Tim Rutherford-Johnson
@purlis.bsky.social
Listener, CFer, wordmonger. Written books about new music; trying to write one about Schubert.
https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/about/
Substack here: http://purlis.substack.com
https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/about/
Substack here: http://purlis.substack.com
Returning to the music of Mads Emil Dreyer this week for a sleevenote, I'm reminded of the one I wrote in 2023 for his Disappearer album - one of those happy bits of writing when the whole thing comes together cleanly and quickly. www.dacapo-records.dk/en/recording...
Disappearer
www.dacapo-records.dk
November 11, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Returning to the music of Mads Emil Dreyer this week for a sleevenote, I'm reminded of the one I wrote in 2023 for his Disappearer album - one of those happy bits of writing when the whole thing comes together cleanly and quickly. www.dacapo-records.dk/en/recording...
One thing I've not seen people mention re Qobuz (besides superior artist payments, sound quality and not funding fascism or AI slop) is that LABELS ARE CLICKABLE. I've been crying out for this on the old streaming service FOR EVER and never understood why it wasn't possible. Absolute gamechanger.
November 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
One thing I've not seen people mention re Qobuz (besides superior artist payments, sound quality and not funding fascism or AI slop) is that LABELS ARE CLICKABLE. I've been crying out for this on the old streaming service FOR EVER and never understood why it wasn't possible. Absolute gamechanger.
Just switched from SpotAIfy to Qobuz and running some comparisons between the two - suddenly everything on the former is slower and about a semitone flat? Has it always been like this???
November 11, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Just switched from SpotAIfy to Qobuz and running some comparisons between the two - suddenly everything on the former is slower and about a semitone flat? Has it always been like this???
Bonus issue klaxon! Purposeful Listening 2a dropping this Wednesday, 12:30GMT. purlis.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Bonus issue klaxon! Purposeful Listening 2a dropping this Wednesday, 12:30GMT. purlis.substack.com
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Really nice to be asked to appear on BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show over the weekend, to talk about three tracks I love as part of their new 'Listen List' spot.
Listen again here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002lnkd
I'm on at 46:05 into the show.
Listen again here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002lnkd
I'm on at 46:05 into the show.
New Music Show - Leo Chadburn's Listen List - BBC Sounds
Tom Service talks to Leo Chadburn about his listening, plus premieres from Donaueschingen.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Really nice to be asked to appear on BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show over the weekend, to talk about three tracks I love as part of their new 'Listen List' spot.
Listen again here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002lnkd
I'm on at 46:05 into the show.
Listen again here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002lnkd
I'm on at 46:05 into the show.
"17 liner notes in two and a half weeks" is giving me heartburn
My textcast - where you read it, but there's also an accompanying playlist - is BACK. Some remarkable choices from @joannawyld.bsky.social that were new to me. Please share with anyone you think might be interested. Thank you. #FirstLastAnything
NEW! #FirstLastAnything Ep 32: We are back each Sunday, till Christmas, and my guest today - versatile and fascinating music writer and musician Joanna Wyld (@joannawyld.bsky.social) - talks about bellringing, Queen, liner notes, Molly Drake and much more. firstlastanything.co.uk/2025/11/09/f...
November 10, 2025 at 11:16 AM
"17 liner notes in two and a half weeks" is giving me heartburn
Two more nights for Music We'd Like to Hear this year: 28 Nov (same night as Grisey Quatre chants, argh): Maya Bennardo playing Fujieda, Bennardo, Svensson, Marino. 29 Nov: Magnus Grnaberg and Skogen playing Trouble, Had It All My Days. www.musicwedliketohear.com/2025n.html
music we'd like to hear - 2025
london concert series
www.musicwedliketohear.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Two more nights for Music We'd Like to Hear this year: 28 Nov (same night as Grisey Quatre chants, argh): Maya Bennardo playing Fujieda, Bennardo, Svensson, Marino. 29 Nov: Magnus Grnaberg and Skogen playing Trouble, Had It All My Days. www.musicwedliketohear.com/2025n.html
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
NEW! #FirstLastAnything Ep 32: We are back each Sunday, till Christmas, and my guest today - versatile and fascinating music writer and musician Joanna Wyld (@joannawyld.bsky.social) - talks about bellringing, Queen, liner notes, Molly Drake and much more. firstlastanything.co.uk/2025/11/09/f...
FLA 32: Joanna Wyld (09/11/2025)
Of all the guests I’ve had on First Last Anything so far, Kent-born Joanna Wyld might have worn the most musical hats. Writer, musician, composer, librettist, teacher and administrator, she’s playe…
firstlastanything.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 9:10 AM
NEW! #FirstLastAnything Ep 32: We are back each Sunday, till Christmas, and my guest today - versatile and fascinating music writer and musician Joanna Wyld (@joannawyld.bsky.social) - talks about bellringing, Queen, liner notes, Molly Drake and much more. firstlastanything.co.uk/2025/11/09/f...
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Purposeful Listening 2: Stephanie Lamprea talks Aperghis, bel canto, electronics and embodiment. purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
Purposeful Listening 2: An interview with singer Stephanie Lamprea, about digital vocality, embodiment and new music.
Body/tech
purlis.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Purposeful Listening 2: Stephanie Lamprea talks Aperghis, bel canto, electronics and embodiment. purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
New weird AI slop that Spotify tried to dump on me this morning: a *new* single by long-dead P-Funk guitarist Eddie Hazel called “I Ain’t No Brokeback Cowboy,” which, despite its title, is about being a gay cowboy.
November 7, 2025 at 1:45 PM
New weird AI slop that Spotify tried to dump on me this morning: a *new* single by long-dead P-Funk guitarist Eddie Hazel called “I Ain’t No Brokeback Cowboy,” which, despite its title, is about being a gay cowboy.
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Heartbroken to share the news that recruitment to Undergraduate Music courses at the University of Nottingham has been suspended.
Please do contact us on protectuonmusic@gmail.com if you would like to support us.
Please do contact us on protectuonmusic@gmail.com if you would like to support us.
November 6, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Heartbroken to share the news that recruitment to Undergraduate Music courses at the University of Nottingham has been suspended.
Please do contact us on protectuonmusic@gmail.com if you would like to support us.
Please do contact us on protectuonmusic@gmail.com if you would like to support us.
@laurencecrane.bsky.social Of possible interest: c.org/zTyqyVDgKs
We Can Make an Impact.
Stop the suspension of undergraduate music courses at The University of Nottingham
c.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:13 PM
@laurencecrane.bsky.social Of possible interest: c.org/zTyqyVDgKs
My career in music would not have happened without the knowledge and sheer enthusiasm fostered by my time at Nottingham. It is devastating to imagine such a proud university without a music department to its name. Please consider signing: c.org/zTyqyVDgKs
We Can Make an Impact.
Stop the suspension of undergraduate music courses at The University of Nottingham
c.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:02 PM
My career in music would not have happened without the knowledge and sheer enthusiasm fostered by my time at Nottingham. It is devastating to imagine such a proud university without a music department to its name. Please consider signing: c.org/zTyqyVDgKs
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Issue drops at lunchtime today, so subscribe now if you'd like it in your inbox.
Remember, remember
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Issue drops at lunchtime today, so subscribe now if you'd like it in your inbox.
Purposeful Listening 2: Stephanie Lamprea talks Aperghis, bel canto, electronics and embodiment. purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
Purposeful Listening 2: An interview with singer Stephanie Lamprea, about digital vocality, embodiment and new music.
Body/tech
purlis.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Purposeful Listening 2: Stephanie Lamprea talks Aperghis, bel canto, electronics and embodiment. purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
Issue drops at lunchtime today, so subscribe now if you'd like it in your inbox.
Remember, remember
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Issue drops at lunchtime today, so subscribe now if you'd like it in your inbox.
Remember, remember
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Remember, remember
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason, and a conversation about female vocality in new music.
New issue of Purposeful Listening drops tomorrow.
purlis.substack.com
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
I reviewed Mark Fell's mind-bending new album of chamber music (yes, you read that right) on the @frozenreeds.com label, plus the inaugural EP on the National Centre for Mark Fell Studies, best label name I've heard in a while pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
Mark Fell: Psychic Resynthesis / Nite Closures EP
Read Philip Sherburne’s review of the album and EP.
pitchfork.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:39 AM
I reviewed Mark Fell's mind-bending new album of chamber music (yes, you read that right) on the @frozenreeds.com label, plus the inaugural EP on the National Centre for Mark Fell Studies, best label name I've heard in a while pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
Unless you're another robin, that is. 💀
October 31, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Unless you're another robin, that is. 💀
'It's about art coming out of landscape, which seems to be a British ideal', says @andrewmale.bsky.social on the Wuthering Heights edition of Backlisted. Dare I add to that canon Leo Chadburn's Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator, discussed here? purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
October 31, 2025 at 10:53 AM
'It's about art coming out of landscape, which seems to be a British ideal', says @andrewmale.bsky.social on the Wuthering Heights edition of Backlisted. Dare I add to that canon Leo Chadburn's Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator, discussed here? purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
I sent my (final-FINAL-readfyforprint-revised-v.3.doc) albums of the year list to Wire HQ yesterday, so please could people stop putting out great stuff now until Jan 1? Tq
October 31, 2025 at 9:17 AM
I sent my (final-FINAL-readfyforprint-revised-v.3.doc) albums of the year list to Wire HQ yesterday, so please could people stop putting out great stuff now until Jan 1? Tq
My favourite Fall album anyway, FWIW.
The best Fall album of the 21st century, or ever? @fergalkinney.bsky.social makes the case for a dark and heavy masterpiece made up of ketamine, Pete Tong and pumpkin soup
Reissue of the Week: The Unutterable by #TheFall
buff.ly/Ysp8a6T
Reissue of the Week: The Unutterable by #TheFall
buff.ly/Ysp8a6T
October 31, 2025 at 9:14 AM
My favourite Fall album anyway, FWIW.
Thrilled to have received my copy of this bad boy today, and to have made my own small contribution
October 29, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Thrilled to have received my copy of this bad boy today, and to have made my own small contribution
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Purposeful Listening 1 - Leo Chadburn, Mark Fell+Explore Ensemble, Michael Finnissy+Ian Pace open.substack.com/pub/purlis/p...
Purposeful Listening 1
Beginning/continuing, place/language, tree/mobile, bigness/detail
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Purposeful Listening 1 - Leo Chadburn, Mark Fell+Explore Ensemble, Michael Finnissy+Ian Pace open.substack.com/pub/purlis/p...
Or, as GP might say, 'a grand individual'.
You wouldn't A Void such a great character
October 27, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Or, as GP might say, 'a grand individual'.