Welcome back to The No Normal. In this episode, we are happy to welcome Canadian interdisciplinary artist Steph Patsula. The projects Steph creates are focused across a variety of processes coalescing in a union of somatic experiencing, experimental sound creation and lens based ephemera. Patsula’s work prioritizes the creation of immersive art installations and live-performance which explore bodies as beacons and receptors in relationship to each other. Her processes embrace the unpredictable dynamics of working with new materials, spaces and bodies by corresponding with them improvisationall ..read more

Welcome back to The No Normal. Please note this important caution: this episode includes discussion of mental health issues experienced by the artists, and including experiences of suicidal ideation and a depressive episode. Listening to this may be triggering for some listeners. This episode is dedicated with thanks to everyone at The Canadian Mental Health Association. Back in February 2023 New Music Edmonton presented an extraordinary event, the premiere of a new composition by Mike McCormick, performed by Edmonton vocalist, and long-time friend of Mike, Jessica Wagner. The work, under: wen ..read more

We are back with another episode of New Music Edmonton’s The No Normal. Today’s guest is an artist familiar to many people in many places. Composer and violinist Alissa Cheung. Her compositions have been performed often in Edmonton and for several years she was a key part of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s violin section. More recently, Alissa moved to Montréal to take up a position in the mighty Quatuor Bozzini, and since then has continued to build her career as a composer while also taking part in the quartet’s almost constant schedule of performing, recording, and working with emerging a ..read more

New Music Edmonton is happy to return with a new series of The No Normal. We have some great interviews with amazing people lined up for the coming months, and we’re looking forward to sharing their work and their words with you! To get things going, we are delighted to present composer Sointu Aalto, in conversation with Suzette Chan. Born in Helsinki, raised in Edmonton, Sointu Aalto is a composer and cellist, who has emerged as one of the most compelling emerging artists, with a formidable output of uncompromising instrumental and audio-visual works. She has studied with many eminent teacher ..read more

Our city is teeming with emerging artists of all kinds, many of them classical composers. This episode of The No Normal focuses on one such artist, Mary Alice Conrad. Over the last few years, her name has appeared with increasing frequency in concert programming, workshops and commissioned works lists across the country. In this interview, you’ll get to know about this compelling artist’s background and we dig into some of her recent works, with lots of great information on the genesis of Mary Alice Conrad’s diverse and prolific compositions. Music Included in this episode: 19:44 The Mountains ..read more

In this episode of The No Normal, we welcome Shawn Pinchbeck. Internationally active as a composer, performer and sound artist, Shawn Pinchbeck has, since the mid 1980s, been a key part of the experimental sonic arts scene in Edmonton. With a toolkit that includes analog and digital machinery, expertise in field recording, and wide-ranging performance experience, Shawn has worked with a striking array of artists from sound and music, dance, video, the visual arts and more! Ian Crutchley’s interview with Shawn Pinchbeck covers the artist’s story from his earliest to latest work, his first elect ..read more

Eminent Edmonton composer Heather Hindman is the guest for this episode of The No Normal. Over her career to date, Heather Hindman has produced a really compelling series of acoustic and electronic works, with a particular interest in the relationships between music, culture and technology. Her compositions have been performed widely throughout Canada and in many other countries. Commissioners of Heather Hindman’s music have included UltraViolet, Xenia Pestova, The East Coast Music Ensemble and many more. She is also a dedicated and innovative pedagogue, teaching piano and composition to stude ..read more

In this episode of The No Normal, we feature local artist Parker Thiessen. A central figure in our experimental scene, Parker Thiessen has recorded and performed as a soloist and as a member of numerous duos and ensembles, including Soft Ions, Private Investigators, Zebra Pulse, and more. Parker Thiessen, along with his Private Investigators partner, Ian Rowley, runs the experimental label Pseudo Laboratories. Now nearing its 50th release, Pseudo Laboratories has, since 2014, produced cassettes and digital versions of work by dozens of artists. Ian Crutchley, New Music Edmonton Artistic Direct ..read more

Welcome (or, welcome back!) to The No Normal, New Music Edmonton’s podcast featuring interviews and sonic art from some of the most innovative artists around. We were back briefly in the autumn, with a beautiful music-only episode, curated by Matthew Cardinal. Now we’re ready to move on with regular episodes, and so happy to be in our second season! This episode will include an interview of Mustafa Rafiq, by Suzette Chan, a local arts writer, and a great friend of all in the arts. In the interview, Mustafa and Suzette talk about Mustafa's background and a range of musical projects in which Mus ..read more

Listen up / Tendez l’oreille, is the name of this year’s Canadian New Music Network FORUM. Available online, this ten-week celebration of the creative music and sound community features talks, performances and pre-recorded works by dozens of artists. The Canadian New Music Network invited New Music Edmonton to take part by way of a specially-produced episode of The No Normal. Entitled Calm, this episode brings together three newly-created works. They will be presented as a complete, uninterrupted set, with just a few moments of ambient sound separating them. Matthew Cardinal is the curator of ..read more