Category: Podcast

Ep. #219: Eugene Mirman

Post author By vish
Post date October 21, 2015

Eugene Mirman is a very brilliant person, actor, author, festival organizer, husband, and stand-up comedian who lives in the United States of America. He’s a star of the hit animated Fox Television show Bob’s Burgers, where he voices the character Gene, the only son of the Belcher Family. He is also a beloved, surreal, and prolific multi-platform comedian whose latest release is the hilarious I’m Sorry (You’re Welcome), a 9 volume/7 LP box set that is available on vinyl, digital, chair, and robe on October 30th via Sub Pop Records. Here, Eugene and I discuss living in Brooklyn and missing Massachusetts a little, getting married and wedding planning, TJ the DJ and Robyn Hitchcock, the strange formats of Eugene’s new box set, funny chairs, the music industry collapse and collapsible chairs, a $1200 chair album, 40 comedy mp3 robes, a living, nameless dog stand-up comedy album, LP 1: Live In Seattle At The Columbia City Theater, a wedding and a Mexican mugging with Michael Stipe, LP 2A: A Guided Meditation For The Thoughtful Body, shiting yourself, LP 2B: Fuckscape, LP 3: Eugene’s Comprehensive Sound Effects Library, an impromptu rendition of “Neon Sign,” LP 4: Digital Drugs, LP 5: Over 45 Minutes of Crying, LP 6A: Introduction To Spoken Russian, LP 6B: Ringtones & Outgoing Voicemail Messages, track 3 or 4, LP 7: 195 Orgasms, 11 ineffectual orgasms, news about Bob’s Burger’s and a soundtrack album, Paul Rudd, Aziz Ansari, and Kevin Kline, the state of America and its cycle of polarization, coming to Canada, eugenemirman.com, “Enter the Fuckscape,” and that was the end.

Related links: eugenemirman.com subpop.com vishkhanna.com

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Tags Bob’s Burgers, chair, digital, Eugene Mirman, I’m Sorry (You’re Welcome), Michael Stipe, robe, Robyn Hitchcock, Sub Pop Records, vinyl

News Podcast

Ep. #218: I am Robot and Proud

Post author By vish
Post date October 15, 2015

I am Robot and Proud is the moniker of Shaw-Han Liem, a gifted musician and computer scientist who calls Toronto home. Liem co-designed and composed the music for the award-winning 2012 Playstation game Sound Shapes, and he continues to work as a video game music composer. Since the beginning of this century, he has been making a colourful kind of pop-oriented electronic music that blends organic and synthetic sounds, as I am Robot and Proud. His eighth album is called Light and Waves, it’s out now via Darla Records, and has prompted I am Robot and Proud to play shows across Japan in October and November. Here, Liem and I discuss a weather report from Toronto, making the new album with a live band, past collaborators and playing solo versus being in a band that can be a pain in the ass, camaraderie, being part of a music community, the Robot band, musical Stockholm Syndrome, touring Japan with the help of a local promoter, how Robot songs are made with the Robot band, Mike Smith, Light and Waves surprises, Robin Buckley, getting into video game music composition and co-creating Playstation’s Sound Shapes, knowing your steez, Jordan Howard, game versus film soundtracks, the gaming universe, how Sound Shapes works, that’s edutainment, Guitar Hero, growing up in Mississauga and playing music with Evan Clarke and Jeremy Strachan, Blue Light Blockade, how forgettable I am, being big in Japan and small in Canada, rock-centric electronicism, venues for weird music, gaming fans and collectors of all stripes, not knowing why things resonate more in Osaka than Peterborough, Yellow Magic Orchestra, what’s next for I am Robot and Proud, the song and meaning behind “Kira Kira Zig Zag,” and that was that.

Related links: darla.com robotandproud.com vishkhanna.com

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Tags Evan Clarke, I am Robot and Proud, Jeremy Strachan, Light and Waves, Shaw-Han Liem, Sound Shapes, Yellow Magic Orchestra

News Podcast

Ep. #217: Do You Compute – The Story of Drive Like Jehu

Post author By vish
Post date October 8, 2015
1 Comment on Ep. #217: Do You Compute – The Story of Drive Like Jehu

Drive Like Jehu is a rock ‘n’ roll band from San Diego, California consisting of guitarist and vocalist John Reis, drummer Mark Trombino, bassist Mike Kennedy, and vocalist and guitarist Rick Froberg. On August 31, 2014, they played a free show in San Diego’s Balboa Park, which was their first public performance in 19 years and has led them to play select festivals and club shows ever since.

They were originally only around for five years and that run, between 1990 and 1995, yielded two classic albums: 1991’s self-titled masterpiece and its stellar 1994 follow-up, Yank Crime. Merge Records also released a two-song single in 1992. Other than a compilation appearance, that was pretty much it.

But something about their sound—post-hardcore maybe, but definitely loud, fierce, emotive rock ‘n’ roll—and mysterious legacy has taken on mythological proportions among underground music aficionados. Where did they come from? How did they end up on a major label? What role did Reis’ band Rocket From the Crypt play in the fate of Drive Like Jehu? Why did they disappear in 1995 and why did it take them almost 20 years to contemplate a reunion? Now that they’re touring again, what does the future of the band look like?

Some of these questions will be answered here, right now. Featuring interviews with all four band members, as well as collaborators like Rob Crow, producer Donnell Cameron, and former Interscope A&R woman Anna Statman, this is the story of one of the greatest rock and roll bands that very few people seem to know anything about.

This is the story of Drive Like Jehu.

Related links: drive-like-jehu.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Tags Anna Statman, Doc Severinsen, Donnell Cameron, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, John Reis, Mark Trombino, Mike Kennedy, Obits, Rick Froberg, Rob Crow, Rocket From the Crypt, San Diego, Swami Records, the Night Marchers, the Sultans