Photo Credit: Gus Philippas.

New York based Indie Rock trio Sunflower Bean appeared at WFUV for an interview and live performance of 3 songs taken from their new album Mortal Primetime: “Nothing Romantic,” “Look What You’ve Done to Me,” and “Champagne Taste.”  Hear them along with the chat HERE.

Photo Credit: Gus Philippas.

Singer and guitarist Kieran Shudall and guitarist Joe Falconer of English Indie Rock band Circa Waves appeared at WFUV for an interview and live performance of 2 songs taken from their new album Death & Love, Pt. 1: “Like You Did Before” and “Let’s Leave Together.” They also performed “T-Shirt Weather” from the band’s debut album, Young Chaser.  Hear them along with the chat HERE.

Photo Credit: Eric Holland.

Former The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn and Canadian singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards visited WFUV for a chat about Finn‘s latest album Always Been, which Edwards sang backing vocals on for 6 songs. Also playing was a world premiere of Edwards’ song, “Save Your Soul,” from her new album, Billionaire. Hear the interview HERE.

Photo Credit: Alex De Corte, PR.

Kim Deal’s fingerprints are on some of the most essential rock of the last forty years. Her bass playing and vocals were the soul of the Pixies, while her writing, guitar work, and production came to the fore leading The Breeders. Now we’ve got what we’ve never had before, a solo album.

As Deal explained in our conversation, all of her favorite music came from bands, so doing a solo project was never something she had in mind. However, as circumstances unfolded and the appeal of an alter ego like Tammy (and the Amps) ebbed, she warmed to the notion.

Over a period of years, Deal crafted an album worthy of a Kim Deal billing: Nobody Loves You More. For this session, she recorded a few songs at Electric Lady Studios in the West Village. Deal felt she might not necessarily enjoy the best reputation at the house that Jimi built as she was less than an ideal client during a hazy stretch of the late 90s when she bounced around a handful of New York studios.

She also touched upon her relationship with her mom, which spurred the poignant session closer, “Are You Mine?” and spoke of her friendship with the late Steve Albini, whose last work at his Electrical Audio studios in Chicago was for Nobody Loves You More.

Deal also explained how she came around to featuring strings and brass on the new LP, and how the spiffy album cover was inspired by Bas Jan Ader, the Dutch performance artist.

Hear 3 new songs from Nobody Loves You More, along with the chat HERE.

When I did an interview with the four members of the Pixies in 2019, new bass player Paz Lenchantin had great things to say about Kim.

Photo Credit: Gus Philippas.

Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand appeared at the Power Station at Berklee NYC for an interview and live performance of 3 songs taken from their new album The Human Fear: “Bar Lonely,” “Audacious,” and “Night or Day.”  Hear them along with the chat HERE.

Photo Credit: Joseph Quever.

Jesse Malin has been building and nurturing the music scene in the five boroughs for over forty years. He is essentially the New York Mayor of Rock and he makes friends wherever he goes. Through the decades he’s played countless benefit shows and spearheaded more than a few efforts to try and get help where it’s needed. He embodies the idea of community through music so naturally we’ve had a long and rewarding relationship with him at WFUV. Eighteen months ago, Malin suffered a rare spinal stroke that left him without the use of his legs. All the compassion and empathy that he has shown throughout his career is now coming back around in the form of a tremendous new tribute album and a pair of benefit shows coming up in December that will be his first time on stage since then.

It was an honor to visit Jesse in his East Village apartment and create a one-hour radio show to celebrate the new collection, preview the concerts – featuring full sets from him and his band – and get an update on his situation. It was a rare opportunity to have a freewheeling conversation that touched upon everything from spitting ketchup Gene Simmons style at a talent show in Whitestone to being at the Saturday Night Live performance of Fear to having Bruce Springsteen congratulate him on a good review in Rolling Stone to combing through lyrics at a kitchen table with Lucinda Williams. At the same time we got to play some of his great tunes and hear some of the marvelous new interpretations of his songs. Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin does what great tribute albums do: It’s a reminder of a lot of great songs and an introduction to a bunch of new versions of them. See you at the Beacon Theatre on December 1st and 2nd.

Jesse Malin radio show on 90.7 FM WFUV – Broadcast 9-10p on 10/14/24
Links below give you the whole show with music and conversation in 2 parts

OR cherry pick below…
Click link to hear song, Click play to hear each interview segment

“Room 13”    Jesse Malin    3:57    Sunset Kids     2019

“New York Comeback”    Lucinda Williams    4:14    Stories from a R&R Heart    2023

“She Don’t Love Me Now”     Bruce Springsteen    3:28   Silver Patron Saints    2024

“Queen of the Underworld”     Jesse Malin    3:53    Fine Art of Self Destruction    2003

“Before You Go”    Jesse Malin    3:46    Sad & Beautiful World   2021

“Brooklyn”   Dinosaur Jr.    4:01    Silver Patron Saints    2024

“Sally Can’t Dance”     Lou Reed    4:13    Sally Can’t Dance    1974

“Turn up the Mains”    Mosshart Morello Gang    3:41     Silver Patron Saints    2024

“Cycles”     Rickie Lee Jones    3:19    It’s Like This    2000

Photo Credit: Gus Philippas.

LA based punk rock quintet The Linda Lindas appeared at WFUV for an interview and live performance of 3 songs taken from their new album No Obligation: “Too Many Things,” “All in My Head,” and “Resolution/Revolution,”  as well as one song from their debut album, Growing Up: “Fine.” Hear them along with the chat HERE.

Real Estate celebrated the release of Daniel, their ninth album over 15 years, by dropping by Studio A to play a few tunes. As frontman Martin Courtney explained in my chat with him and bassist Alex Bleeker, Martin’s daughter gave Kacey Musgraves’ album, Golden Hour, a lot of play around the house. Courtney became a fan of Golden Hour‘s producer Daniel Tashian and this led to Real Estate, with roots in Bergen County, to head down to Nashville where FUV’s old friends worked with Tashian in Music City’s storied RCA Studio A.

Taking advantage of Nashville’s deep talent pool, the group brought in local ace Justin Schipper to add pedal steel guitar to the arrangements. The result is not a twang, but a gauzy sonic layer that unobtrusively complements Real Estate’s familiarly engaging melodies. After hearing the album, I thought the pedal steel might be Daniel’s secret sauce. However, after listening to the band in our Bronx studios without the pedal steel parts, I realized there really wasn’t any secret — only an outstanding bunch of songs from a band in excellent form, working harmoniously with a talented producer in a legendary studio.

In this session, hear the band — Courtney, Bleeker, keyboardist Matt Kallman, guitarist Julian Lynch and drummer Sammi Niss — play three songs from Daniel — “Water Underground,” “Flowers” and “Haunted World.” They also treated FUV to a special performance of Elton John’s “Daniel,” which helped give the album its name.

In between songs, Courtney and Bleeker offered insights into the selections and shared some details about recording them. They also dropped a few tidbits about creating the videos for “Water Underground” and “Flowers.” In addition, Steely Dan, R.E.M., Talking Heads, Franz Kafka, “The Adventures of Pete & Pete,” and even my own family dog as a kid  — a West Highland White Terrier named Danny — all managed to find their way into the conversation.

Twenty-five years into their career, Kings of Leon sounds like a band that has a deep appreciation and gratitude for holding the group (and the family) together and having the opportunity to build upon their remarkable body of work.

The new album is Can We Please Have Fun and it was a pleasure to check the heads of half of the Followill clan: lead singer and rhythm guitarist Caleb Followill, and bassist and occasional keyboardist Jared Followill.

The fellas revealed a number of interesting tidbits about the record such as the distinctive guitar sound on lead single “Mustang” being the result of producer Kid Harpoon unplugging the amp and recording through an earbud!

What’s more, the chorus of that song came from Caleb interacting with his children as opposed to a horse, a car, or any number of off-base interpretations that have been floated. Caleb gives some insight into the band’s collective mindset when describing how these songs came to life with no agenda other than satisfying their creative impulses.

When I complimented Can We Please Have Fun as a proper album, as opposed to a collection of unrelated songs, Jared makes plain the pride they take in crafting song cycles held together by a sonic through line. Plus we tossed around terms like minimalism and punk, celebrated the power of radio, and hailed the power of the intentionally mispronounced lyric as in Ballerina Radio.

Listen to full interview with music here:

I’m very happy to be able to post this full one hour radio show recorded 7/19/2023 from 9 – 10p on WFUV. I’ve always been a huge fan of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965–1968 so it was a blast as well as an honor to have the man who created it, Lenny Kaye, come in and co-host an hour with me on-air. In addition to his adorable dog Sylvie, Lenny brought the 50th anniversary 5 LP set unleashed earlier this year for Record Store Day. We played some tunes from the original compilation as well as the planned but – until recently unreleased Vol. 2, and a bonus disc of songs that were considered for the original set but not included for one reason or another. Lenny spoke about the circumstances surrounding his curation, offered tidbits about a handful of songs and artists, and revealed details about the upcoming Golden Jubilee shows at City Winery.