Left of the Dial

Scarlet Estelle is an artist manager and developer. She’s the membership director of REC Philly , and she’s a member of the Philadelphia Recording Academy. She’s also the creator and host of Andrea's favorite new(ish) podcast, Sugar, We’re Going In, which explores Fall Out Boy’s relationship with hip-hop. She’s here today to talk about five of her favorite hip-hop moments in Fall Out Boy’s career....

Lots of bands we love on tour. Lots of those bands are bringing other bands we love with them. We don't want you to miss out on those bands. Here are some shows we really think you should plan to get there for doors. Gully Boys - “Optimist” On tour with Motion City Soundtrack until 01.15. Philly - January 10th at Brooklyn Bowl Honey Revenge - "Fight or Flight” On tour with Meet Me At the Altar fro...

To close out 2023, Left of the Dial is here with our contractually-obligated-to-release-as-podcasters End of the Year list. Jenn, Andrea, and Kitzy got together to share 12 albums (and one bonus single) they loved this year. There were, of course, many more, but there are only so many hours in the day, ya know?  Crossed Keys - Believes in You Devon Again - Deep (single) Devon Gilfillian - Lov...

A Day Without Love is the solo project of multi-genre musician and artist Brian Walker. He joins us today to talk about his new album, A Stranger That You Met Before , which also happens to have been produced by our own Kitzy, so this episode is full of stories from the studio. Brian also talks to us about community and collaboration, writing multi-faceted music with layers of meaning,  payin...

This week, Andrea and Jenn are joined by a Left of the Dial favorite. If you pay attention to leftofthedial.fm , you’ll be familiar with Soft and Dumb from Jenn’s review of their self-titled album a little over a year ago, as well as their interview for our Home Studio Stories shortly after that. And today, the Illinois-based duo are here to talk about their dreamy new EP Heaven , out November 17t...

Today’s guest is a repeat offender! Our listeners will know Zac Ross from one of the greatest pop-punk bands to come out of South Jersey, Man Overboard . He joined us last July to talk about his project Zachary Ross and the Divine, and he’s joining us today to talk about his brand new hardcore project, Slighted. Their album This Means War came out Friday September 29th. In addition, Zachary Ross a...

Superdestroyer is the solo project of the anonymous Ohio-based musician who is also the co-founder of Lonely Ghost Records. Superdestoryer’s most recent album, SoakedInSynth. Zip was released in June. He joined Andrea and Jenn this week to talk about SoakedInSynth. Zip, making music that sounds like being stuck in your basement, making music that sounds like being outside, writing about your demon...

This week on Left of the Dial, Andrea is joined by Gabby and Josh, from South Jersey’s own Afloat. Gabby joined us way back in February to talk about booking bands as Head Above Water collective. But if you need another reminder, Afloat is, according to NJ.com’s Bobby Olivier, “ The best thing to hit Cherry Hill since Bahama Breeze opened at the mall .” That’s high praise, if you ask us. Today, Af...

This week's guest is one of our favorites over here at Left of the Dial. M.A.G.S. is the solo project of Buffalo-born, LA-based artist Elliott Douglas, and listeners of our podcast should be plenty familiar with M.A.G.S. We’ve been singing his praises for as long as Andrea has been hosting Left of the Dial, and definitely since 2021’s Say Things That Matter , an album that we absolutely love. M.A....

This week, Andrea sits down with Chris Payne to talk about his new book Where Are Your Boys Tonight? The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 . He’s got a list of credits a mile long, covering music for publications like Alternative Press , Vulture , and Billboard where he spent seven years as a staff writer and podcast host covering alternative and independent music. Andrea and Ch...

Seems like the year just started, but suddenly we're halfway through Spring? Instead of talking with a guest this week, Kitzy and Andrea wanted to share some of the music they've been listening to lately. For Andrea, that means a carefully selected handful of songs. For Kitzy, that means playing spin the wheel with their New Music playlist. There's lots of great stuff from the past couple of month...

Kitzy and Andrea are in the studio together without a guest for the first time in a long time, so they're covering a new album that they're both big fans of. Left of the Dial favorite and Philly's own Dave Hause released Drive It Like It's Stolen today, and your hosts are breaking down the gorgeous and introspective album, track by track. You can pick it up now so you'll be ready to sing along whe...

Listeners will be familiar with this week's Left of the Dial guests because they’re the team behind Sweet Juice Fest , a queer feminist musical festival that centers local diverse artists and creators from the Philadelphia region. Last year, the sold-out festival was held at Rigby Mansion in Germantown and featured some of our favorites here at Left of the Dial including Sug Daniels, Popcorn Daddy...

Christian Lesperance is the mastermind behind Jersey Interchange, a collaboration series that reimagines the songs of the New Jersey punk, hardcore, emo, and ska scenes of the late 90s and early 2000s. Christian joins Andrea on the podcast today because Jersey Interchange is releasing its debut full-length album C1, out May 5th on Sinking Ship Records. C1 features covers of artists who made their...

Lauren Denitzio of Worriers is back on Left of the Dial, and we're so excited to talk with them about their incredible new album, Warm Blanket , which is out April 7th–that’s today if you're listening when this episode drops–on Ernest Jenning Record Co. It’s Worriers' fourth full-length album, but it’s their first release as a solo act and really demonstrates the breadth and depth of Lauren's tale...

Andrea recently launched a new podcast called The Watchers where she and her cohost Jodie Mim watch Jersey-focused movies and TV. They're kicking off their first season with the Showtime series Yellowjackets . If you haven’t watched Yellowjackets, it’s about what happened to a (fictional) New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team who spent 19 months in the Canadian wilderness when their plane cras...

We continue our WXPN love fest this week with another one of the best in Philly radio! Kristen Kurtis is one of our favorite people in the Philly music scene. She’s worked in radio in places like Spokane Washington and Austin Texas, but here in Philly, she hosts XPN's Morning Show and serves as the station's Assistant Music Director. She's also just a genuinely fun and cool person to talk to. She...

Today's guest has been a long time coming in Left o' Land, so we've got a super-sized episode for you! John Vettese is the host of the radio shows What’s the Frequency and WXPN Local , both of which are on the greatest public radio station of all time, WXPN. He’s also behind XPN’s Key Studio Sessions , which has featured many incredible Philly artists, including lots of members of the extended lef...

Boon's most recent album, Bad Machine, is a wonderfully eclectic piece of art. Their frontperson, Brendan Principato, joined our Editor-in-Chief, Jenn Coulter (who flew this episode solo like an absolute pro) to talk tracking vocals in a cabin, 4am recording sessions, ambient influences, and so much more. Brendan brought some songs from Bad Machine and a few more songs from other folks that you sh...

We are so excited to share this episode with one of our favorites over here at Left o'. John-Allison Weiss has been sharing their music with the world since 2007, releasing a handful of albums full of pop gems as catchy and radio-ready as they are earnest and introspective–a balance not everyone can get away with. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been lucky enough to work with John-Allison a f...

Nic Brown is a graduate of Columbia University and the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop. He’s a professor of creative writing and the author of the novels In Every Way , Doubles , and Floodmarkers . He’s also a former (question mark) drummer whose forthcoming memoir Bang Bang Crash , out February 21st via Counterpoint, details his journey from high school student playing in the most popular band...

Gabby Relos is the self-described "head honcho" of New Jersey's Head Above Water Collective. She books and hosts some of the coolest DIY shows in South Jersey. Gabby also plays in a bunch of great bands, including Afloat, which Bobby Olivier at NJ.com called, " The best thing to hit Cherry Hill since Bahama Breeze opened at the mall. " She joins us this week to talk about some of the bands playing...

Andorra is a tried and true Philly band who’s been around for a decade. They joined us hot off the release of their newest album, Boogie Night Blues , the debut of which they celebrated right here in Philly with a show at Milkboy earlier this month. While Boogie Night Blues isn't a total departure from Andorra's prior albums, fans of the band will definitely notice a little bit of a shift in sound...

This week, we are super excited to have  Screaming Females front-person Marissa Paternoster joining us to talk about Screaming Females' forthcoming album Desire Pathway, the artists playing their annual Garden Party this February, dying in New Jersey, Bart Simpson as a feeling in your heart, and so much more. Screaming Females Garden Party is February 17th and 18th at White Eagle Hall in Jers...

When we started working on our 2022 Year End lists, Andrea quickly realized that she could have done an entire episode based on bands from Jersey who put out music last year. So that's what this is. Here's a non-exhaustive list of some of the great music that came outta the Garden State last year. Jersey seriously showed up in 2022. This episode could have been twice as long. Slime - Pollyanna Ban...