Lost Children label tape launch with Esther B., Soledad Rosas, Stefan Christoff, and Joseph Sannicandro
CRACKS - CRACKS is not just a benefit compilation, it is a sonic intervention. Across 14 tracks, experimental artists from Montreal, Minneapolis, and around the world confront the violent reality of borders, surveillance, and deportation. The works range from emotionally charged musical meditations to raw lo-fi recordings made with migrants in Montreal, and even to radio waves literally broadcast and captured along the US-Mexico border fence. This is music made in the shadow of ICE’s escalating attacks on immigrant communities—most recently in the Twin Cities. But rather than simply document crises, the artists on this cassette interrogate the very concept of the border as a colonial wound. Some explore sonic textures of a world cut up by border lines; others probe the sonic frontier itself—frequencies lost, echoes from the other side, moral injury captured on tape. Released by the Lost Children label, CRACKS benefits two frontline organizations: the Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota (CAIR-MN) and Lumpen Radio (an initiative of the Public Media Institute in Chicago). The compilation launches as part of the Suoni per il Popolo festival 2026, with all proceeds split equally between fighting ICE in the streets and building long-term community power on the airwaves.
Listening Session, Live Concerts, Figure Skating - At a moment when vinyl is often fetishized for its warmth or collectability, Esther Bourdages turns the turntable into a destructive instrument. For over two decades, she has cultivated an approach to live improvisation that is raw, expressive, and built on a tactile intimacy with the turntable. Under the name Esther B., she plays toy turntables, (mis)handles vinyl records, and records soundscapes, creating raw, non-linear music punctuated by altered sonic quotations and abstract textures produced by records that have undergone specific alterations—grinding, cutting, and sanding. Her practice resists structure and formalism, with a freedom to destroy that is less about catharsis than about decades of ongoing exploration. Listening Session, Live Concerts, Figure Skating brings together three distinct performances recorded between 2019 and 2024. Side A, “At Spiro in Summer Time,” captures a July 2019 performance at an intimate house show in Montreal. Side B documents a May 2024 live improvisation in a large industrial space at Ateliers Belleville. A digital bonus, “Live in May, molti sport” extends the release further, recorded with two turntables and two microphones at a session at Studio Le Château in May 2023. Together, these live documents offer a comprehensive portrait of her improvisational practice.
Atmospherics - The collaboration between Diana Duta and Stefan Christoff began after a chance encounter in Brussels and a collaborative openness across the Atlantic. An exchange of field recordings started, with a focus on the acoustic qualities of place and the feeling of being fully present in the life moments that are shared on this album. Stefan started mixing some soundscapes to be broadcast through alternative radio stations (AM / FM) but also on online radio platforms. This album is a selection from those broadcasts. “Paysage sonore” was developed through an engagement with sounds from Portugal, that both artists recorded on separate visits to Mediterranean coastal territories. There is a dream-like quality on this part of the album, mixed in a very early morning in Porto with the air and atmosphere of Portugal present. Diana’s recordings were all made at the invitation of Henrique Fernandes (Sonoscopia, Porto) on the 25th of April 2024, which marked the 50 year anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal—a symbol of independence and freedom. “Atmospherics” incorporates street moments, urban ambiance and underwater hydrophone recordings from the marshes in the north of Brussels. As a place, if experienced in an open way, the sounds of this city shed light on complex historical narratives—of migration, political dissent and resistance. Also there are samples of previously unreleased synth work that Stefan developed with his brother, Jordan Christoff, in the context of their Anarchist Mountains duet. Stefan also plays acoustic guitar on this composition.
LOST CHILDREN LABEL: Tape Launch
Lost Children label tape launch with Esther B., Soledad Rosas, Stefan Christoff, and Joseph Sannicandro
CRACKS - CRACKS is not just a benefit compilation, it is a sonic intervention. Across 14 tracks, experimental artists from Montreal, Minneapolis, and around the world confront the violent reality of borders, surveillance, and deportation. The works range from emotionally charged musical meditations to raw lo-fi recordings made with migrants in Montreal, and even to radio waves literally broadcast and captured along the US-Mexico border fence. This is music made in the shadow of ICE’s escalating attacks on immigrant communities—most recently in the Twin Cities. But rather than simply document crises, the artists on this cassette interrogate the very concept of the border as a colonial wound. Some explore sonic textures of a world cut up by border lines; others probe the sonic frontier itself—frequencies lost, echoes from the other side, moral injury captured on tape. Released by the Lost Children label, CRACKS benefits two frontline organizations: the Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota (CAIR-MN) and Lumpen Radio (an initiative of the Public Media Institute in Chicago). The compilation launches as part of the Suoni per il Popolo festival 2026, with all proceeds split equally between fighting ICE in the streets and building long-term community power on the airwaves.
Listening Session, Live Concerts, Figure Skating - At a moment when vinyl is often fetishized for its warmth or collectability, Esther Bourdages turns the turntable into a destructive instrument. For over two decades, she has cultivated an approach to live improvisation that is raw, expressive, and built on a tactile intimacy with the turntable. Under the name Esther B., she plays toy turntables, (mis)handles vinyl records, and records soundscapes, creating raw, non-linear music punctuated by altered sonic quotations and abstract textures produced by records that have undergone specific alterations—grinding, cutting, and sanding. Her practice resists structure and formalism, with a freedom to destroy that is less about catharsis than about decades of ongoing exploration. Listening Session, Live Concerts, Figure Skating brings together three distinct performances recorded between 2019 and 2024. Side A, “At Spiro in Summer Time,” captures a July 2019 performance at an intimate house show in Montreal. Side B documents a May 2024 live improvisation in a large industrial space at Ateliers Belleville. A digital bonus, “Live in May, molti sport” extends the release further, recorded with two turntables and two microphones at a session at Studio Le Château in May 2023. Together, these live documents offer a comprehensive portrait of her improvisational practice.
Atmospherics - The collaboration between Diana Duta and Stefan Christoff began after a chance encounter in Brussels and a collaborative openness across the Atlantic. An exchange of field recordings started, with a focus on the acoustic qualities of place and the feeling of being fully present in the life moments that are shared on this album. Stefan started mixing some soundscapes to be broadcast through alternative radio stations (AM / FM) but also on online radio platforms. This album is a selection from those broadcasts. “Paysage sonore” was developed through an engagement with sounds from Portugal, that both artists recorded on separate visits to Mediterranean coastal territories. There is a dream-like quality on this part of the album, mixed in a very early morning in Porto with the air and atmosphere of Portugal present. Diana’s recordings were all made at the invitation of Henrique Fernandes (Sonoscopia, Porto) on the 25th of April 2024, which marked the 50 year anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal—a symbol of independence and freedom. “Atmospherics” incorporates street moments, urban ambiance and underwater hydrophone recordings from the marshes in the north of Brussels. As a place, if experienced in an open way, the sounds of this city shed light on complex historical narratives—of migration, political dissent and resistance. Also there are samples of previously unreleased synth work that Stefan developed with his brother, Jordan Christoff, in the context of their Anarchist Mountains duet. Stefan also plays acoustic guitar on this composition.