What Is This Music?!

Episode 15: Mariana Timony - On the Scene

Mariana Timony is a music journalist, senior editor at the Bandcamp Daily, and author of the Weird Girls Post newsletter. She joins me to talk about the joys and pains of being part of a music scene, criticizing music criticism, a nuanced perspective on the Burger Records scandal, how selling out is still a bad thing, the prevalence of playlists as a big tech psy-op, and more.

Check out Mariana's playlist of related music on BNDCMPR, a new playlist platform for Bandcamp. 

Episode 14: Murray A. Lightburn - Slices of the Pie Chart

Murray Lightburn is best known as the singer and leader of longtime Montreal rock stalwarts The Dears, and is also a solo performer, producer and composer. He joins me to talk about his favourite music (Motown, jazz, classical, and an unexpected major influence), balancing his love of music and his frustrations with the music business, as well as The Smiths, one of my least understood bands and (according to Murray) one of his most misunderstood influences.

Check out Murray's Spotify playlist of the music discussed on this episode, plus a few extra faves.

 

Photo of Murray by Howard Bilerman

Episode 13: Taylor Savvy - Nerds Unite

What do Rush, Korean boy band sensation BTS, and the Anthology of American Folk Music have in common? They all inspire obsessive devotion from their fans—including Taylor Savvy, Berlin-based Canadian musician and this week's guest. We get under the hood of the mentality of fandom and why certain people (such as ourselves) get so obsessive about music. 

Check out Savvy's Spotify playlist of related music and his personal faves.

Episode 12: Julie Blake - Licence to Thrill

Julie Blake works in publishing at the Erased Tapes record label in London, licensing music to films and other projects. She joins me to talk about her background as an up-and-coming teen rocker and CD store manager, the preponderance of music business figures from Kitchener, Ontario, co-founding publishing house Third Side Music, the pros and cons of Spotify, the emotional resonance of certain sounds, her unabashed appreciation of Coldplay and Cirque du Soleil, and much more.

Check out Julie's Spotify playlist for the episode.

Photo of Julie by Claudia Göedke

 

Episode 11: DJ Stashu - An Innocent Rage

DJ Stashu is the host of Dance With Me, Stanley (on legendary free-form radio station WFMU), a show dedicated to the joys of polka and other musical delights. She joins me to talk about her discovery and love of polka, giving music respect, curation as an act of kindness, novelty music, Dr. Demento, Gordon Thomas, the role WFMU has played in both our lives, and more.

Check out Stashu's Spotify playlist of polka and related music.

 

Episode 10: Michelle Ayoub - Al Time High

Michelle Ayoub is known in the Montreal music community as a production worker behind the scenes, as well as co-owner of rock bar Turbo Haüs. She's also notable as a massive fan of "Weird Al" Yankovic, and joins me in a detailed discussion of Al's appeal and the mystery of his person and persona, with digressions on Michelle's emergence in the music biz as a young teen, her friendship with GWAR's Oderus Urungus, and more.

Check out Michelle's Spotify playlist of Weird Al essentials here.

 

Episode 9: Sarah Feldman - Rethinking Music Education Sounds Good

Sarah Feldman is a Vancouver-based musician and composer, as well as the host of the Sounds Good Channel on YouTube, a biweekly series of music education videos. She joins me to talk about the hangups of the classical music world, the value of music theory, making music education more welcoming, formalism vs. symbolism, and more.

Enjoy Sarah's Spotify playlist of music we discussed on the show and/or featured on Sounds Good episodes.

Check out Sarah's own music on Bandcamp.

 

 

Episode 8: Natasha Pickowicz - Food for Thought

Natasha Pickowicz is a pastry chef based in NYC, but before that she was a DIY promoter and enthusiast of the avant-garde music scene in Portland, Ithaca and Montreal. She joins me to talk about her  appreciation of free jazz and noise music, along with our shared history at Montreal's convenience store/diner Dépanneur Le Pick Up, the death of the alt-weekly paper, her current project, and the connections between food, music and community.

Check out Natasha's Spotify playlist of related music.

Photo: Georgia Hilmer

 

Episode 7: Jesse Staniforth - Punker's Progress

Montreal writer Jesse Staniforth, with his reflections on punk music, politics and culture, is one of the inspirations for this podcast. He joins me to describe how he got into punk, what it means to him, neurochemical reactions to music, the pros and cons of punk politics, oppositional-defiant disorder, how harsh music can be inspiring, and much more.

Check out Jesse's playlist of music we discussed.

Enjoy the episode, and see you in 2021!

 

Episode 6: Daiquiri (Mike Hickey and Leigh Newton) - Bungle Fever

Mike "Major Entertainer" Hickey and Leigh Newton's many musical projects have included their synth metal duo Daiquiri, who among other things did a notorious (if only to ourselves) US tour with me back in 2004. Here we discuss many topics, including but very much not limited to the nominal subject of the episode: their love of one of my most disliked bands, conceptual circus-metal provocateurs Mr. Bungle.

Also check out Leigh's Spotify playlist of related music.