Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"Blood" The Maine born, Massachusetts-raised Julian Hatfield studied at both Boston University and the Berklee College of Music. Along with John Strohm and Freda Love she founded the Blake Babies, who put out five fabulous, critically-acclaimed albums.One of the most potent artists out there, Hatfield has put out nearly 20 solo albums, including Hey Babe, Become What You Are and Whatever, My Love. She’s also put out full length albums of covers by Olivia Newton John and the Police. She’s been in the Juliana Hatfield 3, Minor Alps with Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws, the I Don’t Cares with Paul Westerberg of The Replacements and Some Girls with Freda Love and Heidi Gluck. She’s also had stints in the Lemonheads, recording and touring with Evan Dando’s outfit. Her resume just never stops, so here’s more highlights, but keep in mind, this is a partial list. She’s contributed vocals to tracks by Belly, Aimee Mann and Susanna Hoffs, she started her own label called Ye Olde Records, she played Conan and Letterman, appea

“Bach Is My Torah" The Philadelphia-born Eric Bazilian's dad was a psychiatrist but it was his concert pianist mother who likely influenced him to start playing the piano at age 5. Four years later he was playing guitar and seven years later at the age of 16 he had his first band, Evil Seed. While getting a B.S. in Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, Bazilian and his college pal Rob Hyman formed a band called Baby Grand and after that band called it a day with two albums under their belts, Bazilian and Hyman formed the Hooters. Over the course of their winning career, the Hooters put out six albums, had a handful of top 40 hits with songs like "Day By Day” and "And We Danced," they opened Live Aid in Philadelphia, the Amnesty International Concert at Giants Stadium in ’86 and the Roger Waters The Wall Concert in Berlin in 1990. Bazilian not only produced Joan Osborne’s Grammy Nominated Relish album, he wrote "One Of Us," which is one of the most memorable songs of the last 50 years. It was covered by

"Mercy Rising" The California born singer/songwriter Maia Sharp wrote her first song at 5, so it’s no surprise that over the years her compositions have been recorded by—and by the way this is going to be a murderers row of talent, so get ready—Bonnie Rait, Keb Mo, Cher, Art Garfunkel, Paul Carrack and Trisha Yearwood. More Maia Sharp resume items: and mind you, this is a partial list: she’s toured all over the U.S. and the UK, she’s appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered, CBS Early Morning and the Today Show, she’s an adjunct professor at NYU’s Summer Songwriter workshop and she’s been writing for Songwriting with Soldiers where active duty service members team up with songwriters who help them turn their stories into songs. Sharp has put out nearly ten solo albums and her newest is Mercy Rising. Filled with poeticism, wisdom, and observational grace, Mercy Rising is a moving collection that’s a perfect balance of elegance and intensity. In this conversation Maia talks about recovering from COVID, the powe

“Nothing’s Ever Lost" Eleventh Dream Day have never stopped being great. Since their self-titled 1987 EP, over the course of 13 albums the band have retained the same scruffy splendor that has always made them one of the most riveting acts around. I always told my friends they sounded like a cross between X and R.E.M. but that was an oversimplification on my part. That might have even been a bit lazy. The fact is, Eleventh Dream Day have a lot in common with the bands I mentioned, but they’re so much more than that. They’re an arresting blend of muscle and heart and even when the songs jangle they still sting. The vulnerable numbers have frayed, poetic finesse and the faster ones rip away with ragged and battered beauty. Singer Rick Rizzo, to borrow an expression from Saul Bellow, is an open wound of a man and drummer/singer Janet Bean is a revelation—she’s sonorous and sorrowful, but she also blazes through each number with conviction and heart. Bean you might recognize from being one of the co founders of

"A Good Feelin’ To Know" The Ohio-born Richie Furay has a resume' that’s kind of staggering. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was not only a co-founder of Buffalo Springfield, he was also a co-founder of Poco and he was in the Au Go Go Singers, the Souther Hillman Furay band and he fronts the Richie Furay band as well. Although Buffalo Springfield wasn’t around that long, the band reformed in 2010 and Furay found himself playing everywhere from the Bridge School Benefit to Bonnaroo. A singer whose phrasing is as graceful as they come and a guitar player who is both thoughtful and dynamic, Furay is not only one of the greats, he’s one of the main architects of the country rock sound that later influenced bands I grew up listening to like Green on Red or Uncle Tupelo. Furay was set to retire from the road in 2020 but the pandemic thwarted those plans, so his farewell tour had to be put off. Dates are being rescheduled, but in the meantime, the singer songwriter has just put out a double live album calle

“Kicking Against Convention” Classical music is ruled by composers that are thought of as deities. Composers like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven are the undisputed masters of the genre and they nobody can argue with their compositions being the blueprints for the foundation of classical music. But for the Korean-born JooWan Kim, studying the masters at the Berklee School Of Music made him…a bit rebellious. Kicking against the rote conventions of classical composition, Kim found himself drawn towards hip-hop and the dynamism and energy made him wonder if grafting hip-hop with classical was possible. Turns out it was. Teaming up with his college pal Christopher Nicholas, Kim founded Ensemble Mik Nawooj, an invigorating and vibrant musical collective that’s got everything: flute, clarinet, drums, bass, a lyric soprano and an MC. Using an inventive technique called Method Sampling, as the basis for the architecture of each composition, Ensemble Mik Nawooj are one of the most original outfits out there. In this conve

“The Night Economy” Over the course of their brilliant career, which got started around 1999, Stars have put out nine winning and magical albums including Set Yourself on Fire and the Polaris-Prize nominated efforts In Our Bedroom After The War and The Five Ghosts. Their last full-length effort was 2017’s There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light, and I know that was four years ago, but don’t worry—new music is coming. Stars play a ravishing blend of jangly chamber pop, breezy new wave and melancholic indie rock. They fall somewhere between Prefab Sprout and Broken Social Scene and their songs are thoughtful, quirky, moving, inspiring and wrenching in all the right ways. They can evoke the bittersweet memories of the past and they can conjure the hope and optimism of the future. They’ve played Coachella and the WAYHOME festival in Toronto and their music has appeared in "Gossip Girl," "One Tree Hill," "The Vampire Diaries,” “Skins" and "Warehouse 13." The British-born Torquil Campbell is a musician, an actor on

“Lost And Found" One summer in the early '90s I drove around with only one cassette in my car and that was Born to Quit by the Smoking Popes. Led by the Illinois-born Josh Caterer and his brothers Eli and Matt, the band were nothing short of a revelation. Josh’s lilting vocals has all the elegance of Sinatra and the finesse of Morrissey, but it also had muscle. The songs? Good god—I mean, the album only clocks in at 28 minutes but the songs were so timeless and unique, you could cycle through it 50 times and repeat listens never chipped away at the brilliance of the tracks, it only reinforced that you were listening to a stone cold classic. The Popes tore it up—they toured with Green Day, Jawbreaker and Morrissey, had a bit of a hit with "Need You Around,” had their songs appear in movies like “Clueless" and "Tommy Boy" and found Morrissey himself declaring that he absolutely loved the band. Over the course of their career the Popes have put out seven albums, played massive gigs, like Riot Fest in 2016 and t

“The Cup Of Youth” If Kip Berman’s name sounds familiar to you, that’s for good reason. He fronted the beloved indie rock outfit The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart from 2007 to 20018. The NY-based band played all over the world, put out four perfect albums, culminating in 2017’s The Echoes Of Pleasure and they called it a day a year later. Berman moved to Princeton, New Jersey, started a family and started a new band as well. Dubbed The Natvral, Berman’s new musical project finds him swinging with freewheeling abandon and grinding poetic grace. Falling somewhere between Blood On The Tracks and Ezra Furman’s Day Of The Dog, his debut album Tethers is one of the year’s very best. Filled with rootsy snarl and howling bliss, Tethers is nothing short of a revelation. In this chat, Berman talks to Alex about discovering Fairport Convention, worrying about his kids in the age of COVID and the recent death of DJ Sophie. They also talk about our relationship to the past, their mutual love of Roddy Frame and why it took

“Consideration Of Rhythm" The Calgary-born Clea Anaïs is about to take flight in two ways. First, her solo career is blooming with the release of two new singles from her upcoming album and it won’t be long before her music is soaring through headphones across the world. It also won’t be long before she’s soaring across the world in a plane—not sure what you did during COVID, but Clea got her pilot’s license. The cello-playing Anaïs' name might sound familiar because she was the co-founder of the beloved Canadian outfit Raleigh who won alternative album of the year in 2018 at the YYC Music Awards. Over the years Clea has shared the stage with Unknown Mortal Orchestra and City and Color and she’s done session work for Astral Swans, Woodpigeon and 100 Mile House. Her solo work is a stirring blend of swirling indie rock and dreamy, sonorous pop that’s filled with wisdom, grace and resolve. Her voice is hypnotic and arresting and her textured arrangements are as ravishing as they are riveting. In this interview

"From Georgia To New York" Nainnoh has been a model of adapting ever since she left her home in Georgia and moved to New York. Not the Georgia where its unlawful to have a glass of water when you’re standing in line to vote—the other Georgia. The one located at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia and bounded to the west by the Black Sea. Nainnoh will explain the rigors of such a move at a young age—so I’ll leave that to her. But what I will tell you is that she started music lessons at 7, getting her start on the piano, and by 11 she was crafting her own compositions. Influenced as much by the folk music of her homeland as she was by Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell, Nainnoh’s work captures a cosmological intellectualism wherein she contemplates the mysteries of the universe through the complex lenses of physics and astrology. Yeah, her work is pretty deep—both in lyrical scope and instrumentation. Her self-titled debut album is a riveting and mesmeric blend of undulating rhythms, lush pop textu

“Teenage Wasted American Kids” So, Modern Love Child’s Jonny Shane was on our show in October of 2019 just as his band’s debut album MLC hit shelves. And then a few months later, the pandemic hit and everything ground to a standstill. But the east coast-born Shane was undeterred by the tumult of 2020—the guy is everywhere. He was in L.A., he was in Costa Rica and now he’s in Florida. With his winning personality Shane is one of those guys who fits in wherever he is. And his music should fit in just fine on any of your playlists. Modern Love Child’s music is a perfect blend of catchy new wave and soaring pop—and Shane is not only a great songwriter, he’s a great writer, too. His lyrics are observational and vulnerable and clever, but his real gift is throwing in unexpected phrases and lines that you’ll never see coming. This guy’s got it all: Pop smarts, lyrical smarts and melodic smarts punctuate every Modern Love Child track and as a far as I’m concerned, Shane is one of the most refreshingly innovative and

"La, La, La, La" Yes, he was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, but there’s always been a California feel to Alex Bleeker. The bassist for the beloved indie rock outfit Real Estate, Bleeker has also fronted Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, an outfit that plays a countryfied mash up of roots rock and psychedelia. That California feel I’m talking about can be traced to Bleeker’s love of the Grateful Dead. We talk about that in this interview, so I’ll let him explain, but Bleeker’s music has a timeless quality that makes it hard to place chronologically. This is a good problem to have, because one can never be pigeonholed or stuck in an era--they can float freely out of time. Speaking of floating freely, Bleeker’s first solo album does just that. A stirring and blissful collection of gentle jangles, catchy, '60s-tinged pop and ethereal melodies, Heaven On The Faultline is one of the most beautifully crafted albums you’ll hear all year. Or any year. In this chat we talk about The Dead, being jittery around germs and a

“Pop The Placebo” The Greenwich Village-born Elizabeth Ziman started playing the piano at a young age. How young? Well, she penned her first song at age 6, so she got going pretty fast. A start like that makes her scholarship to study classical composition at the Berklee College of Music and her nabbing an ASCAP Leiber and Stoller scholarship not a very big surprise. So her scholastic plan was hatched and she was ready to go, But like they always say, the best plans are born from the plans that don’t happen. And you can’t plan for that. You just go with it. And Ziman did just that—her plan to focus on scoring films was upended by Patti Austin tapping her for an Ella Fitzgerald tour that found Ziman on the road for almost two years. She got back to Berkelee and as her collegiate career was ending, she put together Elizabeth and the Catapult. From there, things stated to move fast. The band put out an EP in 2006, signed with Verve in 2008 and put out their first record Taller Children in 2009. In the past 15 y

“The Comfort Of Discomfort” You’re about to learn a great deal about Chad Lawson in our conversation, so before we begin, I’ll give you a few essentials. The classically trained pianist first had the inclination he wanted to be behind the keys after watching Sha Na Na on TV when he was 5. Lawson went to Berklee College of Music where he declared himself a jazz performance major, but while there he became an in-demand studio musician so he dropped out, not seeing much point in staying in school. He later formed the Chad Lawson trio, toured as part of Julio Iglesias' band, hit number one on the Billboard Classical albums chart, composed for the podcasts Lore, Unobscured and Cabinet of Curiosities, signed a deal with Decca Records, and launched his own podcast called Calm It Down. Inspired by everyone from Keith Jarret to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench, Lawson plays with fluidity, finesse and grace. He’s a dextrous and thoughtful player who’s innovative, creative and intuitive. And he never d

“The Journey Isn’t Finished Yet" Steve Hackett is indeed one of the true musical masters. The London born guitarist got his start in two short lived bands—Canterbury Glass and Quiet World, but his tenure in Genesis is what catapulted him into the spotlight. Hackett played on six of the legendary bands’ albums, including Nursery Cryme and Selling England By The Pound. He left Genesis in 1977 and from there, Hackett put out a series of adventurous, innovative and dazzling solo albums, including Spectral Mornings and Bay Of Kings. Hackett’s influence is vast and just to give you an idea of who his playing inspired—Queen’s Brian May Rush’s Alex Lifeson and Eddie Van Halen have all name-checked Hackett as a massive influence. As for his playing, getting into the technical brilliance of his revelatory use of two handed tapping and sweep picking might be the subject of its own podcast. The fact is, Steve Hackett plays with dexterity, depth and finesse--his precision is almost supernatural and his command of his ins

"Somewhere Between Joe Gould And Lee Mavers" “The supreme question about a work of art,” James Joyce once wrote, "is out of how deep a life does it spring.” If you tried to plumb the fathoms for a measurable reading of the life of Cathal Coughlan—well, the depth finder would crack right in half. Coughaln’s life has been a rich and textured affair and his talent is vast and incomprehensibly majestic. With his band Microdisney, The Cork -born musician put out several of the most affecting albums ever made. Efforts like The Clock Comes Down the Stairs in 1985 or the following year’s Crooked Mile, are front to back classics. After he and his bandmate Sean O-Hagan dissolved Microdisney and O-Hagan went on to form the High Llamas, Coughlan fired up the Fatima Mansions—an aggressive, fiery and angular outfit, that played synth-laced alternative rock that churned away with grinding and brutal beauty. Viva Dead Ponies and Lost In The Former West are two personal favorites, but the fact is, I love every album in thei

"Despondent Transponder Sacramento Shoegaze Blues" The Fleeting Joys’ 2006 debut Despondent Transponder slipped on the shoegaze radar with little fanfare, but fifteen years later, the album is considered a front to back classic. Awash in soaring melodies, fuzzed up guitars and hypnotic arrangements, the album sounds like a heavenly blend of lifting fog, exploding comets and outer space bliss. A bit of My Bloody Valentine, a bit of Sonic Youth and a touch of Ride--sure, all of that--but the Fleeting Joys have their own brand of magic that made subsequent releases like Speeding Away To Someday and Occult Radiance instant sonic treasures. The Sacramento band, which is fronted by the married team of John and Rorika Loring, know when to soar and when to punch and when to skyrocket into the stratosphere—not only that, they know when it’s safe to land. There’s new music on the way, there’s a vinyl reissue of Despondent Transponder, there might be some live shows and there’s a reason why the Fleeting Joys don’t thin

“Modern Yesterdays” Over the course of her career, the Georgia-born, NYU-educated Kaki King has put out nine spellbinding albums, including her 2003 debut Everybody Loves You, the staggering 2006 effort Until We Felt Red and her brand new one Modern Yesterdays. Kaki King is a force. But she’s the kind of force that you can’t really define. She plays guitar like nobody else—and whether she’s incorporating jazz or flamenco or post rock, whatever she does sounds like something nobody’s ever done. Her percussive style and her fret tappings and her open tunings are beyond us to explain in a technical sense so let's just say this: Kaki King plays the guitar with an otherworldly flair. But even that falls short. Kaki King is a Jedi. And what we mean by that is what she does is so special, so rare and so staggering, when you listen to her play you can feel the force at work. And you can’t put words to it—you only know that what she’s doing is one of the great mysteries of the universe. And though that mystery is my

“Anxiety and Art” The New York born Gracie Martin’s music is nothing short of revelatory. A dreamy mix of indie folk and hypnotic pop, she brings to mind everyone from Kate Nash to Kate Bush. Martin starting writing songs at 11, started styling classical voice at 13 and started playing guitar at 15. She got her BFA in acting from the University of the Arts and was involved extensively in the theatre community of Philadelphia Her 2017 debut EP Unconscious revealed an out of the box talent who wrote about the rickety world around us with a hypnotic and poetic steadiness. The songs were riveting, arresting and captivating. From there she put out a string of fabulous singles, did the soundtrack for the Wilma Theaters production of Romeo and Juliet and now she’s back with Dreams Die, which you just heard. An album is in the works, live shows could happen depending on the health of the world out there and there’s more to come from Gracie Martin. The fact is, she’s so talented, she could do anything. And she will.