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Ep. #174: Andy Kindler

Andy Kindler is a stand-up comedian from New York City who is currently based in Los Angeles. Best known for frequent appearances as himself on the Late Show with David Letterman and recurring acting roles on Everybody Loves Raymond, Maron, and Bob’s Burgers, Kindler is a hard-working road comic who fearlessly assesses and critiques the comedy industry, both in his act and in his annual ‘State of the Industry” address at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Kindler will be performing at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg on Friday March 27 and here, we discuss my amazing guest introductions, milk and green apples and voice over auditions, Bob Dylan doesn’t drink water on-stage, Marco Rubio was thirsty and terrible, the red button is over, Jimmy Fallon’s viral videos, Ricky Gervais really is that David Brent character, fundamental atheism, interacting with Gervais once on Letterman, thinking about Robin Williams, Dane Cook and Hitler, how David Letterman has kept it real and Jimmy Fallon might be a phony, the pretentiousness of Louis C.K., the sanctimony of Jon Stewart, defending and enhancing the art of comedy, wanting to be loved and laughed at, satisfaction, the ‘I’ve-gotta-make-it’ phase of being in show business, bumping into each other once at SXSW, his connection to music and the Hold Steady, some of Andy’s hit singles, Adam Levine and Coldplay, loving the National, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, and some other white people, liking soul music, contemplating David Letterman’s retirement, Dave’s demeanour before and after the heart surgery, Dave probably doesn’t really want to retire, Stephen Colbert will be amazing, being a true curmudgeon, what’s happening on the third season of Maron, appearing with Dave Anthony and Marc in Maron scenes, voicing Mort on Bob’s Burgers, Andy’s new special Hence, the Humour, Innerspace and All of Me, Marc Maron should return my calls, and that was that.

Related links: andykindler.com vishkhanna.com

Andy Kindler

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News Podcast

Ep. #153: Jasmyn Burke of Weaves

Jasmyn Burke is the lead singer and co-founder of a great young band from Toronto called Weaves. If electronic, synthesizer-driven bands might be called computer music, Weaves make Internet rock—an open-minded, all-encompassing pop music that’s infused with all of the sounds and information that is currently available. They have received accolades from Canadian and U.S. media outlets and released their first EP this past April 1. On December 12, Weaves are playing Stay Out of the Mall XIII with METZ and Badminton Racquet at the Ebar in Guelph and here, Jasmyn and I discuss hanging out at her parents’ house in Ancaster Ontario, actually being raised in Toronto, making music the way you listen to music, being difficult to pigeonhole artistically, working with Morgan Waters who’s the Rosetta Stone of musical collaborators and translates her ideas into more of a pop framework, Dr. Ew, when bands like Alvvays and Weaves do well, playing in Rattail, Jasmyn’s nerves and overcoming performance anxiety rituals, introverts who become front people, no one’s going to die, growing up in Weston, the boring ‘burbs, a penny-farthing tattoo, suburban hunger, seeing someone play a Neil Young song and loving Bob Dylan, Hot Monogamy, having a passion for creating strong vocal melodies and lyrics, discovering your own voice, always loving Toronto and believing in its supportive underground music community, Drake, the city of Toronto’s notoriety of late, we do need another hero, insidious search history ads, Toronto pet peeves, avoiding condescending ghettoization, sometimes the less we talk about a problem, the more quickly it goes away, feeding off the tension about the differences between us, why Weaves release singles every few months rather than a full LP, batch versus incremental recording, writing and recording all of the time, the album will be dead, the Weaves album will be deadly, opening for tUnE-yArDs at Massey Hall, Merrill Garbus is super nice, not working much, not complaining, travel and recording plans, seeing Bob Dylan live, the song “Shithole,” finding alien song ideas in your iPhone Voice Memos, and that’s it.

Related links: weavesband.com buzzrecords.ca vishkhanna.com

weaves

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Ep. #148: Slim Twig

Slim Twig is the moniker for a young man from Toronto named Max Turnbull who is a noted actor and musician. Over the past 10 years, he has released a lot of challenging, artful pop music in projects like Tropics, Archaic Women, Plastic Factory, U.S. Girls, and of course, Slim Twig. In 2010 he made a record called A Hound at the Hem but it didn’t see the light of day until 2012 when he released it via Toronto’s Pleasence Records and the Calico. Corp label he operates with his wife, Meghan Remy of U.S. Girls. The record is now seeing wide release via DFA Records who also plan to put out the next Slim Twig album. Here, Turnbull and I talk about house sitting in New Mexico and recording Darlene Shrugg tracks, Independence Day and Valentine’s Day, living in Toronto, Albuquerque cashing in on Breaking Bad, seeing Bob Dylan in Fargo and talking to people at the Blockbuster there, Fargo myths and Breaking Bad meth, the delayed release of A Hound at the Hem, Paper Bag Records, why Sof’ Syke was a safer alternative, becoming a popsmith, incorrect Canadian media labels that have been thrust upon Slim Twig, people get stuck in the past, samples and instrumentation, trying to change, employing different voices within the same song, Tom Waits and Paul McCartney voices, paying tribute to Serge Gainsbourg via a conceptual, narrative-based album, wanting to make a grander statement, impenetrable lyrics and the role of a backstory for a record, employing Owen Pallett, opaqueness and David Lynch, getting into acting before playing in bands at 13, writing from an indirect perspective, growing up in an art house, the desire to perform, seeing the Hives, how DFA got in the Slim Twig biz, Eric Copeland and Black Dice, the joy and pain of Discogs.com, the next Slim Twig LP might be a stoned protest record, playing a few shows, @twigoftoronto, the song “Hover on a Sliver,” and then it’s over.

Related links: slim-twig.com dfarecords.com vishkhanna.com

slim twig

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