On this episode, Marc talks with Donna-Claire Chesman. She’s the author of “Crybaby: The Artists Who Shaped Emo Rap,” published on January 21, 2025. It’s a fascinating look at a genre that grew up from the Soundcloud underground to become wildly popular, focusing on artists like Atmosphere, Lil Peep, Yung Lean, and Juice WRLD. “Crybaby” does justice to a musical subculture that’s more complex and rewarding than you might realize.As Donna-Claire writes, “The history of Emo Rap is imperfect, and in many ways, 'Crybaby' is an imperfect reconstruction and critical examination of a genre that is felt more than articulated…at one point I toyed with the idea of asking my interview subjects who emo rap “was for,” except I quickly understood that emo rap is for everyone.” To buy "Crybaby" and support independent bookstores, go here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/crybaby-the-artists-who-shaped-emo-rap-donna-claire-chesman/21650174We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Donna-Claire Chesman!
--------
52:55
052 Daniel Spicer on Peter Brötzmann
On this episode, Marc talks to Daniel Spicer, author of "Peter Brötzmann: Free-Jazz, Revolution and the Politics of Improvisation,” published January 14, 2025. It’s a thorough and fascinating biography of the German musician best known for his roaring saxophone tone and boundary-breaking albums like “Machine Gun” and “Nipples." Talking with Brotzmann and his collaborators, Spicer digs deep into his many great recordings, performances, and partnerships, showing him to be a three-dimensional artist with a wide range of work and ideas.As Daniel writes, “In terms of biography, my emphasis throughout is on his art rather than his personal life. However, I have made it a priority to consider his art in the context of the revolutionary politics that informed both his own music and the free-jazz tradition from which it sprung.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Daniel Spicer!
--------
48:22
051 Liz Pelly on Spotify
On this episode, Marc talks with Liz Pelly, author of “Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist,” published on January 7, 2025. by One Signal. It’s a deeply reported expose of the streaming service Spotify and how their decisions and manipulations have changed music both for artists and for listeners. Liz has been reporting on Spotify for almost a decade and her many published articles on the subject led her to this fascinating book, which will hopefully change the way people think about streaming and what it’s done to music.As she writes, “In my writing and reporting, I’ve been driven toward a deep impulse toward demystification–toward shedding light on the inner workings of streaming companies and debunking the myths they perpetuate. Sometimes it feels more complicated and convoluted than I could ever have imagined. Other times it just all feels like music industry business as usual. The truth is somewhere in the middle: the story of streaming is as much about what’s changed as what’s stayed the same.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Liz Pelly!
--------
54:57
050 Brendan Greaves on Terry Allen
On this episode, Marc talks with Brendan Greaves, author of “Truckload of Art: The Life and Work of Terry Allen,” published in March of 2024. It’s a thorough and compelling biography of artist, musician, and performer Terry Allen, whose art has crossed lines from museum-hosted visual art to outlaw country to work that no genre can contain. Greaves, who runs the record label Paradise of Bachelors, met Allen many years ago and reissued many of his classic albums, forging a relationship in which really only he could tell such an intimate and honest story of Allen and his many colleagues and friends.As Greaves writes, “Terry Allen occupies an utterly unique position straddling the disparate, and usually distant, worlds of conceptual art and country music. I’m not sure you could say the same about anyone else, ever, and certainly no one with the same aplomb, acclaim, and prestige in each discipline–not to mention the same lacerating, self-effacing sense of humor about it all.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Brendan Greaves!
--------
1:02:17
049 Jim Saah on Photographing Punk
On this episode, Marc talks with Jim Saah, author and illustrator of “In My Eyes: Photographs 1982-1987,” originally published in 2021 and out in a second edition now. It’s a huge, beautiful book of black and white photographs taken by Saah of an astounding array of punk and post-punk groups, from the Ramones to Black Flag to Fugazi to Pavement. It also includes Saah’s interviews with artists who work at the cross sections of music and imagery, including J. Robbins, Jon Langford, Shepard Fairey, and Ian MacKaye.As Jim writes, “I went through thousands of negatives to choose the hundreds of photos in this book. It was a joy to revisit all these images and remember how I felt and why I took them in the first place. I took these photos because I had to.”We hope you enjoy Marc’s conversation with Jim Saah!
Australia