Arlo Parks is an incredible 20-year-old singer-songwriter, musician, and poet. She joined us for a conversation and an exclusive performance for Morning Becomes Eclectic. Hosted by Novena Carmel and co-produced with Anthony Valadez.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Genevieve Artadi is most widely known as one-half of KNOWER, the avant-pop duo she formed with musical polymath Louis Cole in 2009. Prior to meeting Cole, she graduated with a degree in Jazz Studies from CalStateNorthridge and continued her studies at CSU Long Beach. In keeping with KNOWER’s borderless approach, the group has performed with Sweden’s Norrbotten Big Band and opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers; collaborated with Pomplamoose and Snarky Puppy; and helmed an ever-changing live incarnation of the band. Recently, Artadi released a dazzling full-length solo album, “Dizzy Strange Summer.”
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Gabe Goodman is a relative newcomer to LA, having narrowly avoided another Eastern winter after decamping from New York in late 2020. But his blend of pristine pop and sunny melancholy is a perfect fit for California winters. His latest EP, “New Things,” was recorded back east, but Goodman is feeling right at home here, despite the strangeness of pandemic times. Goodman was a co-founder of Future Teens with Daniel Radin, in addition to his tenure in Boston-area bands like Magic Man and Photocomfort. Prior to his relocation, he also co-produced “Giver Taker,” the debut album by Boston’s Anjimile
The legendary Tom Schnabel returns to MBE for a special guest birthday set with new hosts Novena Carmel and Anthony Valadez. Co-produced with Ariana Morgenstern, Novena Carmel, and Anthony Valadez.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Few vocalists have earned the honor to be proclaimed “the Grace Jones of jazz,” but Lady Blackbird is not your average interpreter. She made a bold debut last year with her slow-burning version of Nina Simone’s “Blackbird.” Her second single, “Beware the Stranger,” was a similarly intense reworking of “Wanted Dead or Alive,” the rare groove classic popularized by the Voices of East Harlem. And in October, she released a gorgeously melancholy take on the James Gang’s “Collage.” She releases her full-length debut, “Black Acid Soul,” this spring.
A compilation of deeply personal acoustic home recordings made from ages 19-21 during my tenure at Boston University, contemporaneous with the ideation of Science Park.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. With a resume that ranges from Talib Kweli to Paul McCartney, L.A.-based drummer Karriem Riggins has assembled his kit in a borderless zone that encompasses modern jazz, hip-hop, classic singer-songwriters, and whatever else tickles his fancy. Riggins studied with legendary bassist Roy Brown and quickly became the go-to rhythmatist for Ron Carter, Donald Byrd, Oscar Peterson, and other jazz icons. Honoring his own upbringing among the nascent rap and hip-hop scenes, Riggins became an in-demand beatmaker for Common, J Dilla, and Erykah Badu, among others. His expansive credits also include Elvis Costello and the Roots, Kaytranada, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and Esperanza Spalding. In late 2020, he released “Pardon My French,” a long-mooted collaboration with Madlib, as The Jahari Massamba Unit.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Pasadena’s Qur’an Shaheed was born into musical greatness: her father Nolan Shaheed is a trumpeter and cornetist who has recorded with Earth, Wind & Fire, and Buddy Collette, while her mother Sharon is a jazz pianist. But Qur’an’s musical resume is formidable in its own right: she’s collaborated with Jimetta Rose, Ktown Oddity, and the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra (alongside her father). She recorded her debut EP, 2020’s “Process,” in collaboration with LA underground stalwarts Human Error Club and Black Nile.
Released the December 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Compton native Channel Tres (Sheldon Young) may be in the midst of a stratospheric rise, with a string of acclaimed singles culminating in an endorsement by none other than Elton John. But his newfound acclaim has been long in the making: he played drums in the church band and deepened his musical education in college, returning to LA to write and produce for artists including Wale, DUCKWRTH, and August 08. Like all musicians in 2020, Tres has been working away in solitude under quarantine, but on his new mixtape, “i can’t go outside,” he leans even further into the concept than most.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Machinedrum is the primary production and recording vehicle of Travis Stewart, a musical polymath whose career spans more than two decades and over a dozen full-length releases. Taking up the Machinedrum name in 2001, his first critical breakthrough arrived with 2009’s album, “Want To 1 2?” His 2011 album “Room(s),” for the Planet Mu imprint, met with similar acclaim. He went on to form successful collaborations with Praveen Sharma (Sepalcure) and Jimmy Edgar (JETS). As Machinedrum’s own stock continued to rise, Stewart sat in the producer’s chair for artists including Dawn Richard, Theophilus London, Azealia Banks, Rochelle Jordan, and Logic. Similarly in-demand as a remixer, his clientele includes Kelis, Solange, SBTRKT, Bonobo, and DJ Shadow. Now headquartered in Thousand Oaks, his latest album, “A View Of U,” was released in October 2020.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. With more than a dozen solo and collaborative projects to his name, Leimert Park’s Open Mike Eagle has spent his career redefining and expanding the parameters of “art rap,” the term he coined as a shorthand for leftfield and avant-garde rap music. He spent the 2010s finding comedy in rap music and American nightmares. On albums like ”Brick Body Kids Still Daydream” and ”Dark Comedy,” he delivered hilarious socio-political insights via half-sung verses laid atop progressive production. More recently, he’s made a shift toward examining trauma: his own and his community’s. And on his brilliant new album, “Anime, Trauma, and Divorce,” he probes the darkness of his past and searches for lights to guide him forward.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Nearly a decade into her career, MC/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Lyric Jones is hitting her stride. Raised in the Boston area, Jones decamped to Atlanta and built an early following there before arriving in LA in 2012. She spent the intervening years collaborating and making guest appearances, including a 2016 single with Rah Digga, “Ski Mask Way.” A chance meeting with Phonte Coleman (Little Brother) in early 2020 quickly led to Jones’s new album, “Closer Than They Appear.” Along the way, she cleared another landmark in June by appearing on “Sesame Street” as a rapping hamburger, swapping bars with Phonte, also in character as a hiking boot.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Maral (Maral Mahmoudi) creates dense, distorted, and wildly textured club music with a darkly psychedelic edge. Drawing extensively on the field recordings and folk music of her Iranian heritage, Maral creates mirrored-reality music that recalls experimental artists like Sussan Deyhim and the depth-charge dub of Lee “Scratch” Perry. Maral’s debut cassette, 2019’s “Mahur Club,” served as a statement of intent for the hybrid music she calls “folk club.” Her new album, “Push,” features Perry, as well as Penny Rimbaud, co-founder of the legendary anarchist punk collective, Crass. Maral also hosts the show “Time Away” on dublab.
Released the November 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. DUCKWRTH grew up in South LA, where his formative musical experiences included singing in a Pentecostal church choir and absorbing the classic funk and R&B of his neighborhood. Decamping to San Francisco to study graphic arts, he soon developed a distinctive musical and visual style which matched the expansiveness of his new surroundings. His early mixtapes garnered steam in advance of his proper debut album, 2016’s “I’M UGLY.” He subsequently ventured into fashion design and visual arts before releasing another mixtape in 2016 and, most recently, a new album, “SuperGood,” in August. The release was commemorated by a live streamed performance in a local roller skating rink, where he used music, visuals, and theatrical techniques to represent the album.
Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Every week, we invite a local artist to share a handful of tunes they can’t stop listening to. It’s a celebration of the energy and inspiration that turns music lovers into music makers. For this special edition, Anne Litt and I chose seven of our favorite Private Playlist installments. In the spirit of KCRW, you’ll hear music that runs the gamut from vintage ambient to Delta country blues; from Anime soundtracks to Nigerian funk. And, above all, you’ll hear some amazing artists talk passionately about the music that keeps their creative hearts beating.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Julianna Barwick is a composer, vocalist and producer who has performed with artists including Yoko Ono, The Flaming Lips, Philip Glass, and Ikue Mori. Barwick spent more than a decade building a devoted following in New York with her loop-based compositions for voice and electronics. But in 2016, she decided to start fresh in LA. Her new album, “Healing Is A Miracle,” is her first since making the move, and features collaborations with Jónsi, Mary Lattimore, and Nosaj Thing.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. For nearly two decades, singer-songwriter Ndidi O (born Ndidi Onukwulu) has carved out an adventurous career that deftly moves between soul, blues, trip-hop, gospel, cabaret, and more. A two-time Juno Award nominee, Ndidi has released six solo albums, most recently 2018’s “These Days,” which she co-produced with Canadian multi-instrumentalist Mischa Chillak. She and Chillak also write and record under their trip-hop alias, BOGA.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Harpist Mary Lattimore has performed and recorded with artists including Sigur Ros, Thurston Moore, Jarvis Cocker, Kurt Vile, and Sharon Van Etten, among many others. Her newest release, “Silver Ladders,” follows a string of earlier acclaimed solo albums on Ghostly International and Thrill Jockey. “Silver Ladders” was recorded with Neil Halstead (Slowdive/Mojave 3) at his home studio in Cornwall, England. The album was released in October 2020 alongside a special “visual score” by photographer/director Rachael Pony Cassells.
Released the October 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Nicolette Vilar is the vocalist for Go Betty Go, a cornerstone of the latter-day SoCal Chicanx Punk scene that rose to prominence in the early 2000s. Often compared to the Go-Go’s, the band earned early plaudits for their classically tuneful three-chord rock’n’roll. They joined the Warped Tour in 2004 and 2005 and released two albums prior to Nicolette’s departure in 2006. The original lineup reunited in 2012 and issued “Reboot” in 2015.
Released the September 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
Senior Producer of Lost Notes: 1980: a seven-part music documentary podcast from KCRW exploring a single year: 1980 – the brilliant, awkward and sometimes heartbreaking opening to a monumental decade in popular music. Written and hosted by Hanif Abdurraqib.
Appeared as a guest on KCRW’s “Greater LA” to talk about my volunteer work as a fire lookout in Los Padres National Forest.
Released the August 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. With a career reaching back to the late 1970s, Pete Tong is recognized as one of the most influential radio personalities in the UK. Tong was a key figure in England’s dance music resurgence in the 1990s, co-founding the long-running Essential Selection series on BBC Radio 1 at the start of the decade. Tong also founded the dance music label ffrr, which helped launch the careers of countless artists including Orbital, Asian Dub Foundation, Goldie, and Luke Vibert.
Released the July 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. La Marisoul is perhaps best known as the voice of LA’s Grammy-winning ensemble (and KCRW favorites), La Santa Cecilia. Growing up between Mexico and LA, she cut her teeth as a teenager singing on Olvera Street for spare change before co-founding La Santa Cecilia in 2007.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a listening session with California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. Bob Mould is one of the principal architects of American underground music. As one-third of ‘80s Minneapolis power trio Hüsker Dü, he married hardcore to psychedelia and punk to classic songcraft. He spent much of the ’90s leading Sugar, an even crunchier trio whose widescreen power-pop brought him within a hair’s breadth of mainstream success. His solo career launched with 1989’s indelible “Workbook” and continues with “Blue Hearts.”
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. San Cha‘s music combines elements of cumbia, bolero, punk, and electro, held aloft by her extravagant, classically-trained voice.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. A prolific writer, producer, and performer, M. Ward is one of those characters for whom it’s hard to choose a career highlight. For some, he’s best known as one-half of She & Him with Zooey Deschanel. For others, it’s his participation in the Monsters of Folk supergroup with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and Mike Mogis. Those who don’t know him by name may have heard him on the road or in the studio with Mavis Staples, Jenny Lewis, Norah Jones, Cat Power, Neko Case, Lucinda Williams, Peter Buck, and countless others. And all the while, there’s his extensive solo discography, the most recent of which is this year’s “Migration Stories” album.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with L.A. punk legend Alice Bag. Alice was the lead singer and co-founder of The Bags, one of the first bands to form during the initial wave of punk in Los Angeles. She was featured in Penelope Spheeris’s seminal documentary on L.A. punk, The Decline of Western Civilization. She is the author of the critically acclaimed books “Violence Girl” and “Pipe Bomb For the Soul.” Her second album, “Blueprint,” was named one of the Best Albums of 2018 by NPR. Her third, “Sister Dynamite,” was released under quarantine in April 2020.
Released the June 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with Madame Gandhi, aka producer/drummer/activist Kiran Gandhi. Gandhi was working as a digital analyst at Interscope Records in 2012 when she uploaded a live drum arrangement of M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” recorded at their offices. She joined M.I.A.’s touring lineup while earning her MBA from Harvard Business School. She subsequently moved back to LA and launched her solo career as Madame Gandhi in an effort to combine her dual loves of activism and music.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with Aimee Mann, one of the most acclaimed voices in contemporary American songwriting. Mann is a paragon of smart, reflective, and penetrating songcraft. Her last solo release, 2017’s “Mental Illness,” won her a Grammy for Best Folk Album. Alongside fellow indie darling Ted Leo, she writes and records as The Both and co-hosts a podcast, “The Art of Process.”
Reissue of my compendium of field recordings featuring calls to prayer (adhan) and prayer services (salat) recorded throughout Mali in January 2012. Re-edited and remastered from the original source recordings in June 2020. Available via Bandcamp.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I hosted Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, who were already superstar producers and musicians in their own right before teaming up as The Midnight Hour. Now they’re in demand as film and TV composers after their breakout score for Netflix’s Luke Cage in 2016. Younge and Muhammad also moonlight as part of the creative team behind L.A.’s performance series, Jazz is Dead.
Released the May 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this episode, I spoke with Jennifer Lee, aka TOKiMONSTA, who got her start in the beat battles of Leimert Park, and quickly carved out a space in the legendary Low End Theory scene out of Lincoln Heights. Her 2010 debut, Midnight Menu, was released on Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label. Collaborations with Jessie Ware, Anderson .Paak, and Kelly Rowland followed. Her 2017 album, Lune Rouge, was nominated for a Grammy in Best Dance/Electronic Album, making her the first female Asian-American artist to be considered in that category.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with guitarist Jeff Parker, whose career began with Chicago’s legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He rose to national prominence in the ‘90s during his tenure with “post-rock” ensembles such as Tortoise and Isotope 217. Since then, his studio credits have been as expansive and eclectic as his playing, including records by Andrew Bird, Meshell Ndegeocello, Rob Mazurek, Joshua Redman, the Aluminum Group, and more.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with Dorian Wood, an L.A. native whose searching and emotional work runs the gamut of genres and styles. Their commanding voice has been heard fronting chamber orchestras, rock ensembles, and anarchist marching bands, among others. As a musician, Wood has released over a dozen recordings, the most recent of which, XALÁ, marks the first time that they have recorded a full-length work in their mother tongue of Spanish. Prior to the quarantine, they were touring Europe, Mexico, and the U.S. with a show paying tribute to the late Mexican singer Chavela Vargas. Most recently, they became a 2020 Creative Capital Award recipient.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with Thundercat, one of L.A.’s most accomplished and in-demand musicians. A frequent collaborator with Flying Lotus, Bruner has also contributed to albums by Erykah Badu, Kamasi Washington, and Kendrick Lamar, with whom Bruner shared a Grammy in 2016 for his performance on the track “These Walls.” But most recently Thundercat has come into his own as a solo artist. His fourth album, It Is What It Is, was released in April 2020 on Brainfeeder. Bruner spoke with KCRW about the night Jaco Pastorius changed his life, the importance of listening to albums from the beginning, and the record that helps him through strange times.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this episode, I spoke with Neon Indian, the stage alias of Alan Palomo, a musician and producer who has released three albums and a handful of EPs since 2008. Palomo has collaborated with the Flaming Lips, Holy Ghost!, and Miami Horror, and has produced remixes for Au Revoir Simone, Grizzly Bear, and The Silent League.
Released the April 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with Mia Doi Todd, a singer-songwriter and L.A. native. Since 1997, Todd has released ten solo albums and appeared on countless recordings with other artists, including Saul Williams, The Folk Implosion, and David J of Bauhaus.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with Hand Habits, the solo project of Meg Duffy, a multi-instrumentalist who has performed and recorded with acts including Kevin Morby, The War on Drugs, and William Tyler.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For this installment, I spoke with Chris Cohen, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with an extensive discography as a solo artist, sideman, producer, and band member.
KCRW’s Private Playlist is a weekly listening session with Southern California’s most notable musical figures in their private creative environments. The piece airs Friday mornings on KCRW as the closing segment of Morning Edition. For the inaugural episode, I spoke with Inara George, a vocalist and songwriter best known as one-half of pop duo The Bird And The Bee. She spoke with me about raising music-literate kids and her own nostalgic listening under quarantine.
Released the March 2020 edition of Faulty Machine Recordings Service, an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release new music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
Launched an experimental distribution service for homebrew musical projects in order to release music in a more timely and ongoing fashion.
Mixing engineer for second season of Bodies: a documentary series featuring stories of medical mysteries in women’s health produced by Allison Behringer for KCRW.
Served as field producer and recordist for this New Yorker Radio Hour piece on actress Pam Grier.
2019 radio/podcast clientele: Getty Museum, Inside Trader Joe’s (Sound That Brands/Emmis), Kindredcast (iHeartRadio), Manifest (NBCUniversal), Masterpiece (WGBH), Minnesota Public Radio, Money Ha Ha, Motherly, New Yorker Radio Hour (WNYC), NPR, Pop Up Magazine, This American Life, Thrive Global/Arianna Huffington (iHeartRadio).
Produced, engineered, and mixed a holiday Guest DJ Set by John Legend for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, with host Eric J. Lawrence and show producer Mary Chellamy.
A news feature on legendary bootlegger Mike Millard and indie-rock band The National for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. Co-produced with Anne Litt, Tyler Hale, and Nick White.
Mixed, scored, and sound-designed Recording Artists, a podcast series for the Getty Museum exploring the lives and careers of six women artists from the 20th Century.
Selected as one of “six masterful practitioners of audio” in residence at the 2019 Third Coast International Audio Festival. Worked with Festival attendees on an appointment basis to dissect, troubleshoot, and (re)design their audio pieces.
Performed ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT», an eight-hour immersive nocturnal sound-art experience, at Tritriangle in Chicago, IL.
Contributed ShortWaveMusic archival recordings to Episode #21 of Kenneth Routon’s broadcast ethnography mixtape/radio show, Radio is a Foreign Country.
Attended Burning Man 2019 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
Mixed A Fiery Unrest: Why Plymouth Avenue Burned, a radio documentary produced for Minnesota Public Radio by Nancy Rosenbaum.
Returning series producer of Lost Notes: an eight-part music documentary podcast from KCRW covering “the greatest music stories never truly told”, with host and executive producer Jessica Hopper.
Guest lecturer for the New School (New York, NY) for two seminars in their Radio Experiments graduate-level course, developed and taught by Joan Schuman.
Contributed The Clouds Should Know Me By Now, a long-form essay on the ShortWaveMusic project, to the Fidelity issue of sound-art journal Earlid.
2018 radio/podcast clientele: The Getty Museum, iHeartRadio, In Other Words (Art Agency, Partners), Inside Trader Joe’s (Amplifi Media), L.A. Theatre Works, Manifest (NBCUniversal), Masterpiece (WGBH), Motherly, New Yorker Radio Hour (WNYC), Soho House Stories (Radio Wolfgang), Studio 360 (WNYC), This American Life, Thrive Global/Arianna Huffington (iHeartRadio), Tilted: A Lean In Podcast, The Wine Down with Ben Schwartz (Endeavor)
Performed ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT», an eight-hour immersive nocturnal sound-art experience, at a secret location in Joshua Tree, CA.
Mercator is Science Park’s fourth album, and its first since 2001. The album was recorded March-December 2017 at Mysterious Mammal Studio in Inglewood, CA, and released on October 5, 2018. The album is available on Bandcamp and elsewhere.
The “Duck & Cover Mix” reimagines Science Park’s “1381GSS” as an apocalyptic dancescape in which sensuous club rhythms are married to anxiety-provoking air-raid sirens and attack warning broadcasts.
Futurama is Science Park’s second album, recorded in June/July 1998 and released in September 1998. This newly-expanded edition (with 10 bonus tracks) was issued on the 20th anniversary of its release. Available via Bandcamp.
Produced “The Secret Life of Plants” for The Organist (KCRW/McSweeney’s) with producer Lindsay Patterson.
“Dot of America” is the second single from Science Park’s forthcoming album, Mercator.
“1381GSS” is Science Park’s first new release since 2001’s Disinformation, and the project’s first-ever music video.
Mixer/editor/engineer for The Wine Down by Wine Dialogues, a podcast starring actor/writer/comedian Ben Schwartz.
Series producer of Lost Notes, an eight-part music documentary podcast from KCRW covering “the greatest music stories never truly told.” (The series returns in 2019.)
2017 radio/podcast clientele: 99% Invisible (Radiotopia), The Big Listen (WAMU), Closer Than They Appear with Carvell Wallace (Al Jazeera), Cornell Tech, Harvard Business School, In Other Words (Art Agency, Partners), Kindredcast (LionTree, LLC), New Yorker Radio Hour (WNYC), Only a Game (WBUR), Pineapple.fm, Pop Up Magazine, Public Radio International, Science Vs. (Gimlet), Short Cuts (BBC/Falling Tree Productions), Soho House Stories (Radio Wolfgang), Studio 360 (WNYC), This American Life, Thrive Global/Arianna Huffington (iHeartRadio)
Produced “How To Be In Two Places At Once: The Firesign Theatre in the U.S. and Vietnam” for The Organist (KCRW/McSweeney’s) with author/scholar Jeremy Braddock.
Attended Burning Man 2017 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
Produced “Baptism of Solitude” for The Organist (KCRW/McSweeney’s) with author/scholar Brian T. Edwards.
A compilation album featuring field recordings made on the archipelago of Socotra (a protectorate of Yemen) in March 2013. Available via Bandcamp.
2016 radio/podcast clientele: Falling Tree Productions (BBC Radio 4), FiveThirtyEight, Gimlet, Girlboss (Panoply), Latino USA, Life of the Law, Monocle, National Endowment for the Arts, Note to Self (WNYC), Now What with Ryan Duffy (Huffington Post), On the Media (WNYC), Pitch, State of the Re-Union, Studio 360 (WNYC), TED Radio Hour (NPR), Testbed (BBC Radio 4), This American Life.
Contributing producer and mixer on three investigative series with reporter Karen Foshay for KCRW: Future of Work, Troubled Waters, and Burned.
Performed ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT», an eight-hour immersive nocturnal sound-art experience, at Radio Revolten International Radio Art Festival (Halle, Germany).
Composed theme and incidental music for KCRW’s investigative series Off the Block.
Dress rehearsal/performance for the overseas debut of ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT», an eight-hour immersive nocturnal sound-art experience.
Attended Burning Man 2016 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
L.A. regional field producer/engineer for PBS Masterpiece Studio. (Ongoing)
Produced “Mix Tapes, Mix Tapes, Mix Tapes” for KCRW’s UnFictional radio documentary series.
Two long-form nocturnal soundscapes recorded in the Sespe Wilderness (above Ojai, CA) in May 2016. Available via Bandcamp.
Produced “Radio Free“ for The Organist (KCRW/McSweeney’s) with writer/producer Niela Orr.
Contributing Editor for the arts and culture podcast from KCRW and McSweeney’s. (Ongoing)
Mixer/post-producer for the Getty Museum’s Art + Ideas podcast. (Ongoing)
The culmination of two decades’ research, At the Tone is the first comprehensive audio survey of NIST Radio Stations WWV and WWVH: two legendary shortwave radio broadcasters whose primary purpose is the dissemination of scientifically precise time and frequency. Recordings span the period 1955-2017 (the project has been periodically updated since its release). Available via Bandcamp.
Contributed production, editing, and mixing to Lisa Napoli’s investigative series, Housed: Life on Skid Row for KCRW.
Produced “Rescuing Soviet History Before It Disappears” for WNYC’s Studio 360.
Disinformation is Science Park’s third album, recorded in June/July 2000 and released in January 2001. This newly-expanded edition (with 10 bonus tracks) was issued on the 15th anniversary of its recording. Available via Bandcamp.
Produced “Reza Banki” for KCRW’s UnFictional radio documentary series.
Field recording for Chris Young and Dave Skwarczek’s interactive children’s e-book, Is That A Fairy?, with original music by Book of Love.
Original, five-hour soundscape composed for a mixed-media sculpture/installation by artist Cody Bayne from original sonic materials gathered in collaboration with the artist. Presented at Gold Haus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
Special guest on dublab’s Mike Harding Meets… radio program with BJ Nilsen (Hazard) and Mike Harding (Touch).
Sound art commission for Museo Reina Sofia Radio (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain) as part of their Modernity and Transduction podcast series.
Contributed field recordings from Socotra Archipelago for short film Socotra: Once and Today by Story Collective and Felisa Jimenez.
Attended Burning Man 2014 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
Produced a segment on Local Radio of Socotra Archipelago for Monocle 24’s The Monocle Culture Show.
A long-form nocturnal soundscape recorded in Mississippi Palisades State Park (Savanna, IL) in June 2014. Available via Bandcamp.
Abbreviated downtown Los Angeles performance of of ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT», an eight-hour immersive nocturnal sound-art experience. Also featured a DJ set/performance by Mike Harding of Touch.
A reduced version of ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT» for the Radius SKETCHPAD series, as broadcast on WXGC/Wave Farm.
30: A Retrospective 1976-2006 (Obscure-Disk OBSCD07) was a compendium of pop music and sound-art work to date. Remastered and re-released in 2014. Available via Bandcamp.
Radio documentary for KCRW’s UnFictional chronicling the coming of AIDS/HIV to the gay mecca of Fire Island, New York in the early 1980s. Winner, First Place (Large Newsroom Documentary category) at the 2014 Public Radio News Directors awards; Second Place (Radio Documentary) at the 2014 Los Angeles Press Club Awards.
Restoration of a compendium of vintage recordings of fog horns and fog bells from the archives of U.K.-based Association of Lighthouse Keepers. (Recordings are not yet commercially available and are kept in the ALK’s private holdings.)
A compendium of field recordings featuring calls to prayer (adhan) and prayer services (salat) recorded throughout Mali in January 2012. Available via Bandcamp.
Special four-channel remix/re-edit of ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT: QUADRA» for Dubbelradio, a 24-hour radio art festival that took place at Konsthall C in Stockholm in September 2013. Two city-wide FM frequencies were used to broadcast unique radio art pieces and specially conceived performances designed to be listened to on two radios simultaneously.
A special ShortWaveMusic mix for Ud At Samle Svampe (“Out to Collect Mushrooms”): a podcast series from SNYK Radio (Denmark) presenting “strange, rare, interesting or inspiring music or sound” gathered by artists.
Special radio broadcast edit of ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT» produced for Radius, an experimental radio broadcast platform from Chicago.
A broadcast collage of found sound, field recordings, and musical performances from the 2013 ShortWaveMusic expedition to Socotra Archipelago, produced for framework radio (London) for their special framework:afield subseries.
Inaugural performance of ShortWaveMusic «ALL NIGHT FLIGHT», an eight-hour immersive nocturnal sound-art experience, at a secret location in Joshua Tree, CA.
ShortWaveMusic was a global sound project and documentary series which aimed to preserve the sound of regional and international broadcasting around the world. The 2010 installation was recorded throughout the archipelago of Socotra, and included additional field recordings of folkloric music, storytelling, and soundscapes in Dagub, Hadibo, Hilham, Hulaf, Khissa di Nasseeb, Qabhaten, Qalensiyah, Qasrhir, Shouab, and Wadi Dirhor. [Listen]
Produced a profile of Los Angeles-based drag writer, performer, actor, and entrepreneur Miss Barbie Q for the Working Now Project, an online collaborative audio project about the working lives of people today around the world.
“Waves of Waves” was an original sound art piece assembled from transmissions received at a single geographic point in L.A., produced for the Listen Up, Los Angeles! group audio art show at Avenue 50 Studio.
Music supervisor for Lea Thau’s Strangers podcast (then distributed by KCRW) from July 2012-April 2015.
ShortWaveMusic was a global sound project and documentary series which aimed to preserve the sound of regional and international broadcasting around the world. The 2012 installation was recorded throughout Mali, and included additional field recordings made in Bamako, Diéma, San, Ségou, Sikasso, and Timbuktu. [Listen]
Attended Burning Man 2011 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
ShortWaveMusic was a global sound project and documentary series which aimed to preserve the sound of regional and international broadcasting around the world. The 2011 installation was recorded throughout the United Arab Emirates in October 2010 and was underwritten by Soundwalk Collective for their Empty Quarter/Eternal Hell project. [Listen]
Appeared as a guest/subject on The Story with Dick Gordon to talk about Bulgarian folk music, shortwave radio, and a chance meeting with the voice of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares…
ShortWaveMusic was a global sound project and documentary series which aimed to preserve the sound of regional and international broadcasting around the world. The 2010 installation was recorded throughout Bulgaria, and included additional field recordings of folkloric music and dance in Dolen/Satovcha, Draginovo, Kovachevtsi, and the Koprivshtitsa National Festival of Bulgarian Folklore. [Listen]
Remote participant (via livestreaming) in David Goren’s Shortwave Shindig at the 2010 Megapolis Audio Festival (Baltimore, MD).
A group anthology/narrowcast of field recordings and sound art created in conjunction with the “Postcards from Gowanus” gallery show (Cabinet, Brooklyn, NYC).
Autobiographical article on the formation of the IDTXA (International Time-signal DXers’ Association) and subsequent adventures in shortwave listening. Published in Monitoring Times magazine (February 2010) as part of their “First Person Radio” series.
ShortWaveMusic was a global sound project and documentary series which aimed to preserve the sound of regional and international broadcasting around the world. The 2009 installation was recorded in Santa Eulària des Riu, Ibiza. [Listen]
Remote participant (via livestreaming) in David Goren’s Listening Lounge at the 2009 NASWA Winter SWL Fest (Kulpsville, PA).
Attended Burning Man 2008 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
Remote participant (via livestreaming) in David Goren’s Listening Lounge at the 2008 NASWA Winter SWL Fest (Kulpsville, PA).
Radio Producer (2008-2011), Senior Radio Producer (2011-2015), and Consulting Radio Producer (2015-2018) for audio drama company L.A. Theatre Works.
Recorded the live album Nova Express Cafe 13 February 2008 for the solo project from Spain bassist Josh Haden.
Moved to Los Angeles from Boston. First place of residence was the former Aloha Apt-Hotel, a Spanish colonial revival style apartment building built in 1929. Noted former tenants include Bonita Granville, Beryl Mercer, and Ethel Grey Terry.
Attended Burning Man 2007 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
Hosted and produced the Laurie Anderson Orgy – a two-day, 24-hour celebration of the music and sound work of Laurie Anderson – for WHRB (Cambridge, MA).
Hosted and produced the Bulgarian Folklore Orgy – a two-day, 24-hour celebration of Bulgarian folkloric music – for WHRB (Cambridge, MA).
30: A Retrospective 1976-2006 (Obscure-Disk OBSCD07) was a compendium of pop music and sound-art work to date.
Attended Burning Man 2006 (Black Rock City, NV) and recorded soundscapes, sound installations, and other field audio for the ongoing Black Rock Soundscapes project.
Hosted and produced A Voice Like Egypt: The Umm Kulthum Orgy – a two-day celebration of the music and voice of Umm Kulthum – for WHRB (Cambridge, MA).
Presented a mix of archival shortwave recordings and a presentation on the WWII-era shortwave recordings held in the U.S. National Archives. Part of David Goren’s Listening Lounge at the 2006 NASWA Winter SWL Fest (Kulpsville, PA).
ShortWaveMusic was a global sound project and documentary series which aimed to preserve the sound of regional and international broadcasting around the world. The project began on the Blogspot platform in June 2005 and continued as an irregular MP3 blog until August 2008. Recordings from this period were predominantly conducted around Boston, MA. [Listen]
Presented a mix of archival shortwave recordings and a presentation on the history of NIST Radio Stations WWV & WWVH. Part of David Goren’s Listening Lounge at the 2004 NASWA Winter SWL Fest (Kulpsville, PA).
Science Park’s third album, Disinformation, released on Obscure-Disk (OBSCD05). Reissue available via Bandcamp.
An early 7″ vinyl précis of material from At The Tone, released by the Chicago-based experimental label Kultbox.
7″ single release of Science Park’s “Ascension Island” b/w “That Part of You” / “Truth Will Out”, released on Japanese indie-pop label Motorway.
Science Park’s second album, Futurama, released on Obscure-Disk (OBSCD03). Reissue available via Bandcamp.
Begins working at Rykodisc HQ in Salem, MA, under the auspices of subsidiary Slow River Records. Worked records by Josh Rouse, Sparklehorse, Chuck E. Weiss, Charlie Chesterman, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Future Bible Heroes, Fan Modine, Purple Ivy Shadows, Disque 9, and more.
Science Park’s live debut at Boston Pride ’97 on Boston Common.
Science Park’s debut album, Science Park, released as a hand-pressed CD-R on Obscure-Disk (OBSCD01).
Moved to Boston, MA, to attend Boston University (BA, English Literature, CAS ‘oo).
First commercially-available release, issued on cassette on Obscure-Disk (OBSCS01).