keep up with King Britt on Instagram, Twitter and via his website.

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

If you could design the perfect clubbing experience, what would you put in it? Zora Jones explores that idea in her audio-visual world-building projects, where the technological wonder of the virtual collides with the human connectivity of community. In this episode of Doing Music, Zora tells Craig Schuftan about how she toys with fantasy and reality in her modernist bass-heavy productions. As an ever-evolving artist, she delves into her development as a singer and songwriter, her appreciation for devoted fandom and the enduring influence of golden-era MTV. 

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Gorge Music

Recording Unhinged Book About Unconventional Techniques By Sylvia Massy And Chris Johnson

The Lives of the Surrealists by Desmond Morris

Eroge Video Games

Busta Rymes ft. Janet Jackson - What’s It Gonna Be?!

Keep up with Zora Jones on Instagram, Bandcamp and via her label Fractal Fantasy.

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

How do you design music education that’s engaging for beginners and experienced users? That’s the challenge Dennis DeSantis faces as head of Ableton’s Learning Team. In this conversation with Craig Schuftan, Dennis talks about the importance of play and interactivity in learning and making music, as well as the value of simplifying complex concepts for beginners. Along the way we hear about his own musical journey, the power of diverse influences and debates around pitch and tuning systems.

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Learning Music

Learning Synths

Making Music: 74 Strategies for Electronic Producers by Dennis DeSantis

Première Poème Symphonique, György Ligeti 1963

Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots (Official Video) 

Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azzerad

Keep up with Dennis DeSantis on Instagram, YouTube and via his website.

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Erika de Casier’s distinct slant on R&B celebrates her eclectic influences even as it updates them. In this episode of Doing Music, Erika tells Craig Schuftan about the many threads of inspiration which shape the warm, intimate music she makes. Along the way we learn about the nuances of remote versus in-the-room collaboration, the importance of trusted feedback and managing self-doubt. From vocal recording to testing her tracks in hire cars, it’s an illuminating insight into the heartfelt practice of a truly unique talent in modernist pop music.

Explore further:

Craig David - Born to Do It

Meet the Secret R&B Weapon Behind NewJeans’ Catchiest Hits

Keep up with Erika de Casier on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook — and check out her latest album Still.

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

Is it necessary to bare your soul to make good music? Roberto Lange has swapped the beautiful introspection of his earlier songwriting as Helado Negro to draw inspiration from outside sources. In this episode of Doing Music, host Craig Schuftan speaks to Lange about the people, places, and processes which influence his work, from the North Carolina landscape he calls home to field recording, experimental sampling and imaginary meetings with Pauline Oliveros and Lupe Lopez. 

Explore further:

Pierre Schaefer - ‘Acousmatics’ 

Pauline Oliveros - ‘Some Sound Observations’ 

Freddy Mamani - Neo-Andean Architecture

Keep up with Helado Negro on Instagram, YouTube and via his website — and check out his latest album Phasor.

Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Tell us what you think of this episode: [email protected]

Bendik Giske’s adventurous music demonstrates how much potential a stripped back approach can have if you push hard enough against the limitations. In this episode of Doing Music, the celebrated Norwegian saxophonist talks to Craig Schuftan about his extended technique and the power of a minimalist method for music-making. As his performances and studio recordings prove, Bendik’s focus is on repetition as a route to deeper truths, but the conversation reveals that his exacting style also draws on mistakes as an essential creative tool, and the revelation that if you play a synth riff by The Prodigy a million times, it becomes your own.

Explore further:

Helen Thorington — The Noise of the Needle

Beatrice Dillon

Kodwo Eshun — More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures In Sonic Fiction

Jean Cocteau

Gertrude Stein — Portraits and Repetition

Jack Halberstam — The Queer Art of Failure

Keep up with Bendik Giske on Instagram and via his website — and check out his self-titled album Bendik Giske.Tell us what you think of this episode: [email protected]

Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

For Gavsborg, cultivating a space for ideas to flourish is essential. In conversation with Craig Schuftan, the co-founder of maverick production crew Equiknoxx talks about his formative years in Kingston and the various places and people that have shaped him. Beyond the day-to-day of home studio life, Gavsborg shares his thoughts on what it takes for collaboration to bloom, and when high-pressure situations can unlock untapped potential.

Keep up with Gavsborg on Instagram, YouTube and SoundCloud — and check out his latest album An Honest Meal.

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

Sofia Kourtesis’ sparkling dance music is brought to life by her diaristic phone recordings, depicting vivid scenes that play out like the movies she’s inspired by. In this episode of Doing Music, Sofia tells Craig Schuftan about the importance of imperfection in her sound, finding ways to protest in her choice of samples and embracing her Latin American heritage in her music. As a Peruvian artist relocated to Berlin, her story takes in her engagement with club music in the German capital, discovering her own sound and the desire to make music beyond the confines of the dancefloor.

Explore further:

The Warriors

Los Hermanos Ballumbrosio

Keep up with Sofia Kourtesis on Instagram and via her website - and check out her latest album Madres. 

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Robin Skinner’s open-hearted songwriting as Cavetown matches lyrical vulnerability with an emotive approach to production. In the first episode of Doing Music, Robin tells host Craig Schuftan about his rise to fame as a teenage YouTube sensation and what that means for him and his music. It’s a sensitive insight into a DIY artist who has shared his most intimate issues through song, touching on the search for a sense of home, navigating fame and collaborative songwriting as the next step in self-therapy. Along the way, prepare to bask in the nostalgic warmth of the Moomins and contemplate the idea of an 18th century emo kid.

Explore further:

Comet in Moominland by Trove Jansson 

‘Homesick’ by Cavetown, from Moominvalley Official Soundtrack 

The Sorrows of Young Werther by J.W. von Goethe 

Keep up with Cavetown on Instagram, YouTube and via his website — and check out his latest EP Little Vice.

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Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.

Doing Music is a new podcast series hosted by musician and author Craig Schuftan, where he talks to a varied cast of inquisitive contemporary artists about the ways they make music and where they get ideas from. These are candid conversations about the endlessly fascinating, sometimes challenging journey every artist goes on from one lightbulb moment to the next, with space to touch on production approaches along the way. Whether you’re an avid creator, a curious listener or a devoted fan, these wide-ranging episodes have something for everyone who ever wondered what’s behind a great piece of music.

Doing Music is brought to you by Ableton. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram.