Several years ago, right after my wife and I moved to Boston, I did some work with John McGah and a group of wonderful volunteers on fundraising events for Give US Your Poor, a project taking on homelessness. To quote their statement, "The Give US Your Poor mission is to create a revolution in public awareness, dispel myths and inspire action towards ending epidemic homelessness in the United States. It works to affect change at the policy level, engage volunteerism and contributions at the individual and corporate levels through media, technology and education; and to funnel support to partner homeless organizations."

Give US Your Poor is an initiative of the University of Massachusetts Boston. McGah is the founder and Executive Director of Give US Your Poor, a former Senior Research Associate at UMass Boston's Center for Social Policy, and is a recipient of a 2002 International Eisenhower Fellowships.

Released by Appleseed Recordings in September 2007, the Give US Your Poor CD is a diverse and powerful collection of songs featuring collaborations between homeless and formerly homeless musicians and celebrity artists, including Jon Bon Jovi, Buffalo Tom, Mario Frangoulis, Danny Glover, Jewel, Sonya Kitchell, Natalie Merchant, Mighty Sam McClain, Keb' Mo', Madeleine Peyroux, Bonnie Raitt, Tim Robbins, John Sebastian, Pete Seeger, Michelle Shocked, Bruce Springsteen, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Dan Zanes (who Well-Rounded Radio interviewed a few years back).

Buy the CD direct from Appleseed Recordings, at Amazon.com, or iTunes. Proceeds from the CD will go towards the national awareness and action campaign to end homelessness. In addition, local and national homeless organizations will be able to sell the CD to raise funds and awareness to their organization. Homeless artists involved will receive direct payment, all travel costs, and mechanical royalties for any original music.

Wondering what you can do to help solve our nation’s homelessness problem? Here's some suggestions from McGah:

1) write your U.S. Senator in support of the the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund. As of March 2008 it had passed the House, but not the Senate, but is co-sponsored by both a Republican and Democrat Senator. The fund primarily provides matching money towards the creation of housing for people to live in the lowest income bracket.

2) For veterans, The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans is supporting a bill "Homes for Heroes" for preventing homelessness among Iraq War Veterans. Visit The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans to find out more.

3) Visit these sites, sign up for email lists, donate to, and/or join these organizations:
The National Alliance to End Homelessness
The National Coalition for the Homeless
The National Heathcare for the Homeless Council

4) Let your voice be heard!

Give US Your Poor is also currently working on a documentary film about homelessness along with creating educational curriculums and local outreach. Watch select video previews of Southwest stories and East Coast stories. There's also a great video segment about Natalie Merchant's participation and recording session with homeless and formerly homeless artists on YouTube.

You can also visit the web site of photographer photographer Lynn Blodgett, whose powerful book, Finding Grace: The Face of America's Homeless, is discussed in the interview and had appeared in Paste magazine along with information about the CD.

To join Give US Your Poor's email list and stay in their loop, visit here.

In February I met with McGah in my current hometown of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts to discuss:
* what Appleseed Recordings is and what their particular social goals are
* how Give US Your Poor solicited and selected homeless and formerly homeless artists to participate in the project
* how this project can help combat homelessness and spread the word about this critical issue

Photo: Bryan How

Songs featured in the interview include:
1) Keb' Mo' and Eagle Park Slim- Baby Don't Let Me Go (in preview)
2) Natalie Merchant and Friends - There is No Good Reason (in preview)
3) Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen - Hobo's Lullaby
4) Sweet Honey in the Rock - Stranger Blues
5) Michelle Shocked and Michael Sullivan - Becky's Tune
6) Buffalo Tom - Ink Falling (Father Outside)
7) Mario Frangoulis - Feels Like Home
8) Bonnie Raitt and Weepin' Willie Robinson - Walking the Dog
9) Tim Robbins - Impossible Boulevard
10) Madeleine Peyroux - I Think it's Going to Rain Today
11) Mark Erelli - Here and Now
12) Kyla Middleton and Dan Zanes - Boll Weivel
13) Natalie Merchant and Friends - There is No Good Reason
14) audio documentary set to music - Land of 10,000 Homeless-Minneapolis
15) Danny Glover - My Name is Not "Those People"
16) Del Goldfarb and John Sebastian - Portable Man
17) Sonya Kitchell - So Lonely
18) Natalie Merchant and Friends - There is No Good Reason

John recommends the song Last King of May by Natalie Merchant on her Ophelia CD and "I'll Work for Your Love" on Bruce Springsteen's Magic CD, and the band The Wait.

Charlie recommends Tune Your World, The Future of Music Coalition's education events in upstate New York, and following me on Twitter.

Well-Rounded Mix 007 includes music from Billy Atwell, Austin and Elliott, Ave To, Marna Bales, Chris Elliot, The Freys, Dan Gonzalez, Gogol Bordello, Alicia Bay Laurel, Midnight Siren, Leah Siegel, Song Sparrow Research, and ThreeFifty Duo.

For all 13 artists on this show who wanted to share their music with you, consider buying their music, whether it's on a shiny piece of plastic or as a digital file. Buy a t-shirt or a hat or whatever schwag they're selling. Go see them live or make friends with them at myspace and last.fm or facebook or wherever. Tell a friend about them and share your good taste in music. Sign up to their email list or subscribe to an RSS feed. And tell them Well-Rounded Radio sent you if you can. The way the music business works is changing drastically by the day. Support the music you like and love and help change it.

2) Leah Siegel's song A Day At The River (With You And Your Lover) is from the CD Little Mule. Siegel is based in New York City and recorded the album in Seattle, Washington. Little Mule is one of the stronger, complete albums I've heard of late.

3) Billy Atwell's music was featured a long time back along with my interview with Dave Kusek, the co-author of The Future of Music book. Atwell released a CD entitled DOS, from which this song is from. Atwell also continues to score films and do various soundtrack work.

4) Gogol Bordello's Super Taranta! was released by SideOneDummy Records and was produced by Victor Van Vugt, who also also produced Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and PJ Harvey. This song is called Zina-Marina.

5) Ave To is the trio Nicholas Kolai Laget, Oddisee, and The Unknown from their disc Three Way Intersection with a mix of jazz, hip hop, and soul. The outfit works in the Washington D.C. area.

6) Dan Gonzalez's Through the Lies and the Beautiful is from his CD Public Square, his second full length CD. Gonzalez is Boston-based and also works on an education project for social justice called Columbus Day Gift Project.

7) Austin and Elliott's Truth That Hurts is from an EP of the same title. Elliott is also featured in this show with his solo work, with the song Making Up Lost Love.

8) Chris Elliot's song is Making Up Lost Love where you’ll find the title of the CD, satellite UFO jet plane or star, worked in. It makes me wants to dig out the Michael Penn CDs (or tapes, probably…). Elliot is also half of the Austin and Elliot that is also featured in this show.

9) Alicia Bay Laurel's CD is What Living’s All About: Jazz, Blues, and Other Moist Situations. This song, America the Blues, jumps out as a bit of Patti Smith meets George Carlin.

10) Marna Bales's CD is Boys Will Be Boys and the song is Wish You Hadn't Come Around. The disc was produced by her husband, drummer Jody Boyd and incorporates Bales' daughter Macy in her recordings and performances.

11) ThreeFifty Duo is Geremy Schulick and Brett Parnell from New York City and take on a mix of classical, contemporary, and original songs on their self-titled CD.

12) Midnight Siren is Karen Maria Capo and John Kelly. The song, Maybe, comes from their CD Instead of Sleeping.

13) The Freys's CD is People are Sacred and the song is Mother Moon. The band is two brothers and a cousin, Daniel, Sam, and Adam, aged 25, 22, and 21 and are based in Northern California.

Hope you enjoyed Well-Rounded Radio Mix 007…be back in a few days with our interview with Ida.

The Fleshtones have been making amazing music for more than thirty years, starting off amid the CBGB's scene of the mid 70s in New York City (with the Talking Heads, Blondie, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Richard Hell and The Voidoids, Television, etc.) as a garage band with a lot of soul and ultimately merging into a sound they call Super Rock, which they describe as "a greasy ball of sonic and cultural influences ranging in feel from R&B, disco, and Lost In Space to garage, frat rock, and Mexican horror flicks."

The current band members include Ken Fox on bass and vocals, Bill Milhizer on drums and vocals, Keith Streng on guitar and vocals, and Peter Zaremba on lead vocals, harmonica, and organ. The Fleshtones were also recently immortalized in print with the release of Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band (Continuum Books, 2007) by Joe Bonomo. The book is a fascinating read about The Fleshtones, taking you from their origins in Whitestone, New York (just one town over from where I grew up in Flushing) in the 1970s through a variety of members who have played in the band, countless tours and albums, and up to the present. So, if you want the full story, do yourself a favor and read this book.

Vindicated! A Tribute to The Fleshtones was released in the fall of 2007 on vinyl by Larsen Records (France) and on CD by Dirty Water Records (U.K.). The album features 22 international bands (including Hoodoo Gurus, the Nomads & Handsome Dick Manitoba, the Slickee Boys, the Woggles, the Swingin' Neckbreakers, Richard Mazda, and others) covering songs spanning the Fleshtones' career.

The band has more than twenty albums to their name, and every one is a keeper. Some of my favorites include Roman Gods (1982, IRS Records), Hexbreaker (1983, IRS Records), Beautiful Light (1994, Naked Language/Ichiban Records), Laboratory of Sound (1995, Ichiban Records) to the more recent Do You Swing? and Beachhead (2003 and 2006 respectively, both on YepRoc Records). For a full discography, visit their Wikipedia page.

Their new album, Take a Good Look!, was released in late January 2008 and is also on YepRoc Records. Recorded with Jim Diamond (White Stripes, The Mooney Suzuki) at Ghetto Recorder in Detroit and in the New York City’s Lower East Side at Ivan Julian’s (guitarist/bassist in Richard Hell and The Voidoids, Isley Brothers, Matthew Sweet, Shriekback) N.Y. Hed studio.

Zaremba explains the new album’s title: “’Take a good look!’ was one of Gordon Spaeth’s favorite tag lines whenever the Fleshtones were attracting unwanted (but usually warranted) attention, which was often!” Spaeth played sax in the band for years, but passed away in 2005. Per the band, "his mock-serious, cocksure attitude is alive and well in the 21st century, as The Fleshtones offer a dozen all-original tunes testifying to pride, perseverance, and sweaty good times."

The band is out on tour, with stops in March in New Haven, Boston, Providence, Baton Rouge, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and New Orleans and in May in France, Germany, Italy, and Holland. Check out some live songs and videos of the band including Soul City, American Beat, American Beat video (from the movie Bachelor Party), Shadowline, Teenage Zombie, Right Side of a Good Thing, Hexbreaker + The Theme from the Vindicators, Jump, Jive, and Harmonize, Let's Go, Take a Walk with The Fleshtones, Accelerated Emotion, Beautiful Light, Hitsburg USA, Hard Lovin' Man, Push Up Man, The Theme From The Vindicators, Let's Get Serious, Double Dip, and a behind the scenes on the new CD, Take a Good Look.

The band also released a live DVD of a Paris performance Brooklyn à Paris! Live at La Maroquinerie DVD (Big Enough) in 2006.

I recently met with Zaremba in Brooklyn, New York to discuss:
* what it is that keeps the band going strong, 30+ years in
* how their new CD, Take a Good Luck!, was recorded and what sets it apart from many of their past albums
* how the band has responded to the various garage band revivals over the years

Photo by Anne Streng

Peter recommends The 45s, The Cynics, The Sons of Hercules, The Ugly Beats, The Maggots, The Nomads, and The Hoodoo Gurus.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends Karmafan, Tourfilter, and audio and video podcasts and webcasts from The Future of Music Coalition.

Well-Rounded Radio sixth Mix show includes Bedouin Soundclash, Ronnda Cadle, The Dave Kain Group, Ecce Hobo, Caitlin Frame, Gillian Grassie, Marco Mahler, Anne Roos, Post Oak Savannah, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, The Silver Lining, Devon Sproule, Stepladder, and The United Steelworkers of Montreal.

For all 15 artists on this show who wanted to share their music with you, consider buying their music, whether it's on a shiny piece of plastic or as a digital file. Buy a t-shirt or a hat or whatever schwag they're selling. Go see them live or make friends with them at myspace and last.fm or mog.com or wherever. Tell a friend about them and share your good taste in music. Sign up to their email list or subscribe to an RSS feed. And tell them Well-Rounded Radio sent you if you can. The way the music business works is changing drastically by the day. Support the music you like and love and help change it.

1) Stephan Catenacci's Helga's Song is a beautiful piece of acoustic music in the spirit of John Fahey or Leo Kottke, but some of the other music on his CD Anubis 2 includes some more progressive and psychedelic sounds than you might expect after hearing this track.

2) Eli "Paperboy" Reed releases his second album, Roll with You on Q Division Records in Spring 2008 and this track is It's Easier. We'll have an interview with Reed on Well-Rounded Radio when its released and you can hear how this artist in his early 20s has absorbed so much about the blues and soul and is making a splash with his music that echos back to an earlier era.

3) The Silver Lining were produced by Tony Goddess of Papa Fritas fame and is also in The Rudds, who I interviewed here on Well-Rounded Radio. Their album Well Dressed Blues has a wonderful sound that makes me think of The Mamas and the Papas, Fairport Convention, or the soundtrack from Hair. This song is In the Future.

4) Stepladder's debut album is Nice Guys Finish and this song is Balance Beam. Stepladder is a Boston band featuring Aaron Belyea on guitars and vocals, Chris Burns on drums, and Bill Fallon on bass. The CD also is a who's who of Boston musicians who also contributed to the release of well-crafted power pop.

5) Post Oak Savannah is from Powderly, Texas and their track Sixteen Miles is a great example of their sound from their debut, meshing the sounds of country, Americana, and rock.

6) Devon Sproule album is Keep Your Silver Shined and co-released by Brooklyn's City Salvage Records and Chicago's Waterbug Records. It's a strong album throughout.

8) Marco Mahler's Design in Quick Rotation is also very strong album, much of which was written while he was also working on revitalizing a log cabin in the Appalachian foothills. This song is called Study Airports.

9) Ronnda Cadle is from Decatur, Georgia and The River Run is a strong album of guitar instrumentals in the spirit of John Fahey.

10) Caitlin Frame's Give In comes from The Basic EP. Frame is a Boston artist who taught herself guitar, drums, and piano as a teen and later attended Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA.

11) Ann Roos's Who Can Sail Without the Wind? is from her Mermaids and Mariners CD, which spotlights her beautiful Celtic harp playing and Dorothy Hawkinson's fiddle playing.

12) The Dave Kain Group's A Moment in Time reflects this jazz quartet's sound from the album Citizen Kane. The group is from the New York area and Dave Kain fronts the group on guitar.

13) Bedouin Soundclash's 12:59 Lullaby is a beautiful track from the band's album Street Gospel, which was released by Side One Dummy Records. The album was recorded in Toronto by bass player Darryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains and mixed by Paul Kolderie.

14) United Steel Workers of Montreals' Kerosene and Coal was released by Weewerk Records in Canada and this track of wonderful old timey music is called Enile Bertrand.

15) Gillian Grassie also plays harp, infusing some other modern trip-hop sounds into her songs, on her EP To An Unwitting Muse, which I think is a most promising release. This track is The Surface.

16) Ecce Hobo is from the Seattle, Washington area and this song is Calling My Own Name. Where the Devil Dances is another impressive album and the band cites its influences as The Kinks, Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, and Roxy Music.

Technorati Profile

When I think back to when I first heard Pylon in 1979, I think it was on Hofstra University's radio station, WRHU, and my favorite DJ there, Jeff Foss, playing the songs Feast on My Heart and Volume amid any night's set list of amazing underground music when I was growing up in Queens, NY. I quickly bought Pylon's album Gyrate and later a 10" EP (with their earlier single and b-sides) and became a long-time fan of Pylon's music.

The band included then, and now, Randy Bewley on guitar, Vanessa Briscoe Hay's vocals, Curtis Crowe on drums, and Michael Lachowski on bass.

A brief history of Pylon? Four University of Georgia art students turned musicians inspired by the debut of music from groups such as The B-52's in Athens, Georgia formed their own band and recorded the single Cool/Dub (1979), albums Gyrate (1980) and Chomp (1983), all on DB Records, and a third album recorded during a reunion, Chain (1990) for Sky Records ...then disappeared again for too many years. A more detailed history can be found at wikipedia, the All Music Guide, and a terrific fan site.

Music fans will know that the late '70s/early '80s in Athens, Georgia was a particularly creative period of time, also birthing The B-52s, R.E.M., The Method Actors, Love Tractor, and Oh-Ok. Pylon has, in truth, gone down in musical history as one of those most original bands that may not have had huge commercial success, but who has influenced an untold number of other musicians through their approach and style. Many will also know Pylon by way of R.E.M.'s cover of their song Crazy, which appeared as a B-side and later on Dead Letter Office. When Rolling Stone named R.E.M. "America's Best Band" in 1987, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry said, "We're not the best rock 'n' roll band in America." Pylon, he said, was the best.

Pylon, who took their name from William Faulkner's novel, often get filed under the post-punk or new wave label, which probably made sense at the time for music critics, but today it doesn't mean much and Pylon's music doesn’t sound dated in the least. Gyrate is an album with angular rhythms and a simplicity that makes the music feel utilitarian, but always had enough funk behind it that the motivation seemed to be to get you up on the dancefloor. In a similar realm to The Bush Tetras, Gang of Four, or The Au Pairs, Pylon really created a language all their own using the very traditional line-up of vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. With simple, danceable, repetitive, funky music paired with Briscoe's raspy, primal, urgent vocals, Pylon’s music was unlike anything I'd heard—or have heard since—and it still stands up.

For those that want to take a look at Pylon in action, there is video online, including a live performance of Working is No Problem from the early '80s, a live performance of the unreleased song Party Zone from the early '80s, a mini documentary from the early '80s, a live performance of Crazy and Beep from 1990, a music video of Look Alive from Chain, a live performance of Danger from 2007, and a live performance of Volume from 2007.

Sometime in October I happened upon the information that Pylon would be playing at The Mercury Lounge in Manhattan in early November and I knew it would be worth a drive from Boston. Not surprisingly, the show was amazing (with opening act Antietam, another favorite band from a slightly later era of New York-based music...and you’ll hear sound checking in the background at the start of the interview) and Pylon’s music kept the sold-out audience dancing and having a chance to enjoy their music live once again.

I sat down with Crowe and Lachowski in the band room at The Mercury Lounge before their show to discuss:

* how and why this landmark debut album was recorded
* why their main goal was to get written up in The New York Rocker
* what other plans the band has now that they’re back together

Photo credit: Jason Thrasher

If you enjoy this trip back in time, be sure to check out Well-Rounded Radio interviews with Clint Conley of consonant and Mission of Burma, Dan Zanes of The Del Fuegoes and Dan Zanes and Friends, and Jonathan Kane of Swans and Jonathan Kane's February.

I first learned about Jose Ayerve when I interviewed the members of Winterpills (check out their Well-Rounded Radio interview here), who Ayerve worked with on their two releases (Winterpills and The Light Divides), during our conversation early this year.

Spouse's frontman Ayerve sent me their latest release, Relocation Tactics, and, during a recent drive to Washington D.C. for The Future of Music Coalition summit, I listened to the album, once, twice...eventually probably about six or seven times on the drive down I-95 from Boston. Part of me kept wondering why Spouse was such a well-kept secret...and another part of me was wondering how soon I could get them on the show.

The current line up is Ayerve (vocals, guitars, and bass), Naomi Hamby (guitars, keys, and vocals), Ken Maiuri (guitars, bass, keys, and vocals), Don McAulay (drums and percussion), Michael Merenda (drums and guitars), JJ O'Connell (drums and vocals), Dan Pollard (bass, guitars, keys, and vocals), and Mark Schwaber (guitars, bass, and vocals).

While some reviews of Relocation Tactics have used the word schizophrenic to describe the diverse musical sounds and styles that the band tackles, I see it as more of all the diverse influences that the band members have creeping into the work. More bold and anthematic than earlier releases, Relocation Tactics is one of those albums where the great songs just keep on coming at you, with songwriting and performances that feels like the group has taken what they do to a whole new level.

Spouse has drawn comparisons to a variety of indie rock bands in reviews over the years, including Pavement, The Pixies, Sebadoh, The Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., and Wilco. I also hear a bit of Boy and October-era U2 through their vocal and guitar styles at that point.

Ayerve is also one of the main organizers behind Pigeon Records, an indie label of collective musicians based in Portland, Maine. Other bands on the roster include Sandra Black, Bullyclub, Dennis Crommett (who also plays in Winterpills), Lo Fine, The Mitchells, and Mark Schwaber.

Spouse has a handful of live dates with Spottiswoode & His Enemies coming up in November in Boston, Providence, New York, and Arlington, VA and more dates in December in Northampton, Chicago, Nashville, Charlotte, Knoxville, and New York City. Check here for more details.

I recently met with Ayerve in Boston to discuss:

* how and why Ayerve splits his time between Portland, Maine and Northampton, Massachusetts
* how he is juggling being both a musician and helping to run a record label
* how working musicians are currently trying to make it in the indie music realm given the constant change that all of them are managing

Highlights from the following songs are featured in the interview:
1) Long Live the Baystate (in preview) (Relocation Tactics)
2) Spouse Visits the World Bank (Relocation Tactics)
3) Japanese Sandals (Nozomi)
4) Focus (Nozomi)
5) Catch 22 (Love Can't Save This Love)
6) Pocket #9 (Love Can't Save This Love)
7) American Run-Through (Are You Gonna Kiss or Wave Goodbye?)
8) Feather Boa (Are You Gonna Kiss or Wave Goodbye?)
9) Coaster (Relocation Tactics)
10) Tonight (Relocation Tactics)
11) It = Love (Relocation Tactics)
12) Boys vs. Girls (Relocation Tactics)
13) Thunder Royale (Relocation Tactics)
14) Boyfriend in Training (Relocation Tactics)
15) Relocation Tactics (Relocation Tactics)
16) The 4.1 Blur (Relocation Tactics)
17) There Goes the Road (Relocation Tactics)
18) Turn the Van Around (Relocation Tactics)
19) Hangover Cure for Humanity (Relocation Tactics)
20) Delta (Relocation Tactics)
21) José Ayerve: Envueltos Con Ganas (unreleased)
22) The Nuclear Waste Management Company: Choke Back the Tears (Separation Anxiety)
23) Long Live the Baystate (Relocation Tactics)

If you enjoy this episode, give a listen to other interviews I've done with other indie popsters such as The Douglas Fir, Francine, Blake Hazard, Joe Pernice, Piebald, Jeffrey Simmons, and Winterpills.

José recommends: Slept, Swervedriver's Mezcal Head, U2's Pop, Blanketeer, Rogue Wave, Bullyclub, Katie Sawicki, Kristin Gass, Snowden, John Doe, and Robert Plant + Alison Krause.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends Pylon's re-release of Gyrate.

As a fan of her work in the band Tsunami, when I first heard that its singer/songwriter Jenny Toomey was working with a group of policy and legislative folks in Washington D.C. at The Future of Music Coalition, I was sort of surprised.

Toomey fronted the indie rock band Tsunami for much of the 1990s and a subsequent solo career that she continues today. She was also the co-founder of Simple Machines Records which, between 1990-1997 released over 70 records for acts including Tsunami, Scrawl, Ida, Grenadine, and Liquorice. Toomey's band mate and business partner was Kristin Thomson, who is also a Deputy and Education Director at The Future of Music Coalition. When you put it all together, though, it all makes perfect sense: Toomey is an independent musician who is still looking out for other working, independent musicians.

Today, the Future of Music Coalition’s mission statement is "a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that identifies, examines, interprets and translates the challenging issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy. FMC achieves this through continuous interaction with its primary constituency – musicians – and in collaboration with other creator/citizen groups."

Among the issues that the coalition has focused on are music licensing, payola, low-power radio, health insurance for musicians, network neutrality, record label contracts, Internet radio licensing, and many other topics that are key to the current and future era of music-making for both independent and rising musicians.

The Future of Music Coalition is also pretty vital in an age where change is constant and the big companies have plenty of lawyers to push their agenda and financial needs. The organization is able to translate when and where policy is being made for independent musicians to help them and all the various people working in the independent music ecosystem.

I sat down with Toomey to talk about a handful of things that the organization is working on as a bit of taste of what they do. The interview is interesting for both for musicians and music fans who want to help change the way the music business works. There is a lot more to dig into and learn at their site.

I attended the Future of Music’s summit last fall in Montreal and thought it was a great two days of exchanging ideas and checking on the state of the ever-changing world of music. I came away from it really seeing how the organization is helping create a middle-class of musicians, somewhere between the mega-rich pop stars that we all know and love and the starving-artist musician that is also familiar to us all. I know that as a musician back in the 80s and 90s, I did not always think that there was an in-between, but today, thanks to the Internet and organizations like The Future of Music Coalition, the idea of a middle class of musicians has become a reality and continues to grow.

The organization’s seventh policy summit takes place in Washington D.C. on September 17-18, 2007 (and I’ll be at the summit this year, so drop me a line at charlie@wellroundedradio.net if you are attending). The summit includes a mix of industry professionals, public policy experts, and musicians with a mix of panels and parties to help educate attendees and work toward reaching collaboration. Audio podcasts of many of the panels are available online after the show. For more information, visit their event site.

You can also sign up for the Future of Music Coalition’s monthly e-mail list to keep you in the loop on progress, changes, and what you can do to help influence all these changes.

Toomey also continues to make music these days and I’ve included part of one of her songs, from her double CD Antidote, up next. The remainder of the show features independent musicians from around the world who have submitted their music to me and you can find links to all of them below.

I met with Toomey at their offices in Washington D.C. in mid July to discuss…
* what circumstances and events occurred that made her want to form such an organization
* some insight into how the music industry is changing, from the perspective of label executives, indie musicians, and the old music industry guard
* what both musicians and music fans can do to help influence the actual future of music

Music highlighted in the show includes:
1) Yoko K.: Blues of Grande Chai (012906) (in preview)
2) Jenny Toomey: Fool for You (Antidote)
3) J.E. Borgen: Bring You Back (The General Store)
4) Pro and Reg: Maybe (EP)
5) Laughing Stock: Never Met a Missionary (Who Wasn't Right) (Fading Scars)
6) Kellylee Evans: Lead Me Closer (Fight or Flight?)
7) Wedlock: Unsatisfied (Matrimoney The EP)
8) Daria: Under the Moon and Over the Sky (Feel the Rhythm)
9) Explosion: Runaway Success (For Sale)
10) The Dave Kain Group: Trickery (Citizen Kain
11) Jeff Phillips: Bird That Will Not Fly (Handful of Grimmes)
12) H'Atina: Compare
13) Ronnda Cadle: Columbus Returns (The River Runs)
14) Bob Harp: Somewhere (Good Misery)
15) Matthew Pop: Promise (The Great Demise)

Well-Rounded Radio recommends The Covers Project.

And if you enjoy this episode, give a listen to other interviews I've done with music industry thought-leaders, including Brent Bell of PDX Pop Now!, Panos Panay of Sonicbids, Tim Westergren of Pandora, Brad Powell of Calabash Music, Nicholas Reville of Downhill Battle, and Dave Kusek, co-author of "The Future of Music" book.

My wife's family lives in and around Portland, Oregon, so at least a couple of times a year we head west from Boston to visit. The last few times I've picked up copies of the PDX Pop Now! two-disc CD compilations that have been released since 2004. Portland, or PDX as the city has been come to be known due to its airport's truncated ID, has long had a healthy music scene, but the compilations showed how diverse and robust the city's musical offerings had gotten. Each year PDX Pop Now! also puts on a 3-day, all-ages, free festival in Portland, usually in late July/early August (this year's dates are August 3-5, 2007) which brings together many of the artists featured on the CDs in a live setting that is nearly impossible to resist.

From a musical perspective, Portland's often been the step-child to Seattle, being overshadowed by its musical trends over the years, even though the two scenes have also often fostered each other. Lots of big touring artists skip playing Portland altogether when they cross the US, but maybe ultimately that's a good thing. The music scene has gone through many changes over the years (and you can read up more on the history of music in Portland and Oregon on wikipedia), but recent times have made it a varied and robust city of musical offerings. Portland's music doesn't feel or sound much like a scene that will suddenly explode with major labels trolling the city's clubs for the next big thing as much as simply a city with all the right economic and lifestyle ingredients that it needs to foster and sustain a healthy music culture for the long-haul.

In addition to the up-and-coming artists featured on and at PDX Pop Now!, a number of Portland-based artists who have gone on to national or international success have also contributed songs and played live over the previous four years, including The Decemberists, The Helio Sequence, Kristen Hersh, Lifesavas, Menomena, Mirah, The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, Talkdemonic, The Thermals, M. Ward, and others.

Beyond the great music, what interested me most about PDX Pop Now! is that the organization is volunteer-run, which by its nature changes the reasons for such a festival and compilation and is quite a different setting than a CMJ or SXSW festival. They also confess to wanting to keep it local, so I thought I'd include this show not so much because they want PDX Pop Now! to become a destination festival, but to sample the great musical acts on the compilation CDs and to provide some ideas and background for music fans in other parts of the world who might want to create their own local music event in the spirit of what PDX Pop Now! is doing.

In 2006, PDX Pop Now! also released a DVD featuring live performances from 2005's festival, all of which you can now watch on YouTube. And, although this show focuses on the artists on the 2007 compilation, I can guarantee that if you like what you hear, you’ll also enjoy the compilations from 2004, 2005, and 2006, all of which are available via CD Baby for $7 each. This year's disc is also available all around Portland or from CD Baby as well.

This year, the PDX Pop Now! festival takes place August 3-5, 2007 with shows being held at AudioCinema in the SE warehouse district. More schedule info available at their site, natch.

For those of you in Portland, PDX Pop Now! will be presenting a free, late afternoon concert on Wednesday, July 25th on the steps of Portland City Hall with music with art-punk Americana deconstructionists Old Time Relijun, improvisational trio The Watery Graves and an additional act to be announced.

I met with Brent Bell of PDX Pop Now! in December 2006 to discuss:

* what their initial goals were with the festival and how they've changed
* how they work with volunteers, bands, local music fans, and the city to organize the event
* some suggestions for other music fans who might be thinking of putting on their own event or CD compilation in their corner of the world.

Songs featured in the interview from the 2007 compilation (all with their permission) include:

1) Syndel - Let Me Hear it
2) Yacht – See a Penny (Pick it Up)
3) Hungry Mob – To The People
4) The Hugs - North
5) Evolutionary Jass Band - Phyllis' Frindge
6) The World Court - Maps
7) Laura Gibson – Come By Storm
8) Panther – How Well Can You Swim?
9) Mirah And Spectratone International - Community
10) The Better to See You With - Garden
11) Ethan Rose – Ceiling Song 3 (Excerpt)
12) Nice Boys – Johnny Guitar
13) Black Elk – Toss You to the Wolves
14) Run on Sentence – Carrie Part II
15) Swim Swam Swum – Without Your French
16) The Robot Ate Me - Empty Feelings
17) Menomena - Wet and Rustling
18) The Shaky Hands - Soul

About two years ago I interviewed the members of The Stairs on the eve of their final shows as several members were following the calling of higher education. The Stairs released two albums, 2002's Miraculous Happens and 2005's On Sleep Lab, both of which were brilliant and ambitious pieces of rock and roll with instrumentation and a scale that defied its lo-fi production and budget. So, if you want the full story, make sure you listen to this, too.

Around the same time as The Stairs were ending, Ryan Walsh, vocalist + guitarist and one of the band's songwriters, and Eric Meyer, The Stairs' drummer, formed Hallelujah the Hills and started recruiting new members. The band now includes David Bentley (cello + guitar), Elio DeLuca (organ, Moog, guitar + sampler), Joseph Marrett (bass), and Brian Rutledge (trumpet + melodica). The outfit recorded their debut, Collective Psychosis Begone in 2006, signed to Misra Records early in 2007, and it was just released on June 5th. The band is heading on tour now, hitting a number of cities along the east coast and mid-west.

Hallelujah the Hills have been compared to the Elephant 6 (the collective of bands and musicians who emerged from Louisiana in the mid 90s that includes The Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, and Beulah among many others), The Mountain Goats, Guided by Voices, and Wilco. I suppose there is some truth to these, but what sets Hallelujah the Hills apart is Walsh is a versatile songwriter first, with the layers of instruments and arrangements that are added to them only serving to build upon a strong foundation.

Hallelujah the Hills' name comes from a 1963 film directed by Adolphas Mekas which is not easy to find (and Netflix doesn’t have it to rent!), but you can watch a few clips of the absurdist comedy here and here where you can also purchase a VHS copies.

Collective Psychosis Begone only runs about 46 minutes, but Hallelujah the Hills has crafted an epic album that takes the listener through an impressive variety of musical sounds, styles, and emotions. After listening, I have the same kind of exhausted and invigorated feeling I get from other epic records, like Sandinista!, Exile on Main Street, Let Me Come Over, or Slanted and Enchanted. Not to put the pressure on 'em, but I wonder where a double (or triple) album from Hallelujah the Hills might take us…?

And, as a result of listening to Collective Psychosis Begone as complete album (remember them?) for many months, I thought it would be most interesting to do a behind the scenes look at each song or a "director’s commentary," as film-school grad Walsh so accurately called it.

Hallelujah the Hills heads out on tour in mid-June and you can also see a video clip that Well-Rounded Radio taped of the band live at TT the Bear's several months to the right or on our Brightcove channel.

I recently met with all the members (except Eric Meyer, who was on tour with his other band, Ho-ag) in Norwood, Massachusetts to discuss:

* whose voice is it that they sampled in Raise the Flag?
* is Sleep Agent about terrorism—or about what happens when you awake?
* why do they call their eponymous anthem The Fight Song?

Songs featured in the interview (all in order from Collective Psychosis Begone) include:

1) Hallelujah the Hills (in preview)
2) Slow Motion Records Broken at Break Neck Speeds (demo; not on album)
3) Sleeper Agent (Just Waking Up)
4) Wave Backwards to Massachusetts
5) Hallelujah the Hills
6) The House Is All Lit Up
7) Raise the Flag of Your Sibling’s Favorite Daydream
8) (The Crux of the Camera Man)
9) Slow Motion Records Broken at Break Neck Speeds
10) Effie’s on the Other Side
11) The Trap
12) Collective Psychosis Begone
13) It’s All Been Downhill Since the Talkies Started to Sing
14) To All My Scientist Colleagues I Bid Your Farewell

Photo credit: JB Galusha

If you enjoyed this interview, give a listen to past shows we've done with Winterpills,
Piebald,
Francine,
and, of course, The
Stairs in the Well-Rounded Radio archives.

Brian recommends Machine Go Boom.

David recommends Andrew Bird, Devin Davis, and Spoon.

Joseph recommends (which HtH band-member Eliio DeLuca also plays in), Tulsa, Viva Viva, Roky Erickson, ESG, and Nick Cave.

Ryan recommends Ford and Fitzroy.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends Enough Project and Operation Happy Note (read more at Washington Post)..

Sonicbids is an online service that offers musicians a way to submit their EPK, or electronic press kit, to a number of outlets for consideration. These including clubs and live venues, compilation CDs, festivals, songwriting contests, film, television, + commercial licensing, magazines, awards, college bookings, podcasts, Internet radio, and plenty of other opportunities, as they call them.

The company was founded in 2001 by Panos Panay and is still run by him today. And as of May 2007, Sonicbids is coming up on 100,000 members and 80,000 promoters from more than 100 countries around the globe.

Plus, I like to produce the occasional show with a music industry thought leader given how much the relationship is changing between musicians, the music industry, and fans in this Internet era. This show is probably most helpful for musicians and the companies that are looking for music, but I’ve mixed in music from 20 different Sonicbids members, so it’s a fun listen for everyone else, too.

I won’t say more than that because 1) I think Panay and I covered pretty much everything about how Sonicbids came to be and what some of their larger goals are as the proverbial playing field gets flattened and 2) because it’s a pretty long interview and we should get right to it!

And forgive a bit of the echo in the interview. We conducted the interview in Sonicbids’ office and, as part of a big, funky tech-space, it is had that kind of natural ambiance, but…it will help you pretend you were really there.

In early March I met with Panay at Sonicbids’ office in Boston’s South End neighborhood to discuss:

* what was his inspiration for starting Sonicbids…and the series of events that led up to it
* some of the advantages for both musicians and the opportunities for connecting this way online
* some of his personal goals that he is hoping Sonicbids can achieve in the music world

Musicians featured in the interview include:

1) Somebody's There from Alex Giordani
2) California from Jay Wells
3) Giving You Away Andy Scisco
4) Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache) by Girl Howdy
5) Cat's Crystal by Poppy Nosh
6) Hot Stuff by The Specimen
7) See You by City Fritter
8) Spancil Hill by Murder the Stout
9) Like I'm Crazy by Kwanza Jones
10) Rolling Hills by Adam Zampino
11) Goodbye by Ever-G
12) Temptations by Emer
13) Walking in Circles by The Brothers Lekas
14) Ringing in Your Ears by Chris Peters
15) Die Slow by DP Da Reapa
16) Bashana Haba'a by The Alexandria Kletzet
17) The Tide by DelHill
18) Child Inbetween by The Pucks
19) Un Amor Antigo by Suzana
20) Drink Instead by Shay Dillon
21) Weird World by KS
22) Easy Come, Easy Go by David Spence
23) track #4 by Copus
24) Ibou by Mamadou
25) Smile on Your Face by The Smiling Strangers

Brooklyn, New York-based Antibalas is a collective of up to 17 musicians whose origins were in celebrating Afrobeat music, made famous by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in Nigeria in the 1970s. Since their origins in 1998, the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra has changed their name to simply Antibalas, but continues to infuse Afrobeat, funk, jazz, Latin, soul, and classical elements into their music to keep it growing in new directions.

In Spanish, Antibalas means “anti-bullets” or “bulletproof.” The line-up on their latest CD, Security, includes Amayo (Vocals, Congas), Victor Axelrod (Organ, Electric Pianos, Clavinet, Electric Celeste, Synthesizers), Eric Biondo (Trumpet), Stuart Bogie (Tenor Saxophone), Marcus Ferrar (Shekere), Dylan Fusillo (Shekere, Congas), Marcos J. Garcia (Guitar, Vocals), Aaron Johnson (Trombone), Nick Movshon (Bass), Luke O'Malley (Guitar), Martin Perna (Baritone Saxophone), Jordan McLean (Trumpet, Flugelhorn), and Chris Vatalaro (Drums).

Many of these New York-based musicians also perform in a number of other New York bands, including Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and The Budos Band. Over the years, members have shared the stage and studios with artists as diverse as Medeski, Martin and Wood, TV on the Radio, Baaba Maal, and Gomez.

The list of influences to these musicians would be a hefty one, but during our conversation they do provide insight into some musical forces who have made an impression beyond Fela, including Fugazi, Bob Marley, Talking Heads, and Eddie Palmieri and the Harlem River Drive Orchestra.

Antibalas have released four albums to date including Liberation Afro Beat Vol. 1 in 2001 and Talkatif in 2002, both on Ninja Tune Records. Who is This America? was released in 2004 on Ropeadope Records and their newest, Security, was released in early March 2007 on ANTI- Records.

Security was produced by John McEntire (a member of Tortoise and The Sea and Cake and producer of Stereolab and Tom Zé among many others) and recorded at Soma, his renown Chicago recording studio.

Fela Kuti was also well-known for his political views and activism (he was famously quoted as saying “music is the weapon of the future”) and politics is an essential ingredient in Afrobeat. Antibalas bring this element to their music both by writing about political subjects and also raising awareness about political and social issues, such as food co-ops, prison reform, reduction of auto use, and anti-corporate culture.

At their show at Cambridge’s Middle East, Antibalas’ audience was as much as a mix as the band themselves: black, white, college students, middle-aged, fans of funk, jazz, and jam bands. Truly, Antibalas is keeping the mission of Afrobeat alive.

A special thanks to the folks at the Middle East for letting me record the interview in their ticket office.

I recently sat down with Martin Perna, who founded Antibalas, and Stuart Bogie in Cambridge, Massachusetts just before their show to discuss:

* how the band is a very real democracy, in every sense of the word
* how a band with so many recording and touring members make it happen
* why Antibalas incorporates so many elements of politics and social change into their music

Antibalas is currently on tour around the world. Catch them if and when you can!

Photo credit: Michael DiDonna

Songs included in the interview with Antibalas include:

1) Filibuster X (Security) (in preview)
2) The Big Man (Who is This America?)
3) Uprising (Liberation Afro Beat Vol. 1)
4) Who is This America Dem Speak of Today? (Who is This America?)
5) Elephant (Who is This America?)
6) Beaten Metal (Security)
7) I.C.E. (Security)
8) Sanctuary (Security)
9) War Hero (Security)
10) Age (Security)
11) Hilo (Security)

If you enjoyed this interview with Antibalas, give a listen to interviews with Atlas Soul, Lovewhip, and Balla Tounkara in the Well-Rounded Radio archives.

Antibalas recommends Celebration, El Michel's Affair, Of Montreal, Pedro the Lion, and Talib Kweli.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends Antiwar.com, After Downing Street, and Rock the Earth.

I first heard Winterpillls when singer and keyboardist Flora Reed sent me a copy of their debut back in 2005. As a publicist for Signature Sounds Records, an independent label in Western Massachusettts with a focus on folk music, she had helped me with an earlier interview I did with Josh Ritter (check out the Well-Rounded Radio interview from when Hello Starling was first released) and Reed sent me a copy of this new band she was playing in.

Winterpills came across as a breath of fresh air: a delicate and perfect interplay of harmonies between a man and woman's voices, chiming, tasteful guitars, but all with an urgency in the lyrics and songwriting which made for an impressive debut.

The band members all had earlier and have concurrent solo projects: Reed released one solo disc with 2002’s Settle Down on Soft Alarm Music. Price released two solo records: 2002’s 13 Songs for Right Now and 2003’s Honey in the Chemicals (a screenplay), both on Listen Here Records. Crommett and Hower worked together in Spanish for Hitchhiking with their debut, The Starling, in 2004 on Captive Ring Records. Crommett released The Evening Sorrow in 2006 on Pigeon Records, which also includes musical performances by fellow Winterpills. We’ll get to hear some samples from these other projects in the interview. The band members have also performed in a variety of other bands, including Feet Wet, Gay Potatoes, The Maggies, Memorial Garage, and The Nields.

This group of musicians found themselves crossing paths and sharing the stage in different incarnations and, or so the story goes, Price and Reed found themselves playing music in someone’s living room and discovered the way their two voices intertwined and complemented each others. Likely not something anyone would have thought listening to their solo efforts, but it is at the crux of what makes the band’s sound so alluring.

Winterpills does what all great bands do, bringing together some disparate and perfectly-matched skills to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Carefully crafted, somewhat timeless songs are the result.

Their 2005 release received a number of critical rave reviews in The Washington Post, The Big Takeover, No Depression, and others. Their new CD, The Light Divides, was produced by Dave Chalfant, José Ayerve, and Winterpills. It was released by Signature Sounds and Soft Alarm Records in late February. The band is out on a tour in March and April 2007 of the east coast, midwest and several shows at SXSW.

For me, it didn't quite click at first listen as their debut did, but upon a number of listens, The Light Divides started to pay off as an even stronger album, showcasing how both Price's songwriting and the band's interplay of musical elements can work together seamlessly to establish different moods. You can currently stream the full album from their site.

Winterpills don’t get reviewed without people like Elliot Smith, Simon and Garfunkel, Low, and Iron and Wine getting discussed. When I hear the band, I tend to think of the late 60s, as if Winterpills could have played alongside the Los Angeles music scenes that brought us Love or The Byrds or the San Francisco scene that fostered Jefferson Airplane. Were they playing then, they’d likely be considered folk-rock, a phrase that today seems to mean something very different…

On Winterpills’ myspace page, they also cite influences such as The Innocence Mission, Stars, Elliott Smith, X, Joni Mitchell, Bjork, Stephen Merritt, Neil Young, George Harrison, ABBA, Sun Kil Moon, Harry Nilsson, Leonard Cohen, Elton John, and Sam Beam of Iron and Wine.

Winterpills are based in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts, which includes the college towns of Northampton and