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By the time Roaming arrived last year, it had been nearly a decade since This One Summer, the last collaboration between cousins Jillian and Mariko Tamaki. The comic was their second joint project, follow 2008's award-winning debut, Skim. This One Summer won the pair an Eisner, Ignatz and Coldecott, before running afoul of overzealous censorship boards, due in part to its compassionate and humane approach to writing LGBTQ youths. Targeted at a YA audience, Roaming's cast is older, but the book similarly approaches a budding queer relationship, as three college aged woman travel from Canadian to New York City for a whirlwind trip. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

World records can be tricky things. Rules enforced by governing bodies can disqualify potential contenders. While there was no likelihood of enshrinement at the finish line, Pocket Vinyl went for it nevertheless and got their own book in the process. How to Completely Lose Your Mind finds bandmates and husband/wife duo Elizabeth Jancewicz and Eric Stevenson racing to finish a tour of 50 states in 45 days. Jancewicz joins us to discuss the book, tour and painting in front of a live crowd. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's no one quite like Gogol Bordello. The band has cultivated a wildly joyful mix of Romani and Ukrainian music, crossed with punk, polka and any other genre that might suitable serve the chaos. Eugene Hütz stands in the eye of the storm, as frontman and ringleader. Growing up in Ukraine studying English language punk and folk, Hütz and family would move across the content to Poland, Hungary, Austria and Italy as political refugees. In the early-90s, the band settled in the U.S. By the end of the decade, Gogol Bordello began in earnest in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By her early 20s, Veronica Swift was a jazz veteran. The daughter of musicians (pianist Hod O'Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian), she recorded her debut at age nine. Swift’s career has taken its share of turns, including a rock opera in which she played a killer nun, composed while studying music at the University of Miami. Last year’s self-titled LP presents yet another side of the musician, as she marries her love of rock with her jazz bonafides. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Place invariably has a profound impact on the art we make. Immigration melds cultures and creative output, a phenomenon embodied by musical cross pollination. Movement, which began its second season this year, explores the lives and works of immigrant musicians. It’s a subject that is near and dear to the podcast’s host, Meklit Hadero, whose music marries influences from her American home and Ethiopian birthplace. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As day jobs go, one could do a lot worse than composer. Classically trained at Yale, Ellis Ludwig-Leone spends much of his time writing music for institutions including the New York City Ballet. By night, he’s the principal songwriter and ostensible leader of San Fermin, whose indie-inclined chamber pop has earned a steady following and critical acclaim for more than a decade. Next month, the will release Arms, a rawer, more immediate album dealing with – among other topics – art and the end of relationships. Ludwig-Leone joined us to discuss the two sides of his songwriting life. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a name borrowed from the Get Up Kids’ second EP, Red Letter Days finds front man Matt Pryor delving deep into personal stories. The memoir was adapted – in part – from the musician’s journals, beginning with his childhood diabetes diagnoses, through his musical journey. Formed in Kansas in the mid-90s, the Get Up Kids went on to become one of the most influential acts of emo’s second wave (referred to as the tongue-in-cheek “e-word” throughout). Pryor joins us to discuss his musical life, personal struggles and the act of getting it all down on paper. Transcript here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Survival Guide is, for all intents and purposes, Emily Whitehurst. What began as collaboration evolved into a solo act. For the project’s fourth album, deathdreams, the musician has continued to push her limits, playing nearly every instrument on its 11 tracks. Whitehurst has had plenty of collaborative projects over the years, including her stint in punk band, Tsunami Bomb and the follow up group, The Action Design. But sometimes the purest form of expression requires an artist to take things into their own hands. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Plenty of pioneers aren’t sufficiently recognized in their time. Fanny had its share of high profile champions, from David Bowie to Steely Dan, but nothing amounting to the level of stardom they might have achieved had they come around a decade later. The band’s legend has only grown in subsequent decades, however. More than a quarter-century after the band’s dissolution, however, Rhino resissued the band’s four albums by way of a box set. More recently, the documentary, Fanny: The Right to Rock, introduced the group a whole new generation of fans. Singer and guitarist June Millington joins us to discuss her journey in music, mindfulness and teaching. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A deeply personal meditation on life, art and surviving capitalism, Time Under Tension further establishes MS Harkness as a formative voice in auto-bio comics. The book – her first for Fantagraphics – follows the Uncivilized Books titles, Tinderella and Desperate Pleasures. Harkness joins us to discuss her work, weightlifting and teaching comics. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.