Every so often, Indexical has a chance to interview some of the wonderful artists who come through Santa Cruz. We'll post those here, along with live recordings of those artists' shows.
This episode features musician and photographer Billy Gomberg. Commitments to improvisation; exploration of internal and external spaces; and interpersonal relationships as pathways of cultural and emotional exchange guide their work.
In this conversation with Indexical Executive Director Michael Flora, Gomberg discusses the influence of 90s industrial music, their beginnings in software synthesis, and their introduction to photography through a day job. The conversation took place following a live performance in support of their exhibition “Several Paths Together” at Indexical on June 14, 2025.
Recording by Ben Krasner | Mixing and Editing by Jay Negron
16 Oct 2025
Jonathan Snyder, Dani Derks and leshy
Indexical is pleased to present a conversation with artist / educators Jonathan Snyder, Dani Derks and leshy. In this conversation we talk about the lines community, electronic music composition, and Habitus, a series of workshops focused on new music and creative coding within the context of the norns sound computer. Throughout the conversation you'll hear excerpts from solo music performances from Jonathan Snyder and Dani Derks, recorded on May 24, 2025.
Mixing and Editing by Jay Negron
1 Oct 2025
Dominic Coles
Indexical is pleased to present a conversation with composer Dominic Coles. His work investigates the interactions of place, personhood, and power as they are articulated in sound and speech. In this conversation Coles' talks about their background in music, early beginnings in jazz guitar, studies in music composition, interest in speech as a compositional tool, and the pedagogical and political aspects of a musical work.
*** Note: There were a few audio glitches in this recording, but we felt the quality of the conversation was worth sharing. We hope you agree!
Mixing and Editing by Jay Negron
25 Aug 2025
Wayne Jackson ( aka Later Days)
Indexical is pleased to present a conversation with computer musician and music software developer Wayne Jackson (aka Later Days). Jackson’s fascination with computer music and emergent systems spans four decades and has been critical to both his artistic life and professional career. With a strong homebrew DIY aesthetic Wayne has created a wide palette of audio and visual softsynths which exploit the genetic algorithm for augmented creativity, and uses only these in performance and composition. He founded the experimental music festival Woodstockhausen in 1998 and continued to run it annually until 2003.
In this conversation, Jackson discusses their introduction to electronic music, development of algorithmic music systems, and the creation of Woodstockhausen.
12 Aug 2025
Ann Altstatt
This episode features interdisciplinary artist Ann Alstatt. Altstatt's work explores temporality, the intersections of scientific inquiry and mysticism, and the hidden stories of the material world. Ann graduated from the Digital Arts and New Media MFA at University of California, Santa Cruz in 2018. As a founding collective member at The Fábrica textile workshop since 2010, their arts practice remains informed by community engagement, collaborative processes, and material reuse.
In this conversation with Indexical Executive Director Michael Flora, Alstatt discusses their evolving and multifaceted artistic practice. The conversation took place during the closing reception for their exhibition "Why is There Something Instead of Nothing?" at Indexical on November 2, 2024.
19 Aug 2020
Casey Anderson
Today’s episode features an interview with Madison Heying and composer, educator, and organizer Casey Anderson. Anderson discusses his approach to composition, his record label A Wave Press, and his activities as an educator and concert organizer.
Throughout the episode you’ll hear excepts of Anderson’s ghostses performed by Bent Duo.
26 May 2020
Amirtha Kidambi
This episode features an interview that Madison Heying recorded live with vocalist, composer, and band leader Amirtha Kidambi on one of Indexical’s recent Twitch Livestreams. They talked about the importance of collaboration in Kidambi’s work, her reticence to perform on livestreams, her politics, and her hybrid approach to incorporating practices from different cultures in her music.
Throughout the episode you’ll hear excepts of songs by Kidambi’s group Elder Ones including “Eat the Rich” and “Dance of the Subaltern.” For clarity’s sake, in our interview they talk about a live video version of these songs.
13 May 2020
The Powers
This episode features a conversation with Madison Heying and the multi-media band, The Powers ( Emily Pelstring, Katherine Kline, and Jessica Mensch). They talked about The Powers’ working method, which centers around the creation of a feminist cosmology, inspired by such disparate sources as Greek Mythology, campy 1980s horror films, and the scholarly work of Donna Haraway. Throughout the episode you’ll hear excepts from The Powers’ performance of Sistership TV in Santa Cruz on November 16, 2019. Additionally, you’ll hear “Bunny,” an unfinished unreleased track from their upcoming album, in the middle of the episode.
If you have thoughts or questions about this episode or the Indexical podcast in general, we’d love to hear from you! You can reach out on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, our handle is: @anindexofmusic. Madison is also available via email at madison@indexical.org.
28 Apr 2020
Anna Friz
This episode features an interview that Madison Heying recorded with sound artist Anna Friz on April 23, 2020. In the conversation, she shared her ideas about the relational and material nature of radio - how radio can build communities across difference and distance - as well as her thoughts on issues surrounding mediation, transmission, and transduction. Throughout the episode you’ll hear excepts from Friz’s February 2018 performance at the Radius Gallery in Santa Cruz.
If you have thoughts or questions about this episode or the Indexical podcast in general, we’d love to hear from you! You can reach out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, our handle is: @anindexofmusic. I’m also available via email at madison@indexical.org.
14 Apr 2020
Ben Bennett & Arrington de Dionyso
This podcast features an interview Madison Heying and Andrew C. Smith recorded in January 2018 with Ben Bennett and Arrington de Dionyso at the Radius Gallery in Santa Cruz. They discuss approaches to improvisation, a concert for families with children De Dionyso produced in Oakland, and Bennett’s hit youtube show “Sitting and Smiling.” Throughout the episode you’ll hear excerpts from their concert at Radius Gallery. We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions about this episode! You can reach out on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, at our handle @anindexofmusic. You can also reach Madison via email at madison@indexical.org.
31 Mar 2020
John Saint Pelvyn & Paul Metzger
This podcast features an interview that Madison Heying and Jon Myers recorded in October 2017 with Paul Metzger and John Saint Pelvyn at Wind River. They discuss their approaches to experimentation, the need to create novel instruments and performance practices in the search for new sounds, and different ideas about musical communities. Throughout the episode you'll hear excepts from Metzger and Pelvyn's performance at Wind River including: Paul Metzger, “Death's Other Kingdom” John Saint Pelvyn, "A Clerical Error In Shasta County Shouldn't have to Ruin a Saturday Night (excerpts from an eternal song cycle)" If you have thoughts or questions about this episode or the Indexical podcast in general, we’d love to hear from you! You can reach out on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, at our handle @anindexofmusic. You can also reach Madison via email at madison@indexical.org.
18 Jan 2018
Laura Steenberge takes a walk through the woods with Jon Myers and Madison Heying
Laura Steenberge is a composer and performer based in LA who has performed on a number of Indexical concerts, on instruments ranging from viola da gamba, to miscellaneous objects hanging from the rafters, to harmonica, to the clear plastic tubing pictured above. Her work often seems to engage with the physical limits of the material, and likewise takes conceptual inclinations to their (often absurd) logical ends.
In this podcast, Laura takes a walk through the woods with producer Madison Heying and Jon Myers. They discuss her work, alongside thoughts surrounding language, myth, and song. We’ll hear a number of musical excerpts of Laura’s work throughout the podcast:
Lampstands (for 2 voices and keyboard) (w/ Julia Holter singing)
Alleluia Caligula (solo voice and lap harp)
Victory Over the Sun (solo contrabass and voice)
The King and Queen (solo voice)
Earthworms (piano and voice)
Special thanks to Jake Foley for assistance editing this podcast.
9 Jun 2017
Jon Leidecker, David Kant, Andrew C. Smith, with music by Wobbly and the Happy Valley Band
In this episode of the Indexical Podcast, Andrew Smith talks with David Kant of the Happy Valley Band and Jon Leidecker (AKA) Wobbly. They discuss Wobbly’s use of networked mobile devices for making live electronic music and how surveillance and labor is implicated in the use of these devices. They also talk about The Happy Valley Band, how it has influenced David’s understanding of machine hearing, and what it’s like to perform the arbitrarily complex music.
Check out Jon Leidecker's own podcast Variations, for more (http://rwm.macba.cat/en/variations_tag/).
Throughout the podcast we will play several pieces by Wobbly and the Happy Valley Band:
It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World, Happy Valley Band
Monitress, Except from Wobbly’s live set
Monitress, Except from Wobbly’s live set
In the Air Tonight, Happy Valley Band
15 May 2017
bass2bass: Michelle Lou and Scott Worthington with music by Weston Olencki, Michelle Lou, and Scott Worthington
In this episode of the Indexical podcast, Madison Heying, Jon Myers, and Andrew C. Smith talk to Michelle Lou and Scott Worthington of the duo bass2bass. They talk about how bass2bass formed, and how they came up with their name, as well as their similar backgrounds studying jazz and classical bass technique.The conversation gets pretty nerdy as Michelle and Scott debate the ideal bass supergroup and the bassists with the best chops. Speaking of which, make sure you stick around to the end to hear Jon Myers’s James Jamerson and Jaco Pastorius mashup.
Throughout the podcast you will hear clips from:
stanchions by Weston Olencki
HoneyDripper by Michelle Lou
A Flame that Could Go Out by Scott Worthington
11 Apr 2017
Anne La Berge with music by David Dramm, Anne La Berge, Yannis Kyriakides
In this episode, Jon Myers and Madison Heying talk to composer/flautist Anne La Berge. They discuss the program for her March 10th concert with Indexical and the various characters she assumes in each piece. In their conversation, Anne considers her flexible roles as composer, performer, and improviser. Lastly, they discuss Anne’s evolving relationship with technology: over the last 30 years, Anne has used a range of technologies as both a performer and composer, including synthesizers, HMSL, MAX/MSP, and most recently Kyma. The following pieces will be heard throughout the interview:
David Dramm, Telemachus
Anne LaBerge, Utter
Yannis Kyriakides, oneirocriticon
22 Feb 2017
Jack Callahan aka die Reihe, with music by die Reihe, Michael Pisaro & Greg Stuart, and Jürg Frey
In this episode of the Indexical podcast, Jon Myers, Andrew C. Smith, and Madison Heying talk to composer Jack Callahan who operates under the moniker die Reihe. They discuss his piece Housed, which consists of various arrangements of sampled chords from house music. Jack talks about a composition by Michael Pisaro that he released though his imprint Báhn Mì Verlag. And lastly Jack talks about studying with Jürg Frey and his connection to Wandelweiser. Just like Callahan, the conversation maintains serious undertones even as it strays into the silly or ridiculous. The following pieces will be heard through the interview:
"Housed (Side B)" from Housed by die Reihe, on NNA Tapes (https://nnatapes.bandcamp.com/album/housed)
"Add Red(Grey Series No. 3)" from a split LP with Matthew Sullivan, on Báhn Mì Verlag (http://www.banhmiverlag.com/releases)
"Les tréfonds inexplorés des signes 36-39 and 40-43" by Jurg Frey, performed by The Dream Team. From an Indexical concert curated by Jack Callahan, Jan. 26, 2013, at Willow Place Auditorium (https://www.indexical.org/events/2013-01-26-ii-1-jurg-frey-unhorbare-zeit)
16 Feb 2017
Zachary James Watkins & RAGE Thormbones, Ma'ayan Tsadka
Madison Heying and Jon Myers take us through a few excerpts of performances from January 2017. Zachary James Watkins and RAGE THORMBONES perform their first-ever trio set, with all three artists on electronic and acoustic setups. Ma'ayan Tsadka's Underwater Museum of Extinct Sounds and Imaginary Water Creatures explores a post-human Earth through hydrophones, narrated by George Lucas.
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