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Talkhouse

Alejandro Aranda’s influences and eclectic musical palette includes everything from Frank Zappa to The Deftones, and Nick Cave to classical masters such as Chopin. Aranda is self-taught guitar and piano player, developing his unforgettably distinct style over the past few years.  As he expanded his guitar skills, Aranda taught himself music production and began exploring his vocal talents. By the time he was 22, Aranda had begun busking all around LA County and playing backyard parties where the name Scarypoolparty emerged. His latest album, Doom Hologram, came out in September of 2020.
(Photo Credit: Bex Griffin)

Scarypoolparty

Music

Three Great Things: Scarypoolparty

Perry Farrell is the legendary founder of both the alt-rock powerhouse Jane’s Addiction and the festival behemoth Lollapalooza, both of which are still active to this day. Farrell has also ventured into other musical projects over the years, including Porno For Pyros and Satellite Party, and in 2019, he released Kind Heaven, an album meant to start something larger than just a band. He’s also an activist, raising money and awareness for great causes the world over.
(Photo Credit: MEENO)

Perry Farrell

Perry Farrell Remembers Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Legacy

The inception of Wax Chattels occurred rather rapidly. Several years after completing jazz school together, Peter Ruddell and Amanda Cheng reconnected at a Preoccupations show in 2016 at Auckland’s legendary Kings Arms Tavern. The pair quickly decided that they wanted to create some noise together, and wrote a few demos before enlisting drummer Tom Leggett. It wasn’t long before Wax Chattels were up and positively running, becoming a fixture at local haunts and dive bars with their punishingly abrasive, yet polished, live set.
The band were a week shy of embarking on their 2017 DIY tour of Japan, China and Taiwan when they played a set at Auckland’s independent festival The Others Way. Captured Tracks founder, Mike Sniper, happened to be in the room for just two songs of Wax Chattels’ set, before he had to rush off to another venue. As it turns out, those two songs were proof enough for Mike Sniper and Ben Howe to co-sign Wax Chattels to Captured Tracks and Flying Nun Records on the spot. The band played an unscheduled set at an industry showcase the following night, which allowed Mike to fully comprehend what he’d got himself into. As the band have since said, “We want to play shows that make people feel uncomfortable. The goal is to leave the audience feeling slightly altered, like they have experienced — not just heard or seen — something.”
It is universally agreed that Wax Chattels are a must-see live act and their eponymous debut album captured this perfectly. Their hypnotically sinister debut was released in May 2018 and was supported by six months of relentless touring: a NZ tour, two tours of Australia, a stint in the UK and two major North American tours. The album reached #7 on the Official New Zealand Album Charts, and album release week saw the title feature as #1 in Rough Trade’s ‘Top 20 New Releases’ and AV Club’s “most anticipated album”. The album’s success at home and abroad led to the well-deserved nomination of Best Alternative Artist at the 2018 New Zealand Music Awards, as well as the band’s inclusion in the coveted shortlist of finalists for the Taite Music Prize and Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award. After a knock-out debut, the anticipation that surrounds their sophomore album, Clot, is immense.

Wax Chattels

The Way Forward: Wax Chattels

Hear First: Hanging Tree Guitars

Your favorite musicians, filmmakers, and other creative minds one-on-one. No moderator, no script, no typical questions. The Talkhouse Podcast offers unique insights into creative work from all genres and generations. <a href="https://pod.link/Talkhouse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Subscribe now</a>, and explore more illuminating shows on the <a href="https://talkhouse.com/category/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Talkhouse Podcast Network.</a>

Talkhouse Podcast

Alicia Bognanno is the front-woman of the Nashville-based band Bully. Their most recent album, Losing, was released in 2017 via Sub Pop.
(Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen)

Alicia Bognanno

Bob Mould is an American singer-songwriter, DJ, producer, and the author of an autobigraphy, <a href="http://http//www.amazon.com/See-Little-Light-Trail-Melody/dp/B009WHP5PW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1366903168&amp;sr=1-1">See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody</a> (Little, Brown, 2011). He has slept on more floors than he can remember. He has flown in Lear jets producing live TV pro wrestling. He has performed in halls across the world: Carnegie, Royal Albert, Disney, and dozens of VFW. Mould is currently living vehicle-free in San Francisco.

Bob Mould

Podcast

Bob Mould Talks with Alicia Bognanno (Bully) on the Talkhouse Podcast

It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a child, so why not let everyone in to help raise Okey Dokey? Their third studio album Once Upon One Time does just that by allowing anyone to send in audio that is featured throughout the record, using submitted videos as promo, adding a third member (Jeremy Clark) and for the first time ever allowing other bands to decide the overall sound of the new album by having six different mixers from six different bands. Once Upon Once Time features behind-the-boards contributions from Dave Harrington (Darkside), Grizzly Bear‘s Chris Taylor, and members of My Morning Jacket and the Shins. The new album finds Johny Fisher and Aaron Martin expanding their swinging rock music to encapsulate cosmic orchestral pop, squishy funk, swelling folk rock, and everything in between — shattering any boundaries they’d previously set for themselves.

Okey Dokey

Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) Talks With Okey Dokey About Not Exactly Producing Their New Music

Sonny Falls is the songwriting project of Chicago DIY veteran Ryan “Hoagie Wesley” Ensley. Hoagie’s writing gives voice to a depleted notion of modern Americana saturated by fortuneless upbringing, tragic devotion, and the untold losses of the opioid epidemic. These themes recur honestly and without pretension in his writing; erected as dark windows into the soul of songs that nonetheless break glass to let the sunshine in. With a graceful balance of honest guitar rock and soulful self-expression, Sonny Falls is a special kind of timeless indie rock.
(Photo Credit: Emma Bilyeu)

Sonny Falls

Introducing: Sonny Falls’ “Plasma Kids”

Famous Letter Writer is the project of award-winning writer and lyricist M.I. Devine and multi-instrumentalist Ru Devine. Their first album, WARHOLA, is out November 11 on Big Deep Records. M.I.&#8217;s book of essays, Warhol&#8217;s Mother&#8217;s Pantry, gets published by Mad Creek Books on November 9, 2020.

Famous Letter Writer

Introducing: Famous Letter Writer’s “Warhol/Warhola”

Kath Bloom is a Connecticut-based folk songwriter. Her latest album, Bye Bye These Are The Days, is out now via Dear Life Records.

Kath Bloom

Kath Bloom and Josephine Foster on Playing Music on Their Own Terms

Talkhouse Weekend Playlist: Songs for Interstellar Space

Cults were deep into recording their new album, Host, when singer/multi-instrumentalist Madeline Follin let a secret slip.
“In the past, I’d never brought my own music to the table because I was just too shy,” says Follin, “but at some point during the sessions, I mentioned that I’d been writing some songs on the side, and our producer, Shane Stoneback, asked me to share them.”
“When Shane and I heard what Madeline had written, we couldn’t believe it,” says multi-instrumentalist Brian Oblivion. “The music just floored us.”
What followed was a reimagining of their sound and dynamic. Written collaboratively and recorded with live instruments, the collection marks the start of a bold new chapter. The songs are deceptively charming, with lush, airy arrangements that belie their dark, weighty lyrics, with rich multifaceted production to match, blending retro &amp; futuristic palettes into a spellbinding swirl of high-def indie rock &amp; lo-fi bedroom pop.
Host is an exploration of the sinister dynamics at play in a parasitic relationship and charting a cathartic journey towards freedom and self-reliance, reveling in the power that comes from standing your ground and declaring independence in the face of exploitation and manipulation.
“Each song on this album feels like it represents a different step in the process of breaking free from whatever’s draining you,” says Follin. “Only once you’ve done that are you really in a position to accept something new and healthy into your life.
(Photo Credit: Maxwell Kamins)

Cults

The Way Forward: Cults

Barry Johnson is the lead vocalist and guitarist of Joyce Manor.
(Photo Credit: Allie Hanlon)