(very rare) harkens back to the early days of the internet before streaming services, algorithms and feeds. A time when music discovery was a haphazard, meandering journey through file-sharing services, Tumblr, Blogspots and message boards — a labor of love. From meditative new age to cosmic jazz, enveloping shoegaze to dream-pop, underground hip-hop to psychedelic R&B, hazy house to groovy techno, (very rare) strives to bring you hand-picked selections across genres that expand your musical world.

We’re joined this week by producer, songwriter, composer and label-head Nick Sylvester. I’ve been following Nick’s work for over a decade now and it’s been a major pillar of my personal taste. He’s best know for his work with genre-stretching artists like Yaeji and Channel Tres, both of whom had breakout success with releases on his former label Godmode. Since sunsetting Godmode, Nick continues producing for artists while also delving into composing for film and tv.

His latest venture, smartdumb, is a new label focused on experimental compositions that “start with a question mark and end with an exclamation point.” Last week, he opened a gallery in Glassell Park where he’ll feature a rotation of sound-centric exhibits starting with a physical manifestation of Manifold, the latest release on smartdumb from experimental composer Sarah Belle Reid.

On today’s episode we’ll check in with Nick to learn a bit more about how smartdumb came to be and explore some head-scratching, thought-provoking sounds across genres – ones that might fit nicely in third spaces like the new smartdumb gallery.