As a lifelong part-time musician, I started this website in 2018 as a hub for information about my latest musical project, A Spot on the Hill, which falls somewhere between ambient, postrock and classical minimalism.
Despite a lifetime spent in music — high school orchestra, a string quartet, a punk band, two indie rock bands, a stint as a music editor at an alt-weekly — I came to realize as I began to make minimalist, meditative instrumental albums that the universe of related genres was much wider and deeper than I had previously realized.
I knew of many of the giants of contemporary instrumental music — Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, Goldmund, the late Jóhann Jóhannsson and predecessors such as Brian Eno, Philip Glass and Stars of the Lid, as well as related postrock icons like Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky — but I was largely unaware of the broader evolving context: the exciting, vibrant ecosystem of instrumental music worldwide.
Learning about this wider world of instrumental music has been a joy and an inspiration. So, as we begin 2020, I’ve decided to expand the scope of this site to include thoughts about music. — Dan Cook