Steve Albini Interview (Part 2 of 2) [Listen 17:33] – Nirvana, Fame And Dying In A Grease Fire With Steve Albini – S03 Ep05
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S03 Ep05 (Part2 of 2)- Nirvana, Fame And Dying In A Grease Fire With Steve Albini
Special Guest: Steve Albini is famous for his distinctive style, the music he has been a part of, and his anti-producer producing philosophy. His work speaks for itself, recording bands like Nirvana, the Pixies, Superchunk, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Helmet, PJ Harvey, Cheap Trick, Bonny “Prince” Billy, Jarvis Cocker, Sparklehorse and believe me when I say the list could go on. He has been a member of the bands Big Black, Rapeman, and Shellac. I first came across Steve Albini's name from reading Nirvana interviews around the time Nirvana was releasing their masterpiece “In Utero.” In those interviews, Kurt Cobain talked about how he wanted to follow up their mega-hit album “Nevermind” with the producer who recorded his favourite albums like “Surfa Rosa” by the Pixies and “Pod” by the Breeders. Albini’s style of engineering and producing has been described as “hands off,” or minimalist in its approach. He also is a person who prefers not to receive credit on the albums he has worked on, stating that he doesn't think it's right to be paid in perpetuity for something he took part in for only one day. Albini is also known for his integrity to the music, and has gained fame not only in music he put out but for his reasonable recording rates (charging affordable flat rates regardless of the bands' fame). He's clearly music fan and I am thrilled to have Steve Albini on the show.
In this podcast we talk about the Nirvana album In Utero and the controversy surrounding it, we get into the music of the Jesus Lizard, we talk about fame and success and it’s relationship to music as an art form, we get his opinion on where he thinks music is today.
Suicide - The Ultimate Sacrifice
Death is so...............final.
The loss of one’s life is by far the worst thing that could ever happen in one's life (excusing religion, nihilists, etc. but let's not make this a philosophical debate) Death - “the thing” to avoid at any cost. Yet we all know we all have death facing us at some point.* (*In my case this may never happen.) “Art” on the other hand could be seen as the benchmark - the highest form, manifestation of “Life.” Immortality through self expression- whether through an idea, a thought, or some universal feeling expressed – a connection with another human being outside of place or time. We as the listener are let into their world and given pieces of insight by that artist for us to digest. When suicide is involved it puzzles one’s mind. What does it mean when an artist we love takes their life?
Tons of questions come to mind that we wouldn’t otherwise think: was their death avoidable; is that any of my business; is there a deeper meaning to the music now; was fame too great for them; if the music moved me to me does that mean I myself could be closer to suicide than I think?
I remember Kurt Cobain’s death well. It was strange for me because unlike someone like Nick Drake who died back in 1974, Cobain was someone of my generation that I actually really dug. Nirvana’s music and Kurt Cobain’s art seemed to speak my language more than other music at the time.
When I first heard of his death, I remember seeing other people in a sense of shock over the news too. It was strange because for a brief window in time people connected with other people, sharing their shock and disbelief about his death. Seeing people crying and the media that surrounded it - I couldn't help but think, he would have got a kick out of the mayhem surrounding his death and touched by the genuine sadness over peoples reaction.
Today, like always with time thoughts soften and change. The 90’s are gone and I’m glad. I couldn't imagine going back to living pre-internet days. That said, it would have been cool to hear another Nirvana or Sparklehorse record or, better to have seen them live.
The list of great musical artists who have taken their own lives is a long one, sadly.** We thought we might pay tribute and highlight some of these tragic figures.
Kurt Cobain
Mark Linkous
Nick Drake
Wendy O. Williams
Vic Chesnutt
Darby Crash
Ian Curtis
Sid Vicious
Johnny Ace
-Jason Hoffer
**(and the list could go on) but I want to pay tribute without glorifying. See full list here if interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musicians_who_committed_suicide
David J and Zia McCabe interview [Listen 21:15] – Getting the Magic with David J S03 Ep03 (Part 2 of 2)
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S03 Ep03 (Part2 of 2)- Getting the Magic with David J
Interview Date: September 12, 2012 @5pm EDT
Halloween Special Guests: (Audio) David J (of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets): is an indie legend and a Goth Rock icon. David John Haskins (aka David J) was a key member in the band Bauhaus, as well as the band Love and Rockets, and now is forging a solid solo career. He is someone I can easily say is a person who formed the soundtrack of my high school years with classic songs like: "No New Tale to Tell," "Ball of Confusion," "Ziggy Stardust," "So Alive," and "Bela Lugosi's Dead.” At that time I knew him as the sunglass and suit wearing bass player who had a fantastic Dub quality; as the years have gone on, my respect for him and his musical legacy has only grown. In this podcast we go into David J’s past and talk about 4AD, Bauhaus, the song Bela Lagosi’s Dead, Double Dare, the Goth Movement, Love and Rockets and much more. http://www.davidjonline.com
Halloween Special Guest: (Written) Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols: is the keyboard player, percussionist, song writer and bass guitarist, for the Dandy Warhols. In this half of the written interview I ask her what (if any) feminist issues she feels strongly about, major labels, her thought on the vinyl music industry and the latest Dandy Warhols album This Machine.
Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols Interview - 'This Interview Kills' (Part 2 of 2)
GTV - Would you care to discuss some feminist issues that you feel strongly about?
Zia McCabe - Uh, like what? I’m not sure exactly what feminist issue is. The right to decide what happened to our body ie abortion. Of course I’m pro choice, just like I would never tell a guy he couldn’t get a vasectomy. What else? If you want to do what “men” do, do it. If you want to be stay at home mom, do that! The problem is, both those things should be valued and respected equally and there lies our problem. Now who suffers from this the most? The children; because no one (male or female) is home to raise the children. Everyone is out being a man.
GTV - With the industry changing as much as it has and with it the whole paradigm shift, who gains from a band making it big these days?
Zia McCabe - I don’t really understand. If the music is good, everyone gains. If it sucks then just the band and label and industry in general gains. The radio stations have something to play between their commercials.
GTV - Where is the money in the music industry today?
Zia McCabe - Licensing.
GTV - What’s you take on Vinyl records and the independent Record Store?
Zia McCabe - I love vinyl, I DJ vinyl whenever I can. I love touching it and looking for odd out of print records and playing them in my living room and out at gigs. The rise in popularity in vinyl is saving the indie record store. They should prolly jump on this whole cassette mini movement too, or is that just in Portland?
GTV - “This Machine” came out earlier this year and is, in my opinion, one of your strongest albums yet. Are you, yourself, as a musician searching for more? What would you say accounts for the band's growth?
Zia - Thank you and yes, I am always looking to learn and well, most searching is from within but I’m always looking to learn about new ways to express myself. I believe everyone in my band works this way and if one or more of us grows stagnant for a period there seems to always be one of us that has gained new insight and enthusiasm that can keep the ball rolling.
GTV - Where did the title “This Machine” come from?
Zia - Arlo Guthrie had a sticker on his guitar that said, “This Machine Kills Fascists” then later Donovan had a sticker on his guitar that said “This Machine Kills” . Courtney was telling me about this when we were shooting the video for Smoke It and my replay was that he should have a sticker on his guitar that said “This Machine”. The guitar has been laying around the studio ever since and at some point Courtney realized it was a fitting name for this album.
GTV - Is this a political record?
Zia - No I wouldn’t say that. Alternative Power To The People is the closest thing to political on there and it’s (well the video more than the song) just about power and alternatives and how we don’t have much say most the time.
GTV - Nice artwork on the cover; how does it relate to the album?
Zia - Uh, cool local artist painting something very North West USA which is where we’re all from.
GTV - “Sad Vacation” is a great song, do you have a penchant for heavy pop?
Zia - Oh jeeze, I don’t know what I have a “penchant” for but no, I don’t think heavy pop would be it. More likely, vintage country and anything old like old Hawaiian with all that pretty pedal steel and stuff like that.
GTV - I think Courtney was just experimenting with different singing styles in the his lower register, not sure if he was actually going for Iggy Pop, that’s where he ended up though huh? I dig it!
Zia - “Don’t shoot she cried” is a great atmospheric song with ethereal choral undertones to it; it was written by yourself and Brent Deboer.
GTV - What is that song about and how did it come together?
Zia - I came into the studio and Brent already had this pretty music and I knew right away that I had words for it so I ran out to my truck with a copy of the demo and practiced for a minute and came back in a few minutes later to track it. It’s about my sister getting held up at gun point in her home when she was a young mother. Two masked men came to rob her and took the little cash she had that was meant for rent. It’s not in the song but in real life one of the guys felt bad that she was just a poor young mom and gave a little of the money back to her on the way out the door when his partner wasn’t looking. She must have been terrified.
GTV - This is a song that you contributed to the album; is this an indication of a shift in song-writing responsibilities?
Zia - Like I said, we are all experimenting with new ways to express ourselves. ; )
GTV - What song off the new album gets the biggest response live?
Zia - I’m not sure, maybe Sad Vacation.
GTV - A lot of the “classic” bands like the Rolling Stones, the Searchers and the Kinks are hitting their 50th Anniversary. What milestones would you like to achieve?
Zia - Well our 20th Anniversary is just around the corner, that seems like a pretty big deal to me.
- End -
Mira Calix interview (Part 2 of 2) Listen: 27:44 – I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound – S03 Ep02
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S03 Ep02 (Part 2 of 2)- I love to hear Mira Calix speak, yet well I know
Interview Date: September 11, 2012 @2pm EDT
Special Guest: Mira Calix - As far as Electronica artists go, Chantal Passamonte aka Mira Calix is much more organic, not only in the sounds she uses (through collecting field recordings, capturing analogue sounds, and working with chamber instruments and other ensembles), but also with the direction her music has taken, evolving away from a strictly electronic sound to incorporating classical orchestration and working in dance, film, theatre, opera, and within the visual arts. In this podcast we talk about the collaboration with Gavin Bryers on the Shakespeare sonnet “Nothing like the sun” , we discuss her work with Mark Clifford of SeeFeel, the album “Eyes set against the sun”, her famous award winning piece “My Secret Heart”, the recent Alfred Hitchcock soundtrack commission and much much more.. Check out more here: http://www.miracalix.com/
The Connection
Mira Calix (Chantal Passamonte) mentioned the band My Bloody Valentine (MBV) as an influence during her interview, and they're a band worth a description here, although by now, they've gotten enough publicity and time to become more familiar to the world but, in their day in the early '90's, they were one of the best alternative 
bands you never heard of. They had a resurgence after they disbanded in the mid 90's and the strength of their sound kept them popping up throughout new music scenes and generations. I can recall reading a review in a university paper only six years ago about the the writer's "new find" they called a goldmine of a discovery, and of which they were extremely proud to find and relishing the music and describing with great amounts of ebullience, "especially when turned up loud." It wasn't the most brilliant writing, or thorough review, but what made it memorable, was that their music was being rediscovered and loved again as new and groundbreaking despite their disappearance from the scene, apart from the few tracks in Sofia Coppola's movie, Lost In Translation, but in the midst of approximately fifteen years passing and through new and contrary popular music scenes, their music still remains to enthrall new listeners.
Passamonte seemed a bit taken aback by referring to MBV and their ilk as counter to the mainstream, but this only reveals the difference in the music scene when one crosses the pond. My Bloody Valentine had better success in the UK, and perhaps was not so underground to her, but to the twenty-somethings in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (the land where Blackberries now rot on the vine) MBV were the darlings of the underground; you had to have connections to the scene in Toronto to be in the know. At that time, North America was taken over by Nirvana and The Red Hot Chilly Peppers; it was nearly impossible to hear anything else above the buzz.
And while MBV is great music to play loudly on your system, they deserve much more description than that. A good listen, or just a little research on the internet will reveal how original and intricate the band and their sound is.
But first off, some description of the leader of MBV, Kevin Shields, is in order. Something of the J.D. Salinger of the music world, he's reclusive, rarely talks to the media, and extremely meticulous with his sound. Deeply involved in every nuance, it becomes easily understood how such an innovative sound could have emerged from such fastidiousness and creativity. When he has opened up in interviews, he reveals himself an extremely artistic personality, but also a rare one countered with a heavy dose of wisdom - no doubt, something that's served him well in securing ownership of his music, although its led to difficult and perhaps underhanded dealings with record labels, but events which he eventually came out on top of due to his passion and persistence, and something he seems reflect upon without bitterness when his passion is checked by his intellect and maturity.
Speaking on the MBV sound, it's lush, layered, encompassing, and original. The guitar work had been something of a impassioned debate in the day. It was believed to be heavily manipulated through effects and massively reworked through the studio, yet, Shields attests, turns out to be rather simply, a guitar tuned to a chord with liberal use of a tremolo bar and run through an amp turned up to 11. The sound launched them into high critical acclaim, and heads of the Madchester, or 
"shoegazer" sound, but unfortunately record sales weren't as stellar to match the acclaim. They failed to chart in the U.S. That, plus inactivity led to members of the band falling away, yet it's the originality of the sound which makes them reappear and indelible on those who heard them in the past. And requests for more output, thanks in part to Sophia Coppola, has led to their immortality to the degree that rereleases and remasters, and new tours coming out, plus, although Shields has stated no firm date, he speaks of unreleased material finally finished and due out soon. While Shields may not follow most people's notion of time, his work is something to watch for when it does come. It's more than worth owning a seminal band who's been so influential to so many, Mira Calix included. His work has inspired more than one generation of music lover.
Next Week's Guests:
Audio interview - David J - bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and Love and Rockets.
Written interview - Zia McCabe Keyboards, etc. from the Dandy Warhols.
Links to occupy your time and enlighten your soul:
John McLaughlin's new album "Now Here This" coming out Oct 18th!
“It’s the best thing I ever did, from the beginning until today” -John McLaughlin
"The best Jazz album yet this year" -GoingThruVinyl
http://www.johnmclaughlin.com/project/now-here-this/
COMING SOON: John McLaughlin will be coming on the show to talk about his new album!
I also wanted to congratulate Micky Hart on a great tour! Here is a link to some free live tracks; get them while they're still up.
http://mickeyhart.net/download
Check out our interview with Micky Hart Here
Harold Budd interview – (Part 2 of 2) Watching Sunlight and Shadows Through Six Windows with Harold Budd S02 Ep11
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S02 Ep11 (Part 2 of 2) - Watching sunlight and shadows through six windows with Harold Budd
Interview Date: May 3, 2012 @8pm EDT
A Highly Recommended Listen!
Special Guest: Harold Budd is an American composer and poet who is known for his soft pedal piano style and his ground-breaking projects. In this podcast we talk about the album "By the Dawn's Early Light", the photo of "The Captive White Boy, Santiago McKinn" (Photo below), the story behind the David Sylvian produced album "Avalon Sutra" and working with his friends, John Foxx (formally of Ultravox), Robin Guthrie, plus his view of the piano and much more.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-jimmymckinn2.html
Big Noise of Electronica
We wanted to showcase some of the big names of electronica, of course, as is often the case, many of the artists were creating music before the label was invented and applied, and many are rankled by the label, but we're using the term to showcase some of the figures that pushed the frontier using digital instruments and methods. This is, by no means an exhaustive list, but take a look and familiarize yourself if you’re unfamiliar with the names. There’s so much that falls under the electronica banner – whole genres, sub-genres, as well as performers. A lot of it gets derided, sometimes rightfully so; to be fair, there’s bad music everywhere, but electronica sometimes gets attacked with absolute vitriol. Especially with the resurgence in the popularity of folksinger/songwriters, adherents of folk or the like sometimes try to prove their passion and love by attacking what they see as the opposite musical form. Most often it's a mistake, really. Electronica has made a more profound and encompassing impact in music in general than one might think - even in the folksinger/songwriter genre. To realize this, dig into some of the figures under the banner. These performers are icons of the field who shaped the face of music. You might want to explore a few of them, the experience might just be mind expanding. To not do so, and continue to criticise would just be willful ignorance.
Karlheinz Stockhausen
He has to be mentioned. The forefather of electronica. Everyone else mentioned here can trace their roots back to him. Without him, things would be very different. You might say, without him there would have been a great void.
Kraftwerk
The band that launched a thousand ships. Literally, bands that list Kraftwerk as an influence number into the thousands. Kraftwerk has sparked whole genres of music that have an everlasting foundation in the history of music. “Autobahn,” “Computer World,” “Tour de France”
Brian Eno
Another progenitor, simply put. His popularity really seems to be growing exponentially, but he was active since the early 1970`s. Thoughtful and artistic; there`s so much that could be said about him, and so much has already, and in the most glowing praise. His influence is everywhere in music (and meta-music - like computer sounds) Pushing boundries, birthing genres, if you listen to music, you’ve heard his input. If you haven’t taken an active
Drinking scotch, smoking cigarettes, and hanging out with Feldman, Rothko, and Budd [Listen 37:00]S02 Ep11 (Part 1 of 2)
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S02 Ep11 (Part 1 of 2) - Drinking Scotch, smoking cigarettes and hanging out with Feldman, Rothko and BuddS02 Ep11 (Part 1 of 2) - Drinking Scotch, smoking cigerettes and hanging out with Feldman, Rothko and Budd
Interview Date: May 3, 2012 @8pm EDT
Special Guest: Harold Budd is an American composer and poet who is known for his soft pedal piano style and his ground-breaking projects. In this podcast we talk about how he started his training, meeting Morton Feldman and Mark Rothko, some of his earliest albums, and much more.
Bands and Musicians Battle Royale (Part 2 - Get Ultra-Violent with the Punk Rock Legends)
We love contrast, so I thought I might balance out my calm and sophisticated audio interview with Harold Budd with some mindless, weaselly ultra-violence in Part 2 of Battle Royale (the Punks fight back). So just like before, we are asking you which bands you prefer. Don't expect a clean fight though, this group of misfits may not look so tough to you, but they are wiry, good at cheating, and know how to smash it up. Remember this battle is best served cold in a med/small size group, and oh yeah "don't forget to beat on the biggest brat with your baseball bat."
We are starting off big!
The Sex Pistols versus The Clash
These two have been battling it out since the beginning, and there never has been a clear winner.
