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Ep. #266: William Tyler

William Tyler is a talented musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for his work in the bands Lambchop and Silver Jews, Tyler is also an accomplished solo artist and has released four critically-acclaimed albums. His latest is a gorgeous, instrumental record called Modern Country, which is steeped in familiar folk and rock structures but is also eerily expansive and hypnotic. Modern Country is out now via Merge Records and Tyler is playing a number of shows over the next few months, most of which find him opening for the Chicago band Wilco. Here, Tyler and I discuss how things are going in Nashville, the Country Music Association Festival and Bonnaroo, living in Nashville most of your life, Nash Vegas and what happens when your city grows, changes and WXNA, the world’s most talented music city, Harmony Korine is taking his talents to south beach, auditioning for Harmony and Budweiser, Dave Cloud and the Springwater and the Gospel of Power and losing local luminaries, getting older and the song “I’m Gonna Live Forever (If it Kills Me),” the notion behind Modern Country and its relation to America’s current political climate, media mediation and misinformation about different parts of the country you live in, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the illegal and fraudulent conduct of the Democratic National Party, the 2000 Presidential election, Hill feeling the Bern, what Trump is stirring up and people comparing him to Hitler, his platform as it relates to the Republican party’s platform, hatred and racism, projecting a landslide loss, the stigma of intellectualism and the rise of reality TV, hope and faith in the American people, Trump’s imperviousness to criticism, the RNC as imagined by Hunter S. Thompson and Fellini, conveying political thoughts and perspectives via instrumental music, musical intent, receiving external inspiration, the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor and Silver Jews and the Mountain Goats, working with David Berman, lyrics, Wooden Wand, John Darnielle, relating as much to mood as words in lyrics, modernism and archaism, emoji’s and hieroglyphs, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, less talk more rock, adapting to different situations, playing in bands and also not, jamming, the Grateful Dead, Glenn Kotche and Darin Gray, Glenn Jones and Jim O’Rourke and Sir Richard Bishop and John Fahey, O’Rourke deserves more credit, O’Rourke interviews and music recommendations, Glenn and Darin and Insignificance, coming to Canada, touring woes, quiet storm psychedelia, those Silver Jews rumours, pleading with David Berman to write again, the song “I’m Gonna Live Forever (If it Kills Me),” and that was it.

Related links: williamtyler.net mergerecords.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #265: David Cross

David Cross is a gifted comedian, actor, author, and writer who originally hails from Atlanta, Georgia. For almost 30 years now, he’s been at the vanguard of comedy, writing and/or performing on influential and hilarious TV programs such as The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show, Arrested Development, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, W/Bob & David, and many more. He’s appeared in dozens of feature films, published a book of essays called I Drink for a Reason, and he’s well-known for his three incisive stand-up records: Shut Up You Fucking Baby!, It’s Not Funny, and Bigger and Blackerer. He’s on a world tour right now for a stand-up show he’s calling Making America Great Again!!, which includes July Canadian stops in Calgary on the 22nd, Edmonton on the 23rd, Toronto on the 24th and 25th , Ottawa on the 26th, and Montreal on the 27th. During a phone call while he was in Stockholm this past Monday, David and I discussed the mood in Europe post-Brexit, immigration and misinformation, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, how his current show actually relates to”Make America Great Again,” the state of satire, plans to work with Bob Odenkirk again, what’s happening with Arrested Development, “Flying on a Mexican Plane,” and that was it.

Related links: davidcrosstour2016.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #264: Choir! Choir! Choir!

Choir! Choir! Choir! is a Toronto-based community music project spearheaded by Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman. Founded in 2011, Choir! Choir! Choir! features a committed group of gifted and amateur singers who meet twice a week, in a no pressure environment, and attempt to learn and interpret pop songs by artists like Prince, David Bowie, Extreme, Tegan & Sara, Patti Smith, and many, many more. Since forming, the group has performed in various venues across Canada, including the AGO and Massey Hall in Toronto, at ceremonies for the Juno Awards and Polaris Music Prize, and at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York. Choir! Choir! Choir! will be performing at the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario the weekend of July 22 and so I met with Nobu and Daveed at the now shuttered Caffe Brasiliano in Toronto recently where we discussed why Nobu brought us there before it closed its doors forever on June 17 2016, why Daveed applauds his efforts, missing Toronto in Halifax, the warmth of Toronto’s Annex in the 1970s, Nubu and Daveen, Drake and Kanye West and NOBU, C!C!C!’s origin story and connection to TUNS’ Matt Murphy and his birthday, the infectious energy of singing in a community choir, unusual choirs, sound people getting a grip on C!C!C! and its sound needs, a social choir, how the choir works and the hard parts, soothing people, you’re not cool, a McDLT reference, Toronto’s disposition and perceptions of the city’s attitude, the Hidden Cameras, C!C!C! paying tributes to Prince, David Bowie, and Extreme, hair metal bands and alt-rock’s rise, “We Belong” by Pat Benatar, Belle and Sebastian, Bryan Adams, Simple Minds and Jim Kerr, performing with Patti Smith at an AGO First Thursdays event, my Patti Smith story, a social media phenomenon, the Choir’s core, empowerment and entitlement, managing people, “Ignition” by R. Kelly, politics and context and music, listening to people’s concerns, protesting Putin with Sting, taking C!C!C! on the road to Vancouver to play a Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” playing Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall for David Bowie, it was almost Bieber instead of Bowie, “Space Oddity” by Bowie, critical decisions, the good music industry timing of C!C!C! and ADD, covers and the potential for C!C!C! originals, playing the Hillside Festival and how that works, the New Yorker dot com, Prince’s “When Doves Cry” at Massey Hall, and then it was over! over! over!

Related links: choirchoirchoir.com vishkhanna.com

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