MEET OUR MAKER IS NOW ON PATREON! Go to patreon.com/meetourmakers to pledge and become a patron today. You'll get access to fun stuff, including exclusive moments from interviews and the chance to submit questions for future guests. Woo! In this chat, we get to meet The Tallest Man On Earth, otherwise known as Kristian Matsson. In this chat, Kristian and I talk a lot about his brand new record, Henry St., including some of the themes behind its songs and music, the production with Nick...

MEET OUR MAKER IS NOW ON PATREON! Go to patreon.com/meetourmakers to pledge and become a patron today. You'll get access to fun stuff, including exclusive moments from interviews and the chance to submit questions for future guests. Woo! In this chat, we get to meet AC Newman (aka Carl Newman), the lead singer and songwriter of Canadian indie rock supergroup The New Pornographers. In this chat, Carl and I discuss quite a lot about the band's lovely new album (their ninth overall), Continue as...

MEET OUR MAKER IS NOW ON PATREON! Go to patreon.com/meetourmakers to pledge and become a patron today. You'll get access to fun stuff, including exclusive moments from interviews and the chance to submit questions for future guests. Woo! In this chat, we get to meet Youth Lagoon (aka: Trevor Power). Trevor is now back with his fourth Youth Lagoon record (and first since resurrecting his original moniker) called Heaven is a Junkyard. In what was really his first extensive interview of this...

MEET OUR MAKER IS NOW ON PATREON! Go to patreon.com/meetourmakers to pledge and become a patron today. You'll get access to fun stuff, including exclusive moments from interviews and the chance to submit questions for future guests. Woo! In this chat, we get to meet Jeff Hiller. Jeff is an actor who, most recently, is best known for playing Joel on the HBO dramedy Somebody, Somewhere. It's a gorgeous, human, authentic show, and in this chat, Jeff and I talk about all of it. We talk about the...

MEET OUR MAKER IS NOW ON PATREON! Go to patreon.com/meetourmakers to pledge and become a patron today. You'll get access to fun stuff, including exclusive moments from interviews and the chance to submit questions for future guests. Woo! In this chat, we get to meet Avey Tare, aka Dave Portner. Dave is one member of the experiment indie rock outfit Animal Collective, which has been active for over 20 years. Now, Dave is putting out a new solo record under his alias, 7s, and in this chat, he...

In this episode, we get to meet actor and musician Caleb Landry Jones. Though Caleb is known best as an actor - appearing in projects such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Get Out, and even the Twin Peaks: The Return miniseries - he is also an accomplished an eclectic musician. In this chat, Caleb and I talk about his newest record, Gadzooks Vol. 2, and how music has shaped him as a person, both as a performer and as a listener. We do also discuss his diverse and varied film...

In this episode we get to meet Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, producer, Kaitlyn is best known as a leading user of the rarified Buchla modular synthesizer. In this chat, she and I discuss what draws her to this instrument, and we talk quite a bit about how the sounds of it (and other sounds) cohered to create her latest album, Let's Turn it Into Sound. We talk about the power of sound, the power of collaboration, and her relationship with music - both...

In this -- the FIFTIETH (!!!) episode -- of Meet Our Makers, we meet singer-songwriter Alela Diane. In this chat, Alela and I discuss her brand new record, Looking Glass, and some of what went into making it. We talk recording, we talk writing, we talk musicality, we talk theme -- she's got it all. We talk a bit about memory, and how we process things in our art so that we can live a regular day-to-day life. We talk about the symbolism of selling her longtime home, as well as some of our...

In this episode, we get to meet singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop. Speaking to me from her home in the UK (though she's originally from California), Jesca and I discuss her new album, Order of Romance. In this chat, she and I talk at length about the record - as she says at one point, she's not afraid to "talk shop." We also talk about the political and health state of the world - including looking at the US from an expat's perspective - and how she funneled her observations about the goings-on of...

In this episode, we get to meet Emily Sprague. Emily is best known as the frontperson and lead singer of indie folk band Florist. In this chat, Emily and I discuss the ins and outs of the brand new self-titled Florist record from this summer, including its unique recording and composing journey, which took place mostly on a screened-in porch while the band stayed at a secluded house. We touch upon the last Florist record, Emily Alone, which was essentially a solo project, as well as the...

In this episode, we get to meet Laura Veirs. Laura is a singer-songwriter based in Portland, OR, and she's just released her newest record, Found Light. In this chat, Laura and I talk a lot about this new album, unpacking themes, examining specific songs, and talking about the writing and production - which was her first time ever coproducing her own album. We talk about the tumultuous period of her life that inspired it and its predecessor, My Echo, which included her divorce from longtime...

In this episode, we get to meet Emily Haines. Emily Haines is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of Canadian indie rock band Metric. In this chat, Emily and I discuss a wide range of things, including their brand new record Formentera, as well as the band's back catalog and beginnings, which began with a bit of a false start. We talk about her solo work, her ideas on music and what Metric's true ethos and values are, as well as the queasiness of the constant news cycle. (Note: we...

In this episode, we get to mee Torquil Campbell (aka Torq), one of the cofounders and co-bandleaders of Canadian indie rock veterans Stars. I'm excited this talk finally happened, as it's been in the works for almost as long as the pod has been around. But now that Stars have a brand new album out, the stars (!) finally aligned. In this digressive, blunt, hilarious, and endearing conversation, Torq and I talk the new record From Capelton Hill, the band's long history and where they are now,...

In this episode, we get to meet Daniel Rossen. Dan is best known as one of the singers/songwriters/guitarists of indie rock veterans Grizzly Bear. Now, he has released his debut solo full-length album, the stunning You Belong There, which comes ten years after his first EP, Silent Hour/Golden Mile. In this chat, Dan and I talk a lot about the new record, including some of the inspirations and methods behind his often-complex songs. We talk about Grizzly Bear's past, present, and future, as...

In this episode, we get to meet Dan Bejar of Destroyer. What started as a 4-track solo project in the 90s has bloomed into one of indie rock's stalwart acts, and in this talk, Dan and I talk a lot about his storied career, his lyrical stylings, his inspirations, and more. We also discuss his brilliant brand new album, Labyrinthitis, which is his 13th album. Dan was just as nonchalant, cool, and dryly funny as you'd likely expect, and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

In this episode, we get to meet singer, songwriter, metal-lover, producer, Sasami. The mononym of one Sasami Ashworth, Sasami has recently put out her anticipated second album, SQUEEZE. In this chat, Sasami and I talk a lot about the new record, including its mistifyingly disparate influences, from nu-metal to folk, from System of a Down to Sheryl Crow. We talk about industry misogyny, culture, songwriting inspiration, and much more. It's a great, humorous, insightful talk, and I hope you enjoy.

In this episode - the first of 2022 - I have the privilege of meeting Tony- and Grammy-award winning songwriter, singer, and composer Anaïs Mitchell. Despite having several solo records under her belt and a side-gig in folk trio Bonny Light Horseman, it was her 2019 Broadway hit musical Hadestown that catapulted her to the public eye. In this chat, Mitchell and I discuss Hadestown, including its very long story of how it go to the Broadway stage. We also talk about her new self-titled record,...

In this episode, the final episode of 2021, we get to meet singer/songwriter José González. Speaking with me from his home in Sweden a couple days before the release of his newest record, Local Valley, José and I chat about the album and his excitement about touring. We discuss the themes and sonic risks he took this time around, including the sounds from around the globe that influenced the album. We talk about his first-ever use of Swedish and Spanish on an album, as well as his famous...

In this episode, we get to meet Meric Long, a singer/songwriter/guitarist best known as one half of indie rock band The Dodos. In this chat, Meric and I discuss what went into the band's newest record, November's Grizzly Peak, including some of the themes, the tone, the production, as well as their attempt to get back to what Meric describes as his original intention with the project. We talk about life, art, and his relationship with music, specifically with the guitar as an instrument, and...

In this episode, we get to meet Xenia Rubinos, a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist hailing from Brooklyn. I actually interviewed Xenia once before, years ago, but because we'd already gotten a lot of the "meeting" out of the way, we were able to really zero in on her brand new album, Una Rosa, which came out this fall on ANTI-. In this chat, we discuss a lot about the record, including themes, styles, the hard road toward making it (in which Xenia wasn't even sure she'd make another...

In this episode, we get to meet Nite Jewel, which is the alias of singer, songwriter, producer, instrumentalist Ramona Gonzalez. In this chat, Ramona and I discuss, at length, her newest record, No Sun, which came out this past summer. We discuss minimalism, history, how the lament as a musical form inspired a lot of this new material, the personal bent behind this new record, the "chill wave thing," and more. Thank you for listening, and please enjoy.

In this episode, we get to meet Madi Diaz. Madi is a singer-songwriter based in Nashville, who has just released her deeply personal and honest new solo record, History of a Feeling. Out on Anti-, the record details, with autopsy-like precision, the aftermath of a relationship gone awry. In this chat, Madi and I discuss at length this new album, and the comfort level it took for her to release such personal work. We also somehow get on the topic of Disney Movies and Brave Little Toaster, so...

In this episode, we get to meet Indigo Sparke. Indigo is a singer-songwriter who just put out her debut record, Echo, back in February. In this chat, she and I talk about the process of making her first album, including coproducing with Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker. We talk about some of the symbiosis between her record and Lenker's recent solo album, as well as the artistic sojourn she took in Italy with Damien Rice, Feist, and others. We talk about her recent relocation from her native...

In this episode, we get to meet Spencer Krug. Spencer is best known as one of the lead singers and songwriter of indie rock veterans Wolf Parade, but he has a long history of solo work and other bands, such as Sunset Rubdown, Moonface, and more. In this chat, Spencer and I discuss his latest solo record, Fading Graffiti, which is his first to come out under his given name. We talk about transforming the songs from ornate piano ballads to more upfront rock songs. We also talk about Wolf...

In this episode, we get to meet SPELLLING, which is the pseudonym of singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Chrystia Cabral. In this chat, Chrystia talk quite a bit about her brand new album, The Turning Wheel, which is out now on Sacred Bones. We discuss some of what went into the process of making it, some of the inspirations behind it like childhood, storytelling, myticism, and tarot cards. We talk about what led her and Scared Bones together in the first place, as well as...