65: The indies fight back! Damon Krukowski on the value of sound

We all know what sound is, but are we any good at describing it?

This week’s guest is a musician, writer and one of independent music’s wisest observers. Damon Krukowski has been playing in bands since the ‘80s, drumming for dreampop originals Galaxie 500 and, for the past 30 years, fronting Damon & Naomi with his partner Naomi Yang.

He’s also written three books about sound and its strange, intangible properties (most recently Why Sound Matters) and he's a proud member of UMAW, a cool young labour union for music workers.

It was a privilege to talk to Damon about the full spectrum of sound – from noise pollution and sodcasting to the merch table, from the ‘red herring’ of intellectual property to the hidden value of hanging out backstage.

Unsurprisingly he had several excellent movies to recommend to us, including one for all you Coen Brothers fans out there.

Before that, we debrief our recent nights out and the last ever weekend at Corsica Studios, which could still be going as far as we know. We also hear your Rockufiction feedback and offer a hot new entry to the canon: Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.

Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe