thingNY’s experimental opera ADDDDDDDDD takes rapid-fire, largely spoken-word lyrical content and plays it out across multiple streams of content flashing by at warp speed.

Descriptors like “extremely specific” and “incredibly nuanced” become touchstones when speaking with Augusta Read Thomas about her life and work and the inspiration that drives it all. Read the interview…

Dither, the four-man electric guitar quartet, delivers a bracing self-titled debut album that flexes the ears in quite a few compelling directions.

You could call Shodekeh (a.k.a. Dominic Earle Shodekeh Talifero) a beatboxer or a vocal percussionist, if you want to feel a little more refined about it. But what the Baltimore-based musician seems to be more than anything is a chameleon, breathing out entire rhythm and bass tracks and blending them into a borderless range of performance situations.

“I like music that establishes a sound and lets that sound live and breathe and expand and contract and evolve and die,” says composer Richard Carrick.

On April 19, MATA kicks off its 12th annual festival in New York City. Under the banner of “Young Composers—Now!” this four-night event at Le Poisson Rouge includes 14 world premieres— three of them MATA commissions.

Chris Tignor and Slow Six have previously crafted an impressive catalog of gauzy, poetic music. Never an entirely ambient wallflower of a band, however, this time out they trade in some of the introspection and push their sound in a decidedly more visceral rhythmic direction.

There is a fluid back and forth motion across continents and centuries that impresses when it comes to the work of Garrett Fisher. It’s showcased once again in his latest piece At the Hawks Well.

With the issue of health insurance so much a mainstream focus at the moment, the Future of Music Coalition is conducting a musician-focused coverage survey. If you are a musician or composer and can spare 10 minutes of your time, the survey is here.

In The Savvy Musician: Building a Career, Earning a Living, & Making a Difference, composer and pianist David Cutler collects strategies and success stories from 165 composers and musicians working in these musical arenas and sprinkles them throughout this slickly designed A-to-Z guide covering everything from building up a career to planning for retirement.