RiYL

Wild Tales begins at an impasse. At the tail end of the 60s, Graham Nash writes, his time in The Hollies had seemingly run its course. A trip to the U.S. to visit his then-girlfriend, Joni Mitchell, found him harmonizing with a pair of musicians who had recently left their own iconic groups. That particular story has a happy ending, of course. Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes Young) played a central role in defining the following decade. Nash’s first two solo albums, released concurrently with the CSN’s early days, are the subject of his new album, which finds him revisiting the work in a live setting. He’s a loyal person (he’s about to go into the studio to record songs with Hollies’ singer Allan Clarke, as we speak), but not necessarily a nostalgic one. Thankfully, those songs from 50 years ago still pack a proper punch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The transition into the 70s wasn’t an easy one of for The Rascals. But it had been an extraordinaire run before the wheels came off, penning several songs that helped define what could reasonable be called pop music’s greatest decade. Throughout it all, Felix Cavaliere never stopped working. It’s a rich and fascinating career, he eagerly narrates in the recently published, Memoir of a Rascal. He highlights the whirlwind trip up the top of the charts with equal excitement during our conversation. It’s a fascinating conversation, from the guru that changed his life, to the ugly side of the music business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Niineta opens unexpected. A call from inside the penitentiary. It’s a cousin of Joe Rainey’s – but one he considers close enough to call a brother. It’s a striking opening for a striking album that explores the traditional indigenous songs he grew up singing at Pow Wow, set to modern production. The music is both faithful and new. It’s a celebration of the communities carrying on these musical traditions and an opportunity to share that cultural wealth with the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last time we chatted was on stage in October 2019, not long before the world changed. Simon Giertz had recently dealt with some health struggles, chronicling her successful battle with a brain tumor in a very public way. Over the years, her wildly popular YouTube channel has served a number of roles for its creator, as she’s chronicled her builds from the functional (turning her Tesla into a pickup truck) to the absurd (a haircutting drone). As the pandemic has pressed on, it’s found another role, as a place where Giertz can design, iterate and gauge audience interest in potential products for her new online store, Yetch. We caught up early this week for a TechCrunch feature, which you can read here. What follows is the (more or less) complete audio from that conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life off the road is a strange thing after 18 albums and 30 years , but Anton Newcombe is thriving. After decades in San Francisco, he settled in Berlin with a wife, kid and a dog – the whole deal. He calls me from Germany, giving me a makeshift tour of his home, as he holds his phone to his face. We speak mostly of world events. It’s kind of inevitable, these days – the pandemic, politics, the inevitability of encountering history walking down the street in Berlin. Things invariably turn to music, of course. Brian Jonestown Massacre’s 18 albums are about to turn to 19 with next month’s arrival of Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees, following an extended U.S. tour with Mercury Rev. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facing an indeterminate period of isolation, Lyrics Born did what any rational person would: he started a podcast. While he’s quick to note that the last two years offered a period of reflection and a rare moment to catch his breath during an impressive 25-year career in hip-hop, Mobile Homies was, ultimately, less about working than connecting. The show offered an opportunity to connect with fellow artists and friends during an exceedingly trying time. Conversations became collaborations, resulting in a new album of the same name. The LP finds him collaborating with familiar names like Lateef the Truthspeaker, Prince Paul and Dan the Automater, along with an appearance by the late-emcee – and his longtime friend – Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2019, Paul Cauthen gave the world a breakup record. That’s not to say that Room 41 didn’t offer hints of what would come next. “Cocaine Country Dancing” offered the hint a brashness its title suggests. But two years into a global pandemic, the Texas-based singer-songwriter comes out of the gate swinging on Country Coming Down. “Country as Fuck” leads of an LP littered with titles like “Champagne & a Limo.” Sure, there are love songs on here, but Cauthen’s made it clear he’s here to have some fun. Just ahead of the record’s release, we sat down to talk about his religious upbringing, mindfulness and Johnny Cash. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As I type this, Bob Mould has jumped back in with both legs. He’s quick to point out that he managed to get a handful of dates in at the end of last year, but the his solo electric distortion tour spans three months and finds him hopping between the U.S. and U.K. It took the world grinding to a screeching halt to get the musician off the road for a while, though he’s kicked 2022 off with a bang. The year opened with the release of The Ocean, an EP that finds him dipping into his back catalog with a pair of tracks from 2020’s Blue Hearts and a reimagining of a Hüsker Dü classic. Our chat is a quick one, with an artist who once again finds himself getting back into the swing of things. We talk San Francisco, listening and not listening to music and his time as a wrestling writer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

His voice echoes as he speaks. The walls are entirely empty ahead of a big move, but Jonathan Meiburg has carved out enough time to sit and speak. We get into the subject of caracaras fairly quickly. They’re strange little birds in the same family as falcons – though they sport personalities more in line with a crow or a raven. Meiburg was so taken by the creatures he devoted several years to penning a book on the topic. But he’s forever returning to music, be it projects like Loma, Okkervil River or his primary act, Shearwater – the latter of which is set to release its first LP in six years. Due out in June, The Great Awakening might be the band’s most ambitious original work to date. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He quotes his therapist when describing his latest album. It’s a conflict of external vs. internal wanderlust. Ramesh Srivastava spent the last several years exploring the former, but Eternal Spring charts his time with the latter. His second solo record since the dissolution of indie darlings Voxtrot finds the singer getting deeply personal in a way that didn’t come naturally in his earlier career. He’s spent the years working on music, waiting tables and getting to know himself. It makes for a good conversion, and Srivastava is eager to discuss it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.