Interviews | No. 171
Emily A. Sprague may be best known as the primary songwriter and vocalist for the band Florist, who have released five albums since 2016. But she also composes and records ambient-adjacent electronic music, primarily using modular synthesizers, and is about to release her fourth instrumental...
Sonny Smith, of Sonny & The Sunsets, has been called a "San Francisco garage rock hero" by Pitchfork and "an institution" by SF Weekly, who asked, "Is there a more iconic San Francisco album?" of Sonny's first with the Sunsets, Tomorrow is Alright....
Ambrose Bye laughingly calls himself a “nepo baby with a laptop.” As the son of internationally-renowned poet Anne Waldman, Bye practically grew up at the Buddhist-inspired school in Boulder, Colorado – now known as Naropa University – where Waldman and Allen Ginsberg started the writing...
Possibly most recognized as the bassist for Lone Justice, the pioneering '80s country rock band, Marvin Etzioni had actually begun as their producer before joining the group and contributing his songs and expertise. He's since gone on to produce a number of artists, including Toad...
I was fortunate to meet Dennis Weinreich several years ago while he was in San Diego, California, visiting his daughter. Looking for a studio to do some work from while away from his home in London, he came by for a tour of my spot (Rarefied Recording). As we chatted, I became enthralled...
Around the time of their 2024 album, Loss of Life, I sat down for a chat with MGMT's co-founders, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, to discuss the recording of the album, all their collaborators, synth solos, and their longtime working relationship with producer/mixer...
As an engineer who mostly works on rock and experimental music, classical recording fascinates me. Seemingly accurate recordings of acoustic instruments feels like one of the more measurable skills in our field, with at least some safe detachment from recording trends. Jennifer Nulsen has...
As a child of Nigerian immigrants, a queer Black person, and a proud advocate for social change, Joy Oladokun has been combating her “constant Little Sister Syndrome” to become a musical force in her adopted home of Nashville, Tennessee. With five studio albums to her name, including 2021’s...
I met Stella Mozgawa a decade or so ago at Panoramic, the studio I co-own, when she played drums on Cate Le Bon's Crab Day LP, produced by Noah Georgeson and Josiah Steinbrick and engineered by Samur Khouja. Over the years, I'd see more of this crew, especially Stella and Cate....
Pete Caigan, the studio manager and chief engineer for a revamped Utopia Studios Bearsville, is a longtime Woodstock-area resident and busy guy. Utopia is a multi-use space that is deal for video/film shoots, live recordings, album sessions, and more. The Lumineers recent album, Automatic...
We recently had a chance to meet up with Johannes Russ, Ableton's Head of ABL Products Unit (Move, Note, and Core Technology), to talk about their new portable music-making tool. Our conversation was held at Different Fur Studios in the Mission in San Francisco a few days in advance...
For over four decades, David Lowery has been an innovator and thought leader in the music business. As musician, he's the founder and leader of both indie rock legends Camper Van Beethoven and the successful band Cracker. He's also a writer, producer, studio owner, educator, and...
