So, back in the 70s, my older siblings Michael, Maureen, Joseph, and John respectively turned me onto Arlo Guthrie, Carly Simon, Led Zeppelin, and The Monkees and my cousin Thomas turned me onto The Clash, The Ramones, and Talking Heads.

With that kind of introduction and education, it’s no surprise I got hooked on music and started buying vinyl.

If I remember correctly, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was my first in 1973 at Korvettes in Flushing, Queens...of course a double album. My dad told me that if it effected my grades in any way, he would take it away. I was seven.

When CDs came along in the late 80s, even though they were less expensive to produce, the list prices put them at $14.99 or more. Over the last 10-15 years, the street price has settled at about $11.99 or so, but of course lots of places sell them for more and less than that. Of course now CD prices are dropping in price to compete with digital downloads and they are often costing less than mp3s albums.

After the demise of the original Napster and the rise of iTunes, the $.99 a song model arose and somehow took hold. But in an era where many listen to music free from myspace or off of artists’ web sites and others file share, most working musicians are wondering how they will make a living making music when it’s clear you can’t rely on the sale of a physical product any longer, along comes an idea that I really like.

Amie Street was started in Providence, Rhode Island on Amie Street on July 4, 2006 by Elliott Breece, Josh Boltuch and Elias Roman while at Brown University. They are now based in Long Island City, just across the river from Manhattan. Roman is the Director of Business Development and Operations, Breece is the Director of Product Development, and Boltuch is the Director Public Relations and Marketing.

We’ll talk more about how Amie Street works during my interview with co-founder Joshua Boltuch, but the idea is that when a song is added, it starts free up to .98 and will go up in cost as demand rises up to a maximum of .98. Occasionally, shoppers who frequently recommend artists will also get credits from Amie Street, so it’s a bit of a buy back strategy.

The mp3 files are all free of digital rights management, or DRM.

Musicians receive 70% of the revenue from each sale. And yes, I know that for musicians recording music costs a lot of money, especially if you go into an 24 track studio to do it, but I also know there’s something to pricing things at the right point to get those impulse buys. Part art and part science, on Amie Street more than a few times I have bought an artist’s entire album because I heard 60 seconds of a song, like it, and it was priced at $3.00. Would I have done that if it were priced at $9.99 or $16.99?

I find the interface of Amie Street to be among the best out there in terms of leading you from one genre, artist, or song to the next. It might not be quite the same as wandering the aisles of your favorite brick and mortar record store, but there is something about the interface and sampling opportunities that are more thought-out than what most of the big online music retailers have done.
It has also incorporated some social networking functionality into the site, so you can see what other friends are listening to and be turned on to artists in a more webby way.

This interview was recorded in October 2008 and I’m afraid it just delayed for a handful of reasons, but I’m happy that it’s seeing the light of day now, just as Amie Street comes up on their third anniversary.

I sat down with co-founder Joshua Boltuch at the Amie Street offices in Long Island City to discuss:
* How and why mp3s started getting priced at $.99
* How Amie Street is using the net’s technology to help music fans find more music
* Why musicians are submitting their music to Amie Street and what they like about the business model

Rick Berlin started making music in the early 1970s and continued through a handful of bands over the last three decades, including Orchestra Luna, Orchestra Luna II, Luna, Berlin Airlift, Rick Berlin: The Movie, The Shelley Winters Project, and, most recently, simply as Rick Berlin.

As a piano player and songwriter, Berlin's style has run the gamut from the theatrical to the confessional. In several of these incarnations, Berlin came close to breaking it in the music industry, but as he's learned, sometimes the stars don't always align the way they should. During our interview, Berlin takes us through anecdotes about some of these bands and we'll get to hear musical highlights from throughout the years.

Having grown up in New York, I was aware of Berlin's music over the years and learned about his 2006 album Me & Van Gogh from Hi-n-Dry Records from feature articles in The Boston Globe and The Boston Phoenix. His latest CD, Old Stag, was released in 2008.

For fans of Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, Ben Folds, or Leonard Cohen, Berlin's albums will be a welcome addition to your collection.

Berlin recorded Me & Van Gogh at Hi-n-Dry, the studio and music collective that I’ve featured on Well-Rounded Radio in the past with our interviews with Twinemen, Jimmy Ryan, and Monique Ortiz. Billy Conway, drummer for Morphine, Twinemen, and the Chip Smith Project, co-produced Me & Van Gogh and Tom Dube engineered and mixed it.

Old Stag was recorded in Berlin's living room, with help from sound engineer (and neighbor) Joe Stewart and string arrangements from Brendan Cooney.

Berlin will be performing at the new Hi-n-Dry space at The Somerville Armory on Saturday, May 9th with a string quartet. For more information and to buy tickets, visit Brown Paper Tickets. The concert is a fundraiser for The Mark Sandman Music Project. You can also check for other upcoming performances on Berlin's site.

You can see some video of Berlin on YouTube.

Berlin is also working on a video documentary about our shared home town, Jamaica Plain or JP. Take a look at some clips of Jamaica Plain Spoken on YouTube; Berlin is open to receiving donations to help complete the project.

We recently met at his apartment, down the street from the Brendan Behan Pub, to discuss:
* The various musicians and artists he's worked with while making music over the years.
* How he found himself playing on Mark Sandman’s piano to record Me & Van Gogh with the help of the Hi-n-Dry group
* How he recorded Old Stag at home and on a limited budget, with great results

Songs featured in the interview include:
1) Rick Berlin: House on Fire (Old Stag) (in preview)
2) Rick Berlin: Don't Talk about Joan (Me & Van Gogh)
3) Orchestra Luna: Doris Dreams (Orchestra Luna)
4) Orchestra Luna: Boy Scout Songs (Orchestra Luna)
5) Orchestra Luna: Little Sam (Orchestra Luna)
6) Orchestra Luna II: Greyhound (live) (Special Class)
7) Orchestra Luna II: Dear Kate (Special Class)
8) Luna: Dumb Love (demo)
9) Berlin Airlift: Over the Hill (Berlin Airlift)
10) Berlin Airlift: Don't Stop me from Crying (Berlin Airlift)
11) Rick Berlin: The Movie: Eddy Isn't Coming Home (Filmclip)
12) The Shelley Winters Project: Nothing (Forced 2 Swallow)
13) The Shelley Winters Project: Blood (EP)
14) Rick Berlin: Me & Van Gogh (Me & Van Gogh)
15) Rick Berlin: Rock n Roll Romance (Me & Van Gogh)
16) Rick Berlin: Do You Still Love Me (Me & Van Gogh)
17) Rick Berlin: City is Empty (Live at Jacques)
18) Rick Berlin: Never Stops Raining (Song Saves)
19) Rick Berlin: Unknown Soldier (Old Stag)
20) Rick Berlin: Happy Lesbians in the Snow (Old Stag)
21) Rick Berlin: Your Light is On (Old Stag)
22) Rick Berlin: Michiko (Old Stag)
23) Rick Berlin: Elle (Old Stag)
24) Rick Berlin: How Can I Hate People I Don't Know?
25) Rick Berlin: Walkin' in the Hood (Song Saves)
26) Rick Berlin: Criminal (Me & Van Gogh)
27) Rick Berlin: John Lennon's Nose (Old Stag)

As anyone who buys music knows, the way we are finding it and buying it has changed radically over the last 15 years.

For musicians, it used to be that if you wanted someone to release your music, you'd have to get the attention and approval of an artist and repertoire (or A&R person) at a label, work to sign a deal either big or small so that the label would then press up your product and work with distributors to get your vinyl or 8-track or cassette or CD to ship them out to record stores where the music fan could have access to them.

Now, all you have to do it is get some audio files online and instantly be able to have your music available to the current online global audience of 1.5 billion people, which is still just about 23% of the world's population, so the potential for reaching new audiences continues to grow. As mobile devices get smarter, it's inevitable that consumers will be downloading more music and playing it without a desktop or laptop computer even being involved, too.

As a result of the rise of digital download stores such as iTunes and Amazon mp3, the need has come for new companies to aggregate songs and distribute them out to all these growing online stores.

That's where TuneCore comes in.

After SpinArt, Price went on to work with eMusic.com, first as a consultant, then as interim VP of Content Acquisition, and finally as the Senior Director of Music/Business Development. He contributed towards the creation of eMusic's initial business model and created and implemented the first subscription-based music sales and distribution structure.

In 2005 Price started TuneCore, which is an aggregator which helps get digital music into online stores such as iTunes, Amazon mp3, eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster, Amie Street, Groupie Tunes, ShockHound.com, and lala.

TuneCore has also been in the news in recent months as some very mainstream acts have used the service to get their music direct to consumers, including Nine Inch Nails and Paul Westerberg. Just a few weeks back, it was announced that Aretha Franklin would be using TuneCore to distribute her version of My Country Tis Thee that she performed at the Obama inauguration.

TuneCore's competitors are services such as IODA, The Orchard, and CD Baby and I discuss with Price about what makes TuneCore different from these services. I hope to interview founders and representatives of these services in the future as well.

This episode includes music from a variety of independent music that has been submitted to be for Well-Rounded Radio. I can’t say that all have used TuneCore, but they are indicative of independent musicians these days who are producing great music on their own and using the Internet to reach new audiences. For a full list of what is included in the show and links to their sites, visit wellroundedradio.net/tunecore.

I met with Price during an event for held by The Future of Music Coalition’s in New York City to discuss:
* how artists can use a service like TuneCore to get their music out to download-to-own music services
* what it costs to use and what other services TuneCore offers to musicians
* how it’s a part of a very different music industry than what we had fifteen years ago

Music included in the episode includes:
1) Slow Car Crash: There It Is (in preview)
2) TVC15: Ao
3) Anais Mitchell: Shenadoah
4) Papermoon: House of Cards
5) Rev. Bob & The Darkness: Dead Man Running
6) Michael W. Smith: Above All
7) Ray Mason: Question to Answer
8) Clay McClinton: Left My Baby Blue
9) Los Soberanos: Francamente
10) Bill Noonan Band: Big Enough to Hide In
11) Satoru: Life is Never Long Enough
12) Fort Pastor: Fall With Me
13) Shauna Burns: Gotta Get Ahead
14) JJ Appleton: Falling Down
15) Nine Inch Nails: 3 Ghosts I
16) Paul Westerberg: Board of Edukation
17) Aretha Franklin: My Country Tis of Thee

A little over a year ago I interviewed Jenny Toomey, who co-founded The Future of Music Coalition in 2000 with Michael Bracy, Walter McDonough and Brian Zisk. Toomey and I discussed how the organization came into existance and some of its main areas of focus. You can hear that interview here. Toomey has since moved over to the Ford Foundation and Ann Chaitovitz is the new Executive Director.

Bracy is the Policy Director for The Future of Music Coalition. He also co-owns the Misra Records label and is a partner at Bracy Tucker Brown & Valanzano, a government and public affairs consulting firm in Washington D.C., so he knows his way around the worlds of both music and legislation.

The Future of Music Coalition is, to quote, "a national non-profit education, research, and advocacy organization that seeks a bright future for creators and listeners. FMC works towards this goal through continuous interaction with its primary constituency--musicians--and in collaboration with other creator/public interest groups."

You can learn more about network neutrality at savetheinternet.com, Google, Wikipedia, and The Future of Music Coalition's Rock the Net pages.

The Future of Music Coalition's Rock the Net campaign was established in April 2007 to increase musician's awareness about the importance of net neutrality because certain telecommunications and cable companies would like to charge content providers higher fees for faster delivery of their sites. The result would be an Internet where those who couldn't afford to - or didn't want to - pay a toll would be stuck in the slow lane. Artists could lose an important connection to their fans and suffer financial loses, while listeners might be denied their freedom of choice.

The Future of Music Coalition’s benefit album, entitled Rock The Net: Musicians for Network Neutrality, was released by Thirsty Ear Recordings this past summer and the money raised goes toward supporting FMC's efforts on this front. You can buy the album direct from Thirty Ear. Artists who donated songs to the cause include David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion), Bright Eyes, The Classic Brown, BC Camplight, DJ Spooky, Free Form Funky Freqs, Guster, Aimee Mann, David Miller, Palomar, Portastatic, Matthew Shipp, They Might Be Giants, Wilco, and The Wrens.

I wanted to do an episode on the subject because the battle over net neutrality seems to be well known in geek circles, but the general population doesn't seem to be as aware and it's ultimately going to effect everyone using the Internet. I'm hoping this episode will help bring the idea to a broader audience, including music fans and musicians who will certainly depend on the web more than any other distribution channel in the future.

And while Barack Obama's selection of Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach to lead the FCC review team are encouraging, by all accounts the battle is far from done.

Many of today's most talented artists are demonstrating their support of an open Internet where all users can access the lawful content of their choice without undue restrictions. Founding Rock the Net artists include Calexico, Les Claypool, Death Cab for Cutie, John Doe, The Donnas, Guster, Kathleen Hanna, Griffin House, Kronos Quartet, Jerry Harrison, Ted Leo, The Locust, Bob Mould, Matt Nathanson, OK Go, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Boots Riley, Rogue Wave, Jimmy Tamborello, State Radio, Street to Nowhere, Matt Wertz, and The Wrens.

I met with Bracy during a recent Future of Music Coalition event at the Public Theatre in New York City to discuss:

* why network neutrality matters to musicians and music fans
* what it is about developing net policy that needs to improve upon past technological inventions
* how you can stay informed and take action to help keep net neutrality as a defining principle going forward

Songs featured in this interview from the Rock the Net CD include:
1) The Classic Brown: Modulation (in preview)
2) David Bazan: Cold Beer and Cigarettes (in preview)
3) DJ Spooky featuring Saba Saba: Uganda
4) Bright Eyes: I Won't Ever be Happy Again
5) Palomar: Red
6) Aimee Mann: 31 Today
7) Wilco: Impossible Germany (Live)
8) Portastatic: Hang Down Your Head
9) The Wrens: Sleep
10) Matthew Shipp Trio: New Orbit
11) FREE Form Funky Freqs: The Binds That Tie
12) They Might Be Giants: We Live in a Dump
13) BC Camplight: Soy Tonto
14) David Miller: Sunday Driver
15) Guster: Timothy Leary

I will admit I was kind of turned off by the initial onslaught of publicity when The Dresden Dolls debuted here in Boston back in 2001 and 02. I hadn't heard much of the music, but whenever something gets too overexposed so far, I always tend to look the other way, so I'll chalk that up to why I hadn't known their work better.

But a few months back, I had the opportunity to interview Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls for her collaboration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. You can hear that interview here on iTunes. After listening to The Dresden Dolls albums, I dare say I began to get it.

For those who haven't heard their music, The Dresden Dolls are part rock, part cabaret, and generally pretty intense. The duo features Amanda Palmer on vocals, piano, harmonica, and ukelele and Brian Viglione on drums, percussion, guitar, and vocals.

Palmer's first solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? was released by Road Runner Records in late September and co-produced by Ben Folds. The album is quite different from The Dresden Dolls, with both sparse songs featuring Palmer paired with vocals as well as lush, orchestral pieces that help push her songs to entirely new sonic tiers. Folds also plays piano on several songs as well.

Palmer has also worked on a Who Killed Amanda Palmer? book with Neil Gaiman, best known for The Sandman comic series, Stardust, and American Gods. The book will be released in November.

Palmer has also posted a series of music videos on her site for songs from the new album, which is a terrific idea in this era where music videos are all but dead on cable television, but while video is more popular than ever on the web. They are low-budget, but do the trick of letting you hear the music and get a bit of a preview of her live performances.

She's out on tour now in Europe and in November in the US; check whokilledamandapalmer.com for dates and details.

I met with Palmer in Boston's South End neighborhood just as she was starting rehearsals for her current tour to discuss:

* what lead her to starting work on solo material
* how she met Ben Folds and why she wanted to work with him
* how she is bringing the album to life on the road

Songs featured in the interview include:

1) Ampersand (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?) (in preview)
2) Leeds United (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
3) Runs in the Family (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
4) Girl Anachronism (The Dresden Dolls)
5) Astronaut: A Short History of Nearly Nothing (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
6) Have to Drive (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
7) Guitar Hero (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
8) Strength Through Music (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
9) Blake Says(Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
10) What's the Use of Wond'rin? (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
11) Oasis (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
12) Another Year: A Short History of Almost Something (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)
13) Leeds United (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?)

Thinking back on it, I'm not exactly sure how or when I found out about San Serac, but I know I came across his Myspace page and I kept going back to hear his music, which is not something I do too often on Myspace.

I then sought out and bought his third CD, Professional, and found his music to be at an interesting intersection between David Bowie, disco, and electronic dance music. Thankfully, the album did not disappoint.

Nat Rabb works under the name San Serac, an artist who plays synthesizer, percussion, guitar, electronic saxophone, electronic drums, and sings. Rabb grew up in Baltimore and played in several post-punk bands including Candy Machine and INK. He now lives and works in the Boston area.

San Serac's music reveals his love of music of Roxy Music, Midnight Star, David Bowie, Maurice Fulton, Talking Heads, Shalamar, and Prince. The music touches on electronic funk, house, disco, garage, quiet storm, and freestyle. I love the fact that he's pushing the boundaries of what styles fit or belong together; not since Talking Heads' Remain in Light or Prince's Sign o' the Times have I listened to a record again and again and been rewarded each time. Frankly, I can't wait for San Serac's next release to see where he takes us next.

With Johnny Dark, San Serac has also released an album on September 23rd under the outfit Stereo Image and they will performing in Ontario, Canada in late October. Check their Myspace page for details. San Serac will also be touring in November and December 2008 in the US with Wilderness.

I met with San Serac in May in Somerville, Massachusetts to discuss:
* how he writes and records his albums—essentially all by himself
* what the gestation period is like for his own creations
* how the changes in the music business are effecting how he manages his own career

Photo: Drew Jarrett

Music featured in the show includes:

1) San Serac: Professional (Professional) (in preview)
2) San Serac: Fairlight (Professional)
3) San Serac: Love Tactics (Professional)
4) INK: Alger Hiss
5) INK: Real Life in the Deco
6) San Serac: Market Research (it's Time to Shop) (Ice Age)
7) San Serac: Astonishing Murders (Ice Age)
8) San Serac: What Price Revenge (Ice Age)
9) San Serac: Nihilistic Love (Professional)
10) San Serac: Sunlight in Electric Wires (Ice Age)
11) San Serac: You, Assassin (Ice Age)
12) San Serac: Tyrant (Professional)
13) San Serac: The Black Monolith (Professional)
14) San Serac: That Obscure Object of Desire (Professional)
15) San Serac: Command Shift Sexy (Professional)
16) Faunts: Instantly Dubbed (San Serac Mix)
17) Stereo Image: Dark Chapter (S/T)
18) Stereo Image: Exposure (S/T)
19) Stereo Image: Pack Moves (S/T)
20) Shout Out Out Out Out: In the End It's Your Friends (San Serac Mix)
21) Stereo Image: Red Nights (S/T)
22) Stereo Image: Your Collapsed State (S/T)
23) San Serac: Friends

San Serac recommends Maurice Fulton, Daft Punk, Faux Fox, Shout Out Out Out Out, and A Certain Ratio.

Thanks again to everyone who took our recent online survey. I learned some great information about who is listening to the show, what you like and what you'd like to hear more of. I was especially surprised to learn from the group that responded that 57% of you identified yourselves as musicians.

I have had fun doing interviews with music industry thought leaders in recent years as it's obvious that the music business is in a great deal of flux for both musicians and music fans. Truthfully, though, I haven't heard or read many good interviews about these changes. If you go to music conferences or subscribe to things like the Pho list you get to be on the inside of all these changes, but otherwise, it's a classic case of being shut out of ideas that are advancing around you.

I hadn't realized that musicians are tuning in to Well-Rounded Radio as an educational outlet, but that does seem to be the case and this episode, with an interview with Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity, it's a perfect case of providing some additional insight that I think can be very helpful to musicians.

Ariel Publicity helps artists and labels get their music in front of the growing legion of citizen journalists or prosumers, as folks like me have started to be called, who are creating text, audio, and video for others to access via the Web.

Hyatt and her team also help to educate musicians through various online and in-person boot camp sessions and seminars and they're helping to connect independent musicians with independent media outlets like Well-Rounded Radio.

At the same time, music fans are discovering music in a wide range of new ways, from podcasts and audio blogs to recommendation engines, streaming stations, and mobile devices to simply speeding up the word of mouth process that have always happened, but now is happening faster and globally with new technologies.

As print publications cease production, terrestrial and satellite radio tries to evolve, and more people around the world start using these technologies as a matter of course, how will we each discover our next favorite band? I have heard the story again and again how music fans who used to simply listen to what was in the charts or featured on the cover of music magazines now are finding they listen to very little mainstream music and are finding all kinds of niches online that take their curiosity in new directions. The idea behind the Long Tail is very much changing what we consume.

This episode features a number of artists that Ariel Publicity has worked with over the last year or two. You can find links to their web sites below.

I met with Hyatt at her office in mid-town Manhattan back in February to discuss:

* how the agency came to be born and her own experience leading up to it
* some myths about the old music guard that need to be shattered
* how musicians can be smarter and strategic about using social media to advance their careers

If you enjoy this interview, be sure to listen to other interviews I have done with music industry thought leaders. Tell me who else you'd like me to interview and I'll do my best to get them on the show.

Music featured in the show includes:

1) Le Rug: Gloss (Bleenex) (in preview)
2) Fiskum: The Crossing (Darkness/Fire/Dancing)
3) Kaliopi: Naked (Around the World)
4) Kito Peters: CEO (Stories)
5) Booze Monkey: Solitaire (The Old Way)
6) N Side: Bad Manners (Just a Broke Brotha' Trying to to Come Up!)
7) Howard Britz: Scatterbug
8) Dudley Saunders: Take Me Back Home Again
9) Sarah VonDerhaar: It's Not the First Time
10) Animate Objects: Clive (Riding in Fast Cars with Your Momma)
11) Black Fortress of Opium: Dulcet TV (Black Fortress of Opium)
12) Blood Red Sun: Pray for Rain (A Nation of Saviors)
13) Inga Swearingen: Black Crow
14) The Callen Sisters: Wake Up
15) I/O/I: Compass (I/O/I)
16) Michael Wolff: Solar
17) Yahweh's People: Oh My Lord (Yahweh's People)

Photo: Greg Kessler

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 swag 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.

1) Matthew Loiacono: Only Memory (Kentucky)
2) One Ring Zero: The Ghost Of Rita Gonzalo (As Smart As We Are)
3) John Haydon: Last Night What You Told Me (Phantom Heart)
4) Hell's Kitchen: Jack is a writer (Doctor's Oven)
5) Ladytron: I'm Not Scared (Velocifero)
6) The Grownup Noise: Grey Skies (Grownup Noise EP)
7) Rayse Biggs: Um Da Da (For The Love Of It)
8) Ashley Pond: Never Seen Your Own Face (Dala)
9) Television Hill: Mulberry Bush (Twlight)
10) Vincent Bernay: track 2
11) Air This Side Of Caution: Here We Go (Nature Will Turn On Us)
12) The Kickbacks: I Crash Cars (Motel Stars)
13) Candida Rose: Kabu Verdi, Un Da (The Sum Of Me)
14) Daniel Ward: Reverance (After The Storm)
15) Terry Winchell: Waiting Here For You (Vice Versa)

Newbury Comics started as a comics store on Newbury Street, a famed block for shopping in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, but now each of their 27 locations sells CDs, vinyl, DVDs, posters, toys, books, magazines, sports merchandise, clothes, shoes, housewares, and much more.

Given how much time (and money!) I have spent at Newbury Comics over these last eight years and how much great music I have discovered there and subsequently brought to my listeners, I was glad to be able to interview Mike Dreese, the co-founder of Newbury Comics, as we had a great conversation about the state of record retailing and the state of the music business in general.

If you live here, you already know why it's such a fun place. If and when you visit New England, be sure to stop by one of their stores and experience it for yourself. Newbury Comics now has locations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island with the majority of stores in Greater Boston. Check newburycomics.com for address location and to shop online as well.

Our timing of featuring Dreese on Well-Rounded Radio's 50th episode is good as this year is Newbury Comics' 30th anniversary and they are opening two new stores this summer. One is a super store in Norwood, Massachusetts in a space formerly used by a car dealership, which sounds like it might give the Amoeba Records stores a run for their money, and a second store will be located at historic Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston. Maybe there is a future for the record store, yet.

While I am not one to make too much of numbers, my arrival at it after producing the show for the last six years does make me stop for a minute to think about the path I've traveled and where it might be going.

Well-Rounded Radio was an idea born just outside Seattle on a sidewalk in Kirkland, Washington with my friend Marion Seymour back in 1999 during a conversation we were having about the great music interviews we both used to hear when growing up in the New York City area.

For me, it was hearing interviews with musicians from Jeff Foss on Hofstra University's Radio station (now called WRHU), on WNYU’s New Afternoon Show (which, I’ll admit, influenced my choice of NYU for college...), and from Vin Scelsa and all the New York radio station’s he’s been on over the years and who continues today on WFUV in New York and on Sirius Satellite Radio.

For Marion, her love of freeform radio was fueled by WFMU, then the station of Upsala College, which was just a few blocks from her childhood home and the freeform days of WNEW and DJs like Jonathan Schwartz and Pete Fornatale. Marion was a pioneering DJ herself in Seattle on KZAM, where she broke all kinds of programming boundaries and interviewed everyone who was anyone when they came through Seattle for more than a decade.

Since this kind of programming wasn’t something that existed to our satisfaction, I thought, why not create it myself?

In late '99 I moved back east and my wife Stacey and settled in Boston. Well-Rounded Radio started to formulate into an idea in 2000 and 2001. September 11th motivated me to do something I'd been thinking about, instead of just talking about doing, so I created a demo with a plan to pitch it to NPR. Little did I realize at the time that NPR is more competitive than most commercial radio syndication...and of course it is, because anyone with any taste would prefer to be on it!

Then came blogging and then came broadband and then podcasting. Then there was less of a need to find the distribution channel and more of a desire to take my passion for music and my joy in helping others discover really, really good music in an era where it seemed like mainstream radio didn’t care about anything but really awful hits. Of course, that’s only gotten worse.

I also hoped my show would make you feel like you were listening in on a conversation instead of it seeming like the host was trying to grill the subject or simply fawn over them. Hopefully I’ve succeeded at those goals to some degree.

As we all know, the media landscape is changing radically and while it's fascinating to watch it happen, and in some ways be a part of it, I'm sad about the passing of No Depression and Harp magazines and I'm sad that so many record stores are struggling and closing.

Part of the reason that I love record stores like Newbury Comics is that as someone who started out on vinyl and moved on to CDs and now mp3s, I think it will be sad when there are no longer these kind of physical places to interact with other music lovers and to discover new artists in surprising ways. Staring at your laptop can be fun, but it can also be pretty damn lonely, so I’m hoping "record stores" can evolve into something more than just a place to pick up an encoded physical product.

I could regale you with the time Bob Bortnick of the Dancing Hoods was working behind the counter at Slipped Disc, convincing me of the merits of The Velvet Underground and Nico, or all the hours spent digging through the vinyl at St. Mark’s Sounds or Bleecker Bob’s or Pier Platters or Midnight or Tower or that great record store on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck that I have long since forgotten its name, but who always got the import Clash albums in first!

Getting a tip from the record store clerk, picking up an album because the sticker on its shrink wrap had name-dropped all the right artists, or finding a used LP that was just cheap enough to make you want to buy it and give a band a chance...all those methods of introduction seem to be passing us by, even as new methods of introduction are becoming the norm. I'm not saying they are better or worse, but it is worth thinking about what we might be losing even as we move forward.

As a musician myself, I'm thrilled that musicians will have more power in their hands via the Internet, but I'm not that thrilled that the reduction of record stores, magazines, and record labels means that the power will rest in the hands of fewer corporate gatekeepers, like Wal-Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Microsoft, Napster, Rhapsody, Target, or whoever. Not that I have anything against any of these companies, but it's never good to have the power rest with too few, even if the Internet can connect us one to one in so many other ways. Of course there are bloggers and podcasters and other tastemakers, but distribution has always been the most valuable commodity in any media industry and that’s not likely to change.

Over the last year or two I have been looking at how I can take Well-Rounded Radio from hobby into something that I could make a living doing. I can tell by my web site traffic, emails from listeners, and the music coming to me from around the world that people like what I’m doing. My numbers keep growing and it’s clear that music fans still need real human people to filter their choices for them, just as record labels, DJs, music journalists, and record stores have done for decades. (If you want to help with this, you can take our online survey and tell us a bit about yourself.)

As a hobby, I've been careful to not let Well-Rounded Radio consume too much of my life as I raise a family and work a paying job, but it’s also something that I know is helping to connect independent musicians and an audience of listeners who also love that sense of discovery when you find a new artist that you connect to and, to put it plainly, fall in love with. (And this seems like a good a time as any to thank my wife Stacey and my kids for their encouragement, their understanding, and their support!)

In many ways I’ve taken my activity from my 20s in making mix tapes and CDs for a group of friends combined it with my own professional experience in marketing, and upped the ante using the net.

In an era where the role of DJs, music critics, and music journalism is in flux, maybe all that we need is some ways to help us find things that we want as well as be open enough to discovering something new that might just fill some current need we have in our lives.

Although some of the artists and thought-leaders I've interviewed have been from outside Boston, the vast majority who have been on Well-Rounded Radio are from Boston's amazing music scene, which doesn't get nearly the kind of national press that it should.

Which brings me back to Boston and the 50th show.

It also makes perfect sense that Dreese is on this episode because when I was in my band Falling Stairs in the late 80s and early 90s, we used to come up to Boston from New York City to record at Fort Apache. We made it a point to go to a variety of great guitar stores in Allston and always made a stop at Newbury Comics, which was the kind of record store that I always wished we had in the New York area.

Now I've been in Boston for almost nine years and I take Newbury Comics for granted (and yes, I still shop in brick and mortar stores!), but when I go to other cities, I realize that record stores are becoming more rare each year.

Given Newbury’s success, part of me wanted to pick Dreese’s brain for how they've maintained their success and provide some ideas to other music retailers around the world to help them evolve as the music industry changes. I’m sure there’s a brilliant business plan in there just waiting to be born...

The show features a mix of music from the late 70s up to today, much of it from Boston artists.

I met with Dreese at Newbury Comics' offices and warehouse in Brighton, Massachusetts to discuss:
* how the regional chain got its start and grew to where they are today
* how the music business has changed since the late 70s and how they’re evolving with it
* the return of vinyl and what it might mean in the scheme of all the changes

Music featured in the interview include:
1) Classic Ruins: 1 + 1 < 2 (in preview)
2) Willie Alexander: Mass Ave
3) The Clash: Complete Control
4) The Cure: Boys Don't Cry
5) La Peste: Better Off Dead
6) The Lyres: I Want to Help You Ann
7) U2: Fire
8) The Neats: Red and Grey
9) Human Sexual Response: Jackie Onassis
10) The Proletariat: Options
11) Jerry's Kids: Uncontrollable
12) Treat Her Right: I Think She Likes Me
13) Dinosaur Jr: Kracked
14) Buffalo Tom: Crutch
15) Salem 66: Across the Sea
16) Throwing Muses: Bea
17) Mary Timony: Look a Ghost in the Eye
18) The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: The Impression that I Get
19) Mr. Lif: I Phantom
20) Dresden Dolls: Coin-Operated Boy
21) Ho-Ag: Golden All Night
22) Marta Gomez: Dejalo ir
23) Tulsa: Breathe Thin
24) Frank Smith: Cut Right Through
25) The Radio Knives: Stone Stone

Mike recommends Flobots, Velvet Rope, Twist and Shout, Waterloo, Amoeba, The Record Archive, and Criminal Records.

Charlie recommends visiting Newbury Comics and newburycomics.com and finding your local or regional record store through the Coalition for Independent Music Stores and buying locally! Bring a friend and help keep them all going.

Thalia Zedek's music career started in the late '70s with White Women, followed in the '80s with Dangerous Birds and Uzi and continued later in the decade when she joined the New York noise band Live Skull. In the early '90s she formed the band Come, whose 1992 album 11:11 is nothing short of a masterpiece. Come's members included Chris Brokaw on guitar, Arthur Johnson on drums, and Sean O'Brien on bass and if you don't own any of their work, you should.

Since Come stopped performing later in the '90s, Zedek has released a number of solo albums including Been Here and Gone (Matador, 2001) Trust Not Those in Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness (Thrill Jockey, 2004), and Hell is in Hello, 2004 (limited edition 2.000 copies). Her EPs include You're a Big Girl Now (Kimchee Records, 2002) and The Nature of Drones (Thrill Jockey, 2005). She also released a live disc entitled Live at Tonic, NYC 1/16/2000.

Zedek's latest CD, Liars and Prayers, was also released by Thrill Jockey Records in late April. Although I think all of Zedek's work with Come and her solo albums have been outstanding, Liars and Prayers is a powerful and emotional collection of songs tackling political and personal subjects. It features a five-piece band, fleshing out Zedek's sound to a new level of complexity and intensity.

Zedek has been inspired by a variety of artists, including Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, and Lou Reed, but over the years she has created her own distinct sound and found a strong cult audience that appreciates her impassioned vocals and moody songwriting. I've always loved the intensity in Zedek's work, really pulling me in and forcing me to pay attention to the music she makes.

Watch some videos of Come online, including live performances of Hurricane and Submerge, and music videos for Submerge, Cimarron, Somehow We're Together and a fan-produced video of The German Song. You can also see a slideshow of a song from the out-of-print Nature of Drones EP on myspace and a studio performance of 1926.

Zedek is out on tour in mid to late June with shows in New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, and Chicago. West coast shows and some European dates are also in the works and you can visit myspace.com/thaliazedek to find out more.

I met with Zedek in May in Allston, Massachusetts to discuss:

* how the new, larger version of her band came to exist
* who else has influenced her over the years
* what some of those veiled political songs are really about

Special thanks to Anna for the mp3s of Dangerous Birds and Uzi that are included in the show. I own it all on vinyl, but I must buy me an Ion one of these days! Thanks, Anna!

Music featured in the interview include:

1) Body Memory (Liars and Prayers) (in preview)
2) Begin to Exhume (Liars and Prayers)
3) Wind (Liars and Prayers)
4) We Don't Go (Liars and Prayers)
5) Back to School (Been Here and Gone)
6) Lower Allston (Liars and Prayers)
7) Manha De Carnaval (Been Here and Gone)
8) Green and Blue (Liars and Prayers)
9) Do You Remember? (Liars and Prayers)
10) Next Exit (Liars and Prayers)
11) Come Undone (Liars and Prayers)
12) Brother (Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness)
13) Smile on Your Face by Dangerous Birds (Alpha Romeo/Smile on Your Face single)
14) Criminal Child by Uzi (Sleep Asylum EP)
15) You're a Big Girl Now (You're a Big Girl Now)
16) Was by Live Skull (Snuffer)
17) Submerge by Come (11:11)
18) Bone (Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness)
19) Island Song (Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness)
20) Ship (Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness)
21) Stars (Liars and Prayers)

Thalia recommends Arboretum, The Big Disappointments, Drug Rug, Major Stars, and Retribution Gospel Choir.

Charlie recommends the new album by American Music Club, The Golden Age.

As music licensing continues to become an important way for musicians to earn money as the music business continues to change, there are a number of ways that musicians can get their music out to those professionals that are seeking music for their projects, which tends to be Music Supervisors and Producers for film projects, commercials, television shows, and games. From my own experience, getting your music in front of these folks can be pretty time consuming, so a service like Rumblefish eliminates much of that effort and once again levels the proverbial playing field for musicians at all levels to get into the licensing game.

Rumblefish is a sonic branding and music licensing company started by Paul Anthony in 1996 after his own work producing Sarah McLachlan, composing film scores, and various other roles in the music business. Richard Jankovich, who I interviewed a few years back as member of Burnside Project, is now with Rumblefish in Portland, Oregon as Director of A+R and Licensing after working with DeWolfe Music Publishing in New York City for many years.

As Jankovich explains in our interview, Rumblefish has two goals: one is to help music supervisors, producers, and others who use music in their productions to help find quality independent music using their web site quickly and affordably, and two, to help companies define what their brand sounds like by helping companies big and small create soundtracks that make sense for retail and online settings.

Rumblefish clients to date have included NBC-Universal, HBO, Nike, The North Face, Adidas Originals, Red Bull, MTV, Mitsubishi, and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

I met with Jankovich in January 2008 in Rumblefish’s offices in Portland, Oregon to discuss:

* how a musician or band can get up and running using Rumblefish
* the process of how music supervisors and producers can find suitable music
* the financials for musicians when working with Rumblefish

Music featured in the interview includes:
1) Masonic - Different Speeds" (in preview)
2) Kristin Hersh - Slippershell (Pocket Remix)
3) Future Loop Foundation - Mediterraneo
4) George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars - Some Next Shit
5) DJ Morphiziz - Noche De Fiesta feat. King Dave, DJ Pure, Mercy, Blesson
6) Black Swan Lane - Wisch
7) The Knew - Call My Name
8) Baumer - All In
9) Jennifer Faust - Head West
10) Telescope - Action
11) Karate High School - From This Day Forward (The League Of Tomorrow Battle Hymn)
12) Oohlala - Chinese Whispers
13) Limbo - Rio Del Mar
14) The High Violets - Carry On
15) Parks and Recreation - What was She Doing on the Shore That Night?
16) Jasmine Ash - Start Over
17) Mount Sims - Black Sunglasses
18) Justice of the Unicorns - Girl From Texas
19) Terry Waldo - The Charleston Rag
20) Ennio Morricone - Strofa Monodica 2
21) Scott MacLeod - Broken Heart
22) The Feelies - On the Roof
23) Shane Newville - To Calm the Angry Monster

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 Amherst. The area is known for its musical roots from the 1980s as the birthplace of indie rock bands Dinosaur Jr., Buffalo Tom (including Bill Janovitz; check out his Well-Rounded Radio interview), and in the 90s the Scud Mountain Boys (Joe Pernice’s first band; check out his Well-Rounded Radio interview), but over the last ten plus years, The Pioneer Valley has become a regular home for a wide variety of musicians from folk and indie rock, to noise and metal. There’s no Seattle or Minneapolis or San Diego sound here (luckily for them), but it clearly is a place that musicians and a wide range of artists find it easy to call home and hopefully will stay that way.

I recently met with the band outside of Northampton to discuss:
* what it is about the Pioneer Valley that makes it such a good place for musicians
* where and how the band recorded their two CDs
* and discover a few of their favorite things from some random questions I throw their way…

Photo: Ana Price-Eckles

Highlights of songs featured in the Winterpills interview include:
1) Winterpills: A Ransom (The Light Divides (in preview)
2) Winterpills: July (The Light Divides)
3) Winterpills: Laughing (Winterpills)
4) Philip Price: Man Down (Honey in the Chemicals (a screenplay))
5) Spanish for Hitchhiking: Tonight We Take the Place (The Starling)
6) Flora Reed: Settle Down (Settle Down)
7) Winterpills: Threshing Machine (Winterpills)
8) Winterpills: Found Weekend (Winterpills)
9) Winterpills: Pills for Sarah (Winterpills)
10) Winterpills: A Folded Cloth (The Light Divides)
11) Winterpills: You Don't Live Long Enough (The Light Divides)
12) Winterpills: Hide Me (The Light Divides)
13) Winterpills: Shameful (The Light Divides)
14) Winterpills: Hankerchiefs (The Light Divides)
15) Winterpills: Broken Arm (The Light Divides)

If you enjoy Winterpills, give a listen to past interviews with Joe Pernice, Blake Hazard, Francine, and Great Lake Swimmers.

Winterpills recommends Kamikaze Hearts, Spouse, José Ayerve, Rose Polenzani, and The Fawns. Other favorites linked to from here.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends 41pounds.org, Shut Down Day, and OpenCongress.

The first time I learned about Frank Morey was in an article in the Boston Phoenix by Ted Drozdowski a few years back. I found a few Morey's CDs on cdbaby.com and at Boston's now-defunct Hi-Fi Records store and, as cynical as I am, I was a little surprised that Morey was not already some huge musical commodity...

Morey’s earlier CDs include Bourbon Soaked Halo from 1998, Father John’s Medicine in 2000, and Cold in Hand and The Delmark Sessions (released by Delmark Records), both of which came out in 2002.

Morey’s back up band consists of drummer and percussionist Scott Pittman who was the drummer for and co-founded The Shods. Pittman plays a drum set up based on a 1920’s traps kit and you can see some pictures on Morey's web site. Andrew Bergmann recently replaced Joe “Tub” Faria on upright bass and he also performs in a jazz duo called Troglodytes. MADE IN USA also includes musical guests Pam Murray, Bryan MacAuslan, Eileen Rose, and long-time collaborator and producer Peter Linnane. This latest disc was recorded at Wonka Sound by Bob Nash.

Based in Lowell, Massachusetts, an industrial city northwest of Boston where Jack Kerouac spent much of his youth before heading out on the road. Morey is still based in Lowell and speaks in the interview about how this city with its industrial roots also has influenced him and his writing. As often quoted, Morey says, "You can sit down in some bar in Lowell and there’s going to be somebody in that place that you couldn’t invent. They’re beautiful and crazy and for some reason they all want to sit next to me."

As such, Morey’s world is filled with characters desperately in love or caught in the pain of heartbreak, sinners seeking salvation, sinners who don’t care to be saved, and folks who are down on their luck or brimming with optimism. He tells his stories not in linear paths, but through painting part of a picture and letting you connect the rest of the dots. It’s not often these days that you consciously pay attention to a songwriter's words, but Morey’s work certainly does demand it.

Morey is known for playing residencies in a number of cities, including Lowell, Boston, Worcester, and New York. He’s done several tours over the years and is heading to Europe later this year. Visit his gigs page to find out when and where he’s performing and to sign up for his email list.

A special thanks to the owners of the Cambridge pub The Plough and Stars for letting me record the interview at their pub. These fine folks include Brendan Curhs, Jennifer Lockwood, and Tim Carey. And, just to prove that Well-Rounded Radio doesn’t record our interviews in some antiseptic, soundproof studio in midtown Manhattan, you’ll get a bit of the ambiance of a real pub (or its basement, I should say!) through some of the audio in the background! Listen and see what I mean…

I recently met with Morey to discuss:
* how he got into playing music and how some musical legends have inspired him
* how religion has played a role in forming him and his work
* and proof that he isn’t faking that voice in the music in the least

Songs highlighted in the interview include:
1) No Good (MADE IN USA) (in preview)
2) Freight Train (MADE IN USA)
3) Murder in Boston (Father's John Medicine )
4) Blame it on the Devil (The Delmark Sessions )
5) Dry Up (The Delmark Sessions)
6) Baby, Don't Leave The Light On (The Delmark Sessions)
7) Must be Hard (To Be So Pretty) (MADE IN USA)
8) Lord Have Mercy (When I Lay My Burden Down) (MADE IN USA)
9) Standing on a Corner (MADE IN USA)
10) You're My Jesus (MADE IN USA)
11) North Atlantic Line (MADE IN USA)
12) This Ol' Life (Seems to Be Taking Forever) (MADE IN USA)
13) I Stopped Believing in You Today (MADE IN USA)

Frank recommends Melvern Taylor, Bob Martin, Eileen Rose, Peter Linnane, The Beat Awfuls, The Drug Rug, Darkbuster, and The Preacher Jack.

Pandora is a leader amid a growing group of web sites and services that look to the user to provide their insight about what kind of music or media we like and then the recommendation engine offers up other artists and music to help expose us to new music. Some others include last.fm, Tagworld, Mercora, and LAUNCHcast.

I had the opportunity to meet with Tim Westergren, Pandora's Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, who has been traveling across the country in recent months meeting with listeners at town hall gatherings. Westergren was in New England for town hall meetings in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. To see if Westergren will be in your neck of the woods, visit blog.pandora.com.

If you’re new to Pandora, it’s free to use and easy to sign up. Visit pandora.com and all you need to divulge is your age, zip code, and an email address. For either Mac or PC users, you’ll also need to have Flash, at least version 7, which can download for free.

Apologies to our listeners outside the US; Pandora currently isn’t able to provide streaming of its service beyond the US due to rights’ licensing, but based on my conversation with Westergren, that may be coming in the future...but if non-US listeners have other similar services they are using, post a comment on them below and tell us your experience.

The roots of Pandora come from the Music Genome Project, which was started in late 1999/early 2000 by Westergren along with a group of other musicians in San Francisco to help listeners discover new music based on their existing tastes.

Analyzing millions of individual songs, Pandora essentially assigns traits to each tracks, choosing from a list of hundreds of characteristics, such as melody, harmony, form, and instrumentation so that someone who likes one song with particular attributes will get some help in discovering other songs in that vein. The listener can tell Pandora if likes each track or not, giving it a thumbs up or down...or you can simple let the service select songs on its own, ultimately taking you off in different directions and offering up music that you either might or might not already know.

Pandora's stream is 128 kilobits per second so the quality of the audio is quite good. It does, also, require a broadband Internet connection. For music fans who want to find out more about more about the service or for artists who want to learn how to submit their work for consideration, visit pandora's faq.

The word Pandora means "all gifted" which can be traced back to ancient Greek mythology, when Pandora received a variety of gifts from the Gods, including the gift of music, from Apollo. She was, so the story goes, a little on the curious side. The company behind Pandora state they want to "celebrate that virtue and have made it our mission to reward the musically curious among us with a never-ending experience of music discovery." And, as I always enjoy busting a myth, take a read through wikipedia to read how it wasn’t actually a box at all...

We recently met in Cambridge, Massachusetts while Westergren was in New England for town halls to discuss:

* what Westergren, the listeners, and the company get from his town hall gatherings.
* some of the other jobs Westergren has held over the years and helped him with creating Pandora
* what percentage of Pandora listeners are buying more music—and how many are buying less.

Photo credit: Rafael Fuchs

If you enjoyed this interview, also give a listen to interviews with Brad Powell of Calabash Music and Dave Kusek of The Future of Music book.

And I also wanted to mention a new format of show that I’ve added to the feed: it’s called the Well-Rounded Radio Mix and is an hour-long mix of "quality music from every genre" featuring independent music in the shape of a mix tape that you might give or get from a friend. Subscribe to our RSS feed to listen to the show and I’m planning on adding these to the feed each month.

Merrie Amsterburg starting making music in the late 80's with The Natives, a band that, interestingly, was both signed to Kiss' Gene Simmons record label and worked with producer Richard Gottehrer on a batch of demos. Unfortunately, neither project saw the light of day and ultimately, in 1994, The Natives went their separate ways.

But Amsterburg didn't give up, choosing the role of a singer/songwriter and creating her own distinctive sound and style as she did so. As with two earlier albums of originals, 1997's Season of Rain and 2000's Little Steps, Amsterburg had a low-key, demur style that lures you into her music and makes you pay attention. A good reminder that a whisper can be more powerful than a scream.

Her new album is "Clementine and Other Stories" and, although it includes many songs that so many of us take for granted and know by heart, it gives some new life to some dusty material. I found myself on the edge of my seat through some, as Amsterburg takes her time revealing and unfolding each piece and telling the stories in a way that makes you listen anew.

Amsterburg's skills go beyond her vocals, too. She plays a number of instruments including trumpet, keyboards, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar, bass, and various percussion instruments. In recent years she's won four ASCAP Popular Music Awards, the Top Female Soloist prize at Boston’s Acoustic Underground series, two Boston Music Awards, a WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll award, and was named Jam Magazine’s Artist of the Year. In recent years, Amsterburg has toured with Paula Cole, Aimee Mann, and Patty Larkin, whom she also backed up on bass, mandolin, and bouzouki on her Red = Luck tour. Amsterburg has also sung at Fenway Park six times.

"Clementine and Other Stories" is rich with American history, and Amsterburg has already performed at some school and educator conferences to help promote these foundational songs. She includes lyrics and background information on the songs on her web site and has created a booklet for educators that can be ordered through there. You can find additional resources on American traditionals at The Contemplator.

A quote from Amsterburg in her press materials say it best: "I hope the record gets people to look at these songs in a different way. They deserve a second look. They’re part of our history and where we come from."

We recently met in my current hometown of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts to discuss:
* what inspired her to take on re-arranging this group of American traditionals
* what were her criteria for selecting the songs she covered on Clementine
* how her washer machine made a cameo appearance on one of her earlier recordings

Songs featured in the Merrie Amsterburg interview include:
1) Wayfaring Stranger (in preview) (Clementine and Other Stories)
2) Clementine (Clementine and Other Stories)
3) All the Pretty Horses (Clementine and Other Stories)
4) Lakes of Pontchartrain (Clementine and Other Stories)
5) Shenandoah (Clementine and Other Stories)
6) Simple Gifts (Clementine and Other Stories)
7) Lucky One (Season of Rain)
8) Design (Little Steps)
9) This Will Never Be My Year (Season of Rain)
10) Little Steps (Little Steps)
11) Down in the Valley (Clementine and Other Stories)

If you enjoyed Merrie Amsterburg's music, please also check out Dan Zanes and Jimmy Ryan.

Photo: Robyn Decina

Merrie recommends Jo Stafford.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends Liveplasma and MetaCritic.

Okay, so here's how the current lineup of The Rudds came to exist. It involves a bit of a who's-who of Boston music and, of course, a bit of name dropping.

John Powhida broke up his band, the Staziaks in Albany, New York and moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 2001.

Soon after, he met Brett Rosenberg at the Kendall Cafe's open mic night. Rosenberg fronts The Brett Rosenberg Problem, which has released five CDs of garage pop to date and a sixth CD (Drop Dead Air) coming in Fall 2006. Rosenberg offered up his lead guitar skills to Powhida if and when there might be a need...

In 2003, Powhida met drummer Nathan Logus of Baby Ray through The Gentlemen's bassist Ed Valauskas.

Tony Goddess, frontman and bassist for the 90's band Papas Fritas, met Powhida in the now-closed Disc Diggers music store in Somerville’s Davis Square. Goddess asked if Powhida wanted to check out his recording studio downstairs. Powhida suggested: why don’t we record a tune?

One song led to another and it evolved into the second Rudd's CD, "Get the Femuline Hang On." Goddess has also worked with a number of artists in recent years, including writing material withGuster and performing with Sunburned Hand of the Man and engineering some of their material. Midway through producing the disc, Powhida invited Goddess to replace their first bassist and Goddess too joined the band.

Powhida met singer Andrea Gillis at Inman Square's Abbey Lounge, a club she books and manages. As a fan of Gillis' music and her solo CD, Want Another?, Powhida invited Gillis to Goddess' studio where she added some soulful harmonies to a track. Instantly, Powhida knew that she also needed to be a Rudd…

Getting frustrated trying to perform the keyboard parts from their debut when playing live, Powhida learned about the multi-instrumentalist Dave Leib through Ray Neades of the band Beefy/DC. With a knack of playing any style of music on the instrument of your choice, Leib completed the current line up.

Get the Femuline Hang On was mixed by legendary production team Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade and features guest performances from Probyn Gregory (of the Brian Wilson band and Wondermints) and and Boston local Bleu on keyboards.

With their second CD taking a slot on the top ten lists in 2005 from critics at The Boston Phoenix, Stuff at Night, and Boston Metro and quotes like "John Powhida is a wizard and very nearly a true star" (from music writer/novelist Brett Milano), things are on the upswing.

Both CDs reflect the many band members tastes and love in rock, soul, blues, and musical theatre. Get the Femuline Hang On, drops musical references and in-the-know mentions that make it a fun listen where it’s clear the band has a sense of humor and aspires to bring back some of the fun to rock music.

And honestly, beyond the great songwriting from Powhida, a lot of the fun of The Rudds is tracing these musical references: a sexy ballad that would fit nicely in Prince’s catalog, a chorus as catchy as any from The Raspberries, power-pop songs with an xylophone (glockenspiel?) flourish influenced from Bruce Springsteen, a guitar lick you could trace back to Boston (the band, that is) or Jefferson Starship, a vocal turn of phrase that could be coming from Ziggy Stardust or Aladdin Sane, a dramatic vocal line that could easily be channeling Frank Zappa…and, curiously, many of them happen to be from the 1970's. It’s as if The Rudds have boiled down the decade and turned into an ensemble featuring the best ideas of that era.

The Rudds, who were named in honor of AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd, are also self-professed fans of Hall + Oates, Prince, Todd Rundgren, Parliament Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone…all of whom you can also hear in their work.

As with the album title (femuline = both feminine + masculine), The Rudds are joining up contradictions and turning it into music that is simply hard to resist.

I recently met with Gillis, Powhida, and Rosenberg on a humid and stormy summer evening (yes, that's an air conditioner you hear whirring in the background) in Somerville, Massachusetts to discuss:

* what musical events influenced them in their lives and turned them toward performing
* how they connected with Bebe Buell and how half of the band are now backing her up live
* what it is about The Figgs, The Neighborhoods, Asa Brebner, Dennis Brennan, The Dents, Michelle Poulos, Etta James, James Hunter, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and The Upper Crust that the band members love so much

Music selects featured in the interview include:
1) The Rudds: Get the Femuline Hang On (Get the Femuline Hang On) (in preview)
2) The Rudds: Stand a Chance (Get the Femuline Hang On)
3) The Staziaks: Oh, Delilah (The Staziaks)
4) The Brett Rosenberg Problem: My Girlfriend's Daughter (Destroyer)
5) Andrea Gillis: Too Late (Want Another?)
6) The Rudds: Oh No! (They're Gonna Make Another One) (Get the Femuline Hang On)
7) The Rudds: Hot Child (Get the Femuline Hang On)
8) The Rudds: Roslindale (Get the Femuline Hang On)
9) The Rudds: Rock and Roll Napoleon (Get the Femuline Hang On)
10) The Rudds: Older Girls (Get the Femuline Hang On)
11) The Rudds: F# / C (Get the Femuline Hang On)

Catch The Rudds live in NYC on September 8th at Cake Shop, September 14th in Provincetown, MA at The Vixen, September 23rd in Portland, ME at The Big Easy, and in Boston on October 28th at TT the Bears.

For more information visit The Rudds, but not The Rudds.

If you enjoyed this interview, also give a listen to the Well-Rounded Radio interview with Bill Janovitz of Crown Victoria and Buffalo Tom or Sarah Borges.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends saving the internet and saving the planet.

What band, album, book, concert, or person changed the course of your musical life? Post a comment and let us and other listeners know!

I first got intrigued about Guy Mendilow from an article in the JP Gazette. I was familiar with his work, but didn't realize that he was a neighbor in my hometown of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. As I began digging deeper into his music, I got more fascinated: a mixture of folk, jazz, rock, overtone singing, and infused with elements of music from around the world, it really did sound like something completely unique.

Truth is, Mendilow is something of an indication of how small our world really has become. A citizen of the Great Britain, Israel, and the United States, he has lived all over the world (due to his father, a musician-turned-professor who was invited to a succession of teaching posts), including South Africa, Israel, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. Mendilow's language skills are also telling: he sings in six tongues and is fluent in four: Hebrew, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

A recent Boston Phoenix article states "Mendilow is no dilettante. He learned the music of these countries by living and working there — so when he sings about a massacre by paramilitaries in Chiapas, he knows what he’s talking about." And The Jewish Advocate writes that “The glory of what [Mendilow] does is finding a common ground among different cultures."

Mendilow's debut, Soar Away Home, was released in 2001 and it's a record Mendilow now sees as being more folk music than anything, but it did hint at musical explorations and a singing style that he has begun to make his own. The debut experimented with overtone singing, also known as throat singing, which is a vocal technique found in Central Asian cultures where one singer produces two pitches simultaneously.

Mendilow also just released his second CD, Guy Mendilow Live, a compilation of recordings from performances in Boston and New Jersey that captures some of the more spontaneous and magical moments that occur when musicians are onstage together. Mendilow's current band includes Daniel Gale (Violin, Cajun accordion, Percussion), Andy Bergman (Electric Mbira, clarinet, Jaw Harp, Flutes, Penny-whistle, Saxophones, Percussion), Shannon Lambert-Ryan (Vocals), and Gregor Harvey (Octave Mandolin, Mandolin, Guitar, Vocals).

Mendilow is also an accomplished musical educator, with classes and workshops based upon the theories of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, a Swiss composer who believed that the human body is the source of all musical ideas. He called his approach to music education Eurhythmics. It means, literally, "good rhythm". Followers of Dalcroze include theatre pioneer Constatin Stanislavski, writer George Bernard Shaw, choreographer Meredith Monk, and singer Annie Lenox, who named her band 1980’s The Eurythmics (with a slightly different spelling) after this approach. Mendilow has presented at workshops, courses, and conferences for adults and children across the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and abroad.

We recently met in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (on a cool and perfect Sunday morning in between near-constant rains and the inevitable New England summer swelter) to discuss:

* how the diverse cultures and sounds that he’s grown up around has mixed into his music
* how he has incorporated the theories of Dalcroze into his music education programs
* where politics comes into play in his work and his lyrics

Mendilow is also on the road this summer, with shows in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylviania, and Wisconsin in July and August.

Music selects featured in the interview include:
1) Experiment (Guy Mendilow Live) (in preview)
2) Awendeje (Guy Mendilow Live)
3) Soar Away Home (Soar Away Home)
4) Blackberry Blossom (Soar Away Home)
5) True Colors (from American Boychoir)
6) The Running Game (Soar Away Home)
7) Raga Darbari-Kanada (from Hasu Patel)
8) Hine Ma Tov (Guy Mendilow Live)
9) La Avot Sheli (Guy Mendilow Live)
10) Carry On (Soar Away Home)
11) Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain (Soar Away Home)
12) Experiment In Tintal For Overtone Singing, Cello And Violin (Soar Away Home)
13) Potters's Wheel (from Josh Ritter with Guy Mendilow)
14) Aemer Ahava La Yam (Guy Mendilow Live)
15) Gesher Tsar Meod (Guy Mendilow Live)
16) Simple Gifts (Guy Mendilow Live)
17) Pura Samine (A Joyous Number with electric mbira, berimbau) (live and unreleased)

Photo by Clark Gainnie

Guy Mendilow recommends the Warsaw Village Band and Ghazal.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends: Selective Service.

Sarah Borges has now won the award for most patient subject I've ever interviewed, as I had numerous technical glitches before we even got started with our conversation (thank you very much, Pro Tools) and she was as gracious and funny about it as one could be.

Borges' debut CD, "Silver City," was released in 2005 by Austin's Blue Corn Music and she's been working her way across the US gaining new fans and wowing critics with her songwriting and live shows. Reviews from both her CD and live shows have helped label her this year's "it" girl and the buzz about her work is so strong that it has spread across the country.

Borges' voice reminds me at times of Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Amy Rigby, Shelby Lynne, and Hope Nicholls of Fetchin' Bones (one of my favorite bands of all-time…I demand a reunion tour!). Borges creates hooks more memorable than most of these folks, though, and "Silver City" is the kind of record that aspires to be played loud in your car as you tool around the town. Her mix of country, blues, soul, and rock has put her in the Americana music camp, mostly because describing her as anything else would sound limiting.

Borges' terrific band, named the Broken Singles since the release of "Silver City," includes Rob Dulaney on drums, Binky on bass, both of whom also perform with Jake Brennan and The Confidence Men. Additional players on Silver City include Mike Castellana on pedal steel, Russell Chudnofsky on lead guitar (with whom Borges performs in his pop opera, Sky Paint), Jimmy Ryan on mandolin (who Well-Rounded Radio interviewed in episode 017), and Steve Malone on pedal steel.

Produced by Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, Uncle Tupelo, Dinosaur Jr., Morphine, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Hole, etc.), "Silver City" is a solid record from start to finish. Borges takes on sultry rockers, back porch country ballads, and soul-filled Her lyrics touch upon tales of romance, human vices, and classic American narratives that feel both like old friends and completely fresh all at once.

Borges also covers two songs on "Silver City:" "I’m Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Songs" by Tommy Dorsey and most known from a version by Mahalia Jackson, and Teenage Fanclub’s "Mellow Doubt." That right there tells you she’s not easy to define...

I recently met with Sarah in Charlestown, Massachusetts to discuss:

* how she made the leap from indie rock to her own blend of Americana
* some of her favorite music and songwriters and how they’ve influenced her in spirit and in action
* how she is approaching the writing of new material for her second CD, to be released in 2007.

And at the end of the interview, the full version of "Belle of the Bar," a song from the "Silver City" sessions that is not on the CD. The band is also on tour through June and July, so catch them if you can.

If you like this interview, give a listen to the Well-Rounded Radio Interviews with Jimmy Ryan and Tarbox Ramblers.

Sarah recommends The New Pornographers, Frank Smith, and CC Adcock.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends Yelp.

Jonathan Kane is one of those people for whom music has been such an integral part of who he is that it probably would be impossible to separate him from it or it from him.

Kane played the role of a drummer and percussionist since the 1970's, but recently took the leap to recording his first solo record with last fall's release of "February" (Table of the Elements Records) and his newest disc, "I Looked at the Sun" (Table of the Elements' new Radium imprint).

As a long-time fan of Swans, I knew Kane had played drums in the band, but didn't know about all the other esteemed musicians that Kane had worked with until after meeting his wife, Holly Anderson, who I had a chance to meet via her collaboration with Clint Conley and consonant for a very early episode of Well-Rounded Radio. Having known Kane's earlier work, I was surprised to learn that his first musical love was actually the blues, and its been a form that he's experimented with over the years.

Finding himself in New York in the mid to late 70s led to meeting Michael Gira and forming Swans, which in turn led to him working with experimental composers such as Rhys Chatham, La Monte Young (and his Forever Bad Blues Band), and guitarist/songwriter Gary Lucas. In the interview, we talk about how each of these musicians contributed to his current approach longer, blues pieces that build upon some of the main tenets of minimalism.

Kane’s musical relationship with Chatham has lasted nearly twenty years and has influenced Kane, so a bit of background on Chatham is in order: Chatham began playing in the New York noise scene in the 1970s and 80s, performing with the likes of Glenn Branca, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, and Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth, Wharton Tiers, Fred Maher, Anton Fier, and artist Robert Longo. His pieces have typically been long in duration and symphonic in nature, even when the instruments are electric guitars or Chinese gongs. Chatham is particularly well-known for his use of 100 guitarists in pieces such as “An Angel Moves Too Fast to See,” which we’ll hear an excerpt of in the interview.

Kane’s new two-song EP (which comes in at about twenty minutes in length) is entitled "I Looked at the Sun," the title track being a cover of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s 1966 song.

But, the truth is much of the music included in this interview is hard to communicate with short snippets, so I have let some go longer so you can really feel how these musicians take the minimalism form and build upon it to great effect.

Though we didn’t discuss it in the interview, Kane is also the son of the famed photographer, Art Kane, known for his work in the 1950s and 60s including "A Great Day in Harlem," Bob Dylan, The Who, and fashion photography You can see more of his work at artkane.com and is well worth taking a stroll through the online gallery if you’re not already familiar with his work.

I recently met with Kane in Jackson Heights, New York to discuss:
* how his experience with Chatham and Young also led to his new solo recordings
* which blues artists he admires most and how they have influenced his playing
* what the connection is between minimalism and the blues

Music selects featured in the interview include:
1) Jonathan Kane: Sis (February) (in preview)
2) Jonathan Kane: Pops (February)
3) Kane Bros. Blues Band: Rocket 88 (Kane Bros. Blues Band)
4) Swans: Right Wrong (Filth)
5) Swans: Big Strong Boss (Filth)
6) Swans: Thank You (Filth)
7) Swans: Stay Here (Filth)
8) Swans: Power for Power (Filth)
9) La Monte Young + Forever Bad Blues Band: Just Stompin' (Live at the Kitchen)
10) Rhys Chatham: An Angel Moves Too Fast To See: Prelude (Compendium)
11) Rhys Chatham: Guitar Trio (Compendium) then fades into Jonathan Kane: Guitar Trio (February)
12) Jonathan Kane: Curl (February)
13) Jonathan Kane: Motherless Child (February)
14) Jonathan Kane: I Looked at the Sun (I Looked at the Sun)
15) Rhys Chatham: An Angel Moves Too Fast To See: Allegro (Compendium)
16) Rhys Chatham: An Angel Moves Too Fast To See: Intro (Compendium)
17) Jonathan Kane: BQE (I Looked at the Sun) (full song)

Photo: Holly Anderson

If you like this interview, give a listen to the Well-Rounded Radio Interviews with Mark Dwinell and Tarbox Ramblers.

Jonathan Kane recommends New Randy, Igor Cubrilovic, David Daniell, Paul Duncan, Clara Venus, Chris Brokaw, ragtime, Yiddish vaudeville + Henry Mancini’s Moon River.

Well-Rounded Radio recommends Planet Records and Sally's Place, Records, Tapes, and CDs at 190 Main Street in Westport Connecticut, 203.454.0303.

Well-Rounded Radio also recommends learning more and taking action about net neutrality. Listen to this recent show on Radio Open Source.

I first learned about Rachael Cantu through Andrea Kremer, a friend who runs the Boston Pop Underground concert series here in Boston, Massachusetts. Rachael sent me a copy of her "Blood Laughs" EP and I was blown away by the songs, the voice, and the intensity of her music.

I kept listening to her CD, and every time a song from it would pop up on my iPod, I'd look to see it was Cantu and think what a distinctive and powerful voice she had for someone so young. I was surprised she was without a record deal given her obvious talents. Well, that didn't last long...

Musically, Cantu is something of a mix of The Pretenders' Chrissy Hynde, PJ Harvey, Sarah McLachlan, and Nora Jones. Much of her music is quietly powerful with lyrics that explore anger, frustration, and a need for freedom and respect.

She counts Bruce Springsteen, Damien Jurado, Iron + Wine, and a host of others as musical inspirations and we also discuss some of the other folks who motivate her to keep working on her own songwriting.

Cantu grew up in Orange County, California and began her career as front woman for the Southern California band Quite Satellite, playing dates in Los Angeles and San Diego and opening for acts such as the Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, and Karate.

Breaking away from the band, Cantu has spent the last few years in Boston, recording songs with Limbeck, Kori Gardner of Mates of State, and Jason Gnewikow of The Promise Ring. She's also befriended Tony Goddess of Papas Fritas and Tegan and Sara and toured with the latter act several times. Goddess and Tegan Quin also both sang on "Run All Night."

Cantu's single, Saturday, has been picked up by a number of college and commercial stations, and it's easy to see why. Unlike a lot of her more moody songs, it's catchy chorus and indignant attitude is sure to bring listeners back for more.

She also graces the Well-Rounded Radio with two exclusive live songs, including Sweat + Bones from the new "Run All Night" CD and Little Bird, an as-yet-unreleased song that Cantu performed for Well-Rounded Radio's listeners.

I recently met with Cantu at the Q Division offices to discuss:
* Who initially inspired her to pick up a guitar and start writing songs
* How she channels some of her emotions into songwriting
* How the song Saturday, an unusually poppy song for her, ended up becoming part of her repertoire

Music featured in the interview from Rachael Cantu includes:
1) My First War (from the CD Run All Night) (in preview)
2) Saturday (Run All Night)
3) Best Wishes (Sound Relief Volume One: From CA to NYC)
4) Hear My Laughter (Run All Night)
5) Summer of Cycling (Blood Laughs)
6) In The City (Blood Laughs)
7) Movie in Spanish (Blood Laughs)
8) Blood Laughs (Blood Laughs + Run All Night)
9) Sweat + Bones (Run All Night)
10) Saturday (Run All Night)
11) Run All Night (Run All Night)
12) I Know You Will (Run All Night)
13) Little Bird (unreleased, live, and exclusive to Well-Rounded Radio)
14) Sweat + Bones (live, exclusive to Well-Rounded Radio)

If you like this interview, give a listen to the Well-Rounded Radio Interviews with Natalie Flanagan and Great Lake Swimmers.

This month, an interview with Hilken Mancini (of the bands Fuzzy and The Count Me Outs) who recently released a new CD in conjunction with Chris Colbourn (of Buffalo Tom) called, simply, Hilken Mancini and Chris Colbourn.

I first became a fan of Buffalo Tom back in 1988 or '89 when my friend and Falling Stairs band mate, John McGrath, picked up their first album during those days when we squandered all our money on vinyl on St. Mark's Place in New York City and we were willing try just about anything...and certainly anything from Boston produced by J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

John made me a tape and I played it to death.

I went on to follow Buffalo Tom as a fan through all their albums on Beggars Banquet Records (1992's "Let Me Come Over," 1993's "Big Red Letter Day," 1995's "Sleepy Eyed" and 1998's "Smitten." The band also released two compilation CDs, including "A Sides" in 2000 and "Besides: A Collection of B-Sides and Rarities" in 2002) and I had a chance to interview singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz for an earlier episode of Well-Rounded Radio. Buffalo Tom also featured bassist/singer Chris Colbourn and drummer Tom Maginnis.

To this day, I still rate "Let Me Come Over" as an all-time favorite album; it's a brilliant work, with each song building upon the last until the record reaches the powerful, final songs.

I was happy, then, to hear that Janovitz's band mate, Chris Colbourn, had paired up with Hilken Mancini of Fuzzy, another favorite Boston band from the 1990s, for a new CD on Kimchee Records called, simply, "Hilken Mancini and Chris Colbourn."

Mancini's band, Fuzzy, released three discs, including "Fuzzy" (1994, Seed Records), "Electric Juices" (1996, Atlantic Records), and "Hurray for Everything," (1998, Catapult Records). They always reminded me of a mix of The Buzzcocks, Lush, and Veruca Salt (whose Stacey Jones played drums on "Electric Juices" and went on to front American Hi-Fi).

Fuzzy consisted of Mancini, Chris Toppin on guitar and vocals, and Winston Braman on bass; Braman played in Come prior to Fuzzy and has played with Clint Conley in consonant since. Fuzzy had two drummers over the years, including David Ryan on the first two releases and Nate Darden on their third. Mancini also fronts the band The Count Me Outs, which Braman also performs in, and they have released one CD of a more raw, garage-centric, rock and roll to date.

Mancini is also well-known as the co-creator (with Maura Jasper) of Punk Rock Aerobics, a regular event in Boston, New York, London, and various touring cities in 2001 thru 2003 for music fans who want to exercise to something with a little more musical edge than your local neighborhood health club. She's also the co-author of a book on Punk Rock Aerobics released by Da Capo Press that can get you started in your corner of the universe if you need to motivate yourself off the couch.

Mancini and Colbourn were both singers in their respective bands (and, ironically, both Buffalo Tom's Janovitz and Fuzzy's Toppin worked together on Janovitz' solo CDs), so this new outing is interesting in that they have both stepped up to the plate as the primary songwriters and singers--and the result is outstanding. The album also includes a guest appearance by guitarist J. Mascis.

Writing songs about relationships and taking stock of one's life at any point along the curve, these are songs and lyrics that feel that both songwriters dug deep into themselves before putting words to paper. They are truthful, revealing lyrics handled in a way that gives you the feeling of peeking inside their mind's thoughts for a moment in a most genuine way. Emotional, yes, but not sappy in the least.

I recently met with Mancini in my current hometown of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts to discuss:

* how they first met and when they decided to start collaborating
* what her years in the rock and roll business and touring the world have taught her
* how the Punk Rock Aerobics sensation got started and what surprised her about the whole thing over the last few years.

Music featured in the interview from "Hilken Mancini and Chris Colbourn" includes:
1) Couple of Weeks (in preview)
2) Wedding Cake
3) I Will Die
4) In My Arms
5) Hannah
6) Life is A Trick
7) Saint Agnes Eve
8) Moonbeams
9) Situations Count!
10) Party Town
11) Clockwise (from The Count Me Outs)
12) Bad, Bad Little Bird

If you like this interview, give a listen to the Well-Rounded Radio Interviews with Bill Janovitz (of Buffalo Tom + Crown Victoria) and Blake Hazard.

The first time I heard Piebald was about four years ago when my wife and I were visiting Seattle and at the house of my friend Marion Seymour. Her sons, Harrison and Hamilton, were doing some web design work with music blaring, and I said, "Who is this? They're good!"

It turned out to be Piebald and it turned out that they were from Boston, or north of it, to be precise. Over the last few years, I have picked up all their past CDs and they just recently released a DVD and B-sides CD called "Killa Bros and Killa Bees" on SideOneDummy Records.

The band is Andrew Bonner on bass and vocals, Luke Garro on drums, Travis Shettel on vocals and guitar, and Aaron Stuart on guitar and vocals. Founded in Andover, Massachusetts by Shettel, Bonner, and Stuart, Piebald made their recording debut while still in high school with the 1995 EP, "Sometimes Friends Fight," and have subsequently released "When Life Hands You Lemons" (1997, Hydra Head Records), "If It Weren't For Venetian Blinds It Would Be Curtains For Us All" (1999, Big Wheel Recreation), "The Rock Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (2000, Big Wheel Recreation) and "We Are The Only Friends We Have" (2002 Big Wheel Recreation). Piebald went into the studio with veteran producer Paul Q. Kolderie (Pixies, Radiohead, Dinosaur Jr.) to record "All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time" (2004, SideOneDummy Records).

Lumped in the emo-core category early on, I'd go out on a limb and say that Piebald has matured in recent years and started to branch out in some unexpected ways. The CD of B-sides further proves this, pointing in some directions that tell me their future could be more akin to Talking Heads, Wilco, and Ben Folds.

I thought about including music from a variety of Piebald's CDs, but decided to focus on their latest release of "Killa Bees" as I think it shows the band's development over the years. Not quite as rockin' as some of their earlier releases (my favorites being "When Life Hands You Lemons" and "We Are the Only Friends We Have"), as a collection the songs stand together great and are a good introduction to the uninitiatied.

After seeing their sold-out, Thanksgiving-weekend, homecoming show at The Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I caught up with Piebald at Stone Hill College in Easton, Massachusetts for a quick interview before their concert there.

But, instead of asking the obvious questions, I thought it would be fun to delve into the classic The Book of Questions and learn some things that their fans might not know about the four members. Happily, they were up for the challenge and the resulting interview is a very entertaining one, where I asked questions such as:

* What is your most treasured memory?
* Would it disturb you much if, upon your death, your body were simply thrown into the woods to rot?
* Which sex do you think has it easier in our culture? Have you ever wished you were of the opposite sex?
* When you tell a story, do you often exaggerate or embellish it? If so, why?

And the questions are all answered in the order of Travis, Luke, Andrew, and Stuart.

Music featured in the interview from "Killa Bees" includes:
1) (in preview) Hard Kid
2) There and Back Again
3) Jula Bell
4) Waste Your Time
5) Waiting on the Rays
6) Anthem of New Boston
7) Ants go Marching
8) Part of Your Body
9) The King
10) Timing is Everything
11) Catch You
12) Cities
13) Song About Sex
14) Put Your Slippers...

If you like this interview, give a listen to the Well-Rounded Radio Interviews with Mission of Burma.