Interview

Morton Subotnick is a name synonymous with the evolution of electronic music. In 1963, he began collaborating with inventor Don Buchla in San Francisco to develop what is widely regarded as the world’s first analog synthesizer. His groundbreaking 1967 album, Silver Apples of the Moon, was the first music commissioned specifically for the LP format. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Subotnick appeared on Paul Holdengräber’s podcast, The Quarantine Tapes, to reflect on his life, work, and how he was navigating the challenges of the time. The conversation is now available to read online.

Yao Jui-Chung is one of Taiwan’s most acclaimed contemporary artists. In this major 2020 interview with White Fungus editor Ron Hanson—conducted on the occasion of his mid-career retrospective Republic of Cynic at C-LAB—he reflects on coming of age after martial law, running a karaoke room during his Air Force military service, and Taiwan’s complex history and identity.

Sydney noise musician Lucas Abela, AKA Justice Yeldham, is one of the avant-garde's most electrifying performers. Playing music by orally manipulating mic'd-up shards of glass, he employs a range of unusual vocal and rhythmic techniques. His performances can be extreme, even bloody, but are also notable for the rich diversity of sounds he achieves through this rudimentary instrument. White Fungus editor Ron Hanson spoke to Abela about his unique musical trajectory and how a pandemic-enforced break from the stage altered his approach.

In the realms of Taiwanese noise, sound, and media art, no figure is more influential than Wang Fujui. As an artist, publisher, curator, and organizer, Wang’s contribution to establishing these fields in Taiwan has been indispensable. In 2014, Alistair Noble interviewed Wang about his artistic trajectory. The interview was first published in the 14th print issue of White Fungus but is now available here.

Nick Yeck-Stauffer talks to lead violinist and founder of the Kronos Quartet, David Harrington.

Fast-advancing AI technologies are throwing our notions of authorship and creativity again into flux. In creating their seventh album, Blossoms, the electronic music duo Emptyset created a machine-learning system to interpret their back catalog and recordings of improvisations. The musicians sought to identify results beyond mimicry and which constituted unique sonic expressions in and of themselves. What emerged was a bizarre, alien logic. Tobias Fischer interviewed the duo about the process.