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Black Sound Artists: A Living Index


An attempt at documenting the continuum of Black sonic innovation.

The weekly video series “5 Black Sound Artists You Should Know” accompanies this archive; Every week, highlighting five artists creating an index meant to spark curiosity and expand the listening field. A companion playlist is updated every two weeks (with the note that not all artists work within those infrastructures). For those whose practice lives outside streaming platforms, links to direct pages are provided, thus supporting artists directly is encouraged. This list remains open and on-going. New names will be added as the constellation expands.

SNDMNDBDY Reader Vol. 1: LISTENING, OTHERWISE is currently in development.

Growing alongside the Black Sound Artist Index, the reader will bring together essays, artist journals, process notes, conversations, scores, documentation and research around Black experimental sound practice.

Open call now live for writing + documentation.
Previous BSAI submitters should check their email for details. New contributors can apply through this link here

Volume II


Volume II expands the field through greater genre fluidity, with a stronger emphasis on ambient, jazz fusion, contemporary composition, orchestration and recorded work. Performance and methodology remain central, but the volume leans further into artists whose practices move between installation, ensemble work and musical releases.








Volume I


Volume I opens the door into the Black Sound Artist Index through practice, performance, installation, theory, mythology and experimental method. It moves across electronic, drone, noise, avant-jazz, DJ culture and rhythmic forms, with many artists represented less through conventional releases than through live, spatial or conceptual work.





 

Researcher’s Note:


“This project began as a personal study — a way of tracing my own lineage as a Belizean-American sound artist. What emerged was a much larger constellation: a web of artists who have shaped the language of sound over the last sixty years.

This is built as a research tool, a reference point, and a site of recognition. It honors those who expanded the field long before it had language, and those continuing to stretch it now.

This archive is not definitive. It’s not meant to be exhaustive or academic. It exists as a living system, updated weekly, in conversation with, and not limited to:

  • Ambient
  • Noise
  • Expanded Voice
  • Installation
  • Electroacoustic
  • Ritual
  • Modular
  • Drone

Each entry reflects a constellation of practice.
This work is offered as a resource, a place to begin and an ongoing commitment to documenting Black sonic innovation with care, precision, and context.”

- Philip Patrick Harper Bucknor, aka TRU