On today's episode, I talk to musician Ben Chasny. Born in Los Angeles, Ben's family moved to rural Northern California when he was young. His recording debut was a heavy, free rock project named Plague Lounge, whose album The Wicker Image, was released conjointly between the New World of Sound and Holy Mountain labels in 1996. Holy Mountain released many of Ben's albums as Six Organs of Admittance as well, starting with his first self-titled album in 1998. Since then, he's released just...

On today's episode, I talk to TV writer Chris Black. Originally from Toledo, OH, Chris went to USC, which eventually led to him working in television. He started on the USA adaptation of Weird Science, and since then has worked on some of the best shows of the last three decades including Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Invincible, Mad Men, Severance, and a personal favorite of mine, Sliders. That is just a small sampling of his CV, and currently, he co-developed with Matt Fraction and...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Peyton Pinkerton. Originally from Pleasantville, New York, Peyton formed New Radiant Storm King in 1990 while at Hampshire College. Over the next two decades, the band released nine albums on labels like Grass, Rainbow Quartz and Darla, and in 2010 played their final show. Peyton has also played and toured with Silver Jews, playing on perhaps their best album The Natural Bridge, as well as with the Pernice Brothers. As a solo artist, Peyton has released...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Niko Kapetan AKA one-half of the band Friko. Originally from Evanston, IL, Niko had been writing songs since he was a teenager and formed Friko with his bandmate Bailey Minzenberger in 2019. After self-releasing a number of singles and EPs, the band signed with ATO Records, and in mid-February, ATO released their debut album Where We've Been, Where We Go from Here, and it's a delight! This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts,...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Rafael Toral. Born in Lisbon in 1967, Rafael has been intrigued by the potential of sound and the functions of music since he was a teenager. Working with electric guitar and electronics, in the 1990’s he pioneered a blend of Ambient and Rock and recorded acclaimed albums like Wave Field or Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance. In 2004, he began the ambitious 15-year project entitled Space Program, which used experimental instruments to explore...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Tracyanne Campbell. Originally from Glasgow, Tracyanne founded Camera Obscura in 1996 with John Henderson and Gavin Dunbar. Their first album, Biggest Bluest Hi Fi, came out half a decade later to acclaim, and since then, they've released four other albums on labels like Elefant and 4AD. On May 3rd, Merge Records will release Camera Obscura's latest album Look to the East, Look to the West, and folks, it's a banger! This is the...

On today's episode, I talk to musician and home recording pioneer Linda Smith. While Linda had started playing out in New York in the late 1970s, it was really when she returned home to Baltimore that her artistic life blossomed. Starting in the late 1980s, she began recording what is now known as bedroom pop and releasing her albums on cassette. Through word of mouth and distros like K Records, she gained a great deal of acclaim, and in the 1990s, labels like Slumberland, Shrimper and...

On today's episode, I talk to seven-times New York Times bestselling author and award-winning comic book writer Dan Abnett. Originally from Maidstone, Dan began working in the editorial department of Marvel UK before starting to write his own comics. Dan's CV is too extensive to cover here, but a highlights reel includes his incredible work for 2000 AD, which includes comics such as Sinister Dexter and Brink, his revamp of the Guardians of the Galaxy with writing partner Andy Lanning, which...

On today's episode, I talk to musician and founder of TeenBeat Records Mark Robinson. Originally from New Jersey, Mark moved to Washington DC as a child, and in high school formed the indie rock group Unrest. From 1985 to about 1994, the band released seven albums, many on Robinson's own TeenBeat Records, as well as Caroline and 4AD. Since then, Mark has played in a number of groups including  Air Miami, Flin Flon, Grenadine, Cotton Candy and many others. As previously mentioned, Mark is also...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Madeline Link. Originally from Calgary, Madeline Link initially started PACKS as a solo project, but it eventually coalesced into its current four-piece configuration. In 2020, they were signed to Fire Talk Records, and the label has since released all four of their albums and EPs. This includes 2021's Take the Cake, 2023's Crispy Crunchy Nothing and their latest, Melt the Honey, which came out towards the end of January and is just wonderful! This...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Andrew Kenny. Originally from Fort Worth, Kenny formed The American Analog Set in 1995 and over the next decade, released six albums on labels like Emperor Jones, Tiger Style and Arts & Crafts, after which the band went on hiatus. In 2009, Kenny released the first of two albums as The Wooden Birds, but since 2011's Two Matchsticks, he has been rather quiet. That is, until this last year. In 2023, The American Analog Set released their first album in...

On today's episode, I talk to writer and director Juel Taylor. Originally from Tuskegee, Alabama, Juel at first wanted to design video games, but in college he shifted his focus to filmmaking. He did different jobs in sound while he was waiting to break through, and in 2018, he co-wrote Creed II. Directing gigs on Boomerang and Twenties followed, as well as co-writing Space Jam: A New Legacy in 2021. This all culminated in Juel's first project as co-writer and director They Cloned Tyrone,...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Avery Hellman AKA ISMAY. Originally from the Bay Area, Avery grew up surrounded by music - their grandfather founded the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival - but didn't think they would pursue making music professionally until a crisis propelled them in that direction. Their first album Songs of Sonoma Mountain was released in 2020, and their latest album Desert Pavement was just released last week, and it's great! This is the...

On today's 14th Anniversary episode, I talk to MacArthur Genius Grant-winning author Jonathan Lethem. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Jonathan at first thought he was going to be a visual artist until some existential realizations about class and art in college in the early 1980s left him disillusioned. He dropped out, hitchhiked to California and started writing while he worked as a clerk in used bookstores. In 1994, Harcourt Brace published his first novel Gun, with Occasional Music,...

On today's episode, I talk to composer and artist Arnold Dreyblatt. Originally from New York City, Arnold is part of the second generation of New York minimal composers, having studied with Pauline Oliveros, La Monte Young, and Alvin Lucier. His first album Nodal Excitation was released in 1982, and since then, he's recorded almost a dozen more, including 1995's Animal Magnetism, which was released on Tzadik. Based in Berlin since 1984, Arnold was Professor of Media Art at the Muthesius...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Evan Dando. Attending the CommonWealth School in Boston in the early 1980s, Evan met Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz, and in 1986, they formed The Lemonheads. The band released three great albums on Taang!, but it wasn't until after signing to Atlantic and releasing It's a Shame About Ray in 1992 that the band broke through. While there have been numerous ups and downs, personnel changes, a six-year hiatus, during which Evan released a wonderful album under...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Tanya Donelly. Originally from Newport, Rhode Island, Tanya founded not just one, but three, incredible 20th century bands. As a teenager in the 1980s, she formed Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh and performed with them through 1991. During this same time, she founded The Breeders with Kim Deal and co-wrote the first album Pod. Tanya left both groups though to form Belly, where she was the principal songwriter and frontperson. Their...

On today's episode, I talk to composer Doug Bielmeier. Originally from Buffalo, Doug started out playing in indie rock bands before shifting his focus to composition, which he received both bachelors and masters degrees for. His music has been described as an "extension of Xenakis’s early electroacoustic tape pieces", and his albums include 2017's Betty and the Sensory World, 2018's Costa Mesa Rocking Chair, and 2019's Beast of Bodmin Moor. Doug also holds a PhD in education and is a...

On today's episode, I talk to filmmaker J. Blakeson. Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, J. started out making low-budget shorts of his own. This eventually led to him being able to make a slightly larger film, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, in 2009, starring Gemma Arterton and Eddie Marsan. Over the next 14 years, J. wrote and directed many other films and TV shows; some highlights include the Gunpowder miniseries for BBC One/HBO and 2021's I Care a Lot for which Rosamund Pike won...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Arone Dyer. Originally from Willmar, Minnesota, Arone began writing songs in high school and even won a contest to perform at the Minneapolis Lilith Fair when she was 18-years-old. But soon after, she developed carpal tunnel syndrome and had to give up playing guitar for many years. After moving to New York, where she took up work as a luthier and bicycle mechanic, Arone met Aron Sanchez, and the two eventually formed the group Buke and Gase, which is...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Nina Nastasia. Originally from Los Angeles, CA, Nina began writing songs in 1993 but initially had no real ambitions to be a professional musician. She ended up recording many of those songs with Steve Albini, and they became her debut album Dogs, which was released in 2000. Albini sent the record to John Peel, who championed it on his radio show, and Nina began to garner both fans and acclaim. Since then, she's recorded and released seven albums on...

On today's episode, I talk to writer and comedian Jordan Morris. Originally from Mission Viejo, Jordan attended UC Santa Cruz, where he met his future podcasting partner Jesse Thorn, and in 2007, the two started one of the longest-running podcasts still going, Jordan, Jesse, Go! on the Maximum Fun network. As a writer, he's worked on everything from @midnight to Earth to Ned, and has also penned two graphic novels. The first, the Eisner-nominated Bubble, was based on his scripted podcast...

On today's episode, I talk to Eisner Award-winning comics writer Matt Fraction. Originally from Chicago, Matt started out in comics writing for publishers like IDW in the early 2000s and broke into wider recognition with his 2006 series Casanova. This led to both more creator-owned work like Sex Criminals, Satellite Sam, and November as well as stints on Marvel books like Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man, Fantastic Four and a defining run on Hawkeye with David Aja. Matt also works in television, and...

On today's episode, I talk to Emmy-winning comedy writer Mike Sweeney. Since childhood, Mike wanted to be in showbiz, but family issues prevented him from pursuing stand-up until his late 20s. Stand-up led to writing on shows like Short Attention Span Theater and Politically Incorrect, and in 1995, he joined the writing staff of the then two-year-old Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In 2002, Mike became the head writer for Conan and stayed with the show through its transition to the Tonight...