Meet Our Makers

In this chat, we get to meet Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards. Garbus started Tune-Yards as a solo project, but quickly transformed into a duo with musical and life partner Nate Brenner, and they have now released their brand new LP, Better Dreaming, on 4AD. In this chat, Merrill and I go deep on the personal, global, emotional, and sociopolitical themes and inspirations behind the new record, as well...

In this episode, we get to meet Uwade. Uwade a Cailfornia-by-way-of-North Carolina singer-songwriter, who has just released her new debut album, Florilegium. You may have - like I did - first encountered her, though, as the first voice on the opening track of the last Fleet Foxes record Shore, called "Wading in the Waist-High Water". In this chat, she and I discuss the writing and process of creat...

In this episode we get to meet Tunde Adebimpe. Tunde is best known as one of the co-founders, singers, and songwriters of the influential indie rock band TV On the Radio. But now he has a debut solo LP called Thee Black Boltz, and this conversation, we talk a lot about how this record came to be, a process that included rescuing some archival recordings and crafting brand new work. We also touch o...

In this episode, we get to meet singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer Valerie June. Here, Valerie and I go deep into her brand new record, Owls, Omens, and Oracles, including the themes, production, and writing of these genre-defying songs. We touch on music history, including Appalachian and Delta folk music, as well as the concept of being positive or optimistic in times like these...

In this episode, we get to meet Daughter of Swords, aka Alex Sauser-Monnig. Alex just released a brand new solo album under their Daughter of Swords moniker, appropriately titled Alex, and in this chat, we discuss the record at length, including its varied themes (of both personal and societal contexts), the creation of the record, and also the huge aesthetic shift from their first DoS record, Daw...

In this chat, we get to meet Baths, aka Will Wiesenfeld. Will just released his latest record - and first in a while - as Baths, called Gut, and in this conversation we dive deep into the new LP. We talk about its musicality, which is much more rock-leaning than his prior Baths work; we talk about the writing process; and we talk about the incredibly raw, honest lyricism, which revolves largely ar...

In this episode, we get to meet singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Basia Bulat. Basia just released a brand new album - the lovely Basia's Palace - in February, and in this conversation, we go deep into it. The process of making it (which included a mostly-remote workflow with producer Tucker Martine), the themes, the desires for this project, and more. We also take a dive into the world of...

CONTENT WARNING: Emotional and narcissistic abuse (specifically via a parent). And now for a second helping of my new subseries. In episode two of WE MEET AGAIN, A MEET OUR MAKERS SUBSERIES, we catch up with Azure Ray's Orenda Fink. Last time we spoke was around the release of her band's last album, Remedy, but this chat was spurred by a very different release: Fink's debut memoir, The Witch's Dau...

And now for something a little different. This is the first episode in what I hope will be an ongoing "subseries" of Meet Our Makers, called We Meet Again. Today, we talk (again) to Half Waif, aka Nandi Rose. In this series, I will be interviewing people a second time, only this time, we can cut through all the noise and background and introductions. Instead, we can get right to it. We (sort of) a...

In this episode, we get to meet Gareth Paisey, the lead singer of indie rockers Los Campesinos! In this chat, Gareth and I discuss the band's newest record All Hell, which came out this past summer on the band's own label. We talk about the interim between it and its predecessor Sick Scenes, the production and background of this new one, as well as his own love-hate relationship with songwriting....

In this episode, we get to meet Hayden Thorpe. Hayden is a singer/songwriter from the UK, who is probably best known for his band Wild Beasts. Although they disbanded a few years ago, Hayden has been working hard within a solo sphere, and has just put out his third record, NESS, which is based upon a book by Robert Macfarlane, which itself is about the very real place of Orford Ness, a defunct mil...

In this episode, we get to meet Henry Hall. Henry is a musician and actor from LA, whose new album, Stop Doing Funny Stuff, is out now. (That didn't stop me from screwing up the title of it TWICE, but, I digress.) In this chat, Henry and I discuss the record and its myriad of influences and styles. We talk inspiration - both lyrically and musically - of folks as eclectic as Patsy Cline, Morrissey,...

In this chat, we get to meet My Brightest Diamond - aka: Shara Nova. I got to speak with Shara surrounding the release of her newest MBD record, called Fight the Real Terror. In this discussion, she and I go deep into this album - its themes, its stark minimalism, and its conception, which was borne largely by the loss of the great Sinead O'Connor. Shara had a deep affinity for Sinead's work both...

In this episode, we get to meet Icelandic singer-songwriter, Emilíana Torrini. Torrini has been releasing music for quite some time, debuting in the 90s, but has just released a totally bewitching new album this past June called Miss Flower. The story of this record is so rich and layered and surprising, it makes sense that she and I mostly use this chat as an excuse to take a deep dive into its w...

In this chat, we get to meet Phosphorescent - aka: singer, songwriter, guitarist Matthew Houck. Matthew's been at the game for a while now, and we caught up to chat about his newest Phosphorescent record, Revelator, which came out back in the spring. Truthfully, this chat was done around then, too, but kept getting pushed and delayed in posting. So here we are! Huzzah! It's a lovely chat, well wor...

In this episode, we meet pop auteur/singer-songwriter Kate Nash. Kate Nash has just released her brand new record - her first in a little bit - on Kill Rock Stars, entitled 9 Sad Symphonies. In this chat, Kate and I discuss her new record at length, especially what went into creating it and some of the underlying themes across its songs, such as mental health and wellness, depression, and love. We...

In this chat, we get to meet Tracyanne Campbell, the frontwoman of celebrated Scottish indie rock icons Camera Obscura. Back with their first album in over a decade, Look To The East, Look To The West, Camera Obscura have a lot to say now that they're back on the scene, and effortlessly prove that their return was worth the wait. In this talk, lead singer & songwriter Tracyanne and I discuss t...

In this chat, we get to meet Canadian singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, folk music icon, Loreena Mckennitt. In this conversation, Loreena and I dsicuss her new live recording The Road Back Home, which is out now on her own Quinlan Road label , and how she distinguishes it as a “field recording” more than a proper live album. We discuss touring during COVID, and the trials and tribulations...

In this chat, we get to meet Molly Drag. Molly Drag is the pseudonym of Montreal singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Michael Charles Hansford. In this talk, we dive deep into his brand new album, Mammoth, out now on I'm Into Life Records. But we also talk about...well, a lot of other things. Truthfully, this is quite a spontaneous and circuitous talk, because Michael and I have been followin...

In this chat, we get to meet Iron & Wine - aka: singer/songwriter/guitarist, and general indie folk icon, Sam Beam. Sam has just recently put out a brand new Iron & Wine record entitled Light Verse, so we do spend a good amount of time discussing this album. We touch on its themes of loss and acceptance, the time it took to make, and the collaborators he had on it - including none other th...

In this chat, we get to meet claire rousay. claire is best known as an ambient composer, crafting soundscapes with keys, found sounds, drone, and other experimental elements. But in this chat, she and I talk quite a bit about her brand new album sentiment, which is out now on Thrill Jockey, which includes much more singer-songwriter style material. Now, it's still a claire rousay record, and we di...

In this chat, we get to meet Julia Holter. Julia is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and composer extraordinaire, who just put out a wondrous new record, Something in the Room She Moves. In this chat, Julia talk a lot about this new album, including the production, the songwriting, the stories, and the risks of these songs. We talk titles, the Beatles, performance, as well as her work...

In this episode, we get to meet El Perro Del Mar, AKA: Swedish singer, songwriter, musician, producer Sarah Assbring. In this chat, Sarah and I talk at length about her newest full-length EPDM record, Big Anonymous, out now on City Slang. It's been a while since the last one, and we had a lot to talk about. We talk about the dark and emotional (and very personal) themes on Big Anonymous, the ways...

In this episode, we get to meet Bonnie "Prince" Billy - aka Will Oldham. Will has had a great year in music, putting out one of his best records yet with Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (by some counts his 21st record!) back in August. In this chat, Will and I discuss that album at length, including some of what went into and inspired it. We talk about his long history of selecting perfect singin...

In this chat, we get to meet singer-songwriter Jess Williamson. Jess put out her most recent album, Time Ain't Accidental, back in June. (It also happens to be her most acclaimed record yet.) And in this chat, we get to be a bit reflective as opposed to anticipatory. We talk about what the songs mean to her now in the wake vs. the lead-up, and how proud she is of this album. We talk about how her...