Sound American

10/05/2024

Larry Polansky strove to push boundaries in his scholarship and his music. He pushed Sound America to be better, and for that, I will always be thankful. The brief time together with the journal in his articles for our Wolff and JI issues and with our editor in other endeavors were filled with intellectual fervor, and his is a presence that should be sorely missed in American music. RIP Larry

25/01/2024

SA editor online today at the New York Review of Books talking Annea Lockwood and Ruth Anderson!

08/12/2023

Friend of SA and the world in general, , sent this shot of SA30 loud and proud soho. For those that missed out, here’s your spot.

01/12/2023

30/11/2023

If you’re in Brooklyn and are lucky enough to have snagged a ticket to the sold out concert of Éliane Radigue’s music tonight, bring some extra bread so you can dip into their secret stash of the long out of print SA26: The OCCAM Ocean Issue!

05/11/2023

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⬜️ MUSIC SPECIAL ⬜️

Sound American #30

The thirtieth issue is the last issue in a ten-year run of the American publication on music and musicians edited by trumpet player and composer Nate Wooley. SA30 is a love letter to the creative humanity that the journal has tried to illuminate since its first issue. It is a celebration of work: how we do it, why we do it, and the doubts and triumphs we experience as it allows us to blunder toward some fuzzy creative resolution. To that end, the issue consists of interviews between artists from different milieus—all with a connection to the music that SA has championed over the years—and SA editor Nate Wooley about their working lives. Poet Eileen Myles, pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz, painter Albert Oehlen, and dancer/organizer Patricia Nicholson Parker share the issue's space with composer Nico Muhly, iconoclastic sound artist Ellen Fullman, and improvising bassist Brandon Lopez in talking about the personal ups and downs of living as an artist in America. It also features a long excerpt of an interview with iconic percussionist and composer Michael Ranta undertaken by American composer Sarah Hennies and Swiss writer and composer Vincent de Roguin. Percussionist and composer Lesley Mok contributes a conceptually stunning standalone Exquisite Co**se composition to close out this last issue.

01/10/2023

Soundamerican.org is live now and we found an extra box of copies at the office! If you haven’t gotten yours yet, head to the site. These last copies won’t be sold in bandcamp

29/09/2023

Thank you for the kind words with .repost
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Sadly we need to say good bye to one of the great DIY independent magazines it’s the last issue. Let’s celebrate what they’ve delivered to us in the last ten years.

25/09/2023

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It’s here! In spring 2022 Vincent de Roguin and I spoke to percussionist, composer, improviser Michael Ranta about his life and the interview appears in the new, final issue of

20/09/2023

A bittersweet last picture. I came home from tour to find my box of SA30s sitting near the front door. It has taken me a day or two to open them. For those that have preordered, things have been moving slow because of my travels and a bout of COVID at the office. Things are moving now, and everyone should receive their copy in the next week or so. The site should be up this week, and stores should have them out soon, if they don’t already. Thank you for your patience.

SA30 is now SOLD OUT from us. It will still available through stores such as and through Les Presses du Reel in Europe, but our copies are gone.

A few personal words, if you’ll indulge me. I never planned on doing this, but the journal has been at the center of my life for the past ten years. On the road, a handful of people have asked why it is ending, and the answer I share here is that there comes a point in the life of a thing when you come to a crossroads: to maintain your work with it, you may have to make it into something you never thought it should be. In this case, to continue, I felt I would have to start selling ad space and make it a more commercial journal. That, to me, was against Sound American’s primary mission. On top of that, I felt myself faltering. The possibility of the work I did on the journal becoming cynical and of lower quality was getting high, and I decided that thirty issues that I put into the world with love was better than fifty made with questionable intentions and results. Although it’s scary, I hope to put positive energy out in another way. Maybe that will mean a return to SA, (there are still plans for an omnibus print version of the first twenty issues some time next year) maybe not, but I appreciate the support and congratulations I’ve gotten for, what to me, is a miracle run.
Please see more in comments

01/09/2023

Reminder that the last issue of is available for sale. Copies are in the US and should be out to everyone in the next week. There are about 70 left before their sold out so visit the bio, go to the link, and get your copy of the end of the run.

04/08/2023

SA30: The Thirtieth Issue is available now for preorder on our Bandcamp page. This is the last issue of Sound American, and it embraces the spirit of the journal’s entire run. In it, artists talk to SA’s editor, Nate Wooley (), about how they work: the joy of it, the grind of it, the moments of insecurity and triumph.

Featuring iconoclastic musicians Nico Muhly (), Ellen Fullman (), and Brandon Lopez () alongside titanic figures in other areas of the arts like Eileen Myles (.myles), Albert Oehlen (), Natasha Pickowicz (), and Patricia Nicholson Parker (), this issue draws subtle comparisons between creative lives, illustrating some broad insights into how these amazing artists handle the world economically, artistically, and emotionally. We are also pleased to have Lesley Mok (.mok) contribute our final, standalone, exquisite co**se composition.

Please preorder soon. This is a small run, and I think it will sell out quickly. Thank you for your support and kindness, and here’s looking forward to the future!

28/07/2023

A message from Sound American’s editor: SA30: The Thirtieth Issue will be available for preorders beginning Friday, August 4th. This issue will be the last in the ten-year run of the journal. It has been a profound honor to unleash over half-a-million words on music upon a welcoming public, but the project is no longer sustainable without violating some of its core principles.

In 2024, we will release a print omnibus of the first twenty issues of SA. This will take up most of our remaining resources. It is my hope that I can find a way to begin a new edition of the journal at some point in 2025. In the meantime, I’m hoping to become a better writer, editor, and listener in hopes of doing something new with whatever comes next for Sound American.

For all of you who have been supporters of the journal, thank you for your time, friendly criticism, and support over these last years. Sound American created a strange family in a strange world, and I will always be proud of being a part of that.

27/07/2023

When we started the exquisite co**se series for the journal, there was always the dream that each score would come to life somewhere beyond our pages. Well, dreams come true, and now we all get to hear perform “shapes in collective space,” written by for our Éliane Radigue issue. Link in bio!

07/04/2023

Seen in the wild. Sound American 26 and 27

14/03/2023

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🟣🔵🟢The new Sound American No 29-the Roscoe Mitchell Issue’s are getting shipped today!!! Only 2 left! Get ‘em while you can! Link in bio 🟣🔵🟢

08/03/2023

Thanks to and for this review of SA29! Copies are reported to still exist in some shops. Take a day to go explore!

08/02/2023

For all y’all who’ve been looking for copies in NYC! with .repost
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Sound American’s twenty-ninth installment celebrates the life and work of Art Ensemble of Chicago founder and American iconoclast, Roscoe Mitchell. One of a half-dozen “artist portraits” that Sound American has produced over its ten-year history, THE ROSCOE MITCHELL ISSUE recognizes the life and work of a musician’s musician, an artist’s artist, a thinker’s thinker, and a true cultural treasure.

Sound American brings experimental music to a wider audience. Past issues have focused on artists such as Sun Ra, John Cage, Jon Cherry, Anthony Braxton, and Lee Hyla, as well as broader genres, ideas and movements. It's a favorite of our staff, and you can come find issues at our Prince St and Williamsburg locations to see why for yourself.

06/01/2023

That’s right. The website is live. You can read SA29 for free if you weren’t able to score a print copy (about a dozen left now). And who better to announce it than

06/01/2023

Also, apropos of nothing, there is one (ONE) copy of the OCCAM issue left in house. Get to our bandcamp page and grab it before it’s gone.

06/01/2023

Proud to be included with .paul and his scholarship on the AACM. 20 copies left in house. Link in bio .paul with .repost
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SOUND EXPERIMENTS and the new Roscoe Mitchell issue of reviewed by .

https://www.valonkuvia.fi/blogi/matkaoppaita-aaneen-aacm-roscoe-mitchell/

03/01/2023

Finally back in the office and able to take stock after a whirlwind of sales, distribution, and subscription mailings (thanks for the great work!). The good news is that we have 75 copies here that we’re saving just for bandcamp sales. For all of you that were looking for a copy of this very special homage to Roscoe, now is your last chance to get one without going on the open market. Check the link in our bio to order your copy before they’re gone!!!!

03/01/2023

Finally back in the office and able to take stock after a whirlwind of sales, distribution, and subscription mailings (thanks for the great work!). The good news is that we have 75 copies here that we’re saving just for bandcamp sales. For all of you that were looking for a copy of this very special homage to Roscoe, now is your last chance to get one without going on the open market. Check the link in our bio to order your copy before they’re gone!!!!

30/12/2022

Still need a copy? with .repost
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Now on the web store-> Sound American #29: ROSCOE MITCHELL. This issue celebrates the composer, improvisor, instrumentalist, painter & educator. The issue features considerations of Mitchell’s impact from Tyshawn Sorey, Ken Vandermark, Zeena Parkins, James Fei, Darius Jones & Sam Weinberg. It also features 4 interviews with the man himself in conversation with Tomeka Reid, John McCowen, Phillip Greenlief & John Corbett. This interview is accompanied by a full-color, double gatefold insert of Mitchell’s visual art in anticipation of his solo show at next year.

28/12/2022

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Back at it / creeping into a new year with new publications of poetry, comics & drawings from publisher of Poland & new magazine issue in store & soon online. Open for appointments in chapel hill at & will be back open in January 🪴

27/12/2022

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Perfect LGA Delta delay survival tactic
._fei et al

25/12/2022

Beautifully staged! with .repost
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Thank you for creating this gem...really excited to dig in!

23/12/2022

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I wrote something. Check it out in and get a copy. Thank you Roscoe!! 🙏🏾

22/12/2022

Oh you lucky New Yorkers. Two options for supporting local businesses and getting SA29 in time for Christmas! has some on the shelf as well. with .repost
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Reads-In: so pleased to stock No. 29 dedicated to Roscoe Mitchell!!!

Contributors to this issue include an intergenerational who’s who, so very much looking forward to all the RM-related conversations:

_fei







Thanks, as always, to and the entire team at Sound American.

22/12/2022

Special note for those New Yorkers that may have wanted SA29: the Roscoe Mitchell Issue as a gift for that special someone and were stymied by how fast the preorders ran out. on Prince has copies and they’re out on the floor already tonight. Everyone loves books. We promise you it will be the best gift you give.