4ms Podcast

Emily Sprague is a composer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the frontwoman and creative force behind Florist. Alongside the band’s intimate, often deeply personal songwriting, Sprague has developed an extensive body of solo work centered around modular synthesis, acoustic instruments, and experimental composition. Her albums Water Memory, Mount Vision, and Hill, Flower, Fog explore the space between ambient music and more traditional songwriting, often growing out of improvisation and close attention to texture and sound.Sprague has also brought that experimental approach into her work as a producer and engineer, developing a highly personal relationship with recording technology and the studio itself. Her new album Cyano, coming this fall on RVNG Intl., continues that evolution while placing her voice more prominently within her electronic and ambient work.

Today’s 4ms Podcast guest is Grammy Award-winning producer and engineer Sylvia Massy, whose credits include Tool, System of a Down, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, and many others. Her work has contributed to numerous diamond- and platinum-certified records throughout her career. We discuss recording techniques, unconventional approaches to sound, and the creative process behind some of her most influential work.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith found her voice when a neighbor lent her a Buchla 100 synthesizer in 2011. Buchla, and other vintage rare synthesizers became the heart of a body of work that includes Euclid, Ears (named one of the best albums of 2016 by Pitchfork, NPR Music, and Resident Advisor), The Kid, The Mosaic of Transformation, Let's Turn It Into Sound, and last year's Gush and Thoughts on the Future as well as her upcoming album RUIN: It’s Not Just Music - which comes out Oct 2nd.She's made records with synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani (Sunergy), composer Emile Mosseri (I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon), and Hot Chip's Joe Goddard (Neptunes). She's remixed Max Richter, Perfume Genius, Danny Elfman, and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, been remixed by Four Tet, and scored the film Omni Loop, starring Mary-Louise Parker and Ayo Edebiri.This year she launched her own label, Someone Special, and its first release is her new album, Ruin: It's Not Just Music, out Oct 2nd - which is a Drum and Bass inspired album.In this episode we get deeper with Kaitlyn's background, philosophy, and creative process.

Today's guest is Daniel Menche. Daniel is an experimental musician and sound artist known for his raw, immersive approach to noise, texture, and extreme sound. His work explores the physical and psychological dimensions of sound, pushing the boundaries of experimental music. This episode was recorded in person on August 28th, 2026.

Keith Fullerton Whitman is a composer and performer of “Live” Electronic Music whose work spans more than three decades, moving between improvisation and composition through generative and algorithmic systems in both the analog and digital domains. His extensive discography includes landmark releases such as Playthroughs, Multiples, Generators, and Occlusions, with music released through kranky, Planet Mu, Editions Mego, PAN, Nakid, and others. Over the course of more than 1,000 performances, Whitman has appeared at major festivals and institutions including CTM, Documenta, Sonic Acts, Unsound, MoMA PS1, the Guggenheim Museum, and ZKM. Today, he has largely moved away from the traditional record-release cycle, focusing instead on live improvised music, ongoing research into process and systems, and an evolving stream of documented work.

This week Ross visited LZX Headquarters in Portland, OR to chat with co-founders Lars Larsen and Jonah Lange about the past, present, and future of their video synthesis endeavors. This episode was recorded on July 2nd, 2026.

Richard Devine, a 4ms fan since 2005, talks about his career and journey with modular synthesis. This episode was recorded on June 9th, 2026.