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Ep. #180: Phosphorescent

Phosphorescent is the moniker of Matthew Houck, a prolific and well-loved singer and songwriter who calls Nashville, Tennessee home. Initially based in Athens, Georgia, Houck began releasing music as Fillup Shack before working under Phosphorescent and releasing seven acclaimed albums with different collaborators. In December 2013, after eight months of touring behind their album Muchacho, Phosphorescent played a four-night homecoming stand at the Music Hall in Brooklyn where Houck lived at the time, with sets that touched upon all of their records up to that point. This past February, Dead Oceans released an explosive document of those shows with the triple LP, Live at the Music Hall, and here, Houck and I discuss moving to Nashville recently, spending time in Australia, David Berman and Harmony Korine sightings, that one time I was in Nashville with Royal City in the year 2000, listening to tapes of live shows, setting up this Brooklyn residency to maybe capture a live record, expending creative energy on a project like this, experiencing a shift in the songs night after night, Hard Rain by Bob Dylan, concerts saved the music industry so live albums must be saving the record industry and the concert industry, the cool album packaging and cowboy cover, dressing the part, getting into music as a kid and knowing one’s path, not always working well with others, being married to an organ player, his relationship with his fans, when Willie Nelson phones your phone, spending time on his bus, having a baby and not knowing what’s next, being a dad, the song “Dead Heart,” and then the show was over.

Related links: phosphorescentmusic.com vishkhanna.com

phosphorescent

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Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #123: Bahamas

Afie Jurvanen is a gifted musician and songwriter who works under the tropical moniker Bahamas. Jurvanen has been an in-demand guitarist who has worked with Feist, the Weather Station, and Zeus among others. He has released three records of his signature folk-tinged rock over the past five years, earning a broad fanbase and award nominations and critical acclaim along the way. His latest album is called Bahamas is Afie, which is out now via Universal Music Canada, and it’s prompted him to tour across the U.S. and Canada over the coming months including a stop at Riverfest Elora on Friday August 22. Here, Afie and I discuss wearing shorts on stage (S.O.S.), Thrush Hermit rules and Joel Plaskett’s legs, the assertively explanatory title of his new album, the lush production of Bahamas is Afie, Don Kerr and the Rooster, distinctive musical chameleons like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Beck, that moment where you think of an idea, hope in sad songs, Willie Nelson, wanting to name your hypothetical unborn child Owen, choosing music over sports, social hobbies, going your own way when pushed by your parents, moving to Toronto from Barrie and making friends in a music community, grade 13/OAC, the Miami Heat, Chris Bosh, Fantastic Pop festival in Windsor, Afie’s early band Paso Mino with members of Zeus, Jason Collett, competition and ambition in music, contemporary cultural consumption and metrics, how artists are adapting to the new face of the music business, we are the product, Peter Elkas is under-appreciated, the Aretha Franklin chugging Diet Coke in a golf cart before kicking ass at the Grammys story, playing in a rainstorm at a festival in PEI, the pros and cons of making and promoting music, opening up a laundromat, how to do your laundry, Michael P. Clive’s cooking show and Afie’s unreleased instrumental music for it, making the Weather Station’s new album in France, being added to Riverfest Elora at the last minute, Jason Tait of the Weakerthans, the song “Waves,” and then the heat is off.

Related links: bahamasmusic.net riverfestelora.com vishkhanna.com

Bahamas_BiA_photo_credit_ReynardLi

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.