Alexandria Hall, a musician and poet, has been performing under the name Tooth Ache for over seven years. We featured music from her 2013 album, “Flash & Yearn," in last week's episode with Charlotte Cook. In this episode, Alexandria talks about growing up in Vermont, where inspiration comes from, lessons she has learned from the music industry and how being outside of your comfort zone spurs creativity.
music
25.5 The Daddyo's: She Does Music /
MUSIC FEATURED IN EPISODE 25
Curated by Sarah Ginsburg
Kylie Slabby and Kylie Hastings met on the first day of 6th grade, became best friends, and started making music together in their bedrooms because their parents wouldn’t let them go to the movies on Friday nights like all the other kids did. Along with drummer and guitarist Allen Martin, they became The Daddyo’s, a lo-fi, dream pop, grunge band based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. No matter the genre of their music or weight of their songs, The Daddyo’s will transports you to a very specific time in life. And even if your teenage years and early twenties are nothing like theirs, somehow, you can still fall into their world.
LINKS:
LISTEN: The Daddyo's Bandcamp & Soundcloud, Kylie Slabby's other band Who and The Fucks Bandcamp, Kylie Slabby's solo project Ramona & The Phantoms Soundcloud
WATCH: "Crop Top"
23.5 Julianna Barwick: She Does Music /
MUSIC FEATURED IN EPISODE 23
Curated by Elaine Sheldon
Julianna Barwick's truly unique music is built around multiple loops and layers of her voice. Her experimental songs feel spontaneous, sometimes meandering, and always emotional. Julianna has lived in NYC for over 14 years, but she was born and raised in the South--in Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma. She grew up singing in choirs at church and school, which has clearly had a lasting influence on her work. 2015 was an exciting year for her; she's finishing up her next album, she played with the Flaming Lips and Philip Glass at Carnegie Hall, and toured in Japan.
In this episode, we talk about how her work has changed over the years, the collaborations she has worked on, what it's like to play piano for Yoko Ono, and why it's important to teach yourself new skills and be nice to people.
Julianna was the musicmaker from last week’s episode with Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli.
22.5 Stag Hare: She Does Music /
MUSIC FEATURED IN EPISODE 22
Curated by Sarah Ginsburg
Living in Boston where I mostly walk, bike, and take the train, I don’t often get to scan through the radio in a car like I would when I zipped around the suburbs back in high school. But a few months ago, I found myself enjoying a car-driving, radio-listening experience. I stopped the radio from scanning stations and settled into an unfamiliar but uplifting track that was hard to ignore. Warm, locomotive synth tones filled the car, rising and falling to different levels of intensity. The 12 minute long track is called Grays (Doom and Gloom Mantra) and it’s from Stag Hare’s 2014 album titled Angel Tech. This song, much like the rest of Stag Hare’s music, made me feel alive and present in each moment as they happened. The maker behind Salt Lake City based Stag Hare is Zara Asha Moonbeam Biggs-Garrick, a kind and thoughtful soul that I had the pleasure of speaking with. Listen to our conversation and enjoy her music as it soundtracks Episode 22 with Andrea Sisson.
LINKS:
Read: TOME TO THE WEATHER MACHINE on Stag Hare, Sputnik Music Review
Listen: Bandcamp, Soundcloud
Connect: Website, Facebook, Instagram
NEW PROJECT BY STAG HARE: TAPESTRY
On November 11th, Stag Hare released Tapestry, a collection of 16 tracks commissioned by individuals and recorded under the inspiration and direction of each patron between December 2014 and July 2015. Released by Inner Islands as a box set of 4 cassette tapes clocking in at 4 hours total, Tapestry is a project inspired by the history of art patronage. Purchase Tapestry!
19.5 Jenny Tuite: She Does Music /
MUSIC FEATURED IN EPISODE 19
Curated by Elaine Sheldon
This She Does Music episode features the blue-haired, badass guitarist, Jenny Tuite, from Dirty Dishes and Cloud Cover. We soundtracked Ep. 19 with Stacy Kranitz with Dirty Dishes' full album, Guilty, but this episode introduces you to some of her other work. Dirty Dishes is known for their well crafted and gritty rock songs. They've been called "the best kept secret of alternative rock." The shoegazey pair is made up of Jenny on vocals and guitar; and Alex Molini on synth and bass. She also has her own band, called Cloud Cover. It's lo-fi/bedroom pop, much more minimal than Dirty Dishes. Listen, learn and love.
18.5 Anna and Elizabeth: She Does Music /
Music Featured in Episode 18
Curated by Sarah Ginsburg
You don’t often come across a musical duo like Anna & Elizabeth, or at least I haven’t. When they met in 2011, they each brought a pretty obscure knack to the table besides their musical skills. Elizabeth was interested in old time musicians, ballad singers from the past. Anna, also drawn to the old, made Crankies, which are panoramic, mural-like scenes that unwind between two rollers and are accompanied by an oral story.
Together, Anna & Elizabeth revive songs and stories that might otherwise go unheard. It’s folk music from the mountains rich with banjo and fiddle, traditional hymns and lullabies never recorded, all found in archives and then discussed with historians and relatives who share what they know of these long-gone greats.
Anna & Elizabeth honor the originals but bring their own and it was a magical feeling when Elaine and I realized how perfect their music fit with our 18th guest, Kalyanee Mam’s narrative. All three of these women see the value in keeping heritage alive by unearthing stories and retelling them in a contemporary, relevant way. It’s a beautiful thing when melodies from old Appalachia heighten and even become a part of a story from so far away, from Cambodia. It’s that common thread of ‘home’ that brings it all together, and we hope you feel its power as we did in working with the voices of these women.
INTERACT: A&E on Twitter and on tour
LISTEN: Their latest album
READ: VICE Noisey, Huffington Post
WATCH: NPR's Tiny Desk performance
Q&A
How are you two different and alike?
Anna: "If I were to describe Elizabeth, I would say she is way more inward. I would be more likely to just babble to a stranger and she would be more likely to listen. You have to be a lifer to really get to know her. Maybe when I'm 35 I will get to the next level of LaPrelle. Elizabeth's energy helps ground our project, and also the energy that comes with where she lives (rural Virginia). Because when you're making music in a city, you see the rat race around you, you see this desire to get ahead or have more people know about your band...there's this energy toward quantity. There's a slowness in the way that Elizabeth approaches things. This depth that I think grounds our work together." Elizabeth: "To frame it the same way, I feel like maybe when I'm 35 I will have accomplished some of what Anna has. She is certainly the more ambitious of us two in an outreaching way. I value that alot."
Is it fair to say you two share a value system?
Anna: "Yes. I trust this project to always want to have a mission. I can't say that of some of my musical peers. For me, that's the most important thing about any project is that it have a goal beyond notes and recognition. We are always trying to dig for deep meaning and purpose in being a traveling band and storytelling project. There's no one else that I share the same sensibility and set of ethics about that. That's really special and rare."
How important is trust and building relationships with the sources of inspiration for your music?
Anna: "It's a really important process because we're singing the songs of someone else's family and so that is something that we take really seriously." Elizabeth: "It's amazing what they want people to know about their family members. They're like, 'make sure people know that they were a really caring grandma. I want people to know how she would make food for us after school. Tell them that.' If people can walk away from our show with the idea of someone like that in-mind and the idea that people can pass art to each and that it would be this loving and nourishing thing that's what we're after.