In this episode, we journey through landscapes both external and internal, exploring texture, timbre and tone. Bay Area guitarist and sound designer Christopher Willits walks us through the love and technology at the backbone of his work, and his collaborations with Japanese ambient and classical pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Then, from Los Angeles, Ghostly design collaborator Will Calcutt and label manager Jeff Owens join Sam and Molly to talk about the intimate grandeur of This Is For the White In Your Eyes, the 2009 Ghostly debut from Copenhagen’s Choir of Young Believers.

Cheese, cartoons and jazz are some of the topics covered as we unfurl further chapters in the Ghostly International history. We delve into the characters of the first Ghostly Swim compilation, and talk more about the label reaching out from the Midwest to the rest of the world, while Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv recalls reigning in wild styles. Ghostly artist Shigeto (an Ann Arbor native) joins in to talk about the hero’s journey of his debut, Full Circle, and pouring heart, hardship and a lifetime of music-making into his unique sound. Hosted by Vivian Host

Season 3 Premiere. Upon the 20th anniversary of Ghostly International, Ghostly founder Sam Valenti IV and artists Dabrye, Todd Osborne and Will Calcutt recount the label’s origin story in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and explain Ghostly’s spiritual connection to Detroit and Chicago and the unique palette of influences – from booty music to Factory Records – and people that continue to shape the Ghostly aesthetic even 500 releases on. Hosted by Vivian Host

In this episode, we finish our talk with Susan Whitall, as we talk about how Tata Vega’s genre-less funk might have prevented her from being a star, but might have made her album sound timeless, and we talk about Teena Marie, who once threatened to kick Susan’s ass and who also never got the kind of credit she deserved. And in the final segment of this final episode, we head out to L.A. to talk with current Motown president Ethiopia Habtemariam about working with Erykah Badu and how giving artists like Erykah the space to create is the best thing a label can do. We also talk about how Ethiopia and her team are trying to keep the spirit of Motown alive in a modern world.

We talk with Susan Whitall about the fourth and fifth albums in our Motown boxset, Tammi Terrell’s Irresistible and Syreeta’s Syreeta. In this episode, we talk about the sad tragedy of Tammi Terrell, and dispel rumors around her death. We also cover how Syreeta went from a backup vocalist to making some of the most adventurous R&B on the label in the early ‘70s, and how Motown’s move to LA opened it up to more genres and sounds. Stay tuned to the end of this episode to hear hints for the final three LPs in this edition of Anthology, which, if you’ve held off on opening all of them, will be revealed next week.

We talk with Susan Whitall, the writer of the Liner Notes for our box set, about the first three albums in the box. Which, you know by now are Mary Wells’ Bye Bye Baby--I Don’t Want to Take a Chance, Martha and the Vandellas’ Heat Wave, and The Supremes Where Did Our Love Go. On This episode, Susan and I talk about Mary Wells being the blueprint for every Motown Diva who came after her. We’ll also talk about how Martha and the Vandellas’ impact feels muted now, but they were one of the biggest acts in the early days of Motown. And we’ll cover the Supremes, who along with the Temptations, blew the door open and made Motown into THE Motown.

On this prologue episode, we talk with Susan Whitall, the author of the book The Women of Motown and the author of the liner notes for our box set. Susan is also a longtime Detroit resident and was a writer and editor for Creem magazine and the Detroit News. In this episode, Susan--who will be our main guide through the albums featured in this edition of Anthology--talks about her book, the unique Detroit circumstances that led to Motown becoming such a powerhouse, and how the label succeeded with an everybody in the boat mentality.

In this final episode of this season of VMP Anthology, we talk to Don Was about how the vibraphone has gone from a central piece of jazz big band to a semi-novelty and back again, the tumultuous middle years of Blue Note, and how signing young artists and letting them develop their own version of jazz remains a central purpose of Blue Note as it hits 80 years old.

In this episode, we talk about an organist on the Lou Donaldson album being the best bass player Don Was, president of Blue Note, has ever heard, even though he plays the organ, and how Wayne Shorter is a single-person history of jazz. We also discuss how Wayne and Lou have carried on as Blue Note artists, even today. And again, stay tuned to the end of this episode for hints on the final two albums of our new box set.

In this episode, we talk to Blue Note president Don Was about how the loose, free-flowing culture at Blue Note let Horace Silver cut his first solo record when another performer backed out, and how Dexter Gordon made up for lost time following a prison sentence. Stay tuned to the end of the podcast for hints about your next two records.