NNN Cook

Close/Far Recordings is thrilled to announce its first vinyl edition.   The album Lead & Coal: A Sounding, is one part of a larger, eponymous sound art and critical spatial practice project by NNN Cook, Nokosee Fields, Gavin Kroeber, Josh Levi and Aaron Owens, exploring mining landscapes in St. Louis’ constitutive hinterlands: the Old Missouri Lead Belt and Southern Illinois Coal Belt.  19th-century St. Louis could arguably be understood as an extractivist war machine: digging up coal from Illinois, melting lead from Missouri, producing armaments for the St. Louis Arsenal, and provisioning the genocidal military forces at Jefferson Barracks. Over the past year, artists NNN Cook, Nokosee Fields, Gavin Kroeber, Josh Levi, and Aaron Owens have been visiting these post-industrial territories and performing “soundings”—sonic experiments conducted on, in, at, with, and for the land. This album collects recordings from this artistic fieldwork. Album editions available at two upcoming performances:  October 23rd in St. Louis, MO at the William A. Kerr Foundation Presented by Tulsa Artist Fellowship in collaboration with Counterpublic November 7th in Tulsa, OK at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship Presented by Tulsa Artist Fellowship NNN Cook — synthesizers, oscillators, ocarina, tapes, voice Nokosee Fields — violin, electronics, bowed towel rack, conch shell, voice Josh Levi — synthesizers, electronics, tapes, voice Rick Wilson - field recordings Gavin Kroeber and Aaron Owens — research, landscape choreography, geomancy Signed and numbered artist’s multiple | Edition of 100    Includes a printed Obi strip and full-color booklet designed by Josh Levi featuring research and fieldwork photos by Aaron Owens and an essay by Gavin Kroeber.    Funding for Lead & Coal: A Sounding was provided by The Luminary’s Futures Fund, a regional regranting initiative made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Tulsa Artist Fellowship, a place-based, durational award dedicated to supporting visionary arts practitioners.   Close/Far Recordings | c/f 042 | MMXXV    $35  US shipping: $6 Intl shipping: $22 #FuturesFund #regionalregrantingprogram

New tape! handsranchbandcamp.com First 25 tapes ship with nature fetishes collected by Rick and Nathan 🍁 🪨 From the minds of sound artist, poet, and designer NNN Cook and veteran sonic agitator turned field recordist Rick Wilson (aka Wiggpaw), H&S Ranch proudly presents ‘Simpatico Springs’—a collection of assembled field recordings, micro-percussion, texture studies and ultimately ‘sound music.’ Grounded in silence and space, yet poised to awaken the human sensorium, ‘Simpatico Springs’ invites listeners to reacquaint with patience and commune with nature through abstracted realities, across an immersive aural palette. Referencing Marcel Duchamp’s concept of ‘infra-thin’ or the intertwined relationship, marked between two objects in passing-the recordings move listeners through a symbiotic sonic assemblage. Invoking painterly qualities, the care and craft of each track provides insight into this concept. Equally informed by the words of poet Matsuo Kinsaku, Cook and Wilson provide solace in the expanse, as sounds ebb and flow in the ripples beneath, between and over the landscape. ‘Sparrows in eaves, mice in ceiling - celestial music’ [Matsuo Kinsaku] Are sounds music? Is this art? Is the art the assemblage or is it the spirit(s) in nature itself. The recordings found on these beautifully shaped documents are equal parts curatorial and curious. A spectrum of sonic detritus, undulating both inward and outward. Meditative in its stream of consciousness, indifferent to wars, natural disasters, and the economy. The preciousness of a minute. Of two. Or three. In isolation with sound, we are alone, and forever beholden to the space between time and infinity. A churn of atoms. A brush against the expanse. —Josh Levi Mastered by Scott Gibbons, seminal and influential composer of Dark Ambient and micromusic. NNN Cook - percussion, objects, textures, frame drum, piano, harmonium, electric organ, synthesizer, ocarina, tapes, mixing Wiggpaw - field recordings, percussion, objects, textures All recordings feature natural acoustics. No effects were used. #soundart #fieldrecording #tapelabel #cassette #soundmusic #micropercussion #experimentalmusic

Tonight at @cbgbstl !

This Sunday night at @cbgbstl ! The duo of me and Chris Smentkowski @absit_omen returns after many years. We started Behindlings as a Korg Monotron duo—exploring how mighty a tiny analog oscillator circuit can be. For this show we will depart from the Monotrons as I’ll be playing Fender Rhodes electric piano and Chris will be on guitar and electronics. Hope to see you 👀

Tonight on your radio! a slow shift into show 8 Sunday, May 10th Playlist NNN Cook - Endonym/Exonym Water Is The Sun - Ritual Fever Side A murmer - liminal ii Listen at

Tonight! Endeavor is a four-piece combo that offers an eclectic blend of improvisational jazz and electronic soundscapes with a heavy emphasis on experimentation. Formed in 2017 by Adam Donohue, professor of music business and jazz studies at Lindenwood University, Endeavor features a rotating roster of Lindenwood staff, students, and alumni who contribute their own unique instrumental textures to craft conceptual sonic illustrations. Joining Endeavor on the bill will be Damon Smith @newmusicbass on double bass, who will be performing a solo set using avant-garde playing techniques and angular atonality to create an abstract sonic experience. Also joining is interdisciplinary visual/sound artist NNN Cook @nnncook , who will present a dreamlike spatialized aural environment utilizing woodwinds, synthesizers, cassette tapes, and micro-percussion. Join us for an evening of improvisational jazz and electronics that will span the reaches of exploration. Description and booking by @spencer.atwood.music Design/art by @Aidan.Byrnes

An Evening of Experimental Films: Sound On Screen Presented by @newmusiccircle and @hipointetheatre Saturday, May 9th, 2026 | 7pm Doors / 8pm Screening Hi-Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave, 63117) * Please note this will still have regular NMC event prices (sliding scale $10-20) / advanced tickets available through our Eventbrite (online ticket sales end at 3pm day of event and tickets will still be available to purchase at the door). New Music Circle presents an evening of experimental films at the Hi-Pointe Theatre. This selection of films focuses on varied approaches to experimental sound in avant garde film, highlighting techniques ranging from ingenious uses of diegetic audio, experimental music (both soundtrack and live performance), and heavily manipulated found-sound materials. Program: Harmonica (1971) - Larry Gottheim Bridges-Go-Round (1958) - Shirley Clarke Outer Space (1999) - Peter Tscherkassky If You Stand With Your Back to the Slowing of the Speed of Light in Water (1997) - Julie Murray Mutiny (1983) - Abigail Child In Order to Not Be Here (2002) - Deborah Stratman Total runtime: 91 minutes Films provided by Canyon Cinema, Film-Makers’ Cooperative, and Light Cone Curated by Alex Cunningham Graphic by NNN Cook / images via artists

Out Now! unknown territory #5: NNN Cook - Endonym/Exonym 12" x 12" Digital C-Print Limited to 11 Copies with Signed Card by Artist/s Includes Digital DL of track from the Artist/s /album/unknown-territory-5-nnn-cook-endonym-exonym @nnncook

Thanks to Bridge Gamble and Slake for inviting me to open for them at Tschüss on May 19th! They are on a big spring/summer tour from California, so please come out and show your support for live music and touring artists. $10 suggested donation, notaflof Bridge and Slake will be collaborating for this show. Expect a night of folk and experimental music coming together and holding hands 🌞 Flyer by Bridge Gamble/Slake

This Sunday at @dissonantworks ! Doors 7, show 7:30 I (along with Wiggpaw as Simpatico Springs) shared a bill with the Portland based ambient/free-sound artist Ceremonial Abyss at Chill Dawg Cove several years ago when they were on another tour. It was an excellent night. If you didn’t catch them last time don’t sleep this time around! Christos George and I, as Voracious Waves, will be exploring woodwind drones with MANY cassette players. First time duo collab! This will only be the second or third Maxwell Citron performance here. He does amazing work with shakuhachi and loudspeaker feedback-very nuanced and hypnotic. Two fantastic poets, Delia Rainey and Olli Sure, will read passages throughout the night. This is an early show that will start at 7:30. Hope to see you there! Flyer by Ceremonial Abyss

Hellooooo! I’m squinting to see you better 🌞 How are you? Spring has sprung and I have some exciting performances with amazing collaborators and releases upcoming 🌳🌸 April 26 @dissonantworks Ceremonial Abyss (Portland), Voracious Waves (NNN Cook & Christos George), Maxwell Citron, Delia Rainey, Olli Sure May 9 @dissonantworks Endeavor, Damon Smith, NNN Cook May 17 @cbgbstl Slings & Arrows, Behindlings (Chris Smentkowski & NNN Cook), Sounds Like Noise, B’rr May 19 @tschuss_bar Bridge Gamble, Slake, NNN Cook (On tour from California) May 30 @1800_g_cadd Adam King, Austin Zink, Andre Lubart; Mere Harrach & Alex Cunningham, Bad Eater, Simpatico Springs (Wiggpaw & NNN Cook) June 20 @compoundyellow (Chicago) Coppice, Matt Robidoux, NNN Cook Releases out soon: “Tongue Ebbing Into a Tenebrist Dusk” CD on the fantastic Minor Cone In Ore label out of Illinois “Endonym/Exonym” Digital and limited edition art print on the amazing @somnimage label also from Illinois Hope to cross paths with you soon! 👀

I (along with Wiggpaw as Simpatico Springs) shared a bill with the Portland based ambient/free-sound artist Ceremonial Abyss at Chill Dawg Cove several years ago when they were on another tour. It was an excellent night. If you didn’t catch them last time don’t sleep this time around! Christos George and I will be exploring woodwind drones with MANY cassette players. First time duo collab! This will only be the second or third Maxwell Citron performance here. He does amazing work with shakuhachi and loudspeaker feedback—very nuanced and hypnotic. Two fantastic poets, Delia and Olli, will read passages throughout the night. This is an early show that will start at 7:30. Hope to see you there! - Flyer by Christos