empty-stage journal & records

EMPTY STAGE
JOURNAL & RECORDS

JACK LANGDON, EDITOR

Empty Stage is an independent journal and record label based in Illinois.

It features texts which investigate the practice and philosophy of modern iconoclastic musicking,
focusing on the workplace politics of independent music and the political economy of cultural production.

The record label showcases works by an eclectic array of artists, focusing on short-run CD releases.
to purchase physical copies and listen to our releases, please visit our Bandcamp page HERE

to stay up to date with future releases and articles, please follow our Instagram account HERE

UPCOMING WRITINGS AND RELEASES

Vol. 2, No. 5

“With Many Hands”
Sarah Clausen

A new record by multi-instrumentalist and composer Sarah Clausen titled “With Many Hands”—featuring works that combine acoustic and electronic forces into forms that oscillate between the familiar and the unreal.

RECORDING

TBA

Vol. 2, No. 4

“An Interview with Sarah Clausen”
Sarah Clausen & Jack Langdon

Jack interviews Sarah Clausen, who is a regular of the improvised music scene in Chicago and is a service worker and union organizer. Sarah talks about her musical upbringing, her transition from jazz conservatory to freelancing in Chicago, and the two have a conversation about the ways in which economic and social class affects the professional lives of improvising musicians and how her upcoming release thematizes class.

INTERVIEW

TBA

Vol. 2, No. 3

“to see a landscape as it is when I am not there”
Realtree

A double-quintet album featuring Twin-Cities based ensemble Realtree. This recording features a single extended composition, combining field recording with delicate, structured improvisation—with plenty of space given to the listener to form a complex relationship with their own hearing and percpetion.

RECORDING

5.26.2025

Vol. 2, No. 2

“An Interview with Noah Ophoven-Baldwin”
Noah Ophoven-Baldwin & Jack Langdon

Jack interviews the composer and cornetist Noah Ophoven-Baldwin, who leads the Minneapolis-based ensemble Realtree. Noah talks about his musical roots in the Twin Cities, his new recording “to see a landscape as it is when I am not there,” and shares his thoughts on the relationship between nature, recording, and the experience of musical sound.

INTERVIEW

5.25.2025

Vol. 2, No. 1

“An Interview with Michael Foster”
Michael Foster & Jack Langdon

Jack interviews Michael Foster, whose work as a saxophonist and curator invites reflection on the role and effects that sexuality and desire have on the work and workplace environment of free jazz and improvised music. The two talk about community, histories of queer jazz, the economy of improvised music, identity politics, and the relationship responsibilities that improvisers have.

INTERVIEW

5.22.2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Vol. 1, No. 4

“A Short Moral Story and its Reflection in Light of the Endownment for the Arts”
Jack Langdon

Jack shares a hypothetical story about two artists applying for an opportunity in a non-profit arts organization amidst the loss of federal grant funding and discusses some of the larger impacts that it might have on the social economy of the professional art world. This is a prelude to a new essay series titled “Experiences of Class in Experimental & Improvised Musics” to begin in summer 2025.

ESSAY

5.18.2025

Vol. 1, No. 3

“An Interview with Taylor Ho Bynum”
Taylor Ho Bynum & Jack Langdon

Jack interviews Taylor Ho Bynum, an accomplished cornetist, composer, educator and writer who has been living in rural Vermont since 2020. The two discuss the relationships between music, nature, professional life, and community.

INTERVIEW