“If anybody has someone in their past that you would still like to maintain some sort of relationship with,” Rory Phillips explains, “but you have some traumatic event that you’ve never talked about, I highly recommend getting a couple of microphones and talking about it.” Fresh off the breakup of The Impossibles, Philips was pair with Jamie Woolford – himself having recently left fellow ska-punk band, Animal Chin. Following the release of their Fueled By Ramen debut, 300, the band soldier on – without Phillips. This year, the reunited group released the crowdfunded Thirteen. Woolford focused on post-production, while Phillips devoted himself to Kings of No Hope, a podcast focused on The Stereo’s story to date. It’s an honest – and sometimes difficult -- portrait of breakups, breakdowns and an exploration of a group that never managed to hit the heights of the bands they inspired.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Twelve albums in, Laura Veirs is ready for a fresh start. Emerging from a breakup album dealing with the detachment from her husband and longtime producer, Found Light arrives this month like a jolt of light night. It’s been a strange and fascinating journey to get here. After studying geology and Mandarin, she threw herself into music full-time and never looked back.nAs a songwriter, she’s wildly prolific. For each of the dozen records, a hundred or more songs are written. As processes go, she readily admits it’s not the most efficient – but the results speak for themselves.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For their many downsides, the past few years have offered an opportunity to reflect and reconnect with friends, family, projects. For Wayne Kramer, 2022 represents a full-throated embrace of a specter that’s loomed large for decades. This year, the musician released the first new songs under the MC5 banner in more than half-a-century. It’s a reinvigorated collective that culminates next month’s arrival of Heavy Lifting, the first LP under the moniker since 1971’s High Time. Kramer’s been plenty busy, of course, through solo albums, collaborations and film scores. He’s also become one of pop culture’s most vocal advocates for prison reform and the founder of Jail Guitar Doors, a project that supplies musical equipment for inmates. Ahead of the album’s release, Kramer discuss his musical and personal journey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are birds chirping. Shaun Fleming is making the most out of this beautiful spring day in Los Angeles, taking the call from the front porch. We get into a little lore about some parrots that have colonized Pasadena. Things get personal quickly, as they tend to with these conversations. And while he’s quick to note that his latest record, With People, arrives under the Diane Coffee monitor, it’s still a personal one. The name, after all, has been a fluid one. It’s sometimes a band, sometimes a person. Sometimes him, sometimes not. Male, female. Often in-between. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fresh off the release of a new record and suddenly unable to tour, Joan Osborne got the work. The musician dug through the closets in her Brooklyn home, pulling together live recordings from across her 30-year career. The resulting compilation, Radio Waves, paints the picture of an evolving artist often paying homage to the decades’ most influential artists, from Sky and the Family Stone to Bob Dylan. It’s a nice reminder of precisely how electric and essential live performances are, in an era when everything ground to a complete halt. Back on the road, Osborne took a moment to discuss her work from her early days as a NYU film student with a penchant for nightclub singing to 2020’s Trouble and Strife, a biting repudiation of American political collapse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I’ve always been in more than one band,” Janet Weiss notes. Even during the nearly two-and-a-half decades she spent as one-third of Sleater Kinney, she’s kept busy. Since 1993, she’s been half of Quasi and had overlapping stints with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and Wild Flag – to make no mention of the albums she’s performed for indie rock darlings like The Shins and Bright Eyes. When we sat down to speak, she was prepping for a joint tour as Quasi and the drummer for Jon Spencer’s latest project, the Hitmakers. The shows coincide with the release of Cockroach In A Small Town, the debut LP from Slang, a project that also features Drew Grow, Kathy Foster and Anita Lee Elliot. It’s a lot, all at once, but after rehabbing from a serious car accident, followed by a two-year pandemic fueled hiatus, Weiss is more than ready to get back at it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ambient music helped me survive the darkest moments of the pandemic, and David Toop’s 2001 classic, Ocean of Sound, gave me the context to fully appreciate what I was listening to.He is a rare bird, with dual careers as both an accomplished musician and historian/cultural critic. In a world where artists are so often concerned about overthinking, Toop revels in it.I reached out on hearing that a pair of his 90s works – Pink Spirit and Noir World – had been reissued on vinyl.It was equally an opportunity to discuss silence, a frequent topic of his writings that has become an increasing feature for many who’ve been forced to slow down for once, amid the pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Little Secret isn’t an easy book, but it’s an important one. In her first-ever graphic novel, Emily Carrington delves deep into her history and self-conscious, to explore her childhood abuse and the resulting trauma. It’s story Carrington has waited half her life to tell, searching for the right way – and medium – to tell it. It’s a powerful debut from life-long painter, exploring the ins and outs of a new form of storytelling. In this intimate conversation, she discuss her process and how making art has impacted the way she interacts with the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wild Tales begins at an impasse. At the tail end of the 60s, Graham Nash writes, his time in The Hollies had seemingly run its course. A trip to the U.S. to visit his then-girlfriend, Joni Mitchell, found him harmonizing with a pair of musicians who had recently left their own iconic groups. That particular story has a happy ending, of course. Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes Young) played a central role in defining the following decade. Nash’s first two solo albums, released concurrently with the CSN’s early days, are the subject of his new album, which finds him revisiting the work in a live setting. He’s a loyal person (he’s about to go into the studio to record songs with Hollies’ singer Allan Clarke, as we speak), but not necessarily a nostalgic one. Thankfully, those songs from 50 years ago still pack a proper punch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The transition into the 70s wasn’t an easy one of for The Rascals. But it had been an extraordinaire run before the wheels came off, penning several songs that helped define what could reasonable be called pop music’s greatest decade. Throughout it all, Felix Cavaliere never stopped working. It’s a rich and fascinating career, he eagerly narrates in the recently published, Memoir of a Rascal. He highlights the whirlwind trip up the top of the charts with equal excitement during our conversation. It’s a fascinating conversation, from the guru that changed his life, to the ugly side of the music business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Niineta opens unexpected. A call from inside the penitentiary. It’s a cousin of Joe Rainey’s – but one he considers close enough to call a brother. It’s a striking opening for a striking album that explores the traditional indigenous songs he grew up singing at Pow Wow, set to modern production. The music is both faithful and new. It’s a celebration of the communities carrying on these musical traditions and an opportunity to share that cultural wealth with the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last time we chatted was on stage in October 2019, not long before the world changed. Simon Giertz had recently dealt with some health struggles, chronicling her successful battle with a brain tumor in a very public way. Over the years, her wildly popular YouTube channel has served a number of roles for its creator, as she’s chronicled her builds from the functional (turning her Tesla into a pickup truck) to the absurd (a haircutting drone). As the pandemic has pressed on, it’s found another role, as a place where Giertz can design, iterate and gauge audience interest in potential products for her new online store, Yetch. We caught up early this week for a TechCrunch feature, which you can read here. What follows is the (more or less) complete audio from that conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life off the road is a strange thing after 18 albums and 30 years , but Anton Newcombe is thriving. After decades in San Francisco, he settled in Berlin with a wife, kid and a dog – the whole deal. He calls me from Germany, giving me a makeshift tour of his home, as he holds his phone to his face. We speak mostly of world events. It’s kind of inevitable, these days – the pandemic, politics, the inevitability of encountering history walking down the street in Berlin. Things invariably turn to music, of course. Brian Jonestown Massacre’s 18 albums are about to turn to 19 with next month’s arrival of Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees, following an extended U.S. tour with Mercury Rev. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facing an indeterminate period of isolation, Lyrics Born did what any rational person would: he started a podcast. While he’s quick to note that the last two years offered a period of reflection and a rare moment to catch his breath during an impressive 25-year career in hip-hop, Mobile Homies was, ultimately, less about working than connecting. The show offered an opportunity to connect with fellow artists and friends during an exceedingly trying time. Conversations became collaborations, resulting in a new album of the same name. The LP finds him collaborating with familiar names like Lateef the Truthspeaker, Prince Paul and Dan the Automater, along with an appearance by the late-emcee – and his longtime friend – Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2019, Paul Cauthen gave the world a breakup record. That’s not to say that Room 41 didn’t offer hints of what would come next. “Cocaine Country Dancing” offered the hint a brashness its title suggests. But two years into a global pandemic, the Texas-based singer-songwriter comes out of the gate swinging on Country Coming Down. “Country as Fuck” leads of an LP littered with titles like “Champagne & a Limo.” Sure, there are love songs on here, but Cauthen’s made it clear he’s here to have some fun. Just ahead of the record’s release, we sat down to talk about his religious upbringing, mindfulness and Johnny Cash. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As I type this, Bob Mould has jumped back in with both legs. He’s quick to point out that he managed to get a handful of dates in at the end of last year, but the his solo electric distortion tour spans three months and finds him hopping between the U.S. and U.K. It took the world grinding to a screeching halt to get the musician off the road for a while, though he’s kicked 2022 off with a bang. The year opened with the release of The Ocean, an EP that finds him dipping into his back catalog with a pair of tracks from 2020’s Blue Hearts and a reimagining of a Hüsker Dü classic. Our chat is a quick one, with an artist who once again finds himself getting back into the swing of things. We talk San Francisco, listening and not listening to music and his time as a wrestling writer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

His voice echoes as he speaks. The walls are entirely empty ahead of a big move, but Jonathan Meiburg has carved out enough time to sit and speak. We get into the subject of caracaras fairly quickly. They’re strange little birds in the same family as falcons – though they sport personalities more in line with a crow or a raven. Meiburg was so taken by the creatures he devoted several years to penning a book on the topic. But he’s forever returning to music, be it projects like Loma, Okkervil River or his primary act, Shearwater – the latter of which is set to release its first LP in six years. Due out in June, The Great Awakening might be the band’s most ambitious original work to date. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He quotes his therapist when describing his latest album. It’s a conflict of external vs. internal wanderlust. Ramesh Srivastava spent the last several years exploring the former, but Eternal Spring charts his time with the latter. His second solo record since the dissolution of indie darlings Voxtrot finds the singer getting deeply personal in a way that didn’t come naturally in his earlier career. He’s spent the years working on music, waiting tables and getting to know himself. It makes for a good conversion, and Srivastava is eager to discuss it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The album-making process has always been somewhat contradictory for Beach Fossils. Front man Dustin Payseur has never suffered from lack of inspiration, with hundreds of unreleased songs to his name, but releasing an album has always been about getting things just right. The Brooklyn-based band has released three LPs of original songs in its dozen or so year existence. The strange and seemingly unending nature of the pandemic, meanwhile, presented the opportunity to do something altogether different. Last year, the band released The Other Side of Life. The record finds the group revisiting eight older tracks. It’s a kind of greatest hits, re-envisioned as piano ballads, played by early member, ​​Tommy Gardner. It’s fascinating and enjoyable experiment, as well as an exercise in what it means to strip a song down and build it back in a dramatically different form. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the height of social distancing, David Christian (nee Feck) went solo. After 29 years as the chief wrangler of the ever-morphing indie pop act, the musician went to work on For Those We Met On The Way. It’s been strange couple of years for the singer – as it has for most of us. Christian and family left London for the pastoral French countryside. A mostly quiet life, as he describes it, with the occasional bicycling through the rain. The pandemic has also seen him experimenting with new methods of releasing music, including a prolific Bandcamp output, populated with ideas and songs that didn’t make it onto vinyl.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we’re about to start, Scott runs to the kitchen to check on dinner. He’s making chicken, breaded with Shake ‘N Bake. He’s up a few more times during the conversation, once to proudly present the final product to Zoom call. Scott Thompson and Paul Bellini see each other a lot, these days. They’re prepping for a rare live performance in Philadelphia and spending the rest of their time writing. In fact, it’s a lot like the early days of Mouth Congress, before the band’s carefree approach to queer punk was derailed by the rocket ship that is Kids in the Hall. It’s history repeating itself, really, as the band’s recent resurgence through a self-titled documentary and the compilation album Waiting For Henry arrived before an Amazon KITH revival. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There was no guarantee we’d ever see another Midlake album. The eight year gap since their last album was more than a simple break before records. Tim Smith’s departure in 2012 left the band with a major gap to fill, suddenly staring down life without a princjple songwriter. Eric Pulido stepped into the role, and the band scrapped two years of recordings, in favor of starting from scratch with Antiphon. The band’s fourth full length was well-received, but its future remained uncertain. The intervening years have found its members focusing on side projects and other life pursuits. Plans to reunite were temporarily thwarted – along with everything else – by the pandemic, but this month, the group returns with For the Sake of Bethel Woods. It’s a deeply personal record and the sound of a rediscovering why they started in the first place. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last year saw the release of The Horses and the Hounds. James McMurtry’s 10th album was easily one of the year’s best, showcasing a seasoned songwriter at the top of his game, 35 years after entering the industry. The musician is quick to point out that his songs are essentially all fiction, something that has, perhaps, become something of a sticking point after so often inhabiting his characters in the first-person. The son of an English professor and The Last Picture Show novelist-turned-screenwriter, McMurtry has a keen knack for storytelling that’s made him one of alternative country’s most enduring voice. The musician joins us to discuss performing during a pandemic, penning protest songs and the magic of Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Faced with an indefinite touring hiatus, Josh Caterer improvised. The musician recorded a pair of “live” albums – The Space Sessions and The Hideout Sessions. No audience, no overdubs – just a trio of well-rehearsed musicians putting new spins on old classics. Caterer’s vocal range tends toward crooner as many of the song veer into jazz territory. That’s nothing new, of course. His unique vocal delivery is a major piece of what set Smoking Popes apart from their pop-punk brethren in the 90s, finding fans in everyone from Green Day to Morrissey. Caterer joins us to discuss his journey through the height of the 90s music industry crunch, to connecting with religion and reforming the Smoking Popes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A talented flautist trained as an opera singer, Melanie Charles wanted to make a splash with her Verve Records debut, Y'all Don't (Really) Care About Black Women. She taught herself to sample and tackled a slate of songs by some of jazz’s all-time greatest vocalists, from Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald to Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln. The result is a bold and expansive meditation on music and the many civil rights that permeate to this day, hitting a kind of fever pitch in recent years. Charles joins us to discuss her journey, the role of meditation and building on the work of some of music’s biggest names. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Editor’s note: Apologies for the rough audio quality this time out.Just shy of hallway through Tunnels, two of the books leads engage in a spirited exchange. The Israeli and Palestinian characters are debating who got there first. The moment is central to the plot of Rutu Modan’s latest graphic novel, while reflecting the underlying tensions of an on-going conflict that informs much of the artist’s work. It pokes lighthearted fun at the matter without being heavy handed or dismissive. An exploration of such conflict peppers a story that is, at its heart, an adventure tale. Over the years, Modan’s work has drawn aesthetic comparisons to Herge, and here she full embraces a search for the search for the arc of the covenant in a manner that equally embraces Spielberg. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The past two years have afforded us all plenty of time to reflect – for better and for worse. For all of those who’ve devoted pandemic hours to reaching into past and wondering how we might change the past, given the chance, The Garden presents an ideal metaphor. Over 16 tracks, Basia Bulat revisits her past, breathing new life into old songs with the aid of a band and string arrangements. It’s an opportunity for the singer-songwriter to cover her work as she has countless others, from Daniel Johnston to The Strokes. The singer-songwriter joins us to discuss given birth during a global pandemic, the importance of remaining present and the music of Alice Coltrane. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nostalgia is a strange thing for any artist – particularly so for a group like Pere Ubu. Perpetually striving for change and innovation, the band’s evolution has afforded little time for reflection. Last year, however, saw front man David Thomas remixing the group’s 11th and 12 albums,  Pennsylvania and St. Arkansas. It provided a rare opportunity to revisit and reflect on a pair of 20-year-old albums representing the halfway mark of the band’s career to date. Thomas’ musical career dates back even further, to the legendary – if short-lived -- Rocket from the Tombs. Pere Ubu represents to the next step in that musical evolution, a journey that took him and an ever-changing lineup through 2019’s The Long Goodbye. In spite of health problems, both Thomas and Pere Ubu still a mission to keep bringing music to the world.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two years of pandemic couldn’t keep Melvins down. In 2021 alone, the group released a pair of LPS: Working with God and Five Legged Dog, their 24th and 25th, respectively. The latter found the band revisiting their back catalog with acoustic reimaginings of 36 tracks. Last month, the group released the four-song EP, Lord of the Flies, a preview for yet another full length due out later this year. Frontman Buzz Osborne and drummer/bassist Dale Crover have remained the driving force for the band’s nearly 40-year history. Through the decades and a rotating cast of musicians, Melvins have remained a defiantly pioneering – and weird – force. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When she hops on the call, Naomi Yang is still in the middle of an editing project. It’s one she’s not quite ready to talk about. At it for a little over a decade, filmmaking is a relatively recent passion, but she’s managed to compile an impressive list of projects, including the 2013 short film Fortune and a number of music videos for artists including Marissa Nadler and Waxahatchee. An accomplished photographer, Yang also designs book covers for Exact Change, a publishing house she co-owns with partner, Damon Krukowski. But in amongst her myriad projects, she never strays too far from music. Along with Krukowski and Dean Wareham, Yang cofounded the short-lived, but extremely influential group, Galaxie 500. Since 1991, the pair have performed as Damon & Naomi, releasing their 9th album, A Sky Record, in August of last year.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fresh off a rescheduled tour opening for Drive-By Truckers, I manage to catch Carl Nichols at home. In the not so distant future, he’ll be back on the road, with a headlining stint bookended by tours with Houndmouth and Valerie June. It’s a far cry from the years and months spent at home during quarantine in his newly adopted home of Austin, Texas. Still, he sounds restless. Having graduated from his hometown of Milwaukee and found acclaim with his self-titled debut, Buffalo Nichols, the singer is ready to branch out from the blues genre. It’s a familiar feeling for a musician who never feels comfortable staying in one place. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In July 2013, Lester Chambers was attacked. Performing at a Bay Area blues festival, the singer had just launched into the Impressions’ classic, “People Get Ready,” as a woman charged through the crowd incensed that he had had dedicated the song to Trayvon Martin. It’s something of a dramatic understatement to say Chambers is a survivor. The musician has seen the heights of music stardom, from fronting The Chambers Brothers to guesting on albums by fellow musical legends like Miles Davis. But the years have found the singer battling labels for royalties and even spending a period homeless and uninsured, battling severe medical issues. But while the industry may have abandoned him, Chambers never lost faith in the music. Keeping the family tradition, he’s returned to the stage with his son Dylan, as part of the musical collective, Moonalice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two years, Mark Oliver Everett interjects, isn’t really that long away from the road. In March, the Eels return to the road for the perfectly titled, “Lockdown Hurricane” tour.   Even as the rest of the world shut down, the band was never away for too long, releasing Earth to Dora in 2020, and returning this month with Extreme Witchcraft – their 14th album overall. It’s a hard rocking affair, a reinvigorated return for a band that’s managed a remarkable run over the past 20 years. It’s a musical project that’s held together even in the face of Everett’s own doubts, which not even a proper pandemic could keep away for too long.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2021 saw reissues of some of the most beloved albums in the Lilys’ 30+ year history. After many years out-of-print, A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns, Better Can't Make Your Life Better and The 3-Way were all reissued. The band kicks off 2022 by revisiting those classics on tour. It’s been more than 15 years since the Kurt Heasley-fronted group has released a proper LP, but something is definitely happening in Lilys land. To commemorate going back out on the road, Heasley – the band’s sole consistent member – joined us to discuss the heady days of the 90s music industry and the Lilys’ lifelong aversion to staying in one place. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In February of last year, Oliver Ackermann launched a new label. For some, such a project could easily have been written off as a pandemic project or platform for launching a few pet projects. But from the outside, at least, the Brooklyn-based musician rarely takes half-measures. Dedstrange, “built from the smoldering decay of the music industry,” per its online bio, currently lists a half-dozen bands on its roster. The list, naturally, includes Ackermann’s own A Place to Bury Strangers, which has thus far released an EP, with the full-length, See Through You due out next month. Prior to forming "the loudest band in New York,” Ackermann launched effects pedal company, Death By Audio, which lent its name to a beloved Brooklyn art/workspace and venu, which ultimately shut down in 2014.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There may be no singular figure in rock who has aged more gracefully than Nick Lowe. This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Convincer – perhaps the quintessential example of the singer-songwriter settling into a comfortable new role as a rock elder statesman. But while the artist notes that he’s happily left the Chuck Berry-esque rock and roll stage antics in his past, two decades later, he finds himself reimagining his catalog with luchador mask-wearing instrumental rock band, Los Straightjackets. You can leave the rock and roll behind – but if you’re lucky, the rock and roll never leaves you. Half a century after a brush with fame as the front man of pub rock group, Brinsley Schwarz, Lowe has continued to thrive. From serving as the in-house producer for Stiff records, to breaking through with like "Cruel to Be Kind" and "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass,” to penning classics covered by Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash and Dave Edmunds, he’s endured as one of great songwriters of his – or any – generation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2017, Greta Van Fleet did the seemingly impossible: broke through the pop music world as a new rock band. And while the Michigan-born quartet was chided in some critic circles as a throwback to the genre’s heyday, it’s a no less remarkable feat. That same year, the band’s second EP, From the Fires would go on a Grammy for Best Rock Album. In spite of its rapid climb to the tops of the international charts, the band – comprised of brothers Josh, Jake and Sam Kiszka and drummer, Danny Wagner – have remained restless in their pursuit of new ways to expand their hard rock palate. Singer Josh and bassist Sam sat down to discuss the band’s journey and life during the pandemic.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nine years after her last solo album, Julie Doiron returns with I Thought of You. Written and recorded prior to the pandemic, the album was shelved for a spell, in hopes of finding a more welcoming release window. Ultimately, Doiron and her label thought better – in part, due to the stark realization that this moment isn’t ending any time soon. While touring remains difficult, the record is a welcome breath of air, building on her joyful writing and singing in a way that’s both intimately joyful and broadly welcoming. Thankfully, in the years between releases under her own name, Doiron never truly went away, save for some breaks for family.She’s continued releasing music in a variety of configurations, including a rock record under the name Julie and the Wrong Guys and her second collaboration with Mount Eerie, Lost Wisdom Pt. 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A self-proclaimed theater kid, Tahlena Chikami spent much of the past decade landing roles on film and television, including a number of beloved series like Parks and Recreation and Gilmore Girls. In 2019, however, her IMDB page takes a turn. A year after forming Bite Me Bambi with with ex-pats from a number of Orange County ska titans like Save Ferris and My Superhero, the band had already made the scene. Punchy ska singles backed my memorable music videos gave way to virtual shows during the pandemic and, finally, the band’s debut EP, the fittingly titled, Hurry Up And Wait. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In September, The New York Times published a feature on Kevin Whelan bearing the headline,  “The 18-Year Wait for New Wrens Music Is Over. Sort Of.” The piece was exactly as bittersweet as the title betrayed, documenting the genesis behind Aeon Station, a musical project born out of the ashes of what would have been a final Wrens record – the first since the band’s 2003 masterpiece, The Meadowlands. Eighteen years is, of course, an extraordinaire amount of time to wait for a follow up album – particularly for one that ostensibly never broke up. In intervening years, life happened. For Whelan that meant a family and a job in the pharmaceutical industry that temporarily moved him around the world. But he never abandoned the dream of releasing another album, even if he ultimately had to do it on his own terms, aside from the long, looming shadow of The Meadowlands. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than anything, Ex Libris is a love letter to a medium. Framed as a meta-fiction mystery of sorts, the book is an exercise in flexible styles and genre, as the story leaps from book to book.It’s an ideal outlet for author Matt Madden, who happily serves the role of stylistic chameleon, expanding the short story form of his 2005 collection 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style into a book length narrative. A comics educator and coauthor of the educational Mastering Comics: Drawing Words & Writing Pictures Continued (with Jessica Abel), Madden is drawn to questions of style and form. His latest book is an ode to these ideas – and an exploration of how they can be subverted. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Her music career wasn’t an accident, exactly. But it’s safe to say that Anika didn’t see it coming. A music journalist by trade, the singer assumed she was signing up for a guest vocalist gig on what ultimately became her self-titled debut. Largely comprised of covers, the LP featured a smattering of originals, cowritten with electronic rock band, Beak. After being handpicked by Portishead to perform at All Tomorrow’s Parties in London, Anika went on to form the group Exploded View in Mexico City. This year, she returned for Change – her sophomore solo album and first under her own name in 11 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“If a book is good,” Lou Mathews explains, “it will find an audience.” Finding a publisher, on the other hand, is often a different question altogether. “A writer writes” is perhaps a more appropriate adage for the author and educator who has thus far had two of his seven novels published. Luck, timing and connections are every bit as important in publishing. And thankfully, in the case of Shaky Town, the latter finally paid off. Last year, the book finally saw publication courtesy of newly-minted publisher, Tiger Van Books, which arrives with the following manifesto, “We believe in books. Our business model is failure. We plan to lose money and fold quickly. Join us.” A labor of love founded by Lodge 49 creator – and Mathews’ former student – Jim Gavin, Tiger Van aims to put good things into the world, financial windfall be damned. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s no lingering doubt after an hour-long conversation that Bonnie Bloomgarden believes in the power of music. And not in any abstract sense, mind. This stuff is transformative manifestations, filtered through almost ritualistic commutations of the spirit. But for many, such notions are understandably secondary to the power of rock. And by that measure, Under the Spell of Joy is a routing success. The Death Valley Girls’ latest delivers the joy it promises in a wonderfully fresh garage rock package couched with gang chants that provide the spell aspect of the equation. It’s feel good music without the self-help trappings at a time when we can use it the most.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2022, Hanson will celebrate 30 years as a band. It’s a remarkable accomplishment for any group, let alone one whose members ranged from age six to 11. The group was propelled to success in its earliest days on the strength of its 1997’s Middle of Nowhere, a multi-platinum debut. Hanson’s seventh’s studio release, Against the World, arrived earlier this month. At first glance, the title is downright confrontational, though Taylor Hanson explains that the name is intended to reflect a kind of underdog status adopted by the group. It’s a strange notion, for band that has seen such high highs, but intervening years have forced the group to forge its own path in the often difficult to navigate world of the music business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2021, Merry Clayton returned with a vengeance. In her solo first album in 27, years the singer once again poured her heart out on record. Beautiful Scars bears the mark of a musician who has suffered tremendous loss, but remains defiantly joyous and hopeful. Her voice remains confident and unmistakable, singing a title track that references, in part, a 2014 car crash that result in the loss of both of her legs. It also marks a post-humous return for her husband, Curtis Amy, whose sax part from her original recording of “A Song For You” 50 years prior reemerges on a rerecording. As she notes, our interview was recorded on what would have been his 92nd birthday. It was Amy who answered a phone call in the middle of the night that found Clayton recording what may be her best-known performance, dueting alongside Mick Jagger on the Stones classic, “Gimme Shelter.” But that’s just one moment in a 58-year singing career that’s among popular music’s most legendary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Released over the summer, Alone in Space offers brilliant glimpses in the process and work of a powerhouse cartoonist. The collection offers works from her teenage years and the classroom prompts that catalyzed her early works, include a Windsor McCay homage that would prove foundational her developing style. Walden’s books range from 2017’s deeply personal Spinning to 2018’s sci-fi meditation, On a Sunbeam. Most recently, she’s been working on Clementine, a coming-of-age zombie book set in Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead universe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I spent a lot of hours and a lot of words exploring the world of vertical farming over at TechCrunch. The research, which resulted in this feature, was bookended by conversations with Dickson Despommier, a former Columbia University professor now regarded as the godfather of vertical farming. This final discussion with Despommier is a kind of coda to the piece, exploring his seminal book, The Vertical Farm 10 years after its initial publication. You can read a writeup of the full interview over on TechCrunch.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.