Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"But What Time Is It Really?"

Because their legacy is so vast, their musical output so singular and their influence so far-reaching, telling you a little bit about Cabaret Voltaire is like telling you a little bit about outer space. A long tine ago, say 1973, in a galaxy far, far away, say Sheffield, England, Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson got together to, in their words, make music without musical instruments. What did that mean? Well, it meant innovation because this was not a three-piece banging away in a garage, it was three guys experimenting with tape loops, custom-built kit oscillators, keyboards and wind instruments. Although traditional instruments were included, Cabaret Voltaire were anything but a traditional band. Falling somewhere between performance art and industrial music, Cabaret Voltaire remain one of the most innovative, idiosyncratic and unique bands of all time. Incorporating elements of techno, house, funk, synthpop, electronica and dub, the band's striking soundscapes were massively influential to bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, Skinny Puppy, David J. and Nine Inch Nails. Watson left the band in 1981 but Mallinder and Kirk soldiered on, keeping up Cabaret Voltaire's unbelievable working pace. The band put out fifteen albums in as many years, including classics like Mix-Up, Red Mecca, The Crackdown and Micro-Phonies. Kirk died in 2021 at 65 and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band, Mallinder and Watson started touring, put out a live album and will be on the road until year's end, taking their valedictory bow. A journalist, an academic, a studio owner, a producer and a filmmaker whose videos have been exhibited at MOMA in New York, Mallinder remains a busy man and I'll let him tell you all about that. But let me say this: if you listen to Cabaret Voltaire, it's like listening to the future before it happened. Their work is an astounding blend of multi-media and post-punk that eludes the timeline--their records aren't fixed to any point on the map and instead sound like they come from a universe that is at once both distant and familiar.

www.cabaretvoltaire.bandcamp.com
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"Together Again"

When it comes to the Wisconsin-born John McCutcheon and the Chicago-born Tom Paxton, there's no way to condense their amazing careers into a three-minute introduction, but that's the challenge I have before me, so I'm going to do the best I can. Putting it simply, McCutcheon and Paxton are two of the most towering figures in the history of folk music. Let's start with McCutcheon. He's recorded close to fifty albums, he's got six Grammy nominations, he's written three children's books and he's played shows all over the world. McCutcheon is a master of the hammered dulcimer and he also plays banjo, jaw harp, and the fiddle. As for Mr. Paxton, he's recorded close to seventy albums, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, authored close to 20 books, had one of his songs used in a Monty Python episode and toured around the world. He even played a show with Black Sabbath. More on that in a minute. McCutcheon and Paxton's friendship is a glorious thing and their musical partnership has yielded two albums, including their latest effort, the absolutely marvelous Together Again. I think of Paxton and McCutcheon as the Steve Martin and Martin Short of folk music and here's why. Their creative partnership has ignited them both in new and rejuvenating ways. And Together Again offers great evidence of this--filled with lyrical economy and precision as well as musical finesse played with dexterity and grace, this is an album of tremendous depth and sensitivity. And this conversation is one of my recent favorites--it goes everywhere and yet it comes right back. This was so much fun-

www.tompaxton.com (http://www.tompaxton.com)
https://tompaxton.bandcamp.com/album/together-again
https://www.folkmusic.com/store/p492/Together_Again_-_Digital.html

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"Homecoming"

Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “I regarded home as a place I left behind in order to come back to it afterward.” That is exactly the sentiment that has fueled Mark Crozer's marvelous new album Homecoming. The Oxford-bred Crozer left home as a young man and in many ways he never looked back because he was always moving forward. And that forward thing worked pretty well. The singer/songwriter and guitarist had been in several bands as a teenager, but his two solo albums 1999's Shining Down On Me and 2002's Unnatural World really put hin on the map. He joined the Jesus and Mary Chain back in 2007 and he's been a member of the band ever since. And he's quietly been packing his CV with other highlights like collaborating with Consequence, working with Mitch Easter playing in Mark Crozer and the Rels and the International Jetsetters with Loz Colbert of Ride and his song "Broken out in Love" was bought the WWE, renamed "Live In Fear" and used as an entrance theme. His new album, the aformentioned Homecoming, is a stirring and deeply atmospheric song cycle that confronts getting older, the quality of love, the devastation of loss and the definition of what home really is. Filled with undulating rhythms, sneaky grooves and ghostly jangle, Homecoming is a subtle and moving melodic wonder.

www.markcrozer.bandcamp.com

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"Illegal Hit"

The Swedish-born Björn Yttling is a singer, songwriter, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and record label owner. And you thought you were busy. Yttling is the Björn in the indie pop band Peter Bjorn and John and his resume' is so vast when I give you just a partial glimpse of what he's done, you'll realize you really haven't been busy. At all. Among other instruments, Yttling plays electric bass, celeste, acoustic and electric guitar, mellotron, organ, percussion, piano, and synthesizer. He's produced and written songs with Robyn, The Pretenders, Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, Sparks, Shout Out Louds, Lykke Li, Sahara Hotnights, he's a member of the indie rock supergroup LIV, he's co-founder of the artist collective and record label INGRID and his other band, the free-form jazz combo Yttling Jazz is an ongoing proposition, with two albums under their belts, including their latest effort Illegal Hit. A schooled jazz musician, Yttling's music with Yttling Jazz is textured, atmospheric, dark and stirring. And this conversation begins by addressing that darkness and it ends with tennis. How about that for an arc?

IG: @yttlingjazz

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"Milestone"

It all started over 50 years ago in Florida and decades later with sales of close to 25 million albums under their musical belts, 38 Special remain one of the most enduring rock and roll bands of all time. Formed in the early '70s by the core unit of Don Barnes and Donny Van Zandt, 38 Special from the very beginning evinced a steely work ethic. It also demonstrated their versatility--although they were a hard playing southern rock band, they were able to shape shift perfectly and found themselves opening for everyone from Peter Frampton to Kiss and appearing on bills with everyone from Triumph to AC/DC to Motorhead. The '70s were a dogfight for the band who put out great albums like Special Delivery and Rockin' Into The Night, but they felt they were grinding out the yardage and just trying to survive. MTV hits in the '80s like "Caught Up In You" and "If I'd Been The One" changed everything and albums like Tour De Force and Special Forces changed everything and made them bona fide superstars. Although Barnes remains the only original member, the band has recently put out their first new album in 21 years called Milestone and they're playing 100 shows a year across the country. Barnes is a lovely guy and this is a great conversation about persistence and endurance. And his cat makes a special appearance, too.

www.38special.com (http://www.38special.com)
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Stereo Embers:

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Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])