The Poison Pie Publishing House presents:

February 1, 2026
Last and least among the party was an elderly man. Bundled in a blanket, he sat in a chair and did not move from it. Mostly bald of pate, several unruly, white wisps jutted out at odd angles. He said little that first morning. Within a wrinkled face, his eyes darted from speaker to speaker, the only indication that he was alert. After breakfast, Papa Krokodeilos carried him like a child back into a tent. Mama Chloë affectionately called him Grandpa Dumpling. Andromache surmised his nickname bluntly reflected the infirmity of old age.

written while listening to:  Giacomo Papetti, Emanuele Maniscalco & Gabriele Rubino - Small Choices (Aut Records, AUT006, 2013, Italy, cd, discogs.com)

February 2, 2026
After these introductions, Mama Chloë asked, "And what do we call you?" Andromache hesitated to reply. She had been consigned to a life sentence in the prison of King Minos. It seemed entirely plausible that should her escape become known, he might well seek to return her to the labyrinth. Because of this fear, she balked at providing her real name. Not only her anxiety but her status as fugitive could be seen by all in her expression and reluctance to reply. Mama Chloë smiled sympathetically and let the matter drop.

written while listening to:  Guillaume Gargaud - Here (Kvist Records, KVIST 005, 2009, United States, cd, discogs.com)

February 3, 2026
They broke camp. Tents were rolled up and loaded on a two-wheeled cart, to which Hektor hitched the donkeys. The departure of the group from the woods startled Andromache. Of course, they did not live permanently in the forest but she had only just arrived. She felt as if her refuge was lost so soon after she had found it. The bout of panic subsided when Mama Chloë paused her preparations to give Andromache a quick squeeze and to reassure her, "Don't worry, darling. You're coming with us until we get you sorted out."

written while listening to:  Das B - Love (Thanatosis Produktion/Corbett vs. Dempsey, THT40/CvsDLP12, 2025, Sweden/United States, lp, discogs.com)

February 4, 2026
Only Grandpa Dumpling rode in the cart. Everyone else hiked in front of the donkeys. Curiously, the old man withdrew a pair of wooden clappers with which he tapped the beat of their walking pace. Hektor's bad leg would have slowed their progress but he expended considerable energy to keep up with them. No one said anything of his obvious exertion. Andromache did not know yet that any attempt to give the man special consideration would be met with a sharp rebuke. Like a duckling trailing her mother, she kept close to Mama Chloë.

written while listening to:  Derek Bailey & Anthony Braxton - Moment Précieux (Les Disques Victo, VICTOcd02, 1993 (orig. 1987), Canada, cd, discogs.com)

February 5, 2026
Not ten minutes passed before Triballos removed the aulos from his pack and added a fluid accompaniment to Grandpa Dumpling's rhythm. To Andromache's surprise, he was soon joined by Hektor on a pan flute. Impressively, the man modulated his breathing as he blew over the pipes to hide the labor of his walking. Looking over her shoulder, Andromache said, "You play too." Megaera released a low chuckle and explained, "We all play." In this way, Andromache understood that she had fallen in with a troupe of traveling musicians.

written while listening to:  Keiji Haino & Shuta Hasunuma - U       TA (windandwindows/Universal Music, W&WC-0003/POCS-23063, 2025, Japan, cd, discogs.com)

February 6, 2026
One thought led to another and in a moment's time Andromache shrieked, "Oh, no!" Her cry caught everyone by surprise and was deemed by some an inauspicious omen of an unnecessarily dramatic nature. "What's the matter, dear?" Mama Chloë asked. "I forgot my flute!" It was her sole memento of a year in the maze and its absence struck her keenly. "Don't fret, child. You left it in the tent and I put it with my things." The group did not stop walking. Mama Chloë retrieved the old flute from a bag on the cart as it rolled along.

written while listening to:   Joëlle Léandre - Lifetime Rebel, disc 2 (RogueArt, ROG-0137, 2024, France, cdx4, discogs.com)

February 7, 2026
After making a scene, there was a clear expectation that Andromache would join Hektor, Triballos and Grandpa Dumpling in their walking music. She felt a little self-conscious as she had never performed in public. In Athens her only audience had been her family, while in the labyrinth, none but the Minotaur had listened to her flute and that beast had remained always unseen behind the next dark corner. Still, she was relieved to have the instrument in hand and decided that the appropriate gesture of gratitude was to play for her companions.

written while listening to:   Ingebrigt Häker Flaten & Paal Nilssen-Love - Guts & Skins (Sonic Transmissions Records/PNL, STRCD13/PNL058, 2023, Norway, cd, discogs.com)

February 8, 2026
She began by listening. The rhythm of Grandpa Dumpling was influenced by the turning of the imperfectly round wheels and the gait of the donkeys over ruts in the road. The sounds from the pan flute carried the pleasing texture of the hollow pipes. The drone of aulos rose and fell in a gradual echo with alternating clacks of the clapper. Andromache imagined that she was again pacing through the narrow, stone corridors of the maze. Instantly, she was transported to that memory. She played her own walking music as she had done every day for a year.

written while listening to:   Transmap+ - Grounded Abstraction (FMR Records, FMRCD647-0822, 2022, United Kingdom, cd, discogs.com)

February 9, 2026
The synchronization of the quartet was empathetic and intuitive. Papa Krokodeilos and friends marveled at the newcomer's ability to so readily contribute, as if she had long rehearsed with the group. It was true that her crude instrument was inferior in its making to the others, but the simplicity of the flute was manifested in its music, bearing an authenticity that could not be imitated. There was no mistaking their playing for a march, though they stepped to it, for all the bombast and implicit hierarchy of military music was absent.

written while listening to:   Mike Reed's Loose Assembly featuring Roscoe Mitchell - Empathetic Parts (482 Music, 482-1074, 2010, United States, cd, discogs.com)

February 10, 2026
Threads of traditional songs were woven into the music of Triballos and Hektor but served only as a launching point into extravagantly liberal embellishments, which extended indefinitely as they ate up the miles. At least half an hour passed before the giantess began to sing. Her sonorous voice made first a deep hum before telling a musical tale. Andromache listened attentively as Megaera related an upbringing among giants in the snow-covered peaks of a wilderness not to be found on Crete. Her people, she recounted, had been ruled by might alone.

written while listening to:  Alexandra Grimal - La Ronde (4 Bells version), Interspaces & Nekosphere (self-released, no catalog #, 2025, France, digital files, discogs.com, discogs.com & discogs.com)

February 11, 2026
She sang of a battle between twins vying to become the next chieftain. Though each brother loved the other, their fighting grew more fierce and their blood stained the snow. Megaera sang too of a sister who pleaded for them to put their rivalry aside. Bruised and battered the pair paused only long enough to share in a glance the lament of a violence fore-ordained and irresistible. The song ended with the sorrowful flight of the sister from her people. Her tale was, of course, intended to be understood as a fiction, but an entertaining one.

written while listening to:  Agustí Fernández - Aesthetic of Prisms, disc 2 (Fundacja Słuchaj!, FSR30/2024, 2024, Poland, cdx7, discogs.com)

February 12, 2026
Although the day warmed, the musicians ceased playing when their fingers grew stiff with cold. Instruments were put away and hands were stuffed into mittens or wrapped back up in a scarf. Mama Chloë expressed her satisfaction with the music to all but especially to the newcomer, to whom she said, "That was gorgeous, sunshine." Andromache beamed with pleasure. Megaera added, "It may suit you to be serenaded with Mama Chloë's darlings and sunshines all day long, but I'm not going to call you sweetheart. We need a name."

written while listening to:  Jandek - Fort Worth Saturday, disc 1 (Corwood Industries, CORWOOD 0838, 2020, United States, cdx2, discogs.com)

February 13, 2026
Andromache understood that some, if not all, of the names that had been shared with her were not those given to their owners at birth. Rather, they were the stage names of performers. Papa Krokodeilos, who could not hide his reptilian skin, embraced it as his calling card. The same was true of Megaera the giantess or Grandpa Dumpling. However, she was at a momentary loss to imagine her own sobriquet. Exekias said, "If you can't decide, we'll have to choose for you." It was the old man who from the cart barked, "Synderesis!"

written while listening to:  David S. Ware Quartet - Dao (Homestead Records, HMS230-2, 1996, United States, cd, discogs.com)

February 14, 2026
Among the group there was a history to this particular name of which Andromache yet remained ignorant. She saw the initial surprise at the suggestion change to a dawning acceptance on the face of Mama Chloë. Andromache would not have chosen this name for it was not really a name at all but a rather esoteric term used only by philosophers to attribute to the mind an innate ability to distinguish right from wrong. "Synderesis, it is," declared Papa Krokodeilos, closing the matter. "Welcome, Synderesis," said each of the others one at a time.

written while listening to:  Hannah Marshall - Grazing (Relative Pitch Records, RPRSS053, 2026, United States, cd, discogs.com)

February 15, 2026
Ere the early setting of the winter sun, they arrived at the outskirts of a village. It seemed the group was neither entirely unknown nor unexpected. Yet, it was too late for even an impromptu performance to be scheduled. However, Papa Krokodeilos thought an advertisement for a show on the morrow prudent. Andromache observed him remove a lute from the cart. Exekias, Hektor and Triballos accompanied him to a building that served as a local gathering place to announce in song their arrival and perhaps to partake of a drink or two.

written while listening to:  Steve Coleman and Five Elements - Live At The Village Vanguard Volume II, disc 2 (Pi Recordings, PI91, 2021, United States, cdx2, discogs.com)

February 16, 2026
Andromache was left with the two women and Grandpa Dumpling. She helped pitch the four tents and gather kindling for the fire. Megaera arranged the old man comfortably and made sure his blanket was wrapped tightly about him. The chill was not as fierce as the night before, or perhaps it was just the company around the bright flames. "Synder, lovebird," said Mama Chloë, "will you play with us tomorrow?" Despite the natural turn of events, Andromache was taken aback because it struck her as an invitation to join the company.

written while listening to:  Robin Nitram - Sugar Free (Ramble Records, RAM-133CD, 2023, Australia, cd, discogs.com)

February 17, 2026
She had just emerged from the labyrinth. It seemed a most fortuitous stroke of luck to have first encountered the unreserved welcome of Mama Chloë. Andromache had no other plans, of course. Still, she hesitated. She felt that a sympathetic musical vision was not the only criterion essential to belonging in the troupe. This makeshift family was also bound by something more and she was unsure if she was qualified. Instead of answering, she asked to help the two women prepare dinner. Mama Chloë gave her a bucket and sent her to the village well for water.

written while listening to:  Charles Ives - Symphony No. 2 (Deutsche Grammophon, D-105598, 1990, United States, cd, discogs.com)

February 18, 2026
The cart contained a sack of wheat flour, which Mama Chloë kneaded into dough then fried in olive oil in a skillet over the fire. She added a little dried fruit and cheese, serving Grandpa Dumpling first. As Andromache waited her turn, her thoughts circled a nebulous doubt regarding whether she could truly be part of this company. It became increasingly evident to her that among these people words were unneeded as often as not, for Megaera divined her unspoken misgivings. "Are you not misfit enough to join us?"

written while listening to:  John Zorn - The Book of Heads (Tzadik, TZ 7009, 1995, United States, cd, discogs.com)

February 19, 2026
It was true that most of the seven possessed some physical trait that set them apart from others—crocodile skin, gigantism, dwarfism, a malformed leg or the atrophy of muscle by age to the point of immobility. Andromache did not immediately know the precise affliction of Exekias but his unhealthy pallor was evident. As for Mama Chloë, the perfection of her person, as Andromache saw her, appeared to suffer no blemish, physical or otherwise. Whatever hidden malady the woman bore, Andromache did not want to know of it.

written while listening to:  Hank Mobley - No Room For Squares (Blue Note, BST 84149, 1964, United States, lp, discogs.com)