Electronic Music Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - My Life In Modules
Composer, producer and Buchla enthusiast Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith joins William J. Stokes to discuss her latest album Gush. She also treats listeners to a live set, performed on a carefully curated selection of Buchla 200e modules.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:10 - Peacock Moments
06:24 - Working With Suzanne Ciani
10:54 - Discovering Buchla And Eurorack
16:40 - Blending Sensibilities
23:21 - Buchla 200e Modular System And 223e Input
28:48 - 259e and 261e Waveform Generators
36:58 - 296e Spectral Processor
43:37 - 227e System Interface
51:25 - The Performance
#buchla200e #buchla223e #buchla259e #buchla #261e #buchla 296e #buchla 227e
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Biog
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is a classically trained American composer, producer and performer originally from the Pacific Northwest who now lives in Los Angeles. Drawing upon her formal training in composition and sound engineering from Berklee College of Music, she initially explored vocal performance, classical guitar and piano before her creative trajectory shifted when a neighbour lent her a Buchla 100 modular synthesizer. Her music combines the use of modular, analogue and rare synthesizers, orchestral textures and voice.
Her early self-released works, including Cows Will Eat the Weeds and Tides: Music for Meditation and Yoga (2014), were followed by Euclid (2015), her first official album with Western Vinyl, which combined structured songwriting with ambient exploration. This was succeeded by EARS (2016), which critics praised for its seamless layering of organic instrumentation and analogue synthesis to evoke feelings of awe and disorientation. Her 2017 release, The Kid, marked a conceptual leap, tracing stages of human development through richly textured, emotionally resonant compositions that bolstered her status among experimental music audiences.
Kaitlyn has performed alongside artists like Hot Chip, Glass Beams, RY X, Caribou and Four Tet, composed original works for Apple, BBC Orchestra, Adult Swim, MoMA, Red Bull and others, plus her song “Stratus” was also synced in the 2023 film Priscilla Motion Picture Soundtrack. She has also collaborated with longtime inspiration Suzanne Ciani and other artists like Emile Mosseri, while exploring multidisciplinary projects through her label, Touchtheplants. On her latest album, GUSH, Kaitlyn sets her sights on aesthetics, focusing on the heightened awareness of and presence in the world where every interaction, whether with people, objects or nature, has the potential to become a moment of connection and personification.
https://kaitlynaureliasmith.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kaitlynaurelia/
https://www.facebook.com/kaitlynaurelia/
https://x.com/kaitlynaurelia
William J. Stokes Biog
William J. Stokes is a producer, writer and artist in three-piece avant-psych band Voka Gentle. As well as being a critic and columnist for Sound On Sound, conceiving the popular Talkback column and heading up the Modular column, he has also written on music and music technology for The Guardian, MOJO, The Financial Times, Electronic Sound and more.
As an artist in Voka Gentle he has made records with producers from Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Grizzly Bear, Nick Cave) to Sam Petts-Davies (Radiohead, The Smile, Roger Waters), has had songs featured on franchises from FIFA Football to The Sims and has toured across the UK, Europe and the USA, playing festivals from Pitchfork Avant-Garde in Paris to SXSW in Austin, Texas. He has collaborated with artists including the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, Morcheeba, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom.
Alongside being a guitarist and pianist, he is a synthesis enthusiast with a particular interest in sampling and explorative sound manipulation. As a producer and engineer, he has made albums with acclaimed avant-garde musicians from composer Tullis Rennie to Mute Records artist Louis Carnell. “I’m always seeking out the most ‘out-there’, experimental, risk-taking musicians I can find to work with,” he says, “to capture vibrant, detailed recordings and create three-dimensional mixes of music that might otherwise struggle to know where to begin in the studio environment.”
Stokes currently lectures in Music Production at City, University of London.
Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts