Kreative Kontrol

Nina Nastasia is here to discuss Songs for a World of Trouble , how she wound up living in Seattle and why she prefers coastal states, why her new album is currently only available on Bandcamp and not on streaming services, the strangeness of the current cultural economy, the lovely book of artwork, poems, stories, and lyrics that complements this record, making her first album without Steve Albin...

Bria Salmena is here to discuss Big Dog , ambivalence about moving out of Canada and my perspective on Los Angeles, the cool Toronto high school she attended and her interest in photography and art, the significance of great teachers like Jim Henderson, how co-producer Meg Remy of U.S. Girls helped her enhance her work as a vocalist, what inspired the deeply personal and clever lyrics on this albu...

Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque are here to discuss Bibi Club and their latest album, Feu de garde , a camping trip and returning to Guelph’s Hillside Festival, how six of their fellow 2025 Polaris Music Prize nominees are from Quebec but may not know each other, Montreal missed connections, their bilingual lyrics and upbeat sound, addressing anxiety with music to help themselves and othe...

My son, who is 13, and I have both been rather excited about the new album by Clipse coming out and when it finally did on July 11, Let God Sort ‘Em Out lived up to the hype. We’ve been listening to it and analyzing it so much, we decided to do a pod about it, so, please enjoy listening to a dad and his son talking about a rap record they like and some of the stories behind Let God Sort ‘Em Out ....

Roger Clark Miller is here to discuss Curiosity for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble , life in Vermont, our warm feelings about the Steve Albini memorial we first met at, the tinnitus that initially led Mission of Burma to disband and their current status, studying music as a child, formative influences like Béla Bartók and the Beatles, seeing early shows by the Doors, the Stooges, and MC5, digital d...

Andrew Falkous from mclusky is here to discuss the world is still here and so are we , distinctions between Britons, Canadians, and Americans and how a Vancouver show altered his perception of Canada, Brexit, Donald Trump, Ricky Gervais, Alan Partridge, and Bill Burr, artistic journeys, spite, logic, and how language can be fun and manipulative, why mclusky returned, trying to blow the Jesus Lizar...

Cassia Hardy returns to discuss her new album In Relation , a mustard headache cure, a provocative new voicemail song that accuses her of shoplifting, craftsmanship, tech oligarchy, and repair culture, the ways that this new album is and isn’t accessible to the general public and its complementary book, pondering the Prairies from an Indigenous perspective, saluting Steve Albini and Fiver’s Simone...

Tanya Talaga is here to discuss her award-winning book and its complementary documentary film , The Knowing , Scarborough pride, being discouraged to learn about her Indigenous heritage as a child, her lifelong interest in storytelling, writing for the student newspaper at the University of Toronto, establishing her Makwa Creative production company and the importance of diversification for modern...

Elle Barbara is here to discuss Word On The Street by Elle Barbara’s Black Space, Montreal construction, putting on a performance this past May in which she got married to herself, exploring terms like autogynegamy and sologamy, how this album examines and critiques food, consumerism, and classism, street art and conspiracies regarding capitalism, alienation and Scientology, working with producer...

Michael Cloud Duguay is here to discuss Wobbly Yonder , playing the 2023 Hillside Festival in Guelph with Steven Lambke and Wax Mannequin, working on new music with Mathias Kom in Newfoundland, heading north when it gets cold, a traumatic, life-altering music festival experience, dealing with addiction and anxiety, Peterborough’s vibe and the Sliver Hearts, Quinton Barnes and other exciting artist...

“Bundy” Ken Brown , Glenn Kotche , and Jim O’Rourke discuss Tim Barnes , who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in recent years , Barnes’ work as an utterly original drummer and percussionist (O’Rourke, Silver Jews, Faust, Royal Trux) and cultural curator, the June 27 release of Lost Words and Noumena by Barnes featuring contributions by Chicago Underground Duo, Deerhoof, Gastr del Sol, He...

Meg Remy from U.S. Girls makes her sixth appearance on this show to discuss Scratch It , her twin boys’ interest in sports, the influence that John Carey’s book  Eyewitness To History had on her latest songs, remembering her late friend Riley Gale of the band Power Trip and reflecting upon death, celebrating and working with the great Toronto songwriter Alex Lukashevsky, the xenophobic trap t...

Gaz Liddiard from Tropical Fuck Storm is here to discuss Fairyland Codex , running into kangaroos and routinely having one of the world’s most poisonous snakes show up in your house, the Gutenberg printing press, the internet, and extremist ideologies, Kurt Cobain and cultural conformity vs. galvanization and shared experiences, his musical trajectory from Australia to London, a long tour includin...

Grammy Award-winning producer, engineer, and musician John Congleton is here to discuss his Animal Rites recording studio, the aftermath of the California wildfires and its air quality impact, American empathy and cruelty, why evil always loses, his dad’s inspiring musical pursuits and parental expectations, finishing his friend Steve Albini’s final recording session, starting a new all-star band,...

Steve Sladkowski discusses PUP and Who Will Look After the Dogs? , sports and loud, boastful sportscasting's Canadian connection, Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster , The Beatles’ Get Back , and dysfunctional band communication, working closely with producer John Congleton, Steve’s background in jazz and improvised guitar, PUP’s ambitious, sentimental six-date Mega-City Madness Tour of Toronto, conj...

Asher Case and Isaac Lowenstein from Lifeguard are here to discuss Ripped and Torn , doing a podcast on the very day you graduate from high school in Chicago or while you’re stuck in New York City, side projects and hectic schedules, fine arts and electrical engineering, Electrical Audio , Tortoise, and other inspiring Chicago things, who Asher’s dad is and why he was once a guest on this show, th...

Bells Larsen is here to discuss Blurring Time , performing duets with his old alto voice and his new baritone, cancelling an American tour in the wake of government policies that persecute and harass people with non-conforming gender identities, the widespread attention his statement on the matter received, addressing transphobia in public and his general interest in discourse, dichotomies and mul...

Jake Xerxes Fussell discusses When I’m Called and Arthur Russell’s “ Close My Eyes ,” misperceptions about his relationship to folk music history, his late mentor Art Rosenbaum, why he couldn’t rebel against rebellious parents, Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music , the work of Vic Chesnutt, his own evolution as an interpreter of songs, perspectives on the merits of writing original lyri...

Scott McCaughey discusses Oar On, Penelope! by the Minus 5 , the vast collection of records in his Dungeon of Horror, the recently departed folk artist Michael Hurley, how suffering a stroke in 2017 has impacted him as a musician and songwriter with a penchant for music production perfectionism, songs about the sky, Neko Case’s memoir and Peter Ames Carlin’s recent book about R.E.M. and Scott’s th...

Alan Sparhawk discusses his stunning new album, With Trampled by Turtles , being home between tours, collaborating with Circuit des Yeux, how the internet affects the risks that audiences and musicians take, his daughter Hollis’ band Willem Dafoe Fanclub, mourning his late wife and musical collaborator Mimi Parker and ways friends can help you grieve, Trampled by Turtles and the gift of normalcy,...

During my recent conversation with Andy Shauf about the new Foxwarren album, 2 , he mentioned that one of his primary production influences for this record was Liquid Swords by GZA . And so now, I present the first interview I ever conducted with GZA. This phoner took place on Monday, October 6, 2008, just before midnight, and was focused on his solo album Pro Tools , and we covered other things t...

Chris A. Cummings , Thom Gill , and Joseph Shabason discuss Way Through by Cici Arthur , Toronto life and the city’s best pizza, making music without drums, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Gregg Turkington, and Frank Sinatra’s Watertown , Chris’ child acting gig on SCTV , what Dorothea Paas and Owen Pallett brought to this record, songs about working, playing shows, other future plans, and much more. EVERY...

Andy Shauf returns to discuss Foxwarren ’s excellent album 2 , making his recording studio as efficient as his father’s accounting practice, Foxwarren’s origins, trying to make a live-off-the-floor record together, whether people like Paul McCartney are annoying when trying to keep recording sessions on track, not drinking and feeling healthier, the album Liquid Swords and obtaining a sampler to m...

Teeny Lieberson returns to discuss Lou Tides and Autostatic! , living in America as a Canadian, why she chose a person’s name other than her own for her solo work, making “beautiful and scary” music, how celebrating antiheroes in pop culture is working out for all of us, employing different voices as a singer when dealing with difficult lyrical themes, sobriety, shame, and psychedelia, working wit...

David Longstreth is here to discuss David Longstreth’s Song of the Earth , Performed by Dirty Projectors and s t a r g a z e , life in Los Angeles in a tumultuous ecological era, working with s t a r g a z e and the influence of Gustav Mahler, the revenge of the Earth, orcas, and using gardens as a metaphor, despair and the Beatles, why Phil Elverum from Mount Eerie might be the poet laureate of n...