RiYL

Retirement was short-lived for Matt Pond PA. The eponymous front man very publicly toyed with the moniker that’s continued to tie him to his home state, but a 20 year run like that isn’t something one walks away from so easy. Pond continues a prolific career, often teaming with producer and guitarist Chris Hansen, a core collaborator and creative life mate. This month, the duo released Songs of Disquiet, a seven-song EP written and produced amid the current pandemic. It’s an album that, among other things, maintains his long standing passion for juxtaposition loving cover songs with originals. Ahead of the pandemic clamping down on travel, Pond came down from his nearby Hudson Valley, NY home to discuss the ups and downs of a life in indie rock. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forty years after forming in New York’s late-70s punk scene, the Bush Tetras are still going strong. 2018 saw the release of the Take the Fall EP, the product of a band content to release music for the pure love of it. There were rocky times, of course. By 1983, the band saw some key membership turnover, ultimately dissolving that same year. There was a short-lived stint in the 90s, but it’s this latest reunion — spurred in 2005 by increased interest in the post-punk genre — that marks the band’s longest stretch. Vocalist Cynthia Sley joins us to discuss the band’s early years, its legacy and the drive to keep making music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a great video from early last year. Taken onstage at the End of the Road Festival, Ezra Furman is tasked with interviewing John Cale. You get pretty much what you’d expect from the Velvet Underground founder — soft spoken, deliberately thoughtful answers. Furman, clearly a massive fan, is far more excitable. Above all, they’re searching for a connection with the legendary musician on topics of creativity and songwriting. It’s a both endearing and insightful view of a musician like Furman, who appears to prefer to retain some mystery around their own process. And certainly there’s a strong argument to be made for letting the music speak for itself. Recent releases like Twelve Nudes and Transangelic Exodus have become of some of the most celebrated indie rock releases of the past decade. On a recent trip to Boston, Furman joined us for a thoughtful discussion about the personal, the professional, gender, religion and the ups and downs of the creative process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last time Ryan Walsh appeared on the show was during another trip I took to Boston. At the time, he spoke of his upcoming book about Van Morrison.What, admittedly, sounded like a fairly niche examination of the musician’s time recording a legendary album became one of the year’s most acclaimed music books. Astral Weeks finds Walsh playing detective, seeking to answer some longstanding questions, while exploring the largely unremarked upon Boston psychedelic scene of the time. Last year Walsh’s band Hallelujah the Hills released I’m You. The album finds the musician writing and singing his most straightforward — and arguably best — set of songs in its decade-plus existence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Few can rival the indie rock pedigree of Tanya Donelly. At the age of 15, she cofounded 4AD stalwarts Throwing Muses with best-friend-turned-step-sister Kristin Hersh. Seven years later, she joined forces with Kim Deal on her then-side project, The Breeders. But it was the formation of Belly the following year that really allowed Donelly to shine as both a front woman and songwriter, scoring one of the era’s most memorable singles, “Feed the Tree” in 1993. After a less than amicable breakup in the mid-90s, the musician began a decades-spanning solo career, culminating in the five column “Swan Song Series” in 2013-2014. In recent years, Donelly has found a second career, working as a postpartum doula for new parents, even as the siren call of music has beckoned to her yet again through recent projects, including Belly’s 2016 reunion.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adapted from a podcast of the same name, Ways of Hearing explored the countless knock-on effects that play out in both production and listen when music shifts from analog to digital. The book explores similar notions as Damon Krukowski’s previous work, 2017’s The New Analog — subjects that are near and dear to him as a member of the iconic groups, Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi. In addition to the works he has published through the  New Press and MIT Press, Krukowski is also cofounder of independent publishing house Exact Change, along with partner, Naomi Yang. Krukowski joined us to discuss how technology has changed the way we play and consume music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a journeyman musician, Kyle Forester’s resume reads like a who’s who of indie bands from the past decade and a half. Most notably, the multi-instrumentalist has spent time as a member of Crystal Stilts, Woods and Elephant 6 mainstays, The Ladybug transistor. More recently, he played on the David Berman’s Purple Mountains LP. In 2016, Forester released his self-tiled debut solo record, following it up with Hearts In Gardens earlier this year. Forester joins us to discuss life as touring indie musician, scoring films and why he’s still hopeful about the future, in spite of it all.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2018, Kat Edmonson declared herself an “Old Fashioned Gal,” with an LP and track of the same name. The Brooklyn based musician sings and writes songs steeped in pop-jazz stylings of another era. But her work aims deeper than simple nostalgia. This year brought followup album, Dreamers Do, a mix of Disney covers and originals. “Too Late to Dream” finds Edmonson pondering her approach to the world during a sleepless night, a notion that gave rise to what amounts to a loose concept album. The singer joins us to discuss jazz singing in 2020, going through the major label ringer and the major label wringer and the connection between insomnia and the creative process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a video shot in 1991 of a 13-year-old Jen Shyu playing the hell of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on grand piano backdropped by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. A lifelong musician who studied theater and opera at Stanford and has performed at  Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Shyu’s current work veers into the experimental and avant-garde, all while paying homage to a wide range of musical traditions, including Taiwan an East Timor.Often highly theatrical, her work utilizes a wide range of languages (she speaks ten) and instruments, including piano, violin, the two-string Taiwanense moon lute and the Chinese er hu, among others. Shyu closed out last year with the performance of her show “Zero Grasses,” a part of John Zorn's on-going Commissioning series in New York. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Change of Diet finds Elliott Moss living in the wake of a decade-long relationship. The singer writer grapples with the all of the major and unexpected knock-on effects of such a life change. It’s his most deeply personal record, intertwining such sentiments with a dense electronic soundtrack over the course of its 11 tracks, marrying the brutally honest with the willfully opaque. Like much of the rest of his work, the musician record the album largely solo, constructing its pieces with an arsenal of multi-instrumental prowess. On a recent visit to the city, Moss discussed the process of musical catharsis and transforming the personal into a public display. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.