Nakedly Examined Music Podcast

To celebrate the end of year #2 of the podcast, I talked to three previous guests about a song they’ve released since the episode. Bradley Skaught from the Bye-Bye Blackbirds (see #32 ) discusses “Duet” (co-written/sung by Lindsay Paige Garfield) from their new album Take Out the Poison . Visit byebyeblackbirds.com to see the video and learn more. Jeff Heiskell, formerly of JudyB...

Anthony was the original guitarist and a key songwriter in Genesis 1967–1970 (establishing their “pastoral” sound), released some prog rock albums in the ’70s, then shifted largely to a mix of acoustic guitar pieces and synth soundscapes, often for soundtracks. We discuss “Nocturne” from Seventh Heaven (2012), co-credited to Andrew Skeet, who added the strings to the...

Richard garnered early fame as drummer for ’60s New Jersey garage band The Doughboys and has put out 11 albums, largely as a one-man band, since 1988. We discuss the title tracks from Incognito (2017) and Cornerstone (1998) and “Agnostic’s Prayer” from Tiers and Other Stories (2011). End song: “And Then” from Incognito . Intro: “Falling Away” from Hey Man! (1990). Lea...

Alejandro started as a punk guitarist for the San Francisco band The Nuns, then moved to Austin in the ’80s to play with the more country-flavored Rank and File, and finally joined with his brother Javier and John Dee Graham to form the True Believers, which was his first songwriting vehicle. Since 1987 when that band broke up, he’s released 14+ solo albums of story-driven, lyrically i...

Annie fronted British symphonic rock band Renaissance for nine albums starting in 1971, but only in the late ’80s became a lyricist (and painter!). She’s now released eight studio albums filled with warmth, and two new Renaissance albums. We discuss “Blessing in Disguise,” the title track from her 1994 solo album with music by Bowie-producer Tony Visconti, “Grandine il Vent...

John gained semi-fame playing guitar with pop-punk Chicago-area legends Screeching Weasel starting in 1986, but became a band-leader/songwriter with eclectic-acoustic Even in Blackouts in 2002, featuring singer Liz Eldredge. He’s also an author, playwright, and juggler. We discuss “Rapture in the Third Person” and “Motives Misunderstood in the Key of C” from EIB&#8217...

Richard F. Walker’s London space-rock band called “Amp” has put out 16 albums since 1992, plus Richard has released five more solo albums (usually as “Amp Studio”). He typically works with vocalist Karine Chariff; since she likes to sing actual songs, Amp’s music is not always a matter of abstract soundscapes. We discuss “Just Get It (Why Don’t You)”...

Frank has led Bay Area punk band The Mr. T Experience since 1985, with a dozen-plus releases, and has also written three successful music-related books for teens since 2006. We discuss “Down With the Universe” from King Dork Approximately, the Album (2016), “Big, Strange, Beautiful Hammer” from Yesterday Rules (2004), and “More Than Toast” from Our Bodies Our Se...

Don has composed and played jazz since the ’50s, was a Frank Zappa sideman through his classic ’60s albums and beyond, and has since released 20+ albums, scored 20 films, and has performed with numerous artists including John Lennon, Lou Rawls, and Nat King Cole. He has also been called “the father of modern synthesis” for his work in electronic music. We discuss “Win...

Kaki is a guitar virtuoso who has recorded eight albums and three EPs of largely instrumental work since 2003. We discuss “Close Your Eyes & You’ll Burst into Flame,” from Everybody Loves You (2003), “Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be a Bad Person?” from Dreaming of Revenge (2008), and “Trying to Speak II” (feat. Ethel), from The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body...

David has recorded seven albums since 2000. Usually one wants to avoid the term “Beatlesque,” but David is a Beatles freak who once recorded his performances all 209 Beatles songs over 209 days . We discuss “Time to Go” from David Brookings and the Average Lookings (2016), “Dead Battery” from Chorus Verses the Bridge (2005), and the title track from Obsessed (20...

Kim is a poet, archivist, and New York City tour guide who seemingly knows every musician in the city. We discuss his first solo album, plum plum , recorded for his 60th birthday by his friend Don Fleming and the “Dream Band” of Joe Bouchard (bass, formerly Blue Öyster Cult), Steve Shelley (drums, Sonic Youth) and previous NEM guest Gary Lucas . We focus on the songs “Circle&#821...

Britain’s Wishbone Ash started in 1969 and has released 25+ albums, with guitarist/singer Andy the sole member left from the original band. We discuss “American Century” from their last studio album, Blue Horizon (2014), “Master of Disguise” as released on Bare Bones (1999) (the original version, which we also play some bits of, was from Just Testing (1980), and &#822...

Californian-turned-British singer-songwriter Anton has released over 25 albums since 1993, generally moving from alterna-guitar-pop to colorful-pychedelic, but remaining tuneful. We start by discussing “High Noon” from Magic Act (2016), featuring XTC’s Colin Moulding on bass and Michael Urbano (Smash Mouth, Cracker, et al) on drums. We then move to “Dust Beneath My Wings&#8...

Scott established himself fronting Seattle’s Young Fresh Fellows starting in 1981, then around 1994 joined R.E.M. as a recording/touring member and started The Minus 5 with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. We discuss The Minus 5’s “In the Ground” from Dungeon Golds (2015), “All the Time” from their Old Liquidator (1995), and “Weymer Never Dies” from their...

Most famous for her ’90s Boston grunge band Come , Thalia has since 2001 put out six albums and some EPs, with a stripped-down yet not acoustic sound that makes good use of her low, smoky voice and tasteful electric guitar, often accompanied by viola and/or piano with prominent drums. We discuss “Northwest Branch” by The Thalia Zedek Band from Eve (2016); the opening music &#8220...

Jason pretends he’s other people as he plays all the instruments to create energetic rock with unexpected turns. He started in the late 80s as a short-stint side-man with California bands The Three O’Clock and Jellyfish but then teamed with soundtrack-guru Jon Brion to form The Grays and since 1996 has released four solo albums and a bunch of other things playing on albums by Beck, Aim...

Chandler started as part of a comedy duo in the ’70s, launched a rock group in the ’80s, and has since released dozens of albums; he currently gigs regularly with three New England bands that he fronts, sprinkled with reunions of past units. We discuss “The Strongman of North America,” credited to his nine-piece band The Chandler Travis Philharmonic from Waving Kissyhead Vo...

Steve released six studio albums with Genesis between 1971 and 1977 and twenty-five solo albums that feature his virtuosic guitar (he invented tapping! ) and much of the spirit of ’70s prog rock. He now works with producer/keyboardist Roger King to create dense, cinematic soundscapes. We discuss “In the Skeleton Gallery” from The Night Siren (2017), “Love Song to a Vampire&...

Lys is a Connecticut singer/guitarist with an eccentric country twang who’s put out two albums, three EPs, and a rarities collection since 2003. Her lyrics and music highlight the difficulties in communication that go with the difficulties in being human. We discuss “M.K.” from the I’m a Boy EP (Lys Guillorn and Her Band, 2017), “Silver” from Winged Victory (201...

Starting with the Dream Syndicate in the early ’80s in L.A. and then going solo in 1990, Steve has released over 35 albums of lyrically driven rock, trying various stylistic approaches and line-ups (sometimes sharing the frontman spot as with his recent Baseball Project). His songs tend to take a single melodic element, and the musicians generally all play together without a lot of meticulou...

Karla has put out four albums since 2006 with the Corner Laughers, a Bay Area band that has been categorized as “twee” given Karla’s ukulele, sparkly Brit-pop ornamentation, and similarly colorful lyrics. We discuss “Queen of the Meadow” from Matilda Effect (2015), the Nov. 2016 charity single “ Don’t Hush, Darling ” (which gives us the title of this...

Glenn has put out albums with the Feelies since 1980, filling in gaps with other bands (e.g., The Willies in the early ’80s, Wake Ooloo in the ’90s) and a couple of solo albums. His albums have a unique sound, due to his insistence that production is part of the composing process. We discuss two songs from the new Feelies album In Between : “Been Replaced” and “Gone G...

Clive is the guy who dreamt up the melodies and initial motifs for “The Promise” and other tunes for When in Rome in the late ’80s, and after leaving the business for a while, the continued use of that one big song (most notably for the Napoleon Dynamite closing sequence) enabled his return to touring and recording. We discuss two songs from his solo album Independence (2013), &#...

Ken put out five sparkly/grungy albums with the Posies from ’88 to ’98 (and three more recently), played in the live version of Big Star starting in ’93, played in the touring band for R.E.M., released several solo records and collaborations including two with a band called The Disciplines, toured as a singer for Marky Ramone, has acted as producer and engineer for many projects…...