RiYL

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.

Well into his fourth decade as a professional musician, David J Haskins refers to The Mother Tree as, "my most personal work yet.” With such an expansive catalog, including the works discographies of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets, it's quite a claim. It is, however, a difficult one to refute, given its subject matter. A tribute to his late mother, the five-track album is centered on Haskins' poetry, set to a musical backdrop. Fittingly, it finds Haskins adding his surname, after a career of simply being "David J." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2017, Save Ferris released the Checkered Past EP , the band’s first collection of new music in nearly two decades. Plenty had changed over the years, resulting in frontwoman, Monique Powell, retaining sole rights to the Orange Country ska band’s name. The revived Save Ferris has continued to release new music and tour under Powell’s leadership. The musician joined us to discuss 30 years in the music business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The worst thing about discovering Swamp Dogg is kicking yourself for not having done so sooner. The good news is that you’re about to have your mind blown by an 82-year-old soul musician currently experiencing his third – or maybe fourth – career renaissance. This latest round kicked off with 2018’s Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune. Since then, the singer has released another three albums and served as the subject of a new documentary. Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted a portrait of an immensely talented songwriter and an effortlessly funny raconteur holding court at his long time L.A. home. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gumshoe is a record about connections in a world where being alone is increasingly becoming the default. It’s the latest from Oklahoma-based singer songwriter, Samantha Crain. For 15 years, the Choctaw musician has shared stages with some of indie music’s biggest names. More recently, she’s found herself scoring films, including 2023’s Fancy Dance, starring Lily Gladstone. But first we obviously have to discuss her childhood championship power lifting career. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Ginseng Roots, Craig Thompson returns to his childhood -- subject matter that already proved a rich vein for his beloved 2003 book, Blankets. While his latest once again explores the family dynamics of a religious upbringing, the work casts a much wider net. His family's economic dependence on ginseng is a starting point for exploring the root, which has been a staple of Chinese and Korean medicine for centuries. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About 40 minutes into the conversation, Nickelodeon calls. They need her in the studio post haste. It’s a fitting spot to end things for an artist as in demand as Grey Delisle. While she’s known as voice artist with hundreds of credits – including The Simpsons and Scooby-Doo – we’re here for something else altogether. Delisle also has a vintage country singing voice that would have earned her a permanent spot at the Grand Ole Opry in another life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Willie Nelson suggests you record an album of his songs, you do it. Amy Irving and the country legend met on the set of 1980’s Honeysuckle Rose and remained close ever since. Irving features on the album’s soundtrack, despite a latter turn as Jessica Rabbit’s singing voice, a music career was never on her radar. Her solo debut, Born In a Trunk,, arrived 43 years after her musical debut, laying to rest any doubt that the Carrie star was simply acting as a singer. As she’s opted to slow down on the acting front, Irving is experiencing a successful second career, with the April 25th arrival of her new LP of Willie Nelson covers, Always Will Be. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abyss is a dark, heavy album for a dark, heavy time. A journalist in a former life, Anika never shies away from the bleakness. The Berlin-based singer made a point of recording her third solo record with minimal overdubs, in a bid to capture the immediacy these the songs require. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At age 11, his fate was sealed when Benmont Tench met Tom Petty a Gainesville music store. Fueled by the recent British invasion, the pair made music together for the first time at The Sundowners. A decade later, Petty recruited the keyboardist for Mudcrutch, the Southern rock band that soon evolved into the Heartbreakers. For the past six decades, Tench has never strayed far from that path, playing keys on records by Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and U2. This March saw the release of Tench’s second solo album, The Melancholy Season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vladimir Nabokov's 1951 memoir, Speak, Memory, opens with a quote describing life as the content between two dark eternities -- the before and the after. Though teaming with potential existential dread, the quote is a hopeful one for Luke Lalonde. The sentiment inspired "Mean Time," the first single from Born Ruffians' forthcoming LP, Beauty's Pride. It's a celebration of the moments that happen between the voids, a hopeful outlook the singer attributes to the recent birth of his son. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Polar is as much an exercise in world building as it is a classical album. Icelandic pianist Gabríel Ólafs describes a lifelong desire to score films. In the meantime, he’s making his own. The new record combines worlds defined by his compositions, narrated by work from science-fiction author, Rebecca Roanhorse. It’s fascinating latest chapter from one of the most exciting new voices in classical. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since its debut at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Paying For It has garnered rave reviews from critics, drawing comparisons to fellow comic adaptation, Ghost World. Based on Chester Brown’s beloved 2011 work of the same name, the film centers around Brown and a fictionalized version of Sook-Yin Lee, the director who also happens to be his real life ex. Brown joins us to discuss the memoir, drawn from his own experiences with sex workers. We also discuss 2016’s Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus and the recent loss of his longtime friend, cartoonist Joe Matt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One thing you should know about Lloyd Kaufman is that he isn’t dead. The introduction to Mathew Klickstein’s new interview collection is very adamant about this. The Troma founder was certainly well enough to engage in an hour-long conversation about the early days of indie filmmaking, Michael Bay and making transgressive art amid a second Trump administration. Besides, at very least, the man needs to make to the end of August to see the Toxic Avenger’s triumphant return to the big screen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At 17, Duke Amayo moved from Nigeria to U.S. for a football scholarship at Howard University. Despite his study, a career in medical illustration wasn’t in the cards. After making his way to Brooklyn, he landed a role as the frontman of beloved Afrobeat band, Antibalas. Amayo set out on his own, after nearly a quarter-century with the band. The musician released Lion Awakes in January, an eclectic solo album dedicated to his "shamanic medicine woman” grandmother. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded over the course of two years, Anything At All is, fittingly, about slowing down. Denison Witmer finds beauty in domesticity. It’s a meditation on mindfulness, fatherhood and even banal. Witmer’s 11th album is also a collaboration, birthed from a songwriting session with long-time friend, Sufjan Stevens, who also came on as producer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.