"Throughout we find unique ways in which musicians ask us, the listeners, to take this task to heart and create a better world through music." Have you listened to Jessie Cox’s ListN Up Playlist? Listen at:

“It can be frightening to keep creating in this kind of climate. But my advice is this: seek out community among those who are still making art. Stay hopeful. And most importantly, keep going.” Have you read our interview with Theresa May? Check it out at:

"Too many musicians try to reverse-engineer their pricing based on what someone else is charging, but you have no idea what that person’s situation is." Have you read Megan Ihnen's overview of the financial practices that artists need to build a sustainable career? Read it at:

"My playlist is very long. Drone music isn’t short, and some of my favorite drone albums and artists create and think in half hour to hour long increments." Listen to the latest playlist curated by percussionist, organizer and researcher Jess Tsang!

The Carpe Diem String Quartet has been committed to redefining what it means to be a modern string quartet for 20 years now! They're known for pushing boundaries and removing barriers to engaging in music through their community projects. Read our interview with them at:

“In an album primarily based on samples, it seems to be a poignant introduction to turn one of Prey’s only instances of entirely non-sampled music, into a simulation of a sample." Have you listened to BAKUDI SCREAM's album, "Prey," yet? Check out Clover Nahabedian's review at: buff.ly/MdDEgZA

"Our sounds are always affected by space, and it’s a relationship that I’m interested in exploring creatively." Have you read our interview with Paula Sanchez? Check it out at:

"Drawing inspiration from his Iranian heritage, interdisciplinary collaborations, and the exploration of sensory experiences, Badie crafts immersive worlds." Have you listened to Badie Khaleghian's ListN Up Playlist? Check it out at:

Have you listened to Clara Kim's new album, our little matches? Check out Chrysanthe Tan's review at:

"Without festivals like Gaudeamus, contemporary music will be a fossil within a few years." Did you know the Gaudeamus Festival is celebrating its 80th year? 🎉 Read more about it in our interview with Martijn Buser, the festival's Artistic Director:

"TAK Ensemble’s SWOONFEST is a true community initiative, emphasizing the ethos of an experimental mentality...Free spirits, creative thinkers, and trailblazers — the folks TAK promotes — need places to test their ideas." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/tak-...

"The experimental music I perform [...] lies more in the experiential and immersive realms. I try to be very attuned to the space I have created for the audience to enter and listen. " Check out Nora Barton's thoughts on community and experimental music at:

"I always think of the score as a way to enhance the personal voices of the musicians involved." Donna Lee Davidson interviewed Corie Rose Soumah to discuss her compositional process before her premiere at TIME:SPANS festival. Read the full interview at:

"Music won’t necessarily be sorted along traditional valences... Sep. 27 features a commissioned “musical response” to Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens, as well as a talk from one of the Field Museum’s anthropologists. It’s music in context and in conversation." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/a-ne...

“When pieces of narrative do appear in the program, I did not want to question them or explain them, but have them appear unfiltered, like a natural part of one’s day.” The husband-and-wife creative team talk about their project Mayrig (premiered in July), and more. Check it out:

"Response pieces give us the opportunity to view creativity as a chain of dialogues with the unknown." In her essay, Considering the Context of Our Artmaking When Composing Response Pieces, Shruthi Rajasekar deals with the ethics of responding to past art. Check it out at:

"I put together this playlist of my favorite anti-fascist music. This is where my head has been recently and where I hope everyone is right now. All DIY grassroot leftist music, from hardcore punk to rap to experimental noise." - Lia Ouyang Check it out at:

"Everyone has the power to take action, however small. [...] Our enthusiasm can open minds and ears.” Ingrid Martin, 5 Questions to Ingrid Martin at:

“There’s no playbook for new chamber groups, especially when it comes to handling money.” Nick Photinos, The Myth of Making It at:

"I spent the first two decades or so of my life training to be a classical musician while still eating up tons of different genres: jazz, world music, folk, electronic… [...] and I think you can find all of the above on this." Check out Marta Sofia Honer's playlist at:

"Pursuing a musical career doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor — we have the freedom to create our own pathways and shape careers that benefit both our artistry and our well-being."

"Drone stretches our perception of time, changing the way our brains understand the world through repetition and subtle, gradual change...when we really pay attention, what emerges?" icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/list...

I CARE IF YOU LISTEN contributor Jacob Kopcienski reviews this "gift-craft," a collection of works intent on crafting queer joy, kinship, and a sense of belonging. Have you heard the album yet? Follow the link to read the full interview. icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/hub-...

"Amidst many impressive accolades cited in composer Natacha Diels’ bio, one line stands out to me with special potency: '[Diels’ work employs] cynical play to create worlds of curiosity and unease.' Her latest release expresses the very essence of this phrase." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/nata...

"Led by Jaan-Eik Tulve, Vox Clamantis offers especially impeccable patience, pacing, intonation, and diction in this rendering." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/vox-...

"The poem speaks to me of the impasse often felt in people currently, regarding their past generations, which are largely cut off from them and without viable expression." The video premiere of Andy Terstiein's “El Niño Mudo” - out NOW on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/vide...

"Without festivals like Gaudeamus, contemporary music will be a fossil within a few years. We need new pioneering artists developing the discourse of the contemporary music scene." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/09/5-qu...

"Conveying a universal reflection of the United States may be impossible, but American Mirror gives artists who have rarely had the opportunity to contribute their experiences the long overdue chance to be seen." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/08/sphi...

"Making money from non-musical ventures felt like a kind of betrayal, or a lack of commitment to my art. Every hour I spent at work, after all, was an hour I wasn’t in the practice room. But the truth is, having a day job has freed me." @newmusicusa.bsky.social icareifyoulisten.com/2025/08/in-d...

"I listen intently and move how the cello moves me. It’s a balance between mindfulness of the audience’s experience and total presence in the moment of creation. I let the music breathe, shift, and reveal itself naturally." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/08/5-qu...

"I’m in this new phase of being an artist who is exploring and learning how to play all the notes that aren’t on the page — and I think you can find all of the above on this [playlist]." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/08/list...

"The way the artists wield tension and ambiguity encourages listeners to use their own intuition and imagination – a direct challenge to late-stage capitalism’s reliance on dream-crushing in order to sustain complacency with injustices." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/08/endl...

"Mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag brought vibrancy and personality to the vocal part, which demanded charm, wit, and a wide range of emotional maturity." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/08/cabr...

"Within the queer nightlife and electronic music scenes in particular is a not-insignificant number of musicians who have crossed over from the classical and new music world... each has found a way to expand their performance practice." icareifyoulisten.com/2025/08/new-...

"By featuring pieces that examine artistic process and expression as well as experiences of contemporary society, The Crossing have created a cohesive album that must be listened to with the utmost care and attention." buff.ly/ZT71m97

"There are some fundamental ideas in my work that are related to the use of my body as a kind of guide and filter to produce sounds, and to detaching myself from my intentions of control and surrendering to what sound is. This is my attempt to create a language of my own..." buff.ly/kjQoV8B

Have you heard this playlist yet curated by Lia Ouyang Rusli, a.k.a. OHYUNG? Check it out by following the link below. buff.ly/iyKAw2H

"Every time I get involved in a creative process with other musicians, I am affected in such a way that my playing changes, is enhanced, and enriched. Collaboration is very important, it is a way of sharing." buff.ly/kjQoV8B

"The Crossing exhibits immaculate intonation and blending in the unison moments of [Tawnie Olson’s Beloved of the Sky], in particular the opening of the third movement, 'Oh, that stodgy, lumpy feeling,' that features homophony and intricately subtle counterpoint." buff.ly/ZT71m97

“Building your own world is essential. Don’t deny yourself the ability to dream.” Check out last week's playlist curated by OHYUNG, featuring works by Dreamcrusher, dead prez, Material Support and more. buff.ly/iyKAw2H

“Green Line, which was based on one of my mother’s memories, we made sure to record her twice telling the same story to capture the extemporaneity and variance of her storytelling and to work against the feeling that there was a single, concrete version of the story.” buff.ly/PrIoazQ

"Today, when I work with sound I like to move on the edges, I try to inhabit the undefined places of the artistic practices I carry out. I’m interested in creating frictions, and I have a tactile, erotic, and animalistic approach to my instrument."

"The Crossing’s At Which Point is definitely on the “do not miss” list and worthy of a GRAMMY nomination this coming year." Have you heard the latest album release from The Crossing? What did you love about it? Don't forget to check out the full review by Anne Goldberg-Baldwin.

"The sold-out 2025 festival, presented in partnership with the stunningly beautiful and resonant ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, started with the unparalleled nineteen-piece Sun Ra Arkestra... [the artists]couldn’t escape the pull of iconic Afrofuturism and raucous joy..."

"I put together this playlist of my favorite anti-fascist music. This is where my head has been recently and where I hope everyone is right now. All DIY grassroot leftist music, from hardcore punk to rap to experimental noise." Check out this playlist curated by OHYUNG! buff.ly/iyKAw2H

“Space, says Kim Harris, connects all of us. The festival’s INTERGALACTIC INFINITY: Music Between Spaces theme—encouraging sequined or metallic attire and allusions to film scores—provided a flexible and fun entry point for MATA’s eclectic audience.” icareifyoulisten.com/2025/06/mata...

“The first movement immediately arrests the listeners in its intricate beat patterns that create a shimmer atop expansive, lush chords.” Anne Goldberg-Baldwin reviews The Crossing's latest album release! icareifyoulisten.com/2025/06/the-...

"We’ve [approached] accessibility in various ways...We also program music by composers who represent various ages, genders, and ethnicities. For audiences to see ... music written by a wide representation of composers is a powerful way of creating accessibility." buff.ly/oHXxyK5

"Focusing more on “making” the best art you can, in the artistically and financially smartest ways you can, and less on the “it” — fame, money, or status — is not a sure path, but it remains the only real path forward." buff.ly/7RhnpTi

“For each material there is a body, for each body there is a sonority, and I like to work with contrasting, uncomfortable, and inconvenient elements that can take me out of my ways of functioning. I feel drawn to put myself in danger.” icareifyoulisten.com/2025/06/5-qu...