Talkhouse Podcast

Back when they were in college in the late '80s, Laura Cantrell and Mac McCaughan were in a band called Bricks. That band didn't get very far, but Laura went on to become an acclaimed country singer-songwriter hailed by the likes of Elvis Costello and legendary BBC DJ John Peel. Mac soon founded Superchunk, who went on to 26 years (and counting) of indie-rock glory, as well as co-founding the phenomenally successful Merge Records.Even though Laura and Mac have taken different musical paths, they've not just maintained their long friendship, they've both stayed true to themselves and to their art, and carved out respected, sustainable careers. They actually still have a lot in common. So we figured we'd put them together for a Talkhouse Music Podcast and have them catch up, reminisce, compare notes and share a little wisdom.

El-P, legendary hip-hop producer and half of the celebrated rap duo Run the Jewels, and acclaimed new singer, rapper, songwriter, producer, musician and filmmaker Boots (Beyoncé, FKA twigs, Run the Jewels), sat down and recorded a Talkhouse Music Podcast while they were on tour, backstage at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They talked about lots of things: their jazz-musician dads, the creative value of sampling, drugs and music, the internet’s fascination with cats, their doomsday scenarios and whether iconic film director Stanley Kubrick predicted the iPhone. We also find out how Boots got his nickname — and the answer will amaze you.

On this new episode of the Talkhouse Film podcast, two highly original and idiosyncratic British writer-directors are in conversation: Ben Wheatley and Alex Cox. In addition to their new projects (the current festival hit High-Rise and the multi-perspective Western Tombstone Rashomon, respectively), the two email friends discuss numerous movie-related topics, from their favorite portmanteau films and the difference between Charlie Kaufman and Charlton Heston, to the forgotten genius of Peter Watkins and how Repo Man invented supermarket generic brands. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse Film at talkhouse.com/film.

The iconic multimedia artist Laurie Anderson always has two or three projects going at any one time, and aside from her acclaimed new feature film Heart of a Dog, she’s unveiling an installation and performance called Habeas Corpus, which takes place at the cavernous Park Avenue Armory in New York, October 2nd through 4th, 2015.Among Anderson’s collaborators on the show are the great Syrian singer Omar Souleyman, ace multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and Anderson’s partner in this Talkhouse Music Podcast, Merrill Garbus from Tune-Yards. Garbus and Anderson actually met through a Talkhouse Music Podcast, and you can hear them hit it off in the course of that conversation.If fact, they hit it off so well that Anderson invited Garbus to develop a musical piece with her for Habeas Corpus. So, on the occasion of their collaboration, we brought these two remarkable artists back together for another chat. They spoke mostly about the show, but when you get two such brilliant, interesting people, the conversation is going to go to some fascinating places, and it sure did — everything from Anderson’s experiences with a psychiatrist to the reason why Garbus wanted to become an artist.

If there's a running theme in London neo-post-punk band Art Brut's rock music, it's rock music. The band's leader Eddie Argos isn't just a musician, he's a big-time music fan. And one of the musicians he's a big fan of is indie-pop sensation Ezra Furman, whose new album Perpetual Motion People takes inspiration from brilliant, nasal auteurs such as Bob Dylan, the Violent Femmes and Jonathan Richman to make smart, heartfelt music. But his songs are all over the map: sure, it's indie-pop, but he works in all kinds of sounds: mid-'60s pop, countrified ballads, '70s glam, doo-wop and sounds from a more recent vintage, like Destroyer and Built to Spill.Furman and Argos struck up a mutual appreciation society a few years ago when their two bands played some shows together, and it blossomed into a long-distance friendship. With Furman beginning to break through in the United Kingdom, we put the two musicians together for a Talkhouse Music Podcast.The two musicians found a lot to talk about: the time Furman accidentally got filmed naked, playing live as an opportunity to do something weird, parenthood and its effect on one's music, the advantages of being pretentious, and why "no" always beats "yes."

Hiss Golden Messenger’s most recent album Lateness of Dancers came out in the autumn of 2014, and found frontman M.C. Taylor’s songwriting process still evolving. He obviously thinks a lot about the craft and inspiration involved, so it’s no surprise that the songwriting process was the main thing he talked about with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James in this edition of the Talkhouse Music PodcastMy Morning Jacket brings in some disparate outside influences — prog-rock and disco, for instance — while Hiss Golden Messenger mostly keeps it local, with roots in country-rock, folk and Memphis r&b, but both musicians make their acclaimed music with a pronounced southern flavor. They have plenty in common, and they’re fans of each other’s work, which made for an interesting conversation. The two spoke via Skype while both were on tour — Taylor in Toronto and James in Niagara Falls, New York — and together they delved into the enduring mysteries of how songs are made.

This edition of the Talkhouse Music Podcast features Fred Thomas, longtime mainstay of the beloved, idiosyncratic lo-fi indie-pop band Saturday Looks Good to Me, with musician, motivational speaker, producer, nightclub impresario, advice columnist, and TV and radio host Andrew WK.It's a little-known fact that Mr. Thomas and Mr. WK go back a long way — 20 years, to when they were teenagers in the very weird and wild Ann Arbor, Michigan underground music scene. They're still good friends, and WK even guested on a song on Thomas' debut solo album All Are Saved, which came out this spring.These are two very thoughtful, well spoken and very experienced musicians, and conversation is filled with really great insights about what it's like to be a musician — any kind of musician. This is the kind of thing you won't get in an ordinary interview, so listen closely for an explanation of why your audience is your enemy, a great discussion about the value of criticism, a realistic definition of artistic success, musings on the intersection of life and art, and an attempt to pin down the mysterious miracle of artistic inspiration.

On this latest episode of the Talkhouse Film podcast, writer-director Allison Anders talks with her mentor, iconic German filmmaker Wim Wenders, on the occasion of Wenders' new touring film series. In their fascinating and wide-ranging conversation, the two old friends talk about a possible sequel to Paris, Texas, why Wenders didn't direct True Detective, how Until the End of the World presciently anticipated everything from GPS to search engines to selfie culture – and also a lot of stuff about music, including how Wenders saved The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by digitally replacing an Elvis song with a copycat track, Wim buying Allison her first iPod, and a discussion of the art of the mixtape. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse Film at talkhouse.com/film.

This edition of the Talkhouse Music Podcast features two of the more acclaimed new singer-songwriters of 2015: Jessica Pratt and Tobias Jesso, Jr. Both musicians have deep roots in the sounds of the '70s, but two very different sides of the '70s. Jesso's piano-driven debut album Goon evokes superstar '70s singer-songwriters like John Lennon, Carole King, Harry Nilsson and Elton John. But Pratt's latest album On Your Own Love Again channels a very different, much more obscure side of the Me Decade: psychedelic folk from brilliant musicians such as Linda Perhacs and Vashti Bunyan.We put these two together backstage at this summer's Pitchfork Music Festival and they covered a wide range of topics: the recent Brian Wilson bio-pic, the difference between playing solo and with a band, dealing with stage nerves and insecurity, how malfunctioning equipment can be a blessing, the interview tricks journalists try to pull on them and the wonderfulness of the Train song "Drops of Jupiter."Jesso reveals his tricks for playing as few songs as possible in his set. Pratt recounts a synopsis of the film she has seen more times than any other: The Brave Little Toaster (1987), which prompts our guests to wrestle with a most vexing question: "How weird is it for a blanket to be chasing a kid through a forest?"

“Transsexuals are the stormtroopers of the future.” So says Genesis P-Orridge, the iconic, visionary musician who has fronted influential bands like Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle. While P-Orridge isn’t transgender — they* call themselves a pandrogyne — their partner in this Talkhouse Music Podcast, Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace, came out as transgender in 2012. Still, as P-Orridge points out, both musicians have done something very brave: they’ve transitioned, in one way or another, in front of their audience. And it was P-Orridge who paved the way. As Grace says here, “Someone like yourself is so important to me.”P-Orridge and Grace might hail from different generations, countries and musical communities, but they found plenty to talk about: what it was like to transition in public, the mind-body duality, paranormal phenomena, the perennial bathroom problem, the perennnial airport screening problem, courage, death, Caitlyn Jenner, a hilarious exchange about what to wear on stage, dealing with photographers who want you to show your boobs, and what P-Orridge calls “a gradual shift in the way that gender and sexuality are perceived in our species.”This is one of the more fascinating and potentially visionary exchanges we’ve ever had on the Talkhouse Podcast. It’s also one of the more risqué, so if you’re easily offended, maybe you’ll want to check out one of our other podcasts.* A word about pronouns: P-Orridge call themselves “we” because they feel at one with their late wife Lady Jaye. Much more about that in the podcast.