Moss Music Rituals (MM:R) was created from a love of music and the ritual of deep listening. For years, before putting a record on the turntable, I would light palo santo or incense to set the mood. It was a way to create space, a way to listen with more intention.

But ... I’ve always disliked synthetic fragrances and the mass production behind many of the cheaper options. It is detrimental to our bodies, harmful to nature, and detrimental to the environment. I wanted something simpler. Something cleaner. Something that felt as thoughtful as the albums I was listening to.

I searched for incense that was transparent in its ingredients and made with care. When I couldn’t find anything I felt good about burning at home, I decided to start my own thing.

After months of research, I found an incense maker who had spent years working with ancient, traditional methods. Through experimentation and collaboration, we created a line of incense made entirely from plants, herbs, and foraged finds. No synthetic oils. No hidden additives. Just whole botanicals.

Each incense stick contains only three components:

• Whole plants like herbs, bark, and wood (for example, sage, rosemary, or palo santo), dried by the sun, and ground to make the stick.

• Makko powder, a natural, sustainable material from the inner bark of the tabu tree, that allows the stick to burn evenly.

• Acacia gum and water, to gently bind the ingredients together.

Moss Music is a collection of projects that celebrate and support the rituals of living with music. We design and make community listening events in Portland, we write a recommendations newsletter on Substack, and we are producing a range of periodicals that deep dive and rabbit hole into the stories and people behind independent record labels.

Moss Music Rituals is for people who care about what they breathe, what they hear, and how they feel. It’s incense for listening. Scent for sound.

Obvious, but worth saying, we are not affilated directly with any of the artists, or record labels. 
These are love letters to our favorite music, and we hope you enjoy their music as much as we do.