Kreative Kontrol

Quentin Branch and Brian Warren from ANGRY BLACKMEN discuss their new album, The Legend of ABM , Santa Fe, Chicago, and leaving a place that makes you unhappy, musical and cinematic inspirations, dissing music journalism and getting nice reviews, racism in America and cyclical progress, exploring noise, punk, and pop in hip-hop, new music, other future plans and much more. Supported by you on&nbsp...

Aparna Nancherla discusses her return to standup and public life after taking time away to write a book of personal essays called Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Imposter Syndrome , when interviewers don’t engage with the things you make, being the child of immigrants and first generation anxiety, keeping up South Asian appearances, familial mental health stigmas and acceptance, an unforgetta...

Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada from Black Pumas discuss their latest album, Chronicles of a Diamond , the band’s history, Steve Martin’s The Jerk , RZA and Wu-Tang Clan, writing songs about relationships and also birds, unintentionally making psychedelic soul, hitting the road, other future plans, and much more. Supported by you on  Patreon ,  Blackbyrd Myoozik ,  Pizza Trokadero ,&...

J. Robbins discusses his excellent new album, Basilisk , life in Baltimore, band resurrections, punk and synthesized music, getting musicians together in a room again, January 6, ahistoricism, and temporality, a Jawbox update, hitting the road with these new songs, other future plans, and much more. Supported by you on Patreon ,  Blackbyrd Myoozik ,  Pizza Trokadero ,  the Bookshelf...

J Mascis discusses his new solo album, What Do We Do Now , recent live Dinosaur Jr. jams with friends like Lee Ranaldo, Kurt Vile, and Kim Deal, what we learned about “Divine Mascis” from the Breeders and J’s recollection, Kurt Cobain inviting him to join Nirvana, expensive cities like Oslo, Norway, working with Ken Mauri and Matthew “Doc" Dunn, loving early work by the band Chicago, Van Morrison...

NYSSA discusses her brilliant new album Shake Me Where I’m Foolish , witchcraft, paganism, and tarot, desire and capitalism, magical thinking and spiritualism, DIY empowerment and expertise, band chemistry and companionship, playing record release show s, other future plans, and much more. Supported by you on  Patreon ,  Blackbyrd Myoozik ,  Pizza Trokadero ,  the Bookshelf ,&n...

Nick Zubeck discusses his lovely new album, Echo Park , Cliff Clavin and watching Cheers and Late Night with David Letterman with his late father, a fascinating family history, once running a yoga studio, meditation and existentialism, remembering lost friends and celebrating their work, record release shows , other future plans, and much more. Supported by you on  Patreon ,  Pizza Troka...

Rachel Brown and Nate Amos of Water From Your Eyes discuss their 2023 album Everyone’s Crushed and its recently released remix record, Crushed By Everyone , playing basketball with kids in Brooklyn, loving but leaving Chicago, bluegrass, the Beatles, and Ween, stand-up comedy and being a lead singer, “punk,” theatricality and trusting your instincts, 2024 tour dates , CanCon, other future plans, a...

Michael Balazo discusses his hilarious new stand-up album, Michael 1, Comedy 0 , the year-in-review and 2023 highlights, co-hosting the Evil Men podcast, travelling back and forth between Toronto and England and performing for different audiences, Burton Cummings and the fake Guess Who, seeing James Cameron’s Titanic , Metallica, and Ramones, future plans, and much more. Supported by you on ...

Robert Smigel discusses co-directing and co-writing the hilarious new film, Leo , why he rarely does podcasts, why kids know comedy better than some adults do, performing The Lost Hans and Franz Movie on Conan O’Brien’s podcast this year, writing songs and not promoting musicals, singing well in character the way Adam Sandler, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and Neil Hamburger do, critical acclaim a...

Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel discuss their work on the essential new book, Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine , its fascinating essays and notable contributors and their access to almost any of Dylan’s manuscripts and lyric notebooks at the Bob Dylan Center that they asked for, clamouring for mythical material by Dylan, Charlie Parker, and Fugazi, why it feels like Dylan is telling us he’s retir...

Jarvis Taveniere from Woods discusses the sound and lyrical themes on their new album, Perennial , our shared love and interactions with the late David Berman, the work that Woods did with Berman in their band, Purple Mountains , a brief Wikipedia-like history of Woods and recalling former members like Kevin Morby, from digital to analog, the Woodsist universe, working on new music, touring, other...

Thank you to anyone who supports Kreative Kontrol on Patreon ! If you or someone you know loves this podcast but isn’t yet a donor, please go to our Patreon page and become a member during our membership drive between December 4 and 14! If you become an annual member at the $10 a month tier, you increase your chances of winning draws for prize packs provided by record labels like Beggars Group Can...

Steve Albini and Fred Armisen discuss Letters to Santa: The Holiday Gala in Chicago , which stars John Mulaney and takes place December 5 in Chicago, and Letters To Santa: The 24 Hour Comedy and Music Marathon in Los Angeles on December 16-17, their long friendship, their respective interactions with Conan O’Brien, Fred’s talents for mimicry, Steve’s penchant for comedic logic, Chicago’s distincti...

Dave Hill discusses his endearingly insightful, heartwarming, and hilarious book, The Awesome Game – One Man’s Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey , the state of hockey and reasons why basketball might be more popular, performing national anthems on electric guitars, a funny story about seeing Fugazi in Cleveland, knowing Dick Cavett, the artful awfulness of sports interviews, whether Michae...

Kliph Nesteroff discusses his intriguing new book, Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars , the life of an author in a time when people seem to be reading less, strange yet predictable historical cycles, media literacy and the lack thereof, some of the new taboos, future plans, and much more. Supported by you on  Patreon ,  Pizza Trokadero ,  the Bookshelf ,  Pla...

Aaron Goldstein discusses his band Espanola and their new album, Espanola, Again , what it was like touring with Willie Nelson in Kathleen Edwards’ band, why and how he became such a sought-after pedal steel player, the blurry line between producing and writing a song, writing about displacement, southern rock from southern Ontario, future plans, and much more. Supported by you on  Patreon ,&...

In their first ever interview, Fez Gielen , Ali Hendra , Loris Kecaj and Lauren Spear from MAYBEL discuss their wonderful new and second album, Gloam , loving Montreal but moving away, working with producer Jonas Bonnetta from Port William Sound /Evening Hymns, folk singer Bob Dylan from Minnesota, how this band first met and began working together, obsessions, classical music, bluegrass, Nirvana,...

Kurt Vile discusses his lovely new EP, Back to Moon Beach , Philly, Boston, and Atom and His Package, pandemic prescience, writing songs that show love for George Jones, Dead Milkmen, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and David Berman, our personal connections to Berman, Silver Jews, and Purple Mountains, interacting with Neil Young, bringing your children to work, our shared love for the late Dallas Good and...

Gregg Turkington discusses his collaboration with Erik Paparozzi on the wonderful new album, Neil Hamburger Presents Seasonal Depression Suite , why a Christmas-themed concept record set in a chain hotel works so well, surveys, reviews, and why customers get so entitled at hotels and motels, Frank Sinatra’s Watertown and David Berman’s songwriting, serious artists who are very funny, the star-stud...

Pete Stahl discusses the celebratory, star-studded new album, DC Special , by Scream , the heartbreaking, recent passing of founding member Kent Stax, Dave Grohl’s pre-Nirvana role in Scream and his engagement with the band since, working at the longstanding location of Inner Ear before the studio was displaced, our shared love of the people in Fugazi, the strange cycle of similar socio-political...

Jon Dore discusses his November 2023 tour of the Canadian Prairies , wanting to move from Alaska to Ottawa, his incredible partner, his recent and great CBC show, Humour Resources , whether audience feedback has ever made him reconsider a joke, what the term “post-pandemic” actually means right now, why Tom Green and vish need to talk, gambling with Norm Macdonald, a new comedy special and a new p...

Nicole Rampersaud and Off World ’s Sandro Perri discuss their respective new albums, Saudade and 3 , how they first met in Toronto and where they each live now, barbecue liberation and Grub-a-Dub, swan songs and other bird activities, the sounds of nature and surprising people with the sounds of their instruments, being a dub bub and the role of a producer in songwriting, temporality and nostalgia...

Roy Wood Jr. discusses headlining a coast-to-coast Just for Laughs tour across Canada in November, the World Series, being on the road and learning a lot about Canada, why he left his correspondent role on The Daily Show and whether he’s still interested in hosting it, the fragile state of late night TV and other ways comedians thrive these days, his work on Better Call Saul , performing at the 20...

Geordie Gordon discusses his excellent, reflective new solo album, Tambourine , writing about his teenage years playing music and contemplating his sexuality, loving sad songs, his role in U.S. Girls and seeing an important show by the Hidden Cameras, growing up in the closet in a university town, pondering his next record, playing shows , other future plans, and much more. Supported by you on&nbs...