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Ep. #114: Nat Baldwin of Dirty Projectors

Nat Baldwin is a talented double-bassist, singer, and songwriter who originally hails from the state of New Hampshire but lives in Maine. Baldwin is a skilled musician who studied with jazz and improvised music giant Anthony Braxton and, for the past decade, he has been a member of the Brooklyn, NY band, Dirty Projectors. In 2011 Baldwin released People Changes, his second solo album, and this year brings us its captivating, lovely follow up, In the Hollows, which is available now via Western Vinyl. Baldwin has a couple of shows in Massachusetts later this month and he plays The Monarch in Toronto on July 24, Casa del Popolo in Montreal on July 25, and Guelph’s Hillside Festival on July 26. Here, Baldwin and I talk about Love Lane, training for a marathon you can’t run and making music, an injured achilles’ heel, losing control of your physicality, the late, American middle/long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine, Nat’s long history of connecting athletic iconography with the music he makes, running rhythms, process-oriented parallels between bands and basketball teams, learning how to play music at 18, running/reading/music regimens, underground literature networks, Barry Hannah, Blake Butler, Lindsay Hunter, Amelia Grey, the song “Cosmos Pose” and bodybuilding, death, playing in a wedding band, Nat’s dad’s band Ben Baldwin and the Big Note, Ray Charles, seeing the Moonbeams sing the national anthem at Celtics games at Boston Garden, Larry Bird, visiting French Lick Indiana and Larry Bird Boulevard, getting into Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Anthony Braxton, and other jazz heroes, loaning William Parker a dodgy bass amp, losing interest in music, double bass and voice songs, what’s new with Dirty Projectors and David Longstreth’s writing habits, the song “Knockout,” and then we cross the finish line.

Related links: westernvinyl.com/artists/natbaldwin.html vishkhanna.com

natbaldwin

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Ep. #113: Julie Doiron

Julie Doiron is a talented and prolific singer, musician, and songwriter based in Sackville, New Brunswick. She first gained attention in the world-renowned band Eric’s Trip before going solo for a successful and busy trajectory of her own. Over the years she’s worked with many people and contributed to records by Daniel Romano, Mt. Eerie, Gord Downie, Shotgun & Jaybird, Herman Dune, Baby Eagle, and many more. Among her most notable collaborations was with the Wooden Stars; they released a self-titled record together in 1999, which was critically acclaimed and won a Juno Award, one of the first notable instances that Canada’s mainstream music industry acknowledged this country’s underground music community, which flourished in the 1990s. Many years later, Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars are playing a small run of shows together this summer at the Arboretum Festival in Ottawa on August 20, the Horseshoe in Toronto on August 21, La Sala Rosa in Montreal on August 22, and the Peterborough Folk Festival on August 23.  Here, Julie and I talk about my soggy bike ride home, bad weather and the wind currents thing, the 15th anniversary of Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars, the indefinite ‘indefinite hiatus’ that Wooden Stars have been on, just reboot it but don’t sit on the modem, Louis C.K.’s technology bit, the girls loved Michael Feuerstack, the Underdogs and skateboarding gangs, if it feels good do it, working with the Wooden Stars, Broken Girl, Sub Pop and Joyce Linehan, making the LP, three-os and G.E. Smith at CMJ, working with Eric’s Trip versus the Wooden Stars, fingerpicking, the Forest, receiving the reception for the album, the Juno Award, Josh Latour, running out of records, playing New Year’s Day at the Air Canada Centre, I pre-produce the next Julie and the Wooden Stars record, cover songs, almost retiring after the release of So Many Days, enjoying life, kids, and making music again, a new band Julie’s in called Weird Lines, making a duets record with Rick White, including questions in your answers, juliedoiron.ca not .com or .cl, Julie’s song “Life of Dreams” is in an iPhone commerical, the song “Gone Gone,” and then it’s goodnight nobody.

Related links: juliedoiron.ca vishkhanna.com

Julie-Doiron

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Ep. #112: Britt Walford of Slint and Watter

Britt Walford is a world-renowned drummer who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. In the 1980s he played in notable bands like Squirrel Bait, Maurice, and, for a spell, in the Breeders. Walford is best-known though as a founding member of Slint who initially had a short lifespan but whose second LP, 1991’s “Spiderland,” is easily one of the greatest, most enigmatic American rock albums of the 20th century. “Spiderland” was recently reissued in a super deluxe, limited edition box set, prompting Slint to do a small run of American and Canadian shows. At around the same time, a new band featuring Walford and multi-instrumentalists Zak Riles and Tyler Trotter surfaced with a new album of their own. The band is Watter and their latest record is a sprawling, ambient, post-rock thing called This World, which is out now via Temporary Residence. Here, Britt and I discuss what the people of Louisville do with the birds, where the band Watter comes from, the bands Grails and Strike City, what goes on in Louisville and how more bands have been playing there lately, Watter and Krautrock and clicking together, Britt plays the drums while Tyler and Zak do other things, Britt came later, recording then songwriting, how Watter works live, Cluster, Tangerine Dream, and Can, how Britt was last in a band 20 years ago and it was called Evergreen, how he ends up joining established bands a lot, what he’s been doing outside of making music since Slint and Evergreen ended, how the end of Slint may have impacted Britt’s interest in starting new music projects, raising children and pursuing an undergrad degree, what college means, piano lessons and drums, parents do understand, Rock Against Racism in Louisville, starting something versus jumping in, the Misfits and Samhain and Kentucky and Will Oldham, 3,138 and what the numbers mean, shitting in a cup, familial influences, Watter is fun, younger people, Lance Bangs getting Slint to talk for the doc Breadcrumb Trail, Britt’s role in the “Spiderland” reissue, Slint bassist Todd Brashear managed the project, why Todd doesn’t play Slint shows and what that’s like, getting used to playing Slint songs, selling all of the box sets, how it came together, Slint archives, what Breadcrumb Trail taught Britt about Slint, Todd thought the band was nutty, working in Slint compared to working with other people, what mastering engineer Bob Weston did to make “Spiderland” sound better, mastering machines, the future of Slint, the future of Watter, the song “This World” and then it’s good night, captain.

Related links: temporaryresidence.com slintmusic.com vishkhanna.com

Watter

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