Mutantrumpet creator Ben Neill Proposes a Democratization of Music: The Echoes Interview
Ben Neill has been on the bleeding edge of new and electronic music for decades. He created his own instrument, the Mutantrumpet, which has three bells, two valve sets, a mini-trombone slide and all kinds of electronics to create a music that references Miles Davis and lounge music, urban jungle beats and space music overdrive. Now he has a book, Diffusing Music – Trajectories of Sonic Democratization, that follows music from the early 20th century Futurists to Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Minimalism, electronic artists and now, Artificial Intelligence. And Neill was in the thick of a lot of this. From a personal perspective he takes us on a journey where he proposes that now, anyone can make music. Diffusing Music has just been published in paperback, so we take another listen to his interview, today on Echoes from PRX.
| Wednesday, July 8, 2026 – Program 2627C | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Half Hour | |||
| 0:01:00 | Unwed Sailor | Three Jewels | High Remembrance |
| 0:06:00 | Ludovico Einaudi | Punta Bianca – Live | The Summer Portraits Live |
| 0:10:30 | Gem Club | Garlands | Emerald Press |
| 0:14:11 | Instupendo | Old Home Not Yet Built | Old Home Not Yet Built (Single) |
| 0:17:00 | KARYYN | Pull | Physics Universal Love Language |
| 0:23:19 | Forrest Fang | Apace | Radiance and the Receding Light |
| 0:29:30 | Lisa Bella Donna | Counterpoints (excerpts) | Future Moves |
| Second Half Hour | |||
| 0:30:00 | Interview: Ben Neill | ||
| 0:44:44 | Ben Neill | Free Runner (with Chrystel Egal) | Amalgam Sphere |
| 0:48:10 | Ben Neill | Blisspeak 3 | Amalgam Sphere |
| 0:52:50 | Ben Neill | Entre Deux | Horizonal |
| 0:59:00 | Adrian Sherwood | The Collapse of Everything (except) | The Collapse of Everything |
| Third Half Hour | |||
| 1:01::00 | Hammock | We Close Our Eyes So We Can See | The Second Coming Was a Moonrise |
| 1:06:00 | Mark Isham | At the Carousel Club | At the Carousel Club |
| 1:11:28 | Cate Kennan | Devil’s Hour | Shadows |
| 1:14:08 | Kinobe | Nothing Else Exists | Open Your Mind |
| 1:17:45 | Elder Island | Bigger Than Us | Hello Baby Okay |
| 1:22:16 | David Helpling and Scott Reich | Breath of a Flower | Through the Thought Horizon |
| 1:29:30 | Felsman & Tiley | Kind (excerpt) | Protomensch |
| Fourth Half Hour | |||
| 1:30:00 | Liminal Drifter | Aquatic Whisper | Cowboy Pilgrim |
| 1:35:35 | Tori Amos | Shush | In Times of Dragons |
| 1:41:47 | Tycho | Another Wave (ft. Sea Lemon) | Love Like Raindrops Made of Light |
| 1:45:51 | break | ||
| 1:46:38 | Unwed Sailor | Cinnamon | High Remembrance |
| 1:49:54 | Widowspeak | Wondering | Roses |
| 1:54:02 | Tom Caufield | Chamber Wolf | Quiet Modern |