RiYL
Episodes
Episode 557: Rebecca Pidgeon
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Let’s talk about yoga. Let’s talk about the practice behind the familiar, physical movement. That deeper, spiritual resonance heavily informed Reb...
Episode 556: Will Cullen Hart (of The Circulatory System/The Olivia Tremor Control)
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of our most requested guests returns to the show. It’s been nearly eight years since we’ve caught up with Will Cullen Hart. The Circulatory Sy...
Episode 555: Seth Avett (of the Avett Brothers)
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded in hotel rooms while on tour with the Avett Brothers, Seth Avett Sings Greg Brown finds the musician paying tribute to the titular singer-son...
Episode 554: Mario Hernandez
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This year, Love and Rockets celebrates 40 years as – perhaps – the single greatest American comic of all time. Mario Hernandez, along with sibling...
Episode 553: Susie Ulrey (of Pohgoh)
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We postpone the interview a few days, as there’s a hurricane bearing down on Florida. Tampa staved off the worst of it, but it’s another one of th...
Episode 552: Stephanie Phillips (of Big Joanie)
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the beautiful things about music is that it’s a seemingly bottomless resource. Whenever you begin to doubt it, something new and fresh quickl...
551: Linqua Franqa
05 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s easy to feel hopeless in this world, but a 45-minute conversation with Mariah Parker makes you feel like you can do just about anything. A rapp...
Episode 550: Malka Spigel (of Immersion and Minimal Compact)
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, Immersion released Nanocluster Vol 1. The album finds the duo of Malka Spigel and Colin Newman quickly composing and recording music with n...
Episode 549: Will Sheff (of Okkervil River)
23 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the sole consistent member, Will Sheff has built Okkervil River into one of the smartest and most beloved indie rock bands to walk the earth. This ...
Episode 548: Michael League (of Snarky Puppy)
16 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since 2004, Michael League has remained Snarky Puppy’s one constant. For every album and every show, the bass player has been there to help shape th...
Episode 547: L’Rain
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fatigue arrived like a breath of fresh air. The album is alternately complex and calming, but also deeply felt. The LP is Taja Cheek’s second under ...
Episode 546: Billy Bragg
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a video from last November featuring Billy Bragg speaking to the camera outside the Brighton Dome. He’s nearly drown out by the sounds of ...
Episode 545: Jordan Crane
30 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Keeping Two isn’t an easy book. It’s a book about loss, trauma and brains wired to project worst case scenarios – things to which many of us can...
Episode 544: Kate Beaton
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The book took around a year to draw, but Ducks was more than a decade in the making. The foundation of the book arrived in 2014, as a five-part webcom...
Episode 543: Rhett Miller (of Old 97s)
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The last time I spoke to Rhett Miller, the conversation turned to 9/11, as it sometimes does. The Old 97s singer was living in New York, not far from ...
Episode 542: Kenny Becker (of Goon)
06 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paint By Numbers 1 was a pandemic album in just about every sense. Recorded at home with no budget, it was a band release in name only. Life intervene...
Episode 541: Eyedress
03 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2019, Idris Vicuña was suddenly everywhere, an overnight success several years in the making on the strength of “Jealous.” The single found th...
Episode 540: Patterson Hood (of The Drive-By Truckers)
26 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After a pair of albums steeped in the polarizing politics of the era, Welcome 2 Club XIII finds The Drive-By Truckers in a reflective mood. Frontmen P...
Episode 539: Emily Haines (of Metric)
19 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Here’s to the next 20 years,” Emily Haines concludes with a laugh. Nearly a quarter-century into Metric’s existence, the band’s frontwoman ...
Episode 538: Mary Gauthier
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic hasn’t been easy, of course, but it has provided at a new way for Mary Gauthier to engage with her music. Her story songs have comforta...
Episode 537: Tom Scharpling
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Every so often, he makes a fist and gently punches his hand, trying to stave off a yawn. I don’t take it personally. It’s less than two days after...
Episode 536: Carey Mercer (of Frog Eyes)
30 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nothing last forever in the music world – breakups least of all. In February of this year, Frog Eyes’ Carey Mercer announced he was getting the ba...
Episode 535: Rory Phillips (of The Stereo, The Impossibles)
23 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“If anybody has someone in their past that you would still like to maintain some sort of relationship with,” Rory Phillips explains, “but you ha...
Episode 534: Laura Veirs
16 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Twelve albums in, Laura Veirs is ready for a fresh start. Emerging from a breakup album dealing with the detachment from her husband and longtime prod...
Episode 533: Wayne Kramer (of MC5)
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For their many downsides, the past few years have offered an opportunity to reflect and reconnect with friends, family, projects. For Wayne Kramer, 20...
Episode 532: Diane Coffee
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are birds chirping. Shaun Fleming is making the most out of this beautiful spring day in Los Angeles, taking the call from the front porch. We g...
Episode 531: Joan Osborne
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fresh off the release of a new record and suddenly unable to tour, Joan Osborne got the work. The musician dug through the closets in her Brooklyn hom...
Episode 530: Janet Weiss (of Slang, Quasi)
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“I’ve always been in more than one band,” Janet Weiss notes. Even during the nearly two-and-a-half decades she spent as one-third of Sleater Kin...
Episode 529: David Toop
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ambient music helped me survive the darkest moments of the pandemic, and David Toop’s 2001 classic, Ocean of Sound, gave me the context to fully app...
Episode 528: Emily Carrington
03 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our Little Secret isn’t an easy book, but it’s an important one. In her first-ever graphic novel, Emily Carrington delves deep into her history an...
Episode 527: Graham Nash
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wild Tales begins at an impasse. At the tail end of the 60s, Graham Nash writes, his time in The Hollies had seemingly run its course. A trip to the U...
Episode 526: Felix Cavaliere (of The Rascals)
20 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The transition into the 70s wasn’t an easy one of for The Rascals. But it had been an extraordinaire run before the wheels came off, penning several...
Episode 525: Joe Rainey
14 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Niineta opens unexpected. A call from inside the penitentiary. It’s a cousin of Joe Rainey’s – but one he considers close enough to call a broth...
Episode 524: Simone Giertz
08 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The last time we chatted was on stage in October 2019, not long before the world changed. Simon Giertz had recently dealt with some health struggles, ...
Episode 523: Anton Newcombe (of Brian Jonestown Massacre)
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Life off the road is a strange thing after 18 albums and 30 years , but Anton Newcombe is thriving. After decades in San Francisco, he settled in Berl...
Episode 522: Lyrics Born
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Facing an indeterminate period of isolation, Lyrics Born did what any rational person would: he started a podcast. While he’s quick to note that the...
Episode 521: Paul Cauthen
24 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2019, Paul Cauthen gave the world a breakup record. That’s not to say that Room 41 didn’t offer hints of what would come next. “Cocaine Count...
Episode 520: (Bonus) Bob Mould
24 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As I type this, Bob Mould has jumped back in with both legs. He’s quick to point out that he managed to get a handful of dates in at the end of last...
Episode 519: Jonathan Meiburg (of Shearwater)
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
His voice echoes as he speaks. The walls are entirely empty ahead of a big move, but Jonathan Meiburg has carved out enough time to sit and speak. We ...
Episode 518: Ramesh Srivastava (of Voxtrot)
10 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
He quotes his therapist when describing his latest album. It’s a conflict of external vs. internal wanderlust. Ramesh Srivastava spent the last seve...
Episode 517: Dustin Payseur (of Beach Fossils)
03 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The album-making process has always been somewhat contradictory for Beach Fossils. Front man Dustin Payseur has never suffered from lack of inspiratio...
Episode 516: David Christian (of Comet Gain)
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At the height of social distancing, David Christian (nee Feck) went solo. After 29 years as the chief wrangler of the ever-morphing indie pop act, the...
Episode 515: Scott Thompson and Paul Bellini (of Mouth Congress)
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As we’re about to start, Scott runs to the kitchen to check on dinner. He’s making chicken, breaded with Shake ‘N Bake. He’s up a few more tim...
Episode 514: Eric Pulido (of Midlake)
20 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There was no guarantee we’d ever see another Midlake album. The eight year gap since their last album was more than a simple break before records. T...
Episode 513: James McMurtry
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last year saw the release of The Horses and the Hounds. James McMurtry’s 10th album was easily one of the year’s best, showcasing a seasoned songw...
Episode 512: Josh Caterer (of Smoking Popes)
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Faced with an indefinite touring hiatus, Josh Caterer improvised. The musician recorded a pair of “live” albums – The Space Sessions and The Hid...
Episode 511: Melanie Charles
05 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A talented flautist trained as an opera singer, Melanie Charles wanted to make a splash with her Verve Records debut, Y'all Don't (Really) Care About ...
Episode 510: Rutu Modan
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Editor’s note: Apologies for the rough audio quality this time out.Just shy of hallway through Tunnels, two of the books leads engage in a spirited ...
Episode 509: Basia Bulat
20 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The past two years have afforded us all plenty of time to reflect – for better and for worse. For all of those who’ve devoted pandemic hours to re...
Episode 508: David Thomas (of Pere Ubu)
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nostalgia is a strange thing for any artist – particularly so for a group like Pere Ubu. Perpetually striving for change and innovation, the band’...
Episode 507: Buzz Osborne (of Melvins)
11 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two years of pandemic couldn’t keep Melvins down. In 2021 alone, the group released a pair of LPS: Working with God and Five Legged Dog, their 24th ...
Episode 506: Naomi Yang (of Damon & Naomi and Galaxie 500)
04 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When she hops on the call, Naomi Yang is still in the middle of an editing project. It’s one she’s not quite ready to talk about. At it for a litt...
Episode 505: Buffalo Nichols
30 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fresh off a rescheduled tour opening for Drive-By Truckers, I manage to catch Carl Nichols at home. In the not so distant future, he’ll be back on t...
Episode 504: Lester Chambers (of the Chambers Brothers)
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In July 2013, Lester Chambers was attacked. Performing at a Bay Area blues festival, the singer had just launched into the Impressions’ classic, “...
Episode 503: Mark Oliver Everett (of Eels)
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two years, Mark Oliver Everett interjects, isn’t really that long away from the road. In March, the Eels return to the road for the perfectly titled...
Episode 502: Kurt Heasley (of Lilys)
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
2021 saw reissues of some of the most beloved albums in the Lilys’ 30+ year history. After many years out-of-print, A Brief History of Amazing Letdo...
Episode 501: Oliver Ackermann (of A Place to Bury Strangers)
09 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In February of last year, Oliver Ackermann launched a new label. For some, such a project could easily have been written off as a pandemic project or ...
Episode 500: Nick Lowe
31 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There may be no singular figure in rock who has aged more gracefully than Nick Lowe. This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Convincer – perhaps...
Episode 499: Josh and Sam Kiszka (of Greta Van Fleet)
30 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2017, Greta Van Fleet did the seemingly impossible: broke through the pop music world as a new rock band. And while the Michigan-born quartet was c...
Episode 498: Julie Doiron
26 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nine years after her last solo album, Julie Doiron returns with I Thought of You. Written and recorded prior to the pandemic, the album was shelved fo...
Episode 497: Tahlena Chikami (of Bite Me Bambi)
24 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A self-proclaimed theater kid, Tahlena Chikami spent much of the past decade landing roles on film and television, including a number of beloved serie...
Episode 496: Kevin Whelan (of Aeon Station and The Wrens)
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In September, The New York Times published a feature on Kevin Whelan bearing the headline, “The 18-Year Wait for New Wrens Music Is Over. Sort Of....
Episode 495: Matt Madden
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than anything, Ex Libris is a love letter to a medium. Framed as a meta-fiction mystery of sorts, the book is an exercise in flexible styles and ...
Episode 494: Anika
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Her music career wasn’t an accident, exactly. But it’s safe to say that Anika didn’t see it coming. A music journalist by trade, the singer assu...
Episode 493: Lou Mathews and Jim Gavin
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“If a book is good,” Lou Mathews explains, “it will find an audience.” Finding a publisher, on the other hand, is often a different question a...
Episode 492: Bonnie Bloomgarden (of Death Valley Girls)
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no lingering doubt after an hour-long conversation that Bonnie Bloomgarden believes in the power of music. And not in any abstract sense, mi...
Episode 491: Taylor Hanson (of Hanson)
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2022, Hanson will celebrate 30 years as a band. It’s a remarkable accomplishment for any group, let alone one whose members ranged from age six t...
Episode 490: Merry Clayton
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021, Merry Clayton returned with a vengeance. In her solo first album in 27, years the singer once again poured her heart out on record. Beautiful...
Episode 489: Tillie Walden
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Released over the summer, Alone in Space offers brilliant glimpses in the process and work of a powerhouse cartoonist. The collection offers works fro...
Episode 488: (Bonus) Dickson Despommier
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I spent a lot of hours and a lot of words exploring the world of vertical farming over at TechCrunch. The research, which resulted in this feature, wa...
Episode 487: John Flansburgh (of They Might Be Giants)
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seems hard to believe that 40 years into a career of pushing boundaries and taking risks that They Might Be Giants still have anything left up their s...
Episode 486: Cedric Noel
23 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A citizen of the world, Cedric Noel has made his home in Montreal for the past five years. His musical influences are every bit as eclectic as his ge...
Episode 485: Guy Delisle
17 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The press copy describes Factory Summers as Guy Delisle’s “most personal book.” It’s a strange phrase for a cartoonist whose work often tends ...
Episode 484: Joe Ollmann
16 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fictional Father begins with an apology of a kind — or, at very least, an acknowledgement. Told as a self-effacing autobiographical strip, the prefa...
Episode 483: Dar Williams
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
2017’s What I Found in a Thousand Towns finds Dar Williams tackling urban studies. It’s new territory for the singer-songwriter, but one that buil...
Episode 482: José González
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“We are the apes that are starting to understand the universe and our place in it,” José González says in a statement released ahead of his late...
Episode 481: Rob Sevier and Ken Shipley (of Numero Group)
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month, Numero Group issued I Shall Wear a Crown, an expansive five-LP set that explores the life and work of T. L. Barrett, a Chicago-based Pasto...
Episode 480: Azure Ray
18 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The success of Azure Ray’s self-titled debut seemingly took everyone by surprise — not least the band itself. Following the breakup of their group...
Episode 479:Mary Roach
11 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Every time I speak to Mary Roach, I invariably get hung up on some minor detail — some story or person she’s teased out to unlock a fascinating ne...
Episode 478: Ben Snakepit
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For 20 years, Ben Snakepit has been building a magnum opus. Day in, day out, the musician-turned-cartoonist draws another daily strip recounting a sce...
Episode 477: Shirley Manson (of Garbage)
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a big couple of years for Shirley Manson — not something every artist can say, as a global pandemic stretches into its second year. Nor,...
Episode 476: Shary Flenniken
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than 30 years after Trots and Bonnie ended its decades-long run in National Lampoon, the strip finally gets a worthy collection. Shary Flenniken ...
Episode 475: Ben Chasny (of Six Organs Of Admittance)
21 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When the interview suggested he might be a spiritual person, Ben Chasny blanched, explaining, “I'm actually a total nihilist.”Sixteen years later,...
Episode 474: Keiler Roberts
14 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
My Begging Chart finds Keiler Roberts exploring the in between moments. She’s content to mind the little things that would not only find their way o...
Episode 473: Laura Stevenson
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes time to record, Laura Stevenson is honest to a fault. 2019’s The Big Freeze may well have been her most personal record to date, but t...
Episode 472: Danny Elfman
07 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Like many of us, Danny Elfman had big plans for 2020. For the first time in forever, the musician paused many of his perennial obligations, clearing a...
Episode 471: Mike Doughty
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The way Mike Doughty tells it, it’s a bit of a minor miracle Soul Coughing lasted for eight years. It was long enough, however, to generate three LP...
Episode 470: Michael DeForge
24 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The latest issue of The Nation — a double-issue on the subject of utopias — features a sprawling cover illustration by Michael DeForge. A group of...
Episode 469: Gilbert Hernandez
17 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Even among a list of peers that includes names titles like Eightball and Hate, there’s a strong case to be made that Love and Rockets is the most in...
Episode 468: David Rees
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“I know that I literally wrote the best book about pencil sharpening techniques that has ever existed or ever will exist,” David Rees explains, co...
Episode 467: Lou Barlow (of Sebadoh, Folk Implosion and Dinosaur Jr.)
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic found Lou Barlow enamored with a surprising new creative outlet. The musician took to social media like Instagram and YouTube, playing so...
Episode 466: Johnny Brennan
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thirteen is a long time for any act to go between albums. That’s not to say that Johnny Brennan hadn’t kept busy in the meantime. The years inclu...
Episode 465: Chris Carrabba (of Dashboard Confessional)
03 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In June of last year, Chris Carrabba’s motorcycle crashed. It was another terrible event in a year of them. A handful of months after the pandemic e...
Episode 464: Pell (of GLBL WRMNG)
27 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s clear that Pell is calling in from a hotel room. He’s back in Los Angeles, wearing a Dodgers hat to match his former adopted home. Like so m...
Episode 463: Chris Murphy (of Sloan and TUNS)
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This January, Chris Murphy was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy. Later that month, the Sloan bassist posted a photo on Instagram, stating, in part, "It...
Episode 462: Steve Lukather (of Toto)
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In February, Steve Lukather released I Found The Sun Again. The guitarist’s eight solo album arrived alongside an LP by Joseph Williams, featuring h...
Episode 461: John Porcellino
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A quarterly of reissues from Drawn & Quarterly has offered a fresh opportunity to reexamine King Cat. Not that there’s every a bad time to revisit J...
Episode 460: Lisa Carver
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
[Spotty audio warning] Released in February, The Pahrump Report chronicles Lisa Carvers years in the titular Nevada City. A strange town in the desert...
Episode 459: Juliana Hatfield
29 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The past few years found her trying something new — or, rather, old. With a pair cover albums, Juliana Hatfield first tackled the song of Olivia New...
Episode 458: Jim Woodring
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Released in 2020, And Now, Sir — Is This Your Missing Gonad features familiar faces from Jim Woodring’s Frank universe. As ever, the artist’s m...