Alon Marcus

Electronic music and minimalism — there’s a deep connection and striking similarity between the two. Their aesthetics and values often overlap: immersion in experience, minimal use of narrative moves in harmony and melody, gradual, microscopic, almost imperceptible development.

It’s all about sound — its quality, its placement in space, its lifespan, the subtle transformations it undergoes from birth to death, and its relationship with other sounds.

In 1995, Philip Glass orchestrated a piece by Aphex Twin —…

Rich, vibrant rhythms. A cascade of percussive sounds surrounding you from every direction and across the full frequency spectrum. A chorus sings fragmented lines, and the lead answers back. Bold brass instruments cut through.
It feels like each section of the band carries its own hook — a unique voice within the song.

The tracks resemble one another the way spring resembles itself each year: familiar, yet ever-renewing, blooming, and breathing new life into nature in its own way.

Ismael Rivera — the legendary…

Watching the movie "High-Rise" (2015) made me realize that what sometimes seems like plot holes might actually be the essence of the film, the very point the director wanted to convey. Avoiding judgment and harsh criticism can be a good strategy that allows for deeper understanding and learning.

"High-Rise" is a dystopian phantasmagoria. I recognized influences from "A Clockwork Orange," and like Kubrick, director Ben Wheatley based his film on a book—a piece of alternate reality crafted in the mind of…

I am very excited that there is so much to learn about music. It's a world that always renews itself for me. 

I also have to admit that I am a hardcore geek when it comes to electronic music and dance music. The reason is that these genres are not my natural habitat. I feel much more comfortable and connected when listening to jazz and classical music. So, in the realm of electronic music, I consider myself more of an explorer, approaching it like a scientist and a keen listener rather than someone immersed…

Between the years 2007 and 2010, I studied film and screenwriting at Tel Aviv University. What remains with me from the degree is a profound love for storytelling, movies, and some of the things I've written, translated, and published. Currently, I am deeply involved in creating music for media, film, and video.

I'm always on the lookout for gems, especially short films and instances where music is used brilliantly. This film, even an Oscar winner, is undeniably a touching masterpiece. It revolves around a…

Artificial intelligence becomes an inseparable part of our lives. There are many concerns and fantasies. Personally, I love it very much. It's another game, another tool, another maze to wander through, another world to explore. In this blog, I also write about things I learn and read, trying to connect it to the music I listen to and create. Recently, I started reading the materials of the 'Artificial Intelligence for Education' course at the Khan Academy and encountered the concept of LLM - Large Language…

I'm trying to explore the music of my people, Jewish music. I'm trying to understand if there are rhythms, chord progressions, and scales that characterize this music. However, Jewish music is characterized by something elusive. Sometimes these are songs that belong to a specific region or period, influenced by the local context. Other times, they are songs characterized by narrative lines and specific lyrics. It's a fascinating challenge to delve into and understand the diverse roots and influences of…

Arabic music fascinates me. I started showing interest in it a while ago, but I always postponed the moment when I would delve deeper and explore it. The rhythms, the sounds, the maqams, quarter-tones, the unison playing of the bands—all these musical elements really excite me.

The best way for me to learn is by combining theory and practice. So, every day I add a bit of information to my knowledge, while simultaneously trying to apply something in one of the tracks I'm creating. Today, what caught my…

The world of music is infinite. I always enjoy discovering and exploring new sounds and musical instruments, whether electronic or organic. Today, I came across a unique wind instrument, closely related to the family of the oboe, called the zurna. 

It has a strong and penetrating sound, so the zurna is commonly played outdoors at wedding ceremonies, enlistment to the army, and folk celebrations. The zurna can be tuned according to the scale and tone one wishes to play. The tuning is actually determined by…

It's a unique experience to listen to the track 'Iris' by Miles Davis. This piece, composed by Wayne Shorter is taken from the album titled ‘ESP’. This album by the Second Quintet marks the beginning of their adventurous period, where they favored a more flexible and abstract style that sometimes led me to get completely lost as a teenager or a man in his twenties, listening to this music obsessively and becoming addicted. But 'Iris' is a different piece because it is very melodic, and they still maintain…