Emily A. Sprague : “I want to share music that shows how real life sounds.”

BY JOHN BACCIGALUPPI

Emily A. Sprague may be best known as the primary songwriter and vocalist for the band Florist, who have released five albums since 2016. But she also composes and records ambient-adjacent electronic music, primarily using modular synthesizers, and is about to release her fourth instrumental album, Cloud Time. I'm a big fan of her music, and we had chatted previously about our shared love for surfing, so I wanted to talk more about her process and thoughts on music and recording. Emily is thoughtful, concise, and has a clear philosophy on why she records music, making for an enjoyable conversation.

Goose with D. James Goodwin

BY GEOFF STANFIELD

Connecticut-based Goose is a band with what might seem a meteoric rise into the public consciousness, but they have been building a loyal fan base the same way that artists like the Grateful Dead and Phish had before them, with nearly a decade of endless touring. Their latest release, Everything Must Go, and 2022's Dripfield, were both produced and engineered by D. James Goodwin [Tape Op #138]. I caught up with Goose frontman, Rick Mitarotonda and Goodwin to chat about the recording of Everything Must Go, capturing the energy of a live band experience, experimentation in the studio, and D. James Goodwin's quest to make the greatest jam band studio album of all time. This interview is also available as #107 of the Tape Op Podcast.

h. pruz: Red sky at morning

BY JOHN BACCIGALUPPI

Jeff Zeigler

BY DASH LEWIS

You’re likely already familiar with Jeff Zeigler’s résumé. He’s produced and engineered records by Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs [Tape Op #102], Laraaji [#141], Chris Forsyth, Nothing, Mary Lattimore [#158], and the list goes on. In recent years, he has taken new creative leaps, shifting his primary practice from tracking to mixing, as well as diving headfirst into the infinite universe of modular synthesis. We sat down for a couple of wide-ranging conversations, tracing his origins from teenage skateboarder, to sturdy sound guy, to sought-after studio wizard, from the early days recording on 4-tracks in Boston to his nearly three decades of running Uniform Recording in Philadelphia. I’ve known Jeff for well over a decade now, and it was a delight to learn more about his history and practice.

Jim-E Stack

BY LARRY CRANE

In 2025, Jim-E Stack (born James Harmon Stack) had three big releases out – Bon Iver's SABLE, fABLE, Lorde's Virgin, and Aminé's 13 Months of Sunshine – that he'd worked on as a producer and co-writer. Living in L.A., he's also worked with Charli XCX, Empress Of, Haim, and others. His attention to setting up open creative recording situations and following through to overseeing the mix process yields some amazing results.