Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"Scala" It's hard to explain everything Barry Adamson did before he was thirty. By then, his resume' was so packed with highlights it was hard to believe there was room for more. But there was. Like, a lot more. Let me explain. The Manchester-born Barry Adamson got his start in music in the late '70s by playing bass for Magazine, a band led by ex-Buzzcock Howard DeVoto. Adamson, who was briefly in...

"Unentitled" It's hard to think of anyone who writes with as much tender ease as John Gorka. The New Jersey-born singer/songwriter has been doing just that since his first album way back in 1987. Over the course of nearly twenty albums, including Jack's Crows, The Company You Keep, Old Futures Gone and his brand new one Unentitled, Gorka has gracefully asserted himself as one of the most vital fol...

"The Bus Routes Of South London" The London-born Jah Wobble is one of the most legendary musicians on the planet. The celebrated bassist burst onto the radar with PiL, playing on the first two albums--Public Image: First Issue and Metal Box--both of which remain undisputed classics. After leaving the band, Wobble stayed busy, playing in The Human Condition and on the Snake Charmer EP with The Edge...

"Measure Of A Man" The North Carolina-born Clay Aiken rose to fame on the strength of his record breaking appearance on American Idol, but if you just think of him in terms of that show, you're not getting the full picture. At all. With seven albums under his belt, the golden-voiced Aiken has sold close to ten million albums worldwide, was the first artist whose first single hit #1, hosted two net...

“Merry Christmas, Emily” David Lowery does so many things, his CV needs a sequel. He's a professor, a mathematician, a writer, a musician, a producer and an entrepreneur. He's also the singer of two of my all-time favorite bands: Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. Let's start with the former. Lowery formed Camper Van Beethoven when he was a student at UC Santa Cruz in the early '80s. I was so obses...

"Shine On" Formed in Seattle in the late '80s, Sweet Water got their start under the moniker SGM. Comprised of childhood friends from the private Bush School, which we talk about a lot in this episode, SGM played with Nirvana and The Melvins and their 1988 Aggression album was produced by Jack Endino and was lauded by Sub Pop's Bruce Pavitt. A thrashy blast of American post-punk SGM underwent a fe...

"When It Comes To Love" The Massachusetts-born Michael Bluestein got a quick run out of the musical gates and started studying classical piano by age nine, so it's no surprise that the young prodigy's trajectory found him studying at Berklee College of Music. With his B.A. under his belt, Bluestein headed west and wound up in San Francisco, where he spent a decade putting out his own music and wor...

"Black Butterflies" The Vancouver-raised Rebecca Foon grew up with parents who were artists and activists, so it's no surprise that she became an artist and an activist herself. Let's start with the artist part. The Juno-award winning cellist, singer and composer Rebecca Foon has been in so many bands it's hard to keep track, so this is a partial list. No stranger to the post-rock and experimental...

"The Things You Don't Know Yet" I seem to care more about the band Adult Leisure than my own adult leisure and there's a good reason for that. The Bristol outfit Adult Leisure are one of the most exciting indie pop bands around. Formed in 2020, Adult Leisure have put out a succession of catchy singles and EPs like The Weekend Ritual which have all led up to the release of their debut album, The Th...

"Love Rollercoaster" To say the Ohio Players are one of the greatest funk bands of all time kind of falls short of the mark. The Ohio Players are, quite simply, one of the greatest bands of all time. The Dayton R&B outfit got their start in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables and their leader Robert Ward was like a funk version of Jim Morrison--brilliant but unpredictable, Ward would walk offstage mid-g...

"Forever Shining" In 1976 brothers Tony and Chip Kinman founded the legendary Carlsbad punk band The Dills, who in just four short years crammed their music CV with highlights. Before they disbanded in 1980, The Dils had recorded classics like "Class War" and Mr. Big" opened for the Clash and appeared in Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke. The Kinmans went on to form Rank and File, who are considered...

"Rocks Off" The Connecticut-born singer songwriter Sean Griffin has helmed the Irish punk outfit The Ruffians for close to thirty years. With three great albums under their belts, the band has played shows with everyone from Shane MacGowan to Black 47 and in the process, they've garnered a reputation for being one of the best live acts around. Sean's solo work swaps some of the traditional instrum...

"Hammer + Echo" Getting their start in the early '80s, the Kilkenny Cats were one of the most fascinating bands at a time when there were a lot of fascinating bands around. Formed by the North Carolina born Tom Cheek, who had relocated to Athens, Georgia for college, the Kilkenny Cats played a dark and moody blend of post-punk and psychedelia that still, after all these years, feels decidedly time...

"Medicine Show" Over the course of nearly ten winning studio albums, four fabulous live records and a handful of EPS, the Dream Syndicate are one of those bands that nail the cover off the ball every single time. Formed in 1981 and reactivated in 2012 after nearly three decades apart, as far as I'm concerned, The Dream Syndicate are Hall of Famers, full stop. The Santa Monica-born Wynn's output as...

"Anywhere But Here" Ben Arnold is a busy dude. The Philadelphia-raised musician not only has two bands--Pistol For Ringo and U.S. Rails--his solo career is in full swing and his new solo album XL finds the singer/songwriter never sounding better. His three endeavors keep him on the road but Arnold is a happy guy when he's on any highway anywhere in the world. With a handful of fabulous albums unde...

"In The Garden" The New York-born saxophonist/composer Alison Shearer's new album In The Garden is one of the most dynamic, stirring and altogether thrilling albums of the year. The follow up to her View From Above album, which was a moving tribute to her father John Shearer, the legendary civil rights-era photojournalist, In The Garden is a delicious blend of inventive time meters whose inspirati...

"Only Hoping" There's real magic in the work of Al Nicol. There's also real magic that guided the work of Al Nicol but we'll get to that in a second. The Canadian-born singer/songwriter writes some of the most affecting compositions around. His lyrics are contemplative and thoughtful, his voice has a bold and breezy command and his pastoral compositions bring to mind everyone from Nick Drake to Ro...

"The Very Day" If you're wondering if the Connecticut-born Grammyt Award winning keyboardist and composer grew up with music in the house, the answer is yes--his father Joe Porcaro was a renowned jazz drummer who played with everyone from Sinatra to Stan Getz to Madonna. He also played on hundreds of film and television scores including The Wild Bunch, I Dream Of Jeannie and Edward Scissorhands. H...

"Crashing Dream" Like many aspiring artists of all kinds, the New York-born singer/guitarist Matt Piucci found himself in Los Angeles in the early '80s with his college pal David Roback playing in the band they formed. That band was Rain Parade and they hit the ground running--a stirring blend of 60s jangle and dark post-punk rhythms, Rain Parade put out two instant classics--Emergency Third Rail...

"Wait For Fire Burning" Formed in Oakland in 1985, Legal Reins were comprised of singer/guitarist Danny Benatar, bassist Eden Unger and drummer Tim Freund. They tore up the Bay Area scene, playing show after show and cementing themselves as one of the best live bands around. This is a band who did the work, got in the reps and eclipsed the Gladwellian idea of 10,000 hours. Opening for everyone fro...

"Futility" It's true--the last time I saw Sandy Smallens was in the spring of 1989 when his band Too Much Joy came to the campus radio station to play on my weekly show. The band were incredibly cool and I've never forgotten that they took the time to traipse into the East Bay hills to get to my school and how nice they were. They even played an unrehearsed acoustic version of Clowns at my request...

"Baby Man" The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Eric D. Johnson has one of the most consistently wonderful bodies of work you'll ever run to in this lifetime. From his 2001 debut Echolocation to albums like The Ruminant Band, Tripper, Gold Past Life, A River Running To Your Heart to his brand new one Baby Man, Johnson's discography has no dips and or musical unforced errors--every note, every me...

"Crayon Shades" Formed out of the ashes of the late great Australian band Soap Star Joe, the Moderate Lovers are a three-piece outfit from Sydney whose debut EP Crayon Shades is refreshing and swoonworthy blast of indie pop. Fronted by Mick Wilson and rounded out by Saul Foster and Adam Taylor, the Moderate Lovers got going sometime in 2024 and since then, they've been moving from strength to stre...

"Earthly Delights" The earthly pleasures of the temporal world are fine food, expensive wine, monetary wealth, a long list of friends and raves that last for days. The Miami-born David Archuleta is no stranger to earthly delights--with almost ten albums to his name that have yielded millions of sales and countless multi-platinum hits all over the globe, Archuleta is back with a new six-song EP cal...

"OCD" The Ohio-bornTamar Berk first showed up on my radar in the mid-90s when she sang for the iChicago outfit Starball. Starball were a really great band and they worked with everyone from Material Issue to Steve Albini and their Holstein Park record remains one of my favorite records of the '90s. Tamar's solo output now numbers five fabulous albums like The Restless Dreams Of Youth, Good Times F...