J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. joins us to discuss Sweep It Into Space, along with his solo albums, early SST days, playing with heroes like Ron Asheton of the Stooges, and more.
Category: Podcast
Joanna Brouk :: Transmissions
This week on Transmissions, we’re digging into the Aquarium Drunkard vault for a 2016 conversation with the late New Age pioneer, composer, author and creator Joanna Brouk. An edited and condensed version of this conversation was published in 2016, but we are happy to present it here in its uncut audio form. Brouk passed away April 28th, 2017.
Al Riggs :: Transmissions
Durham songwriter al Riggs returns with a new country music album, I Got a Big Electric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep. They joined us to discuss the album’s concept, finding your own way into traditional music, and of course, Robert Altman’s 1980 movie Popeye.
Angel Bat Dawid :: Transmissions
This week on the show, Chicago’s Angel Bat Dawid. She joined us to discuss record collecting, the influence of Sun Ra, her history with music and religion, her creative practice, race, and much more.
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills :: Transmissions
Pino Palladino and Blake Mills are two of the most dynamic studio wizards in music and they join us this week on Transmissions to discuss Notes With Attachments, their Impulse! Records-released collaborative long-player. Known for their individual collaborations with artists like Bob Dylan, D’Angelo, The Who, Fiona Apple, and Brittany Howard, these two go completely unexpected places as they unite for a set of jazzy instruments that blur the lines between J. Dilla flips, Cuban shuffles, and West African lock grooves.
Noah Lekas & Ethan Miller of Howlin’ Rain :: Transmissions
This week on the show, we’re joined by poet and music journalist Noah C. Lekas and Ethan Miller of Howlin’ Rain and Comets on Fire. They’ve got a new collaboration featured on Sounds From the Shadow Factory, a 10″ record from Blind Owl: a rock & roll adaptation of “Saturday Night Sage,” the poem from Lekas’ recent book of the same name. The two joined us for a discussion about spoken word, their paths in psychedelia, blue collar mysticism, and the current state of the counter culture. Heading deep underground, this week on Transmissions.
Martin Courtney of Real Estate :: Transmissions
Our guest this week on Transmissions is Martin Courtney of Real Estate. On March 26th, the long-running New Jersey group releases a new EP, Half a Human, which embraces the jammier side of the band and continues the stylistic explorations of 2020’s The Main Thing. We discussed record stores, adjusting to life without live music, Twin Peaks, and Courtney’s 2015 solo album Many Moons—and its forthcoming follow up.
Shahzad Ismaily :: Transmissions
Our guest this week on the show is Shahzad Ismaily, whose recorded with, well, he’s recorded with a lot of people, from Moses Sumney and Sam Amidon to Beth Orton, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Martha Wainwright, Yoko Ono, Bonnie Prince Billy, Jolie Holland, and many, many more. With his buddies Ches Smith and Marc Ribot, he’s a member of the punk jazz outfit Ceramic Dog, and last year he released Visitations with Leo Abrahams on his own label, Figureight Records.
His Name is Alive :: Transmissions
This week on Transmissions, Warren Defever of Third Man Records and His Name Is Alive joins us for a loose ramble about decades in the record making business, his lack of adherence to genre, and what it’s felt like to revisit the tapes he made in the ’80s.
Amanda Petrusich :: Transmissions
Amanda Petrusich is the author of Do Not Sell at Any Price and a critic at The New Yorker. She joined us from her place in upstate New York to discuss balancing comfort listening and new sounds, Bob Dylan’s Christian era, Harry Smith, musical mysticism, and much more.
Peter Guralnick :: Transmissions
Legendary music writer Peter Guralnick joins us this week on Transmissions. He’s been writing about the blues, rock & roll, soul, and R&B since the late 1960s. His latest book is called Looking To Get Lost: Adventures in Music & Writing. It is a book about the creativity that fueled artists like Johnny Cash, Robert Johnson, Ray Charles, Dick Curless, Howlin’ Wolf, and others. He joins us for an open discussion about the early days of music journalism, artistry, and the curiosity that fuels his work.
Fletcher Tucker :: Transmissions
Northern California mysticism with Fletcher Tucker. His latest album of ritualistic folk music is called Unlit Trail, a record settled deep into the sacred nature of existence. Tucker joined us to discuss Star Trek, animism, family, the Esalen Institute, human potential, and the deep history of his instruments and home in Big Sur, California.
Robyn Hitchcock/Howe Gelb of Giant Sand/Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate :: Transmissions
One from the Transmissions vaults: a roundtable conversation with three indie rock lifers: Robyn Hitchcock, Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), and Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate). The talk was recorded in August 2018 at Hotel Congress in Tucson, Arizona.
Yasmin Williams :: Transmissions
On Yasmin Williams’ second lp, the newly released Urban Driftwood the Virginia-based guitarist creates expansive acoustic music. Playing guitar, kalimba, percussion, and kora, she pulls from disparate musical strands—including the smooth jazz she heard growing up—into music that feels spiritually connected to New Age music, Windham Hill guitar, and the work of contemporaries (and collaborators) like William Tyler, Marisa Anderson and Daniel Bachman, who calls her “a guitarist for a new century.”
The Weather Station :: Transmissions
Tamara Lindeman joins us this week on Transmissions for a conversation about Ignorance, her lush and sweeping new album as The Weather Station. Lindeman is the kind of songwriter who dares to write about big topics, like identity and global climate change, but the new album finds her exploring those concepts over deeply rhythmic jazz and pop-influenced compositions. It’s out Friday, February 5 on Fat Possum Records. Lindeman joined us from her home in Ontario, to discuss the pandemic, the information overload of daily life, and how she’s come to embrace the performative side of artistic practice.