RiYL

Few albums warrant their own YouTube explainer direct from the band. It's not exactly necessary for Deck -- particularly in the wake of compilations produced from the project's 54 songs -- but it's part of the fun. The entire four-album set is a testament to Hallelujah the Hill's ability to keep things fresh 20 years on from their debut. The Boston band is producing some of the best work of its career and enjoying every minute of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1/11/26 • 49:54

It takes light 4.2 years from Proxima Centauri, the nearest non-sun star, to reach Earth. It took the songs of 2025’s Stargazer EP nearly five times that to see the light of day.That’s nothing in cosmic terms, of course. But as musicians go, the 20+ years that have elapsed since the songs were written in preparation for KT Tunstall’s debut, Eye to the Telescope, amounts to several lifetimes. The Edinburgh-born singer-songwriter has showcased remarkable staying power, navigating the landmines of life, health, and the music business. At 50, Tunstall resides in the American Southwest and radiates the contentment and wit of a life lived to its fullest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1/3/26 • 49:44

It takes a unique talent to find one's work thumbtacked above desks at libraries across the world. But Tom Gauld wasn't content to simply rest on the literary laurels that come with his frequently shared Guardian strips. The Scottish cartoonist has carved out yet another uniquely wide niche for himself in the pages of New Scientist. Gauld's latest collection, Physics for Cats, showcases why is work is just as comfortably at home among the laboratory set as the literati. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/28/25 • 40:34

How often do we truly afford ourselves a fresh start? Sean Mason went all after his first record.The Southern Suite put the pianist on the map, there was a disconnect. Mason left New York, stopped drinking, and cut off most communication with the outside world.A Breath of Fresh Air is, as the name suggests, a portrait of where the celebrated Grammy nominee lives now.It’s clear in speaking with him, however, that the journey of self-discovery will prove a lifelong pursuit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/21/25 • 42:18

At 17, Michael Hampton blasted off from Earth in the Mothership. More than half a century later, the Funkadelic guitarist has never looked back.He does, however, make the occasional pitstop home for interviews, chatting poolside in between shows during a Southern California stint.Hampton’s latest EP, Into the Public Domain, does what it says on the box. The blistering guitar instrumentals now belong to the world.They can be accessed by way of physical trading cards acquired at one of the guitarist’s live shows. Even royalty-free musicians need a way to feed their anime habits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/13/25 • 40:37

Happiness wasn’t too far from home. After stints in larger cities, following more traditional music routes, Morgxn settled just outside of Nashville – it doesn’t hurt, of course, when home is Music City USA. When not on tour or in the in the studio, you can generally find him at Fruity Farm, a plot of land he and his husband share.The joy is contagious, and something the songwriter is happy to spread, along with whatever produce made it through the growing season. It’s a message of inclusion, regardless of gender, orientation, or any of the other myriad categories society uses to divide us. Above all, it’s about defiantly being yourself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12/6/25 • 48:30

A few months after celebrating the 30th anniversary of his debut, Ledbetter Heights, Kenny Wayne Shepherd returns to the show to reflect on three decades in music. Upon release, much of the album's coverage focused on the fact that the guitarist was still in his teens. Writing or co-writing every track on the album, Shepherd was quick to silence critics looking to write him off as a novelty. All these years later, the musician still has a deep connection to those tracks, having recently re-recorded the album in full, ahead of a 2026 tour in its honor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11/28/25 • 43:54

A brute force approach helped Drew Stroik land a record deal. The unknown musician sent demo after demo to his favorite musicians, until one -- Andy Chase – responded positively. Chase pulled in frequent collaborator (and current Ivy bandmate) Bruce Driscoll to produce an album full of Stroik’s off-kilter bedroom pop. 65th and York finally saw the light of day last month – 15 years after its initial recording and three years after the musician’s life was tragically cut short. Driscoll and Chase join us to discuss the album’s creation, the intervening decade and a half, and why you can finally hear the songs for yourself.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11/22/25 • 48:34

They didn’t go into the forest to create a record. One evening of music and words surrounded by nature was plenty enough reason to gather.Still, Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends at TreePeople emerged, as the first official document of the two long-time friends collaborating.More than 30 years into his career, Williams doesn’t have anything in particular to prove. The mid-90s saw him quickly rise the ranks of New York’s slam poetry community, and he’s since proved himself as a musician, book author, science fiction writer, actor, and more.But in a world forever teetering on the  edge, there’s still plenty left to be said. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11/15/25 • 53:13

On 2022's I Don’t Know My Words, Anand Wilder embraced DIY in a different way, performing each song entirely by himself. Three years after Yeasayer's non-amicable split, the musician clearly had something to prove. Three years later, however, collaboration is back on the table with Psychic Lessons, a celebration of music making, genre, and just about anything else that popped into Wilder's head. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11/9/25 • 58:56

Nothing throughout the Descendents' long history can be taken for granted, started with I Don't Want to Grow Up. The band's second record, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this May, arrived after a two-year hiatus, which found singer Milo Aukerman at college (as the debut album helpfully noted) and drummer Bill Stevenson joining Black Flag. Certainly no one could anticipate, in spite of a few recent health scares, that the pioneering punk would be around to celebrate the album's reissue. Aukerman and Stevenson join us to to discuss the group's legacy and what keeps them running after all these years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11/2/25 • 51:56

Bursting with the vitality of NYC's outer-boroughs, Laveda returned in September with Love, Darla. The Brooklyn by way of Albany harkens back to the heyday of noisy indie, while forging its own playful path. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10/26/25 • 53:24

A radical departure in a music career defined by them, Jamie Lidell's first full length in nearly a decade finds the artist exploring a new instrument, genre, tones, and collaborators. Born of the pandemic, Places of Unknowing is a work of ambient neoclassical piano music with no clear common sonic connections to the electronic-turned-soul musician's earlier work, beyond pervasive and deep emotional resonance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10/19/25 • 57:46

Debi Derryberry's fifth album, Go to Sleep, combines longstanding loves of music making and animation into a single YouTube project, pulling together nine tracks aimed at lulling kids to bed. The work is a labor of love for a voice actress with somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 IMDB credits to her name. Along with playing the title character in the long running Jimmy Neutron franchise, the actress has voiced iconic roles ranging from the Toy Story aliens to the animated Wednesday Addams. We also dig into some fascinating early work with Jim Varney and a roller skating seal on the Chris Elliott masterpiece, Get a Life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10/12/25 • 45:10

Note: The interview was cut short and kind of sputters out at the end for weather related reasons I won’t go into here. We’ll have to get the band back on for a followup.Periscope at Midnight finds doubleVee plumbing familiar depths, as Barbara and Allan Vest revisit the latter’s previous band, The Starlight Mints, to put a spin on a pair of old tracks. Notes of the earlier baroque indie-pop act can be heard throughout, but the duo has forged its own oblique path to the genre after more than a decade of playing music together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10/5/25 • 36:26

Earlier songs were political, but never as overtly so. There isn’t much value left to wring from subtlety these days.Battlewear is, fittingly, angry. It’s the product of navigating an unpredictable – and increasingly bleak – landscape. An hour before we hop on the call, a right wing reactionary is murdered in broad daylight.Kadhja Bonet believes in the power of art and community. And while they’ve never been particularly fond of performing live, busking holds a certain appeal, in its immediate and unfiltered connection between artist and audience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9/28/25 • 35:44

Ahead of their upcoming Image series, Death to Pachuco, artist Rachel Merrill and author Henry Barajas discuss the process of bringing the historical fiction to life. Set against the backdrop of the Sleepy Lagoon Case and Zoot Suit Riots, the book explores themes of racial tension through a lens of hard boiled detective fiction. The pair also talk about picking up the mantle for long running newspaper strip, Gil Thorp. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9/21/25 • 49:17

SunYears felt like starting over, in a very real sense. Peter Bjorn and John were on the backburner, and Peter Morén earlier solo work was decidedly more self-selecting, with Swedish lyrics touching on more experimental soundscapes. There was also a global pandemic to contend with. The Song Forlorn finds Moren happily reembracing his love of pop rock songwriting, with help from stalwarts like Ron Sexsmith, Jess Williamson and Eric D. Johnson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9/13/25 • 49:44

Celebrating its 40th birthday exactly one month ago, Rum Sodomy & the Lash requires no introduction. As epilogues go, however, one could do far worse than the alternately raucous and sublime tour pieced together by surviving members, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, and James Fearnley. Stacy joins us to discuss the anniversary, the recent loss of frontman, Shane MacGowan, and his own fascinating musical history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9/6/25 • 49:20

He may have had something to prove early on, leaving the relative comfort of a rocket ship success like Nine Inch Nails, but it didn’t take Richard Patrick long. Filter’s first album went platinum on the strength of its first single, and the band was off to the proverbial races. Its follow up was slow to surface, courtesy of inner turmoil, but it eventually emerged five years later, with an even bigger hit, putting some of Patrick’s own personal demons on display. Thirty years after Filter’s debut, Patrick has mellowed considerably – partially out of necessity for a family man with a bad back. The result is some of his most thoughtful work to date. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8/29/25 • 57:41

Thirty-three years, 10+ members, and a dozen albums later, Comet Gain hasn’t lost its step. Released in June, Letters to Ordinary Outsiders maintains the magic, once again. The group’s work is perpetually tied to the pop sensibilities of David Christian (née Feck), who joins us on a questionable WiFi connection from rural France. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8/23/25 • 54:11

Jenni Rose announced herself in style, with a Rolling Stone interview, back in April. The article dropped a few months The Vandoliers’ fifth album, Life Behind Bars.With a record full of deeply personal songs dealing with – among other topics – her transition – she chose the celebrated music magazine to help tell her story.It’s a courageous move in an age when simply being yourself can be a defiant act, let alone the singer in a Dallas-based alt-country band.It helps, of course, when long-time band members like trumpeter Cory Graves have your back along the way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8/17/25 • 49:00

In the end, New Radiations could only be a multimedia affair. Marissa Nadler seems to have her hands in nearly every medium these days, from music, to filmmaking, painting, photography, and even stop-motion. The Nashville-based artist seems to have her hand in every aspect of the process, from songwriting to production. The resulting 11 tracks comprise what may well be her most honest and personal work to date. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8/9/25 • 44:52

What began as a poetry cycle quickly evolved into a dozen of Ketch Secor’s most personal songs. Story the Crow Told Me makes little effort to mask its autobiography, with stories of hitch hiking, busking, charting the earliest days of Old Crow Medicine Show. The singer joins us to reflect on the songs about the moments that made him.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7/30/25 • 49:36

There’s prolific and then there’s the Vitamin String Quartet. In its roughly quarter-century of existence, the outfit has produced more than 400 albums. It helps, of course, that VSQ is more concept than band – a stable of musicians that rotate between tours and records. With a focus on classical covers of pop hits -- including recent tributes to Frank Ocean and BTS -- the group has become a kind of institution unto itself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7/26/25 • 47:44

Sixteen years is a long time between solo albums, but Ben Nichols’ role fronting Lucero has kept him plenty busy. In that time, the Memphis-based punk-country band has released a half-dozen albums, three live records, and a pair of EPs. In the Heart of the Mountain finds the musician delving into the deeply personal, expanding his approach to songwriting and releasing what he calls, “the closest I’ve come to making an album completely on my own terms,” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7/18/25 • 52:50

Books, World War I pigeons, queer dating, bygone New York City haunts – Checked Out has a bit of something for everyone. Katie Fricas’ first book is a kind of, sort of memoir about a young cartoonist navigating her way through life in the big city. It’s a delightful and delightfully idiosyncratic take on lengths we go to make our art. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7/12/25 • 52:44

Siouxie And The Banshees, The Psychedelic Furs, R.E.M., Cyndi Lauper -- Knox Chandler's resume reads like a who's who of late-20th century pop music. These days, however, the Kentucky-born musician is taking a decidedly more experimental and meditative approach to music making. His latest, The Sound, build on Chandler's unique "sound ribbon" approach to song construction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7/3/25 • 54:56

There are two distinct phases during the writing of Hue Mirror: before and after. Course’s third album is a product of pain, uncertainty and eventual diagnosis. The latter arrived in the form of ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disease resulting in body-wide inflammation. Despite the initial uncertainty, however, Jess Robbins never shies away from the truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6/28/25 • 40:38

Holy Lacrimony is a book about turning sadness into art. Also aliens, interpretive dancing and – in an unexpected way – the Scream franchise. Each component has a special meaning to Michael DeForge, not the least of which is Ghostface, the iconic antagonist from the latter. Released by Drawn & Quarterly in March, the book is surreal, funny – and much like DeForge’s art – more complex than it appears at first glance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6/21/25 • 41:26