Secular Music Group

About

Secular Music Group is the merging of souls who believe in the crackle of tape, the whisper of magnetic hiss, and the alchemy of moments captured live. Formed by Chris Ruggiero alongside Yannis Panos, SMG with contributing band members Greg LaPine and Will Berman (alongside Ted Morcaldi, and Tim Walsh in earlier phases) gathers kindred spirits in music — players, dreamers, engineers — to sketch soundscapes that bridge past and present. They record live to tape: four tracks, 1970s-era machines, improvisation, melody, and gesture all captured in real time over short, intense sessions. No over-editing, no digital polish that smooths out character. Their home is in the warmth of analog equipment, in the ambience of a room filled with air and wood and strings, in the earnest breathing between notes. SMG’s music navigates the lineage of library music legends, free jazz, spiritual jazz, European avant-garde, and American minimalism. They feel like modern-day avant-garde 'I Marc 4': weaving film-score imagination, evocative textures, cinematic pacing, and deep connective tissue to heritage sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s. They release in limited runs — small vinyl pressings that become artifacts and invitations: Volume 1 (released via Love All Day, with EU pressing by 2 Headed Deer) drew a quiet following; Volume 2 (also Love All Day) refines the vision, with lineups shifting, new compositions, and deepened structure. Every record is an act of preservation, discovery, and shared ritual.