The Vinyl Me Please Podcast

We sat down with CHVRCHES on our podcast to talk about their unique chemistry and upcoming album ‘Love is Dead,’ in partnership with BMWUSA’s #ProjectUnfollow and the first-ever BMW X2.

In partnership with BMWUSA’s Project Unfollow and the first-ever X2, we sat down with Little Simz to talk about the forces that have shaped her career.  Little Simz is an artist who has paved her way by staying true to her own vision, a true embodiment of the Unfollower spirit. 

Andrew Winistorfer, Senior Editor extraordinaire for VMP, is in the building for the last episode of 2017. We talk through VMP's top 10 albums of the year list and wander into a number of other topics as the two of us have a habit of doing. We love you guys and we'll see you next year!

Bill Bentley, author of one of the coolest books I've come across this year Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen, is on the show today to talk about what it's been like to spend his entire life in music. We get into what it was like to work for Neil Young for 30 years, what it was like to see The Rolling Stones when he was 15, and how the hell he managed to get hundreds and hundreds of concert and band photographs taken by fans. He will certainly be back on the show but this was an amazing first visit from him.  

I found out about Satica maybe a month ago and got addicted to her track “Honey Whiskey” on Soundcloud. She was nice enough to come on the show to talk about her music, but we ended up also getting into some pretty heavy stuff related to family and growing up as the daughter of Cambodian refugees in Long Beach, CA. This conversation was equal parts illuminating and funny and I've been hooked on her new Drippin' EP for a few weeks now. Check out the interview and then hop into the music itself, I think you'll be just as addicted to her music as I am once you do. 

Huge day today folks. Red Bull flew me out to Chicago for their Red Bull Sound Select festival and hooked up an interview with one of my personal heroes and a legend in the Chicago music scene, Andrew Barber. He's the founder of Fake Shore Drive and was there at the beginning to watch Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, Chief Keef, King Louie, Lil Durk, G Herbo, and many more rise to local and then national fame. We go deep on the Chicago music scene, how he started Fake Show Drive and made it what it is today, and where he sees the music industry going along with many more topics. This is my favorite episode we've ever done and I'm so glad this worked out. Enjoy!

Sharon Van Etten has become a force to be reckoned with within the world of Indie music over the last 8 years, and it all began in 2009 with the release of her debut album Because I Was In Love. Sharon stopped by the show recently to discuss the album and the impact it's had on her career since its release.  She opened up quite a bit about what her life was like around the making of the record and the different twists and turns of recording it. We also got into what her life has been like both personally and as an artist since then, what it's like creating albums that are so honest and personal, and what her hopes are for her future projects as she sets out to create her next record.

I’ve been pretty curious for a long time why it is that as soon as there’s the faintest nip of cold in the September air, I’m immediately in my flannel stuff and listening to For Emma Forever Ago and relating every line of it to every girl that I have ever been in a committed monogamous relationship with or seen in line at the bagel place. It’s genuinely sort of strange how seasons can affect our moods and the music we listen to during them, and Allie Baughman stopped by to talk about the whole thing. We got pretty deep here into some mysticism stuff, the nature of aesthetics, and how we’re tied much closer to the natural world than our iOS 11-crippled iPhones would like us to believe. It may sound a bit off the beaten path for you but this was genuinely one of my favorite conversations I’ve had in quite some time.

It takes a special sort of artist to pull the listener into a different world entirely, and there are far more examples of folks who have tried to do that than ones who have pulled it off. Like Twain said about the difference between the right and the almost right word, the difference between immersion and depiction is like lightning vs a lightning bug. Daniele Luppi's work falls squarely on the lightning side of that comparison and Milano, a concept album meant to bring you into the jungle that Milan, Italy in the 80's was, is a masterpiece from an artist at the top of his game.  I recently got some time to sit down with Daniele to talk about his childhood in Milan, the inseparable bond that visual art and music share in his mind, and what it is that pushes him into projects like these over and over again. Daniele is treasure, as his is work, and you're going to love getting to hang with for 30 minutes or so today.

This week Katie Bain and I jump into Four Tet and his meditative new album New Energy. We get into Four Tet's backstory, why his work has stuck with both of us so closely over 9 releases, and what makes his new work so special. We also get way deep into what makes IDM music so important, why Four Tet is one of the most important electronic musicians of his generation, and why the club dance floor is the perfect space for a particular type of meditation and enlightenment. 

Brian Sweeny, the founder of Ambient Church, is on the show today and I'm so excited this interview worked out. I found out about Ambient Church a few months ago and, given that it's a concert series centered on ambient music that takes place in church buildings around NYC, I had to learn more about it. This is one of my favorite episodes so far and it's a great primer not just on the events themselves but also on ambient music in general.

Over the last ten years, avant-garde record label Erased Tapes has nurtured a diverse roster of global artists whilst remaining genre-defying and truly independent. In this item, VMP explores the back catalogue and the characters behind it. Featuring interviews, live music extracts and recordings by artists including Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Kiasmos, Lubomyr Melnyk, Penguin Cafe, Rival Consoles, Masayoshi Fujita, Peter Broderick, Högni … This is a fully-fledged, whole-hearted celebration of “the heart-string-tugging London label” and their unique music “that floats gently between 20th century composition and ambient music” (Rolling Stone). As a quick note, here is a listening guide for the music included in this episode: Robert Raths’ Music Selection Rival Consoles “Lone” taken from Night Melody Ólafur Arnalds “0952” taken from Eulogy for Evolution 2017 Peter Broderick “A Snowflake” taken from Float Nils Frahm “More” taken from Felt Kiasmos “Burnt” taken from Kiasmos Penguin Café “Cantorum” taken from The Imperfect Sea Masayoshi Fujita “Requiem” taken from Apalogues Högni “Komdu Með” taken from Two Trains

Every month, we have one of our favorite music heads pick a few records for the monthly Vinyl Me, Please store and this month we're joined by none other than Caleb Braaten, the founder of Sacred Bones Records. We talk the realities of starting a label from scratch, how Sacred Bones manages to maintain a lineup that is equally incredible and unpredictable, and we talk through his picks for our store. I've included the list of his album picks below with links that will let you give them a listen if you're not familiar. Enjoy! Psychic TV - Pagan Day  Howard S. Roland - Pop Crimes David Bowie - Blackstar  The Men - Open Your heart The Men - Leave Me Home David Lynch & Alan Splet - Eraserhead OST 

Daniel Norgren is one of our favorite new artists and we’ve been talking about him for a while now. Greg Vandy, host of The Roadhouse on KEXP and the first DJ in America to play Daniel’s music, had the idea of doing an immersive piece that takes you deeper into Daniel’s music and who he is as a person. Daniel almost never does interviews and Greg has put together something really special here.

One of the best bands you've (maybe) never heard of is named Skating Polly and I was lucky enough to get a bit of their time while they were in between shows on their current tour. I LOVE this band, and I can't believe I hadn't listened to them prior to a month ago or so. Maybe you've heard of them, maybe you haven't, but everyone from X to The Flaming Lips to Viggo Mortenson are huge fans of them and I can't wait for you to learn more about them. We talk what it was like starting a band when you're 11, how they've managed to hold on to their sound while working with music legends from such a young age, and what the lineup would be if they could curate their own festival. 

The National have released their new album Sleep Well Beast and Geoff Rickly (Thursday, No Devotion, and United Nations) is back to unpack it with me. We get into how the Devendorf brothers originally brought the band together, how it is that they seem to get 15% better with every album, and the effect that composers like Phillip Glass and Steve Reisch have had on their songwriting. We also explore the ins and outs of SWB, recap our trip to Hudson to see the release show and get into some heavier topics like learning to get as comfortable as we can with ourselves and managing the parts of us that seem like they want to kill us. 

The very first new episode of Sounds Good falls to the new album from The War on Drugs album and the (extremely) special guest Mikayla Moyer, Live Nation Comedy extraordinaire, who recently helped orchestrate the Dave Chappelle Residency at Radio City. She knows everything! The War on Drugs is incredible! You’ll leave the episode knowing both things and MUCH MUCH MORE! Hell yeah let’s get it.

Jeff Weiss, fresh off his huge profile of Grizzly Bear for Noisey, is here this week to talk one of the most important bands of the last 15 years or so. He spent some considerable time with them talking about their new album and what life has been life for all of them, and he's here to give us the full scoop on what makes these guys tick. They are a monumental band, and this episode is perfect for getting a fly-over of their history, a breakdown of their new album, and a deep dive on why exactly they've had so much of an impact on the music world around them. 

We recently had a big event at Alamo Drafthouse here in Denver with none other than Tom Berninger, the director of "Mistaken For Strangers" and brother to The National's lead singer Matt Berninger. Tom is a quirky, wicked smart, and hilarious dude and we dug deep into the process of making the film (which is both about him and The National at the same time), what his relationship with his brother is like in real life, his hobbies (he's not into Indie Rock at all), and some of his fears and struggles with being a creative. I was really moved by what Tom had to say, and I wish we had another hour to talk, and I'm so stoked we were able to record this for you.

Jen Cloher, one of the best DIY artists in Australia or anywhere else, has a new self-titled album out and we're way, way into it. We get into her story, her role in the Australian music scene, her relationship with Courtney Barnett, and why this album is her best work so far.  We also talk 15-year-old phenom Billie Eilish and her debut album "don't smile at me." Billie is making music better than people twice her age and she seems at this point to be sitting on an infinite supply of potential and artistic capability.  Both of these artists have released some stunning work recently and they both need to be on both your radar and your favorite playlists. Let's jump into why.