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Ep. #142: Ryan Hemsworth & BADBADNOTGOOD Live at the Halifax Pop Explosion

Ryan Hemsworth and BADBADNOTGOOD each appeared at the 2014 Halifax Pop Explosion last week and we took part in a live, panel interview together at the Museum of Natural History. Ryan’s a talented electronic artist who originally hails from Halifax and whose new record, Alone for the First Time, is out November 4 via Last Gang Records. Keyboardist Matt Tavares, bassist Chester Hansen, and drummer Alex Sowinski are the brains behind BBNG, a popular instrumental hip-hop trio from Toronto whose latest album, III, is out now via Innovative Leisure and whose new collaborative album with Ghostface Killah, Sour Soul, is due out this February. Here, we discuss first encounters with the internet, dial-up and ICQ, Duke Nukem, Goldeneye and N64 and instructions, Napster, having a strong but casual social media presence, being online and sharing things all of the time, the importance of twitter, shy and quiet irl, virtual trolling and real-life confrontation, how BBNG posted a video of an Odd Future cover song online and it blew up, Alex is extroverted and smart, being angry at Lenny Kravitz, Ryan’s label Secret Songs and its connection to finding music on Soundcloud, crate digging and Muchmusic, Nelly and porn, ogg, why hip-hop, electronic and computer sounds perk Ryan’s ears up, soaking in music and putting it back out, BBNG drinking Ryan’s rider, how BBNG got together, great Indian food in Mississauga, MF Doom and Humber, Chester Hansen is pretty great, jazz time and hip-hop time, what’s the deal with rap shows, a surprise but delayed collaboration with Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, fusion ska, hardcore punk scenes within Toronto suburbs, loving the Backstreet Boys and Blink 182, Travis Barker, Matt loved Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Dinosaur Jr., Ryan’s life in Halifax, playing guitar and singing badly, the stifling creative environment in music institutions, rude messages from music teachers, BBNG got no kick against modern jazz, heroin or something crazy, Tom Grosset, Ryan’s journalism studies in Halifax, media manipulation, putting music out there, the rave cruise Holy Ship, not having an EDM moniker, freaking out about Ghost and Rae, the BBNG Slick Rick story, Ryan’s new album Alone for the First Time, looking up to Caribou and James Blake, the song “Surrounded,” the BBNG/Ghostface collab album Sour Soul, Ghost wants to play music like he’s flipping channels, Ryan’s song “Snow in Newark,” Flea and Kobe, BADBADNOTGOOD’s song “Velvet,” and that was it.

Related links: ryanhemsworth.com badbadnotgood.com halifaxpopexplosion.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #141: Lights

Lights is a pop artist from Toronto with legions of fans around the world. Born in Timmins, Ontario, Lights was discovered by Jian Ghomeshi when she was 15 years old and is now one of Canada’s most internationally recognized artists. Her latest album is Little Machines and it was released this past September, prompting her to tour and last week, she and I spoke before she played a set at the Halifax Pop Explosion. Here, Lights tells me about performing at the Polaris Music Prize Gala with Shad at the last minute, how Canadian music critics and fans receive Lights, pop music credibility, working with different people in different genres, the Beatles and Supertramp, her connection to Timmins and North Bay and Jamaica and the Philippines and Toronto, home schooling and learning how to play music, being discovered by Jian Ghomeshi at 15 years old, shooting a Wal-Mart ad as a kid, “Hero” by Mariah Carey, signing a management deal with Jian and sending all of her song ideas to him first, writer’s block, the song “Don’t Go Home Without Me” and temporal perspectives, having her daughter in February, re-living life through your kids, the notion of Little Machines and energetic kids, ambient sounds and a classic electronic sound, slapping your pregnant belly for a rhythm track, parental and public life, changing her legal name to Lights, #Pinktober and a breast cancer awareness campaign, an acoustic counterpart to Little Machines and the future, constant writing, lost Lights songs, the song “Muscle Memory,” Kate Bush, Björk and Tanya Tagaq, and then it’s lights out.

Related links: iamlights.com vishkhanna.com

lights

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Ep. #140: John Darnielle

John Darnielle is one of the most esteemed songwriters working today. Currently based in Durham, North Carolina, he is the founder and leader of a beloved contemporary folk and rock band called the Mountain Goats who have been prolific over the past 25 years and praised for their infectious, impassioned, and vivid songs. In 2008, Darnielle’s first book, Black Sabbath: Master of Reality, was published as a unique, fictional entry in Bloomsbury’s 33 ⅓ music series and he has also contributed a regular column called “South Pole Dispatch” in the American heavy metal magazine, Decibel. This past September, HarperCollins published Darnielle’s second book, Wolf in White Van, a dark, dizzying novel about isolation and connection and interpersonal impact that was promptly longlisted for a National Book Award. Here, John and I discuss active, entertaining three year-olds that don’t always sleep so well, parent partiality, the unique temporal structure of Wolf in White Van, mapping out the characters and getting to know them and the story, the famous case of Judas Priest being taken to court by parents after their children shot themselves, heavy metal, the fictional role-playing game Trace Italian, sci-fi and D&D, playing games with Jason Morningstar, trying on new identities, collective creative engagement and the life of the mind, typification and sub-genres, formulating the Trace Italian game that’s depicted in the book, why Sean Phillips created this role-playing game while he was in the hospital for doing an inexplicable thing, playing a game where you can only advance via mail order instructions, life and limitations, generating questions, the role music may or may not play in this book, not leaving music behind, Laurel & Hardy get chased by the alphabet, getting a typewriter at six years old, whether or not he might be good at most things, the book not the song, what’s coming up next for him and the Mountain Goats, a book tour might be more exhausting than a music tour, going dancing or seeing Robert Plant live, dad clocks, cooking on the road, coming to Canada and why crossing the border can be an unpleasant experience, how Propagandhi is the best, border guard mind games, other people have it worse, the song “Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes” by Propagandhi, and that was it.      

Related links: mountain-goats.com vishkhanna.com

John Darnielle

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