From a young age, Sam Shepherd has rejected the idea of neat, tidy musical categories. He studied classical piano growing up, but felt confined by what he calls the "dots on a page." It wasn't until he heard a performer really making a classical piece his own, breaking out of strictly classical feel, that he was hooked. Now, Shepherd writes music under the alias "Floating Points." Influences of classical, jazz, electronica, pop, and world music all blend to create a sound that doesn't fit squarely into any one style. This episode features a piece titled "Peroration Six," which Shepherd describes as careening towards and then falling into a black hole. To find out more about the music of "Floating Points," check out the website floatingpoints.co.uk. Music is Music is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.