Secret Music is the name I’ve given to this blog’s ongoing project to curate the best new music that is falling under the radar of the media and the major institutions. This is the music that the newspapers, radio, magazines and even blogs are hardly aware of. It’s often music that isn’t getting performed by the big ensembles or at the well-funded venues, and that the wider public are hardly aware of. But I think it is some of the best work being composed today.
Secret Music posts are organised under the headings below, or just click anywhere you see the Secret Music tag.
We live in a great age for new music, a time of unprecedented variety and skill. Secret Music is one way to discover what that sounds like.
Secret Music: Concert listings
Monthly listings of the best in under-the-radar new music. Series begun in 2013. Contact me if you are a promoter, player or composer and would like to submit your concert for consideration.
Radio Rambler
Ongoing Spotify playlist of the best in contemporary and late 20th-century music. Updated every few months; previous playlists are archived at Radio Rambler – Previously Played. Organised under the Radio Rambler tag.
- Radio Rambler: April 2013
- Special: International Women’s Day 2013
- Radio Rambler: November 2012
- Radio Rambler: June 2012
- Special: International Women’s Day 2012
- Radio Rambler: January 2012
- Radio Rambler: Autumn 2011
- Radio Rambler: US special
- Special: International Women’s Day 2011
- Radio Rambler: February 2011
- Radio Rambler: Christmas special, 2010
- Announcing Radio Rambler!
Composer interviews
This series of posts began in 2010 under the heading “10 for ’10“, with the idea of interviewing 10 young/early career composers in the year. The project has drifted and/or expanded since then, and is no longer exclusive to 2010.
- Daryl Jamieson
- Matthew Shlomowitz
- James Weeks
- Linda Buckley
- Bryn Harrison
- Timothy McCormack
- Evan Johnson
Contemporary Notation Project
Series begun in 2012, looking at the range of contemporary notational practices.
- Richard Glover: Logical Harmonies (1)
- Marek Poliks: JUST SHUFFLING
- Drew Baker: Stress Position
- Chris Opperman: Kagemusha
- Charlie Sdraulig: hush
Rambler Roundtables and other specials
Every now and then I break out a special investigation or study of a particular musical area that has interested me. Several of these have taken the form of “Rambler Roundtables” – extended online discussions organised between performers and composers, which I edit down and publish here.
The Rambler 
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