Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Notes
Archive
About
12 months, 12 tapes, 12 songs (Volume 1)
Full album stream
LATEST
·
41:12
2:38
New Year (Volume 1, Track 12)
A song a month in 2025
Dec 26, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
11
11
3
3:01
Blood (Volume 1, Track 11)
A song a month in 2025
Nov 28, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
11
7
3
How do you Build a Sustainable Creative Practice on Substack?
Wisdom from Matt Evans of the Fog Chaser newsletter
Nov 12, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
and
Fog Chaser
19
18
5
An open letter to all supporters of this newsletter
and especially its paid subscribers.
Nov 10, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
12
9
A new song recorded to 4-track tape every month
Subscribe
Volume 1
View all
41:12
12 months, 12 tapes, 12 songs (Volume 1)
Listen now | Full album stream
Jan 1
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
9
6
4
2:38
New Year (Volume 1, Track 12)
A song a month in 2025
Dec 26, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
11
11
3
3:01
Blood (Volume 1, Track 11)
A song a month in 2025
Nov 28, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
11
7
3
3:23
Soulful Song (Volume 1, Track 10)
A song a month in 2025
Oct 31, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
10
5
3
Music & Memory
Sending out a new song recorded to 4-track tape every month.
Subscribe
Listen
Spotify
Bandcamp
Apple Music
Links
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Youtube
Soulful Song (Volume 1, Track 10)
A song a month in 2025
Oct 31, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
10
5
3
3:23
Where Love Goes
Available everywhere
Oct 24, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
10
5
1
The Love that Moves the Sun and the Other Stars
A new studio recording and a concert to celebrate its existence.
Oct 22, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
6
2
1
5pm (Volume 1, Track 9)
A Song a Month in 2025
Oct 1, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
19
24
3
4:13
Why I've been Recording to Tape
Except it's also the one about internet addiction.
Sep 20, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
20
10
3
Where You Are (Volume 1, Track 8)
A Song a Month in 2025
Aug 27, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
23
16
4
3:41
See all
Interviews with Canadian Singer Songwriters
Subscribe
The New Canadiana
View all
The New Canadiana #6: Princess Towers
Trying to find the place where music belongs
Jun 30, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
5
1
1
The New Canadiana #5: Joel Brandt
Reflections on 15 years of writing, recording, and releasing music
May 24, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
and
Joel Brandt
5
3
3
The New Canadiana #4: Andrea Cormier
Songwriting as an inner work of attention
Apr 23, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
5
4
3
The New Canadiana #3: Darrel Cameron
Inner landscape and the human being behind the song
Mar 23, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
3
2
Essays on the Mysteries of Art-Making
Subscribe
Essays
View all
Why I've been Recording to Tape
Except it's also the one about internet addiction.
Sep 20, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
20
10
3
How I Stopped Trying to Quit Music
"Truth cannot fail to have an individual ring on each of its instruments" —Sertillanges
Aug 17, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
30
20
6
Talking to Music
3 ways to access what is human in the music you love
May 15, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
8
2
How to Write a Song
Just be like compost
Apr 18, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
7
10
1
Silence
Fr. Antonin Sertillanges on the conditions of thinking, writing, and poetry.
Mar 16, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
2
3
1
The Death and Resurrection of the Biopic
Bob Dylan, Robbie Williams, and Divine Inspiration
Feb 8, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
6
13
4
Slowly
A resolution for creative work in 2025
Jan 15, 2025
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
4
4
2
Turning
A poem and some choral music as the days become brighter
Dec 23, 2024
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
2
1
The Mystical Plowboy and his Sketchbook
On the Paintings and Practice of Tom Forrestall, pt. 2
Nov 24, 2024
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
2
2
1
Trusting the Page
Finding a Way Forward in the Writing Life
Nov 16, 2024
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
4
Realism and the True Vision of the World
On the Paintings and Practice of Tom Forrestall
Nov 1, 2024
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
2
Microcosms: The World and the Work of Art
A reflection on our project, "Bound", and its six handmade books of illustrated poetry
Oct 25, 2024
•
Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak
3
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts