Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"The Clocks Are Out Of Time" The East London outfit The Jack Rubies may have gotten their start in 1987 and quickly fired off two brilliant albums--1988's Fascinatin' Vacation and 1990's See The Money In My Smile--but that was it; they literally dropped off the musical map. And it was a weird disappearance because they were poised for big things--they had critical acclaim, they'd toured with The T...

"Good Thing" Her new album might be called The #1 Zookeeper (Of The San Diego Zoo) but Abby Hamilton does not hail from San Diego. The singer/songwriter was born and raised a little over two thousand miles away in Wilmore, Kentucky. Hamilton's family was a musical one--so much so, in fact, that she has aunts who sang in a Southern Gospel group called The Hamilton Family. But lineage aside, what Ab...

"Revolución to Roxy" Yes, the London-born guitarist and producer Phil Manzanera is part of one of the greatest bands of all time, but that really isn't the story. It's just part of it. Like, 10% of it. Which is crazy when you think of the cultural impact of Roxy Music, but the fact is, Manzanera has lived an interesting life that goes far beyond his tenure in an influential rock and roll band. His...

"I Just Want To Go Home" I've been obsessed with the Trashcan Sinatras since 1990 and for good reason--the Scottish outfit's winning discography featuring albums like Cake, I've Seen Everything, Weightlifting and In The Music is a perfect body of work. From the punchy pop of "Obscurity Knocks" to the sweeping rush of "All The Dark Horses," the Trashcan Sinatras' sound is shimmering and pastoral. T...

"Primrose Was In Season" The Florida-born Mackenzie Shivers is a singer/songwriter of tremendous sensitivity and strength. Her new album Primrose Was In Season--and her fourth overall-- is a layered blend of moving compositions that summon joy and loss with dexterity and finesse. Produced by Kevin Salem, the album, which is the follow-up to 2021's Rejection Letter, brings to mind the stirring text...

"Highlander" Born in Short Gap, West Virginia, the Grammy-nominated Missy Raines is one of the most legendary bluegrass musicians on the planet. A ten-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association Bass Player of the Year and the first woman to win the award--a feat nobody has even come close to--Raines is a virtuoso musician who plays with unmatched dexterity and heart. She's not ju...

"Let Go" Formed by braintrust Sascha Konietzko in Germany and Paris in 1984, KMFDM got their start as a performance art project but it didn't take long for their propulsive industrial rhythms to establish them as one of the most dynamic bands around. Over the course of their career they've toured the world, sold millions of records and unleashed an uninterrupted string of classic albums like 1986'...

"Starting Over" With close to thirty albums under his belt, the Iowa-born Dan Bern is one of the great iron men of rock and roll. I guess he's kind of the Cal Ripken of modern music--why? Because he keeps showing up with high quality work. From albums like Fifty Eggs to to the newly re-mastered New American Language, Bern is one of the very best we have. His music is observational, clever and poig...

"I See You" Led by the Bay Area born Destani Wolf, Destani's Piece is a sonic healing project whose compositions are lush and layered affairs, boasting rich textures that conjure vast heavenly landscapes. Filled with dreamy musical nuances--like rolling angelic harps, harmonic pianos and Wolf's otherworldly vocals, the music of Destani's Piece is reflective and meditative and each composition serv...

"Shane O'Mara Wore Mascara" Okay, so let's not be ridiculous--it's impossible to tell you a little bit about Lindy Morrison because there's so much to tell. But for the sake of time I'll condense what I can about this remarkable woman--just keep in mind this is a partial and very expurgated description of her accomplishments. My suggestion is that you read My Rock And Roll Friend, by Everything Bu...

"Kindergarten Heart" Well, the Canadian singer/songwriter Shaina Hayes finished university and did what most graduates do--she started a farm. Ambitious? Of course it was--but Hayes, who was actually raised on a farm, was more than up for the challenge and spent her twenties tilling the land for her vegetable farm which was also a local CSA. The art of farming gave way to another art form--music....

"Natural Magick" Formed in the mid '90s in London, Kula Shaker emerged as one of the most dynamic and engaging musical acts around. Mixing psychedelia with traditional Indian music and pop, Kula Shaker tore it up right out of the gate, with their debut album K hitting #1 and making them immediate superstars. Over the course of their career they played Glastonbury, T in the Park, the V Festival, an...

"I Will Never Let You Down" Marcellus Hall has been doing so much, his resume it'll make you look at your resume and think What have I been doing? Let's back up: The Minnesota-born Marcellus Hall went to the Rhode Island school of design then moved to New York after graduating to form the band Railroad Jerk. Railroad Jerk put out four perfect albums for Matador, thought they recorded a fifth calle...

"Angles And Ordinary Men" Back in the late '90s Wendy Lands' debut album Angels and Ordinary Men landed on my desk in the form a package from Canada and I dove right in. Falling somewhere between Beth Orton's Trailer Park and Sade's Stronger Than Pride, the album was a revelation. It was soulful, it was atmospheric, it was melodic, it was rich, and it was filled with musical finesse and jazzy text...

"Boom Boom Boom Bingo" Scruffy The Cat dominated the College Rock scene of the late '80s with a run of fabulous albums like Tiny Days and Moons of Jupiter, plus two stellar EPs High Octane Revival and Boom Boom Boom Bingo. If you don't have these four releases-get them. They're the most perfect blasts of rootsy indie pop you'll ever hear. The six member Boston outfit, which formed in '83 lasted ju...

"Chaos And Wonder" Donnette Thayer went west for college and when the Colorado-born Thayer arrived at UC Davis with veterinary aspirations she found a thriving arts community that she fell right into. She'd played classical music growing up, but suddenly found herself fronting alternative bands like X-Men, The Veil and No Matter What. She guested on Game Theory's Blaze of Glory and then joined the...

"A Family Album" The California-born and Washington-raised Holly Palmer has had quite a career. Signed to Reprise in the mid-nineties, Palmer garnered well-deserved critical-acclaim and toured with the likes of Paula Cole, k.d. Lang and Shawn Colvin. David Bowie asked her to sing background vocals on his Hours album and then he asked her to join his 1999 world tour as a singer/percussionist. Some...

"Movement" There’s nothing about Peter Hook that I can tell you you don’t already know, so let’s just do a refresher run through his musical CV. In the late '70s Hook formed Joy Division with childhood pal Bernard Sumner after the two friends saw the Sex Pistols play in Manchester. The band only put out two albums and one of those albums, the legendary Closer was put out two months after the band...

“Forwards” For more than 40 years the Welsh band the Alarm have been one of the most consistent acts on the planet, playing songs with conviction, heart and belief. With almost 20 studio albums under their belts, along with a discography that includes live albums, box sets and EPs, The Alarm are one of those bands where you pretty much want everything they put out. From albums like Declaration to...

"Everything On Memory" The Fresno-born, Modesto-raised Jim Fairchild got his start on guitar as a teenager and in the mid-nineties became the lead guitar player for the indie rock outfit Grandaddy. That would be enough to make a resume’ shimmer, but Fairchild was just getting started. He was the touring guitar player for Giant Sand, he worked with everyone from Hawaii to Dappled Cities and he took...

"Silent Highway" Formed out of the ashes of the post-punk outfit Finger Printz, the Silencers' core was comprised of two members of that band--guitarist Cha Burns and singer Jimme O'Neill. The Silencers quickly signed to RCA and hit the ground running, putting out three brilliant albums in under five years. They toured with Squeeze, The Pretenders, The Alarm and at one point, when opening for Simp...

"Follow The Leader" So, Rain Phoenix first was on my radar back in 1991 when she and her brother River had a band called Aleka's Attic. They had a marvelous song called Across The Way on this compilation Tame Yourself, which also featured The Pretenders, Michael Stipe, the Indigo Girls and K.D. Lang. The Texas-born Phoenix acted in TV shows like Family Ties and Amazing Stories and in movies like E...

"Breathwork" The Hawaii-born, New York raised and London Royal Academy of Music-educated Lara Somogyi is one of the most gifted harpists on the planet. A traditionalist and a modernist, Somogyi is an inventive instrumentalist who isn't afraid of exploring new creative possibilities for her instrument. As a composer, Somogyi has experimented with blending electronica and pedal effects and the resul...

"Thanksgiving Day Special" There's a lot of things I miss about being a kid--somebody else driving, somebody else making dinner, not having to pay bills, not having to shave or get gas or pay rent--I was just going mention one or two things, but apparently I'm not pleased about being an adult. The reason why I brought this up is because the one thing I really miss about being a kid are the holiday...

"When We Rise" Over the course of her career, the New York born Jess Klein has put out nearly fifteen perfect albums. From her Rykodisc debut Draw Them Near in 2000 to other winning entries like 2006's City Garden and 2014's Learning Faith, Klein has demonstrated she's a singer/songwriter of tremendous strength and heart. Blessed with a natural penchant to write hook-filled songs with burning emot...