Tag Archives: podcast

Life Elsewhere Music Vol 178 Isolation Mix 4

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This self-distancing business continues, so we have to compromise in putting together the Life Elsewhere Music shows.  Which means the quality of the voice-overs, (Mr. B’s erudite comments) are not to our usual high standards, using fabulous mics and a cool hi-tech mixing consul. As interesting as he may think his wordy-words are, we’ve reduced the jibber-jabber to the opening and closing messages. Instead, you can read everything you would hear Mr. B say, here:

We begin LEM Vol 178 with a relaxed instrumental courtesy of Nick Manasseh & Praise from their new album, Manasseh Meets Praise on the Roots Garden label out of Brighton, UK. Produced and mixed by Nick at his Yard Studio in West London with virtuoso violin-viola player Praise. Not your typical reggae player, yet along with being a long-time fan of the music, Praise’s musical experiences have been diverse from playing on Ravi Shankar and George Harrison’s last album ‘Chants Of India’ to gigs with Gorillaz and many more star credits. Next up, we stay in a techno vibe with LA-based musician, Aryan Ashtiani, aka Mareux with Roses from his fine EP, Predestiny. From the US west coast, we head down under to Australia’s south coast, Melbourne where we hear from self-named “experimental group” Squaring Circles with Circumambulate. Brendan Anderson and Lilibeth Hall are the couple behind this project and we suggest you check more of their work out. The curiously-named Wished Bone & Spencer Radcliffe out of Athens, Ohio give us Help My Brother from the equally curiously-named EP, A Bug Crawled In The Piano. (Special note, listen to this one again on a headset – wonderful). English musician, Stephen James Howard lives and works in Amsterdam and performs under the moniker of Ten Katestraat. We’ve played his music on the air before and were impressed enough to invite on for a chat. His latest release is titled, Dust and we approve. Paris, France is next where Sydney Valette says, “Here are the musings of a soul somewhere in-between silver lights”. From his LP Brothers, we selected, Ambiance Survivaliste. Sing along and practice your French at the same time. A little knowledge of French may impress Nico of Shore Dive records. On the other hand, this entrepreneurial Frenchman speaks English so fluently and is so busy putting out terrific releases he probably won’t have time to notice. His busy label out of Brighton (again!) gives us Velveteen with Fall Under from the Bluest Sunshine EP. The close of this cut is quite simply a magnificent noise. Norman B is insistent that the next song and artist are referring to a past love affair of his. We have no idea if this is his fanciful imagination, but we do know this is one brilliant song and production. Out of London, Felixity gets straight to the point with, Twisted Love a banger that needs to be on repeat play. Big thumbs up on this one. Next, Trappist Afterland & Grey Malkin say, An Error This Time. We disagree, this track is from a superb album, The Trappist & The Hare from Adam Geoffrey Cole & Grey Malkin out of Scotland. Only Diamonds was written and recorded by Diana Rivera, also known as Lotusotus and Camille-Paulette Odell, on Hjördis-Britt Åström out of Moscow. The EP, Only Diamonds is worth investigating as is the label. The unassuming James Smith of Fox Food Records sent a nice message along with his latest release as Good Good Blood. His music always reminds us of the old saying of “less is more” and how true that is. James should be discovered by a much wider audience. Listen up all those indie shows out there. From, There Are Wolves Here we selected, The Pieces Of My Heart You Hold. Listen carefully, then listen again. To close LEM Vol 178 you’ll hear, Lord Of The Isles ft. Ellen Renton with, Passing. Scottish poet Ellen Renton joins forces with Lord Of The Isles for a reflective record that touches on themes related to climate change, both in the present and future. Available on Whities, a London label you need to know about.

Thank you for listening to LEM Vol 178 Isolation Mis 4. Be safe.

Two Questions About Love

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Benjamin Dreyer
Robert Newman
Sylken Somers
Dr. Jennifer Mercieca
Ronny Elliott
Laura Palmer

With Valentines Day just around the corner we gathered together a stellar cast of participants to share their thoughts on love by asking two questions:

1. What is love?

2. What is your favorite love song?

Dr. Jennifer Mercieca from Texas A & M University teaches classes on politics, media, and propaganda, but she also uses her academic acumen to answer our questions about love. Acclaimed creative director Robert Newman always has fascinating, cultural information to share, so you can expect his take on our love questions to be notable. Laura Palmer operates the impressive online station, WNRM The Root, her encyclopedic music knowledge suggests she will come up with a treat for What is your favorite love song? The distinctive voice of legendary singer-songwriter, Ronny Elliott suggests he has seen his fair share of love, so how will he answer our two questions? In our recent conversation, the unbridled honesty of new-discovery, Sylken Somers, we knew her views on love had to be included. The man who works with words for a living, Penguin-Random House copy chief, Benjamin Dreyer was an obvious candidate to answer two questions about love.

All of our guests tackle the first question, “What is love?” In a similar fashion, yet their answers are distinctive and clearly personal. For question number two, ‘What is your favorite love song?” Their answers are as surprising as they are different. Try and see if you can match the guest with their favorite love song:

Laura Nyro – Sexy Mama

Judie Tzuke – Under The Angels

Santana with Rob Thomas – Smooth

Sade – By My Side

Ella Fitzgerald – Always

Dayna Kurtz – Venezuela

 

Show #359

A Conversation With Ten Katestraat

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He makes excellent music under the name Ten Katestraat, he lives in Amsterdam, has a day job in The Hague and hails from the UK. Stephen James Howard comes across as an amiable chap who is slightly bemused that his recordings have been getting attention recently, not least of all on our shows. He writes the songs, plays the instruments and produces in his “spare-room” studio. His wife, Brigitte takes care of the artwork while Stephen handles the promotion, which is how we first came to hear about him. A short, but charming email arrived accompanied by a sound-file for download. “I hope you might be interested?” Wrote Mr. Howard, adding, “I’ll be listening.” We were interested and he didn’t have to wait too long to listen, we added, The Commander Told You to our next Life Elsewhere Music playlist. We were intrigued by his (thankfully) hard to categorize music and his notation that he “was a Brexit refugee”. Stephen quickly followed up with another single and we obliged by promptly giving Leaving Everything Behind airplay. Then, after a rapid flurry of emails, we decided it would be a grand idea to have a chat with Stephen. Coming up on Life Elsewhere Music Vol 159 our conversation with Stephen James Howard, where he talks about music, creativity and explains his take on Brexit and UK politics. And yes, you will learn the meaning of Ten Katestraat.

Also in the show, new releases include The Ghost Wolfes, a duo from Austin, Texas, husband and wife, Carley and Jonny Wolf. We love what Carley and Jonny are doing, so you’ll hear two cuts, Crooked Cop, and Fist from their Crooked Cop EP, available on Third Man Records. This is a band we hope to see live soon. Jon Jones of Roots Garden Records, the adventurous reggae label based out of Brighton on England’s South Coast kindly sent us a powerful-lyric heavy single, Run This Nation by Manasseh & Skari. Jacksonville, Florida-based Brenna Erickson gets airplay with Making Memories Alone, a love song with references to London. And you’ll hear 19-year-old West Londoner, Matilda Mann with The Loch Ness Monster. We predict you’ll be hearing more from this up and coming singer-songwriter.

LEM Vol 159

Belief & Climate Change

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Why are so many humans religious? Why do we daydream, imagine, and hope? Philosophers, theologians, social scientists, and historians have offered explanations for centuries, but their accounts often ignore or even avoid human evolution. Evolutionary scientists answer with proposals for why ritual, religion, and faith make sense as adaptations to past challenges or as by-products of our hyper-complex cognitive capacities. But what if the focus on religion is too narrow? Renowned anthropologist, Agustín Fuentes argues that the capacity to be religious is actually a small part of a larger and deeper human capacity to believe. Why believe in religion, economies, love? In his new book, Why We Believe – Evolution and the Human Way of Being, Agustín presents a fascinating observation on the most common misconceptions about human nature, his book employs evolutionary, neurobiological, and anthropological evidence to argue that belief—the ability to commit passionately and wholeheartedly to an idea—is central to the human way of being in the world.

Robert Hunziker a regular contributor to Life Elsewhere, writes about climate change, headlines from his articles of the past year suggest he is a forecaster of doom – Permafrost Hits a Grim Threshold; Climate Confusion, Angst, and Sleeplessness; Extinction Rebellion Sweeps the World; Earth 4C Hotter; The Coldest Spot on Earth Melting. Hunziker shrugs off the daunting moniker, ready to launch into a passionate monologue full of facts and alarming details. So, we asked Robert to give an overview of the crucial points on climate change during the past 12 months.

Show #352

A Private Conversation With Amy Rigby

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Amy Rigby has been crisscrossing the USA promoting her memoir, Girl To City, stopping at music venues and book stores from upstate New York to the Pacific North West. She reads from her book, often she plays her guitar, sometimes she is accompanied by musician friends.  The acclaimed singer-songwriter loves the experience as evident by her enthusiastic social media and diary posts. Of course, not all of Amy’s fans have been able to enjoy her personal appearances, which is why we are delighted she took the time to talk with Norman B about Girl To City.

Amy Rigby, Girl To City – A Memoir – Summer Of My Wasted Youth

When I lived on East 4th Street, the staircase had been clogged twice a month with tenants waiting for the mailman to bring disability and welfare checks. My 14th Street neighbors were more of a mix of writers and musicians, the employed and the unemployable. Above and below and on either side of me, people were reading books, painting, making clothes. I also saw a lot of them hustling to the subway or bus in the morning dressed in business attire, off to do their day jobs. I won’t be like that, I thought. I’m only tempting until I’m successful at music. Then I won’t have to work another job.

In this short, brilliantly written example from Amy Rigby’s memoir, you cannot ignore her raw honesty. Even describing humdrum, day-to-day scenarios she doesn’t wander off into fanciful wordplay. Instead, Amy has a marvelous knack for not only conjuring up the scene but also her feelings at that moment. It’s a powerful skill, she modestly acknowledges. “I write better than I say it.” She announces with a slight giggle. Conversing with Amy is always a treat because you never know what tangent you’ll go in. Reading Girl To City is not unlike having a private conversation with the much-loved artist. She speaks directly to you, sometimes wistfully:

He wore a tank top in winter and summer.
But I loved him.
He gave me a crash course in art and film history.
He also gave me crabs, gonorrhea and herpes.
But I loved him.

And she always speaks with a wink in her eye. Never jaded, often knowing and occasionally with a tartness that catches the reader by surprise. Her memoir is packed full of information, details, names, cultural references, a history of rock and roll as seen through Amy’s almost always bright-eyed vision. There have been a lot of memoirs from the rock fraternity, Girl To City deserves its own unique category, as Lenny Kaye says, “Amy Rigby writes the way she performs and sings, laced with insight, humor, self-awareness, and above all, heart”.

During the conversation, Norman B asked Amy to select some music to play during the show. She decided on two cuts from A One Way Ticket To My Life, a companion album to her book, Girl To City, featuring unreleased tracks and demos. Plus she requested we play, the Summer Of My Wasted Youth from her 1998 album, Middlescence.

Show #351

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