On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer, performer, vocalist, and producer Anuj Bhutani.

Described by PATRON Magazine as “a force multiplier with more talents than time,” Anuj creates music that moves between visceral grooves, meditative textures, narrative depth, and a fluid mix of acoustic and electronic sound. A first-generation Indian American, his work often inhabits liminal spaces—drawing from classical, emo/screamo, ambient, singer-songwriter, and electronic traditions—and engages deeply with theater, dance, and film.

His music has been performed by Beth Morrison Projects, MATA, the American Composers Orchestra, The Crossing, and artists across a broad spectrum of new music. He has received awards from Chamber Music America, ASCAP, Verdigris, Nief-Norf, and organizations nationwide, with recent residencies at Loghaven, Avaloch, Banff, Atlantic Center for the Arts, VCCA, and others.

In this conversation, Anuj traces a nonlinear path into music—moving from metal bands and DIY songwriting to psychology studies, then into community college and formal composition training. He and Tyler talk about how personal history, cultural identity, and in-between spaces have shaped his voice; how genre-fluid listening opened new artistic possibilities; and how curiosity, intuition, and narrative emerge as guiding forces in his process. They also discuss the evolving performance practice behind his work, what it means to hold multiple musical worlds at once, and how storytelling—especially in his project Manu—is opening the door to new creative directions.

Anuj is online at https://www.anujbhutani.com/

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com

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music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

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On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer, violist, and educator Kurt Rohde (they/he).

Kurt lives and works in San Francisco on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land. Their practice is animated by the question of how “failure” and “catastrophe” can be folded into the pursuit of beauty. They serve as Artistic Advisor with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Artistic Director of the Composers Conference, and teach composition at UC Davis. Honors include the Rome Prize, Berlin Prize, fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute and Guggenheim Foundation, and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Barlow, Fromm, Hanson, Koussevitzky, New Music USA, Chamber Music America, and Creative Capital. Kurt also leads initiatives that open doors for composers at different stages of life and access — from Pathways and the Left Coast Commission Fund to The Farewell Tour Project, commissioning new works for viola.

In this conversation, Kurt traces an artistic life that began with home-grown notation experiments on the viola and widened through formative mentorships, a reset in contemporary performance at Stony Brook, and a return to composing in San Francisco. They and Tyler talk about collaboration as a lifeline, rebuilding institutions with more transparent and humane processes, and what it takes to make work that feels honest in public. Kurt reflects on how visual art and graphic notation have shaped their scores over time in surprising ways; how teaching, listening, and community inform their values; and why sincerity — even when it risks failure — remains the core of their practice.

Kurt is online at https://www.kurtrohde.com/

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:

looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions

Follow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissions

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer–pianist–choreographer Sugar Vendil, an interdisciplinary artist based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn).

Beginning as a classical pianist, Sugar spent nearly a decade honing her voice; today her kinesthetic, improvisatory practice integrates sound, movement, and theater. She writes and performs solo works for piano and electronics and co-leads Vanity Project with Trevor Gureckis. A proud second-generation Filipinx American, she’s developing Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia (supported by NPN Creation Fund and MAPFund; co-commissioned by Living Arts Tulsa, High Concept Labs, and National Sawdust, premiering 2026 with her ensemble sugar vendil/isogram). Her commissions include work for Jennifer Koh’s Alone Together, The Nouveau Classical Project, ETHEL’s Homebaked, and ACF | Create; her album May We Know Our Own Strength is out on Gold Bolus.

In this conversation, Sugar and Tyler trace how movement, breath, and physical instinct shape her compositions; the shift from championing new music to composing her own; and how identity and agency inform an interdisciplinary practice across acoustic and electronic work. They dig into the seeds of Antonym, the body-forward “new virtuosity” she’s cultivating at the piano, collaborative processes that keep the work alive, and why she prefers the deeper connection of a newsletter over social platforms.

Sugar and her work can be found online at https://sugarvendil.com/, and you can subscribe to Sugar's newsletter at https://sugarvendil.com/eletter

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work: https://looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions

Follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/loose.leaf.transmissions

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.