Stereo Embers: The Podcast

Stereo Embers The Podcast 0410: Tom DiCillo (Living In Oblivion, Box Of Moonlight) by Alex Green Online

"What About You?" With time running out on 2024, Spooky Mansion are checking in with one of the best albums of the year. The California outfit's new long player What About You? is a rousing blast of scruffy surf and west coast soul. Led by braintrust Grayson Converse, Spooky Mansion are one of the most inventive and exciting bands around.Filled with winning tracks like "Weather," "Long Time Ago,", and "The River," What About You? is filled with horny swagger, bluesy howl and scrappy indie rock. Converse is an enigmatic frontman by night, but by day he works as a contractor and the duality of his life is something we cover in this chat. We also cover a whole lot more--a seafaring father, growing up in California and the reality of romantic notions. This is a great chat--you're going to love this guy. www.spookymansionofficial.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com) www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com) Stereo Embers The Podcast Twitter:

"Para Llevar" You might know Johnny Delaware from the South Carolina alt-country outfit SUSTO, but the singer/songwriter's new solo album Paro Llevar reminds us that he's a musical force even when he's away from the band he co-founded with Justin Osborne. SUSTO's five albums, including Ever Since I Lost My Mind and 2023's My Entire Life are roots rock classics and the band has a pretty rabid global fanbase, but the South Dakota-born Delaware, who was a collegiate runner, is no stranger to going it alone. His new solo album Para Llevar is produced by Delaware himself, who also plays a majority of the instruments on the album. A stirring and dreamy blend of gliding psychedelia, Latin American rhythms and blissful rootsy grooves, Para Llevar is one of the most moving albums of 2024. It's filled with philosophical ruminations, personal revelations and internal meditations and it's inviting, engaging and downright beautiful; it brings to mind everyone from Paul Simon to Elliott SmithHow does Mexico fit into all o

"Underwater Detection Method" I always knew the San Francisco-born musician Greg Lisher as a guitar player. As a member of Camper Van Beethoven and the Monks of Doom, Lisher's imaginitive and distinct playing remains instatnly recogniziable. But for his new solo album Underwater Detection Method, Lisher decided to make a left turn and make the keyboard the central instrument on the album. A riveting 12-song collection, Underwater Detection Method is a series of synthesized soundscapes made up of dreamy dub, prowling post-punk, artful ambient fills, swirling electronica and elegant prog rock detours. The instrumental album is nothing short of experiential; it's like being given a tour of the cascading hills of a Dali-colored parallell universe with Lisher acting as your trusty guide. From the stirring "All Things Japanese" to the musical finesse of "Snowblind," Underwater Detection Method is a riveting and evocative listen. www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com) www.stereoembersmagazine.com (

"Backbone" The Australian-born Kasey Chambers has been in this game for a long time. At sixteen she and her family formed the ARIA Award winning Dead Ringer Band, who put out four perfect albums, including Living In The Circle and Home FIres, which won best Country album in 1996. In 1999 she decided to go solo and hit the ground running with her debut The Captain. How did that decision pan out? Well, let's just say this: Kasey's solo career is an endless reel of highlights. With almost fifteen albums to her credit, Chambers has been piling up acclaim from the beginning--if you think I'm exaggerating, try these numbers: She's had five number one albums, won fourteen ARIA Awards, ten APRA awards, had four top ten singles, won nine Country Music Association of Australia awards, and put out two books--A Little Bird Told Me and Just Don't Be A Dickhead and Other Profound Things I've Learnt. She's collaborated with Paul Kelly, Keith Urban, Ed Sheeran, and Foy Vance, she was inducted into the Australian Recording I

"A Boot And A Shoe" The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Sam Phillips has had quite a career. The Glendale-born musician has almost fifteen albums under her musical belt, including The Indescribable Wow, Cruel Inventions, Martinis and Bikinis, Cold Dark Nights and the newly reissued version of A Boot And A Shoe. We'll get to that in a minute, but before we do, let me give you a partial list of folks she's collaborated with over the years: R.EM., Elvis Costello, T-Bone Burnett, Van Dyke Parks, Marc Ribot, Jim Keltner, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Other career highlights; she's composed scores for Gilmore Girls, Bunheads and the Marvelous Ms. Maisel, she appeared in Die Hard With A Vengeance and Wim Wenders' The End Of Violence (the throat cutting I referenced comes in the former) and her handmade collages on repurposed vintage album sleeves that were found at flea markets.were exhibited at the Gertrude Contemporary in Australia. But back to a Boot and A Shoe. The 2004 album has been given a proper r

"It's Only Rock and Roll" There's a lot to tell about Michael Des Barres, but let's start with the music. In the early '70s, the Sussex-born singer/songwriter fronted the glam rock band Silverhead, who were signed to Deep Purple's label. He decided to try his luck on the West Coast, moving to L.A. and fronting the rock/soul outfit, who were signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records. In '82, Des Barres formed the hard rock band Chequered Past with Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols and Clem Burke of Blondie. That band opened for folks like INXS and Duran Duran and that Duran Duran association proved auspicious as Des Barres was invited by Andy Taylor to replace Robert Palmer as the singer of The Power Station. I know I said Des Barres was a rock and roll chameleon, but at this point he sounds more like a rock and roll shark, doesn't he? He never stops moving. Des Barres fronted The Power Station at Live Aid and along the way he co-wrote "Obsession" with Holly Knight, which became a global hit for Animotion, he

"Photograph" Born in Honduras during a military coup, Lily Vakili has had quite a life. Raised on military bases in Thailand, Florida, Puerto Rico and Iowa, Vakili's musical worldview has been formed by the fact that she's been all over the world. Over the course of her fascinating life, she's been a waitress, a dancer, an actress, a filmmaker, a choreographer, a stage director, a human rights researcher, a Harvard-trained biotech lawyer. I mean, those are pretty much all the things. But there's more. A mother and a ferocious advocate for disability rights, Vakili is the real deal; a passionate person who believes in authenticity and truth, Vakili's music is redolent with those very same qualities. A blistering blend of streetsmart punk, smoldering poetry and big rock and roll hooks, The Vakili Band bring to mind the Velvet Underground, The Pretenders and Jimmy Gnecco of Ours. The music is as driving as it is sensual; it's rich, it's textured and it's wonderful. From the Tannersville EP to albums like Honey

Stereo Embers The Podcast: Steve Louw (All Night Radio, Big Sky) by Alex Green Online

"Dreamweaver" With just under ten albums under their musical belts, the Danish darkwave outfit Trentemøller are one of the most inventive bands around. Led by the Grammy-nominated braintrust Anders Trentemøller, their music is a thoughtful blend of swirling electronica, lashing techno, sweeping synthpop and cinematic ambient soundscapes. Albums like The Last Resort and Obverse were instant classics and their new one Dreamweaver might be their best one yet. The ethereal vocals on this record bring to mind everyone from Mazzy Starr to the Cocteau Twins and the accompanying arrangements are moody, thoughtful, dramatic and arresting. Anders is one of alternative music's great sonic architects, and he's remixed so many people's music, we'd be here all day if I named them all, so keep in mind this is a partial list: Pet Shop Boys, Robyn, Franz Ferdinand and Depeche Mode. Not only is he the High King of Darkwave, he's a super nice guy and this is a fabulous chat! www.trentemoller.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com (

"The Quiver" A poet, a radio host on WPKN and a memoirist, the New Haven based psychotherapist Binnie Klein is also a Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale. Her 2010 memoir, by the way, Blows To The Head, How Boxing Changed My Mind, is a revelation, But let's get back to the poetry. Klein started the indie music collective In These Trees back in 2019 and her friendship with Australian singer/songwriter Tartie that resulted in an exchange of poetry, augmented that collective's strength with a ten-song album of heart-stopping beauty that is some of the most compelling and sonorous music of the year. Stereo Embers' Dave Cantrell describes the album as burning with aching, perseverant grace and goes on to say that when hearing it, he collapse every time, dropping into that kind of breath-caught, near-tears surrender that amounts to what I can only think to call ‘the innate emotional wow of recognition. Yes, he likes it. And I do too. A lot. www.inthesetrees.bandcamp.com (http://www.inthesetrees.ban

"All You Need To Know" The Vancouver outfit Mossy Ledge got started in the early '90s and by 2001 they had put in the reps, touring across Canada and putting out two excellent albums and two fabulous EPs. With seven years or so under their rock and roll belts, the band was poised to take the next step in their career. Their sonorous blast of soaring indie pop brought to mind a perfect blend of The Watchmen and Catherine Wheel and with a solid live following and hooks galore, that next step seemed decidedly inevitable. So inevitable, in fact, they decided not to take it. The story of Mossy Ledge is the story of a band whose story should be more familiar, but at the height of their powers, the Canadian outfit opted for curtain number two, which sits in close proximity to curtain number one. The latter is the tantalizing and promising rock and roll dream, while behind the former is the logical and sensible domestic life that holds just as much promise. Behind both curtains are two different kinds of riches and

"Hang In There With Me" If you're an artist, you either move West or you move East. In the case of the Pennsylvania-born Amy Rigby, she went east. Landing in New York in the late seventies, Rigby absorbed the music of the city and took assiduous notes about punk rock, indie scenesters and the rhythms of the age. I'm zipping through time here, but if you want to know about Rigby's New York years, read her fabulous memoir Girl To City, which I think is one of the best books about music ever written. She later married Will Rigby of The DB's and played in bands like The Shams and Last Roundup, but it wasn't until the mid-'90s with her solo debut Diary Of A Mod Housewife that she began to flex her songwriting muscle. Hilarious, heartfelt and in many ways conversational, Rigby's work is intimate and familiar and over the course of her winning discography which includes albums like The Sugar Tree, Little Fugitive and her brilliant new one Hang In There With Me, Rigby has proven herself to be one of the most tuneful

"Once Was Gleaming" The California-born Tanner Porter is a composer, arranger, performer, vocalist and songwriter. Her voice is otherwordly and wonderful, and set against her complex orchestral arrangements, it evokes everyone from Kate Bush to Tori Amos. Her debut album The Summer Sinks was a stone cold stunner and her new album Once Was Gleaming picks up where Summer left off, offering a stirring and moving song-cycle that's filled with breathtaking musical finesse, and almost cinematic compositional scope. Tanner’s orchestral music has been commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, and Nu Deco Ensemble, among others. She's collaborated on ballets that were premiered by the Boston Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet, had short operas commisioned by Barnard College and Columbia University’s New Opera Workshop and she's been busy on Broadway in ILLINOISE, with music by Sufjan Stevens as a vocal/guitar understudy for two roles. Tanner has been a composer

"Top Of The World" The Emmy Award-nominated Mark Bacino is more than just a craftsman of pure pop magic--he's a producer, composer, educator and journalist. I first got on board with Mark's music in 2003 for his brilliant album Million Dollar Milkshake, which was the follow-up to his equally brilliant debut, Pop Job. Since then, he's put out Queens English in 2010 and fifteen years later he's backed that up with his brand new album Top Of The World. A sterling ten-song set, Top Of The World is filled with hooks galore, but it's also Bacino's most observational and philosophical work yet. Filled with tracks like the thrilling percussive stomp of Not That Guy to the horny swagger of Flop Of The World, Bacino has never sounded more assured. Falling somewhere between Marshall Crenshaw and Mike Viola, Bacino's music is a refreshing and charming streetsmart pop. I call him the Cole Porter of Queens because his lyrics are clever, his timing impeccable and his humor and wisdom always on full display. Bacino is the o

"Reverb & Seduction" The Portland outfit Federale have been one of the most fascinating and inventive bands of the last twenty years. Led by Collin Hegna, Federale have put out a handful of albums whose affecting instrumental cinemascapes, dark country ballads and psych rock excursions bring to mind a version of and the Dirty Three had they hailed from the verdant and moody Pacific Northwest. The band's new album and sixth overall, Reverb & Seduction is an ambitious and wicked blend of dusty pedal steel, high desert reverb and ominous strings that all add up to a deliciously dark and foreboding feeling that something's going to happen and not only is not going to be good, there's nothing you can do to stop it. With a lineup that boasts members of The Shivas, Roselit Bone, Dandy Warhols, and Rogue Wave, plus a guest appearance by Alex Maas of The Black Angels, Reverb & Seduction is one of the year's very best. As for Hegna, he's a busy fellow--not only does he front Federale, he's been in the Brian Jonestown

"Everlasting Love" Plenty of people have gone it alone in music--blues and folk musicians are well-acquainted with being on stage with just a handful of songs and acoustic guitar. But for a new wave artist back in the early '80s, it wasn't a common thing to be a one man band. And Howard Jones was exactly that. In an age where multiple-membered outfits like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode graced the stage, Jones took the old blues and folk formula and gave it a synthy twist. It was a huge gamble and it paid off rather well. Over the course of his winning career, the Southampton-born Jones has stacked his CV with highlight after highlight: from '83-'92 he crushed it, with 15 top 40 singles around the world. He's put out nearly twenty albums that have sold close to ten million copies, he played Live Aid, Amnesty International's Festival of Youth, and The Grammys. What else did Howard Jones do? Tons: he's played with Mark Knopfler, Mark King of Level 42, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, toured as a m

"One Hand Up" Karen Haglof has had many lives--and she's lived them with creative poise and artistic grace. The Minnesota-born musician put herself on the musical map with Steve Almaas in the band The Crackers before joining the indie rock orchestra Rhys Chatham’s Ensemble. From there, and by the way, this is a clumsy expurgate list of Hagloff's accomplishments, she joined the Band of Susans with some of the Chatham’s crew. After that, she became chef of the East Village's beloved The Great Jones Cafe' where she created their famous brunch menu and then she went to medical school, knocked out her medical degree and then joined the hematology / oncology department of New York University Hospital from which she retired in May 2023. If this is making you feel like an underachiever, I get it. We're all feeling that way. The fact is, Karen Hagloff is extraordinary. Her fourth solo album One Hand Up is the winning continuation of a music career she put on hold until 2014. Along with guitarist Mario Vi

"Whitelined" Formed in Barnum, Colorado in the early oughts by pals Ryan Policky and Erik Jeffries, A Shoreline Dream wasted no time in establishing themselves as a band to be reckoned with. No scruffy apprentice years here--albums like Avoiding The Consequences and Losing Them All To This Time were fully formed blasts of bruising guitars drenched in pure sonic muscle. Not only that, but lurking behind the sheets of fuzz was an undeniable pop center that, nearly twenty years later has never sounded more assured. The follow-up to their brilliant 2022 Loveblind album is called Whitelined and not only is it a masterpiece of musical architecture, and swerving beauty, it's got a little backstory. The fellas in A Shoreline Dream happened to meet Ride's Mark Gardener at a Denver gig and a friendship turned into a working relationship as well and the ideas started whipping back and forth and this album is a perfect blend of their musical union. A Shoreline Dream have opened for Chapterhouse, played South By Southwes

"The Morrison Project" The London-born guitarist and singer/songwriter Billy Morrison has two main components to his life and for the purposes of this introduction, I'm going to tell you about the musical one. The other one I'll let him tell you about because he'll tell it far better than I can. So: the musical one. After playing in bands like Into A Circle and Stimulator, Morrison was recruited to play bass with The Cult for their opening slot with Aerosmith in the U.S., Japan and Europe. After his stint with The Cult, Morrison formed Camp Freddy with Dave Navarro, Donovan Leitch, Scott Ford and The Cult's Matt Sorum. You'll find the through-line in Morrison's life has a lot to do with The Cult. In 2006 Morrison teamed up with Fuel's Brett Scallions, Ricky Warwick of The Almighty, Slunt's Charles Ruggiero, Korn's Rob Patterson and, you guessed it, The Cult's Billy Duffy for the band Circus Diablo. In 2010 he joined Billy Idol's band and he's been with him ever since, playing stadium shows across the world.