RiYL

A radical departure in a music career defined by them, Jamie Lidell's first full length in nearly a decade finds the artist exploring a new instrument, genre, tones, and collaborators. Born of the pandemic, Places of Unknowing is a work of ambient neoclassical piano music with no clear common sonic connections to the electronic-turned-soul musician's earlier work, beyond pervasive and deep emotional resonance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Debi Derryberry's fifth album, Go to Sleep, combines longstanding loves of music making and animation into a single YouTube project, pulling together nine tracks aimed at lulling kids to bed. The work is a labor of love for a voice actress with somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 IMDB credits to her name. Along with playing the title character in the long running Jimmy Neutron franchise, the actress has voiced iconic roles ranging from the Toy Story aliens to the animated Wednesday Addams. We also dig into some fascinating early work with Jim Varney and a roller skating seal on the Chris Elliott masterpiece, Get a Life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Note: The interview was cut short and kind of sputters out at the end for weather related reasons I won’t go into here. We’ll have to get the band back on for a followup. Periscope at Midnight finds doubleVee plumbing familiar depths, as Barbara and Allan Vest revisit the latter’s previous band, The Starlight Mints, to put a spin on a pair of old tracks. Notes of the earlier baroque indie-pop act can be heard throughout, but the duo has forged its own oblique path to the genre after more than a decade of playing music together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier songs were political, but never as overtly so. There isn’t much value left to wring from subtlety these days. Battlewear is, fittingly, angry. It’s the product of navigating an unpredictable – and increasingly bleak – landscape. An hour before we hop on the call, a right wing reactionary is murdered in broad daylight. Kadhja Bonet believes in the power of art and community. And while they’ve never been particularly fond of performing live, busking holds a certain appeal, in its immediate and unfiltered connection between artist and audience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahead of their upcoming Image series, Death to Pachuco, artist Rachel Merrill and author Henry Barajas discuss the process of bringing the historical fiction to life. Set against the backdrop of the Sleepy Lagoon Case and Zoot Suit Riots, the book explores themes of racial tension through a lens of hard boiled detective fiction. The pair also talk about picking up the mantle for long running newspaper strip, Gil Thorp. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SunYears felt like starting over, in a very real sense. Peter Bjorn and John were on the backburner, and Peter Morén earlier solo work was decidedly more self-selecting, with Swedish lyrics touching on more experimental soundscapes. There was also a global pandemic to contend with. The Song Forlorn finds Moren happily reembracing his love of pop rock songwriting, with help from stalwarts like Ron Sexsmith, Jess Williamson and Eric D. Johnson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Celebrating its 40th birthday exactly one month ago, Rum Sodomy & the Lash requires no introduction. As epilogues go, however, one could do far worse than the alternately raucous and sublime tour pieced together by surviving members, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, and James Fearnley. Stacy joins us to discuss the anniversary, the recent loss of frontman, Shane MacGowan, and his own fascinating musical history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He may have had something to prove early on, leaving the relative comfort of a rocket ship success like Nine Inch Nails, but it didn’t take Richard Patrick long. Filter’s first album went platinum on the strength of its first single, and the band was off to the proverbial races. Its follow up was slow to surface, courtesy of inner turmoil, but it eventually emerged five years later, with an even bigger hit, putting some of Patrick’s own personal demons on display. Thirty years after Filter’s debut, Patrick has mellowed considerably – partially out of necessity for a family man with a bad back. The result is some of his most thoughtful work to date. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thirty-three years, 10+ members, and a dozen albums later, Comet Gain hasn’t lost its step. Released in June, Letters to Ordinary Outsiders maintains the magic, once again. The group’s work is perpetually tied to the pop sensibilities of David Christian (née Feck), who joins us on a questionable WiFi connection from rural France. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

JennyiRose announced herself in style, with a Rolling Stone interview, back in April. The article dropped a few months The Vandoliers’ fifth album, Life Behind Bars. With a record full of deeply personal songs dealing with – among other topics – her transition – she chose the celebrated music magazine to help tell her story. It’s a courageous move in an age when simply being yourself can be a defiant act, let alone the singer in a Dallas-based alt-country band. It helps, of course, when long-time band members like trumpeter Cory Graves have your back along the way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the end, New Radiations could only be a multimedia affair. Marissa Nadler seems to have her hands in nearly every medium these days, from music, to filmmaking, painting, photography, and even stop-motion. The Nashville-based artist seems to have her hand in every aspect of the process, from songwriting to production. The resulting 11 tracks comprise what may well be her most honest and personal work to date. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What began as a poetry cycle quickly evolved into a dozen of Ketch Secor’s most personal songs. Story the Crow Told Me makes little effort to mask its autobiography, with stories of hitch hiking, busking, charting the earliest days of Old Crow Medicine Show. The singer joins us to reflect on the songs about the moments that made him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s prolific and then there’s the Vitamin String Quartet. In its roughly quarter-century of existence, the outfit has produced more than 400 albums. It helps, of course, that VSQ is more concept than band – a stable of musicians that rotate between tours and records. With a focus on classical covers of pop hits -- including recent tributes to Frank Ocean and BTS -- the group has become a kind of institution unto itself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sixteen years is a long time between solo albums, but Ben Nichols’ role fronting Lucero has kept him plenty busy. In that time, the Memphis-based punk-country band has released a half-dozen albums, three live records, and a pair of EPs. In the Heart of the Mountain finds the musician delving into the deeply personal, expanding his approach to songwriting and releasing what he calls, “the closest I’ve come to making an album completely on my own terms,” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Books, World War I pigeons, queer dating, bygone New York City haunts – Checked Out has a bit of something for everyone. Katie Fricas’ first book is a kind of, sort of memoir about a young cartoonist navigating her way through life in the big city. It’s a delightful and delightfully idiosyncratic take on lengths we go to make our art. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Siouxie And The Banshees, The Psychedelic Furs, R.E.M., Cyndi Lauper -- Knox Chandler's resume reads like a who's who of late-20th century pop music. These days, however, the Kentucky-born musician is taking a decidedly more experimental and meditative approach to music making. His latest, The Sound, build on Chandler's unique "sound ribbon" approach to song construction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are two distinct phases during the writing of Hue Mirror: before and after. Course’s third album is a product of pain, uncertainty and eventual diagnosis. The latter arrived in the form of ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disease resulting in body-wide inflammation. Despite the initial uncertainty, however, Jess Robbins never shies away from the truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Holy Lacrimony is a book about turning sadness into art. Also aliens, interpretive dancing and – in an unexpected way – the Scream franchise. Each component has a special meaning to Michael DeForge, not the least of which is Ghostface, the iconic antagonist from the latter. Released by Drawn & Quarterly in March, the book is surreal, funny – and much like DeForge’s art – more complex than it appears at first glance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the bifurcated world of comics, Paul Pope has never pledge allegiance to the superheroes of indies. The Brooklyn-based cartoonist’s move between storylines and mediums is every bit as fluid as his immediately recognizable linework. On June 19th, Manhattan’s Philippe Labaune Gallery will do its best to encapsulate that career, with a retrospective on Pope’s decades-long body of work, ranging from the John Spencer Blue Explosion to Batman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Time has a way of getting away from you. You tour with a couple of legendary indie bands (Stars, Broken Social Scene), start a family, and next thing you know, it’s been 15 years since your last solo record. I Went To Find You finds Amy Millian collaborating with new musical soul mate, Jay McCarrol. The work brought the singer back to some of her earliest musical memories of singing with her dad at bedtime. The resulting LP is a meditation on loss and celebration of the future Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.