The Self Portrait Gospel :: Podcast

Rutili's Califone has been around for nearly 30 years, if you can believe that. Rutili can't, and we talk about that for a mortal moment. Still, there were bigger topics on our minds, like ICE, the Trump administration, the pulverizing politics running rampant in our country, the confusing violence that seems to continue painting the numbing narrative of the "American Dream", and of course, the Grateful Dead. Rutili's music is both magical and intimately intense, as we find several concepts for coping, expressing, and exploring how music truly heals all wounds. As 2026 continues to roll out, Rutili prepares with Califone and Ugly Casanova for the Ice Cream Floats boat tour from Miami to Puerto Plata and the Dominican Republic this weekend, a short spring tour in April, and much more!

After relocating to the Bay Area in the late 1990s to pursue a vibrant vision of becoming a professional skateboarder, life had other plans for future artist, illustrator, and psychedelic painter Joe Robert (LSD Worldpeace). To properly pivot in the throes of reality, one has to put one foot in front of the other, and Roberts did just that. Later, studying at SFAI, he eventually began releasing books and zines such as accalimed titles "LSD Worldpeace", We Ate The Acid (61)A3HT3TA3," and 2021's "Clowns of Hyperspace", and has had several works featured in galleries like Slow Culture in LA and Marlborough Gallery in New York. 
After a long break since the holidays, we sat down with Robert for an epic conversation about life's mysteries, creative chaos, youth, skateboarding, conspiracy theories, aliens, goverment mind control, world peace and his children, who have become his greatest inspiration. Roberts' work is influential, iconic and a radical reaction to the world and its cryptically comical side, while simultaneously allowing viewers to experience the spiritual secrets of the universe up close.

For the final episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast of 2025, we had the great pleasure of sitting down with multi-instrumentalist, activist, composer, and multimedia artist Micah Nelson (Particle Kid) to discuss the future of music streaming services like Spotify and the revolutionary reclaiming of musicians'/artists' intellectual property through a newly developed, creator-owned music and social media ecosystem powered by human intelligence called The Flow, which was developed, and founded by Mike Hanuschik. Join us for a mind-blowing conversation that takes several unexpected turns into the depths of creative culture, industry, and the fight for sonic survival. This multi-part episode will continue to explore the controversy and complexity of how these elements have destroyed the essence of not only a musician's living through their craft, but also a war that is sweeping the plaet as we speak.

There are some folks you feel like you've known forever, and perhaps you have in some other life than the one you're currently occupying. Westerlund is one of those people. A sonic soul that shifts in and out of an atmospheric array of outfits and poetic projects, his presence is equal to his artistic output. Positive, curious, and above all, genuine. On this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we sit down with the Research Triangle-based producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and percussionist to talk about his unique connection to sound, working with several artists like Califone, Nathaniel Russel, Jake Xerxes Fusell, Bon Iver, and Sylvan Esso, writting, and recording his most recent effort "Curiosities from the Shift", and much more.

While conjouring those familiar relams of romanticism found within the captivating caves of Leonard Cohen, Eduardo Bort, and Donovan, Sao Paulo, Braizil-bases multi-instrumentalist Sergio Victor Sayeg, known professionally as Sessa, has sincerely brought to the sonic surface a mesmerizing meditation on life, lover, fatherhood, and cultural connection with his latest effort, "Pequena Vertigem de Amor (Lil' Love Vertigo)." A brilliant body of work that effortlessly flows from one end of the galaxy to the echoing canals of the listeners' eager ears who patiently wait for its humbling vibrations, Sessa takes us on a journey that is one for the books.