Sonic Explorers brings together a unique mix of experimental music and sound exploration from the archives of Minnesota Public Radio. It features audio recordings that capture artists who push the boundaries of music—using unusual sounds and creative techniques to explore what listening can be.
From early electronic experiments to profiles, live performances and soundscapes, these recordings offer a glimpse into the vibrant world of music experimentation. Whether you're a curious listener, a fan of the unusual, or someone on a journey to discover new music, this collection invites you to experience rich and creative artists that have pushed music-making in bold new ways.
March 8, 2015 - A group of internationally acclaimed rock artists are in St Paul this weekend for a unique new music collaboration. They are coming to perform with Helado Negro an electronic music group led by Roberto Carlos Lange. Euan Kerr reports.
March 16, 2016 - Laurie Anderson who has been on the forefront of musical experimentation in the US for more than 40 years brings her new show to the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul this weekend. How new is it?
December 19, 2016 - The Stanley Kubrick film "A Clockwork Orange" opened in New York City on this date in 1971. The music was composed, and in some cases re-composed, by Wendy Carlos. As in his earlier hit, "2001: A Space Odyssey," Kubrick used classical music. This time, however, in keeping with the film's futuristic storyline, the classics were adapted and arranged for Moog synthesizer by Wendy Carlos. The Main Title music, which we're sampling, was Purcell's "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary."
August 15, 2020 - When a flying saucer circled over Washington, DC, in the classic 1951 sci-fi film, “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” it did so to music played on an electronic instrument known as the Theremin. Its Russian inventor, Leon Theremin, was born in St. Petersburg on today’s date in 1896. In 1927 Theremin traveled to America, where he obtained a patent for an electronic instrument he called the Thereminovox. In the 1930s, Theremin arranged concerts for his creation at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
December 20, 2023 - Synthesizers are revolutionary instruments. These electronic devices use knobs, buttons and sliders to make different sounds — and you can hear them in all sorts of music, from pop to hip-hop. But that wasn’t always the case.
June 24, 2024 - MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two women local professional DJs, Brittany Wright and YASMEENAH. Companies, sports teams, families, and non-profit leaders hire them to plan music for events and get the party going. The program goes behind the scenes of the DJ world, from the gear they use to the secrets of reading the crowd.
June 24, 2024 - MPR News host Angela Davis talked with two women who are professional DJs. Companies, sports teams, families and non-profit leaders hire them to plan music for events and get the party going.
July 19, 2024 - In 1961, a new and difficult work for strings announced the arrival of a composer with a new and difficult name for non-Polish speakers to pronounce: Krzysztof Penderecki.