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Ep. #49: Howe Gelb

Howe Gelb is an immensely prolific and well-respected musician, singer, songwriter, and producer based in Tucson, Arizona. In the mid-1980s, Gelb founded a music collective called Giant Sand, which began a vast slew of collaborations that he continues to this day. Aside from Giant Sand, he’s operated under Arizona Amp and Alternator, The Band of Blanky Ranchette, OP8 and under his own name. The latest Howe Gelb record is a lovely and evocative one called The Coincidentalist and features an all-star guest list, including Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on drums, M. Ward on guitar, and featured appearances by the likes of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, KT Tunstall, Andrew Bird, and Jon Rauhouse. The Coincidentalist is available now via New West Records and here Howe and I discuss why things are weird in the desert, time, coincidences, his initial interest in music, why he thought I was Jian Ghomeshi, his penchant for collaboration, the song “The Coincidentalist,” and much more.

Related links: howegelb.com newwestrecords.com vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #35: Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore is one of America’s most influential and notable musicians, best known for playing guitar, writing songs, and singing in New York City’s Sonic Youth. Since that band formed in 1981, Moore has taken on countless other musical projects, collaborated with many, many artists in different contexts, and started his own label, Ecstatic Peace! Well before Sonic Youth went on hiatus in 2011, Moore began working with a new group of players and eventually formed a band with them called Chelsea Light Moving, who released their self-titled debut LP earlier this year on Matador Records. Chelsea Light Moving’s current tour brings them to Hamilton’s Supercrawl on Sept. 14, Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern on Sept. 15, and Montreal’s Cabaret Mile End on Sept. 16. Moore was in the midst of a 10-hour drive when we talked about the Station to Station public art project, Levi’s jeans, his early band the Coachmen, playing with Yoko Ono and eating dinner with Philip Glass, teaching himself how to operate a guitar, the attraction of subversion, confusion and nostalgia in youth culture, the shock of short hair in the 70s, Iggy Pop, Girls and the new bohemianism, living in London and its culinary renaissance, the formation of Sonic Youth compared to starting Chelsea Light Moving, poetry and writing, his thoughts on Lee Ranaldo and the Dust and Body/Head, his future work and collaborations, David Berman’s poetry, the Nihilist Spasm Band, Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk, the song “Alighted,” and more.

Related links: chelsealightmoving.com matadorrecords.com vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #17: Lee Ranaldo

New York City’s Lee Ranaldo is a founding member of Sonic Youth and, as such, is one of the most gifted and revered guitarists, singers, and songwriters in the history of rock music. When Sonic Youth began a hiatus in the fall of 2011, Ranaldo was already at work on a solo album; the excellent Between the Times and the Tides was released in 2012 and stood as one of the finest records of the year. On July 28, Lee Ranaldo and the Dust will perform at the 30th anniversary edition of the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario and, if all goes well, they may preview material from a new album, which is scheduled to be released in October 2013 on Matador Records. Lee and I tend to have nice conversations. This one was no different. It was over Skype though, while he was in Brazil.
Related links: hillsidefestival.ca leeranaldo.com matadorrecords.com vishkhanna.com. Listen and subscribe on iTunes.

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