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Talkhouse

Danko Jones has been leading his eponymously named band through the rock and roll trenches since 1996. With nine albums under his band’s belt, he’s sung on every continent in the world except Antartica. His first book I’ve Got Something To Say was released in 2018 and his first vocal noise album Throat Funeral &#8211; OU812112 just came out this past September 2020. While in lockdown, he works on his weekly podcast The Danko Jones Podcast which he’s been doing since 2011 and listens to Judas Priest.
(Photo Credit: Linda Akerberg)

Danko Jones

Music

Danko Jones on Eddie Van Halen’s Hidden Musical Desires

<div>Repo Fam is the new musical project of Baltimore singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Michelle Peña.</div>
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<div>Repo Fam isn’t Michelle’s first musical endeavor. She helped form the short-lived indie-pop trio Esmond and spent two years playing wild and urgent keyboards for the radical Washington, D.C. punk band Foul Swoops. After stints in groups led by other people, Michelle felt it was time she took the lead and forge her own musical path.</div>
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<div>Assisted by Sean Connell (Foul Swoops) on drums and bass, and recorded by John Howard (Nice Breeze, The Plums), the songs on Repo Fam’s self-titled debut jump from subtle to direct and from introspective to urgent without hesitation. The cigarette ash and tricky guitar bits driving through the album signal an above-the-noise writer aiming to knock the pedestal gargoyles back to Earth. Packed in a black bubblegum pop house, these eight songs transcend the basement scene and shake loose the foundations of discotheques across the land. Take a tape and bop around a new block.</div>

Repo Fam

Introducing: Repo Fam’s “Psycho Bombs”

In 2015, Oakland-based group Thao &amp; The Get Down Stay Down was invited to perform in Vietnam by the Hanoi US Embassy, as part of a celebration commemorating the 20th anniversary of normalization of relations between the two countries. It was also bandleader Thao Nguyen’s first visit to her homeland. Accompanied by her mom, who had not been to Vietnam in 43 years since fleeing the war, this trip laid the groundwork for the band’s most recent, critically acclaimed album, <a href="https://dominorecordco.cmail20.com/t/d-l-cttklyk-ykdthklrtk-o/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Temple</a>. Nobody Dies, a 2017 film directed by Todd Krolczyk, documents that trip. “A profound short documentary that lays bare the bittersweet joy of returning to a homeland tarnished by personal and political loss” per KQED, it was initially broadcast on PBS in partnership with the Center For Asian American Media.

Thao Nguyen

Thao Nguyen Embraces Her Cultural Heritage and Her Queer Identity After the Fact and Right On Time

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

Podcast

Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) Talks with Dan Snaith (Caribou) on the Talkhouse Podcast

Since 2015’s GUYD The Phoenix Foundation have been writing, recording, touring with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, creating the acclaimed soundtrack for Hunt For The Wilderpeople, building shrines to light, creating scores for VR, producing other artists and baking sourdough. Now they are ready to release some more music into the swirling oblivion that is 2020.

The Phoenix Foundation

Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) Talks Music and Comedy with Phoenix Foundation

Melody Caudill is a 16 year old singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. Coming from a musical family, and learning how to play piano at the ripe age of four, she’s been immersed in the creative world of songwriting since before she was in kindergarten. After picking up the ukulele at 13, learning guitar became the natural next step. With inspirations from artists like Priscilla Ahn, Phoebe Bridgers, and Elliott Smith, Caudill writes with a certain sense of vulnerability and confidence. At 13, she recorded and released her first EP, Thirteen . Thirteen chronicles the life of a pre-teen navigating new life changes. Now 16, Melody has written her second EP, Teachers Pet. Teachers Pet captures the essence of what it’s like to be in high school dealing with issues of self-confidence and finding a sense of belonging. However, Melody isn’t to be boiled down to another angst-driven teen. Her songwriting touches the core of the emotional turmoil we all go through. Whether that’s feeling smaller than your peers or being afraid to show your true self, there are just some inner-struggles we never grow out of.  &#8220;Teacher&#8217;s Pet&#8221; is out now on Lauren Records, along with a brand new single, &#8220;Mosquito Bites (Acoustic).&#8221;
(Photo Credit: Holly Gable)

Melody

The Way Forward: Melody Caudill

Eric D. Johnson records and performs as the Fruit Bats. His latest album under the name is Gold Past Life. In 2020, he started the supergroup Bonny Light Horseman with Anais Mitchell and Josh Kaufman, and their self-titled debut was nominated for two Grammy Awards.
(Photo Credit: Annie Beedy)

Fruit Bats

Two Erics, in Conversation: Blitzen Trapper’s Earley and Fruit Bats’ Johnson

Life On Planets is the solo project of singer/guitarist Phill Celeste. Melding soul, R&amp;B, and house in his original productions; the artist’s eclectic sound took him from the streets of Baltimore to cities the world over. Join Phill as he weaves live performance with electronics to spread messages of truth, love and consciousness across dance floors. Life On Planets’ latest release is a collaborative EP with Taylor Bense called Glowstick.

Life On Planets

Three Great Things: Life On Planets

Burr Oak is the new project of Chicago-based singer-songwriter Savanna Dickhut who merges together brutally honest, story-driven lyrics with raw, dreamy vocals. Breaking away from her duo-fronted band Elk Walking, Burr Oak is Dickhut’s first-ever venture as a solo artist.
With just two singles out this past year, The Chicago Tribune wrote her songs “show the promise of a songwriter sure of her voice and sound, one that is piercing and deeply relatable and authentic.” To put it simply, Burr Oak resonates by bridging voice with story.
Before the stay-at-home order, Burr Oak played the annual Chicago winter festival Tomorrow Never Knows (they opened for Twain and Buck Meek of Big Thief) and Savanna performed a solo set for Panache Booking&#8217;s &#8220;Village of Love&#8221; Planned Parenthood benefit concert this past Valentine&#8217;s Day.
(Photo Credit: Carl Solether)

Burr Oak

Introducing: Burr Oak’s “Trying”

STRFKR’s sound has morphed over the years through variations of hyper catchy, danceable pop, but this is something very different. For a little shy of an hour, Ambient 1 drifts through softly glowing electronic instrumentals that extract the synth core from the group’s well established synth pop sound. The inspirations for Ambient 1 were as amorphous as the album itself. Upon completing work on the lo-fi dreaminess of the band’s recent Future Past Life, STRFKR’s principal songwriter Josh Hodges found himself returning repeatedly to albums by his favorite ambient artists and minimal composers.
(Photo Credit: Coco Foto)