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Ear Expansion PodcastAuthor: LaMont Hamilton
Ear Expansion Podcast is a multi-part series of recorded, long form conversations between host LaMont Hamilton and various artists of color working in all aspects of sound. This podcast aims to highlight artists who are invested in the idea of making art that extends the listening experience. Traditionally this has been described as sound art or experimental work. Ear Expansion Podcast; however, hopes to advocate for a new descriptive language- aural art. Aural Art is a move away from less defined terms such as ambient or experimental in order to specify art made for the hearing body- both the act of listening and its somatic extension. Language: en Genres: Arts, Music, Music Commentary, Performing Arts Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Ear Expansion with JoVia Armstrong
Episode 69
Monday, 29 June, 2026
In this episode of Ear Expansion, LaMont Hamilton converses with percussionist-composer and educator JoVia Armstrong. In this conversation, they speak about wide-ranging topics from her early sonic formation and major projects to her later immersion in global rhythms. She discusses the ensemble Musique Noire, her first solo album Fuzzy Blue Robe Chronicles, and her performance ethos of receptivity— which led to Eunoia Society and music aimed at deep audience connection. Armstrong recounts encountering the cajón through the work of Susana Baca, learning it on a South American tour, and developing her hybrid cajón kit. Also in this conversation, JoVia explains her use of drones, repetition, deep bass, time-based effects, and hybrid scoring as a way to elicit the therapeutic aspect of sound. Later, they discuss her PhD concept “Black Space,” and its central thesis: composing meditative music through a Black lens to combat unconscious bias (as reflected in her albums The Antidote Suite and Inception).
