Ani DiFranco

Interviews

Phill Brown

Interviews

The Blasting Room

Interviews

Fugazi: Brendan Canty and Guy Picciotto Talk Recording

Interviews

Howe Gelb

Interviews

Stillness Studios

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JULY 4, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Cassette Corner

Cassette Corner: Jeff Sellars of The Unseen

The Unseen is a three-piece band that has split its time between my hometown of Eureka, CA, and Portland, OR. Their sound is largely influenced by sixties pop, notably Beatles, Beach Boys, and Booker T. and the MGs. There's also a huge Elvis Costello component to their sound, as well as a little Van Morrison. A few years back in Rolling Stone, the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl described them as "a cover band of 17-year-old kids who dressed like the Jam and could play any song you asked for." Well, the members of The Unseen are no longer 17, and they never were strictly a cover band. But provided they've heard it, and they've heard lots, they can play any song you ask for. The Unseen has just released their second album Worldview, which shows that they have undergone considerable growth since their first release Thinking of Thoughts. Worldview makes a solid case for the benefit of recording an album in your own home rather than being a slave to the clock and the budget in a "professional" studio. This of course is provided that someone in the band has the engineering skills, ears, and talent to pull it off. Here's what Unseen singer / main songwriter / guitarist had to say about the making of Worldview, recording school versus learning on your own, and a few other things.

JULY 4, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse: creating great music at home

On a farm somewhere in Richmond, Virginia, next to the house in an adjacent annex, Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse) is wiring up his 16 track studio. He has released two records on Capitol, vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot in 1985, and the long anticipated Good Morning Spider in February of 1999. Most tracks on the first record were recorded at Sound of Music (David Lowery's studio) and others were done by Mark at Static King, his home studio. The recordings are very inspired, utilizing unconventional vocal sounds, manipulated drums, and sound samples while maintaining a cohesive feel that contains a mix of creative pop and more sparse, beautiful slower songs. On Good Morning Spider, Mark decided to record it all himself and invested a couple of Tascam D88's, among other gear. I called him while he was still setting up his studio at a recently inhabited farm. We talked for about an hour and when I was transcribing the interview, I realized that his demeanor was very important to what he had to say and how it should be interpreted. So please, if you will, insert a soft spoken, very humble voice with a sweet southern drawl to get a bit closer to what actually transpired.

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