Stereo Embers: The Podcast

“I Hate Memory” Born in Budapest, Eszter Balint relocated to the United States and as a ten year old and found herself in New York living with the avant-garde Squat Theatre troupe, which was founded by her dad. Being surrounded by artists was no new thing for the violin-playing actress, who came from generations of artists. Her father was also a poet, her grandfather was a renowned visual artist and her great grandfather was one of the premier intellectuals and art critics at the turn of the century in Hungary. Balint acted in the troupe and living amongst writers, painters, actors and visual artists had an instant effect on her sensibility and her career path. In other words, it wasn’t likely she was going to be a realtor. By 15 she played violin on a song produced by Basquiat and not long after, she started appearing in movies like Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise, Woody Allen’s Shadows and Fog, Trees Lounge and The Linguini Incident. She also had a several episode arc on Louie CKs sitcom “Louie." She’s put out a handful of staggeringly great solo albums, including classics like Mud and Airless Midnight and her new one, I Hate Memory is a song cycle that explores Balint’s trajectory from communist Hungary to the vibrant non-stop life of lower Manhattan in the early '80s. This is such a stirring song cycle it gave rise to the anti-musical version that was staged at Manhattan’s beloved Joe’s Pub. The record rings with poeticism, artistry and conviction. It’s evocative, sonorous and truly unforgettable work. www.eszterbalint.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com IG: @emberspodcast

“Desert Flowers” The New Mexico-born Heather Trost is one half of the American Balkan Folk Band A Hawk And A Hacksaw, the other half being her husband, the accordionist Jeremy Barnes, who, by the way, also hails from New Mexico. Over the course of their career, A Hawk and a Hacksaw have put out seven marvelous albums, including Darkness At Noon, The Way The Wind Blows and their most recent effort, 2018’s Forest Bathing. I know 2018 isn’t that recent, but Trost and Barnes have been busy. Trost has put out four solo albums, including her brand new one, Desert Flowers and she’s played with everyone from Beirut to Swans to Thor and Friends. Desert Flowers is a stone cold stunner—filled with lilting strings, dreamy melodies and sonorous hooks, the nine-track album is stirring work. A hypnotic blend of deliciously dusty hymns and introspective indie rock with elements of metaphysics, cosmology and even a little desert surf, this is a powerful and internally evocative album. It’s a quiet and poetic revelation. This chat was recorded a while back before this record was born, but it’s a cool conversation. So here you go—me and Heather Trost www.heathertrost.bandcamp.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com IG: @emberspodcast

“Analog Holiday” Arielle is one of those rare talents that comes along where you look at what she’s capable of and it kind of knocks you out. A guitar virtuoso who also is blessed with a four-octave voice, Arielle has played on stage with everyone from Queen in the "We Will Rock You” musical to Cee Lo Green at Coachella. She’s opened for Guns 'n Roses, Larkin Poe and Heart, collaborated with Eric Johnson and Kings and Daughters' Talia Dean and appeared regularly on the TV show “Nashville." She studied at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London, put out EPS and albums, including her latest—Analog Girl In A Digital World—and, along with Queen’s Brian May, she designed a guitar, the retro future BMG Arielle. May said of the instrument: "It’s a new dimension. To understand why this guitar was irresistible to me, you have to hold her in your hands. She’s light, smooth, agile and she sings like a bird.” An activist, an artist an engineer and a master technician, Arielle’s gifts are profound and powerful. And she’s a lovely human being. In this open and candid conversation she talks to Alex about her take on possessions, staying in touch with people and why a ride in an ambulance was deeply important to her as a musician. www.imarielle.com www.alexgreenonline.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers The Podcast: Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Cuando” Adam Topol doesn’t sit behind a kit the size of Alex Van Halen’s or Chad Smith’s, but he’s equally as mighty. Topol is like Charlie Watts in the sense that he just kind of sits in the pocket and holds it all down. Like Watts, his style looks super laid back, but looks are deceptive because laid back appearance aside, big work is getting done. Topol is a subtle player who’s inventive, tasteful and intuitive and he plays with a blend of finesse and muscle—he’s one of the best drummers on the planet. Subtlety aside, the Lake Tahoe born Topol was reared on punk rock and his teenage years were spent listening to bands like Black Flag and the Adolescents. The young drummer pounded away on his kit to the loud stuff, but he was also equally smitten by the quieter stuff like the music of Cat Stevens. Educated at USC and the Berklee College of Music, Tool’s formal education quickly gave way to knowledge that can only come from outside a university campus. In other words, real life. And in his real life, Topol soaked the world up. A fan of jazz and Afro Cuban percussion, Topol spent time in Cuba studying the discipline of drums. Although Topol might be best known as the longtime drummer for Jack Johnson, he’s sat behind the kit for Alana Davis, Ziggy Marley, Eddie Vedder, David Gilmour and Jimmy Cliff. He’s played in a band with Joey Santiago of the Pixies, been a part of the Culver City Dub Collective and put out great solo albums like 2019’s Cuando, which showcased his talents as a singer-songwriter. Adam is a practitioner who plays with fine drawn precision, rhythmic smarts and musical intuition. He’s a fabulous player and a very cool guy www.adamtopol.com www.adamtopol.bandcamp.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com IG: @emberspodcast

“Year Of The Tiger” Art Alexakis is one of the most dynamic frontmen in rock and roll. The L.A.-born musician's songs have power and sting and he plays them with equal parts muscle and heart. To date, his band Everclear, which got started in ’91, have put out nearly 15 fabulous albums, including Sparkle and Fade, So Much For The Afterglow, Welcome To The Drama Club and 2015’s Black is the New Black. Alexakis was weaned on everything from punk rock to Elvis Costello and his songs, as a result, have a dynamic sheen that have intensity and immediacy. Everclear have played all over the world, sold a few million records, been nominated for a Grammy, won Billboard’s Modern Rock Band of the Year, toured with the Foo Fighters and Stone Temple Pilots, had their songs in movies like Romeo and Juliet and Rock Star, played for the U.S. troops in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Hawaii, Abu Dhabi and Iraq. The Everclear resume is a several page affair. Alexakis has acted, produced, run his own label, hosted a radio show on Sirius XM, testified before Congress and now he’s on our program. www.everclearmusic.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com IG: @emberspodcast

“Strip" The daughter of the late critically-acclaimed poet Robert Sward, Hannah Sward grew up surrounded by literature. Her unconventional childhood of the 70s found her moving around with her dad and eating tofu and brown rice and having gurus visit the house. But Sward’s memoir Strip isn’t just about an eccentric childhood. It’s a far darker affair than that. Kidnapped in the park as a child by a stranger in a van and sexually assaulted by him, Sward chronicles her young life in unflinching detail. And she doesn’t stop there—she candidly describes working as an escort and a stripper and bravely documents her addiction to meth and alcohol and the great pains she took to keep her work and her additjioncts secrets from everyone. Strip is a raw and feral memoir that’s punctuated by streetwise poetry, achingly precise descriptions and a collage of memories that float together to form a complete picture of the lived life. Harrowing, moving and written with authorial finesse and undeniable narrative velocity, Strip is one of the best books of the year. Yes, the content is painful and tough, but Sward navigates the darkness by infusing it with her own brand of light. She’s a knockout writer of tremendous talent. www.hannahsward.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com IG: @emberspodcast

“Still Comes The Night" Raised by a drama teacher mother and an acting coach father, the arts were coursing mightily through the Sudol house. A lover of literature and music, the Seattle-born Alison Sudol started crafting her path at a young age. In her teens, the self-taught pianist created a persona that operated under the A Fine Frenzy sobriquet, releasing a power trio of albums, including 2007’s A Cell In The Sea, 2009’s Bomb In the Birdcage and 2012’s Pines. A Fine Frenzy played SXSW, toured Europe, opened for everyone from the Stooges to Rufus Wainwright and had international hits in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. But by 2011, she announced A Fine Frenzy had been summarily put to bed. Focusing on her acting, Alison joined the cast of Transparent and later the program Dig and in 2016 she got cast as Queen Goldstein in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. She went on to star in the subsequent two Fantastic Beasts movies—The Crimes Of Grindelwald, and the Secrets of Dumbledore. Retuning to music in 2018, Alison put out two marvelous EPS—Moon and Moonlite—and in September, she put out Still Comes The Night, her first album under her own name. Spellbinding, captivating and utterly riveting, Still Comes The Night is redolent with loss, grief, dreams, magic, introspection and love. It’s an album that’s filled with poetic finesse, a quiet velocity and devastating melodic beauty. www.alisonsudol.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com Instagram: @emberspodcast editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“The Story Of My Life” Based out of Brooklyn, Holy Hive are a truly singular band. Formed in 2015’s Holy Hive’s innovative brand of neo-folk is both spare and rich, incorporating elements of Turkish Funk, Chicano soul, low-fi pop and traditional American roots music. Singer Paul Spring’s falsetto floats with the kind of effortless finesse that falls somewhere between Brian Wilson and Shuggie Otis. Meanwhile, drummer Homer Steinweiss, who has sat behind the kit for Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones, Adele and Bruno Mars, plays so deep in the pocket the groove it yields is sheer percussive bliss. He’s an extraordinarily player whose instincts and inventions make him one of the best drummers around. Their debut album Float Back To You cashed in on the promise of their Harping EP—and their self titled second album was a quiet and stirring revelation. They also released an instrumental version of the album, which is an equally stirring companion. www.holyhivemusic.bandcamp.com www.bigcrownrecords.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com Instagram: @emberspodcast editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Things Will Be Different” The Little Murders formed out of the ashes of the punk outfit The Fiction. The Melbourne band first fired things up in 1979 and they’ve been crushing it ever since. Led by the British born Rob Griffiths, The Little Murders are one of those rare bands where every song is a winner. Seriously. Every single one. Their songs are hook-filled blasts of melodic pop that rips the cover off the ball every single time. Griffiths is a commanding frontman who just radiates charisma. Over the course of their brilliant career, the Murders have put out classic albums like First Light, We Should Be Home By Now, Dromona Rama and Dig For Plenty and to say they’re still going strong would be an absurd understatement. They’ve never been better. They have a new EP out called Wait 'Til The Summer Comes, a new album on the way and a tribute album just landed called Things Will Be Different: A Tribute To The little Murders. www.littlemurders.bandcamp.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com

“Memories To Burn” The Williams Brothers come from a rich musical lineage that goes all the way back to the late ‘30s, when Williams Brothers Andy, Dick, Bob and Don started their singing quartet that took them all the way from their home state of Iowa to sunny Los Angeles, where they appeared in movies and were under contract with MGM Films. The second iteration of The Williams Brothers featured Don’s sons Andrew and David, who put out two albums in 1973. As teen idols they had a hit with “What's Your Name" and even made an appearance on The Partridge Family. They resurfaced again in the late ‘80s, putting out a trio of fabulous albums for Warner Brothers, their last being 1993’s Harmony Hotel. Along the way they backed up Brian Setzer, Joe Ely and The Cruzados, sang back up on the Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away" and were part of T-Bone Burnett’s band for a tour of Europe. They had a hit with "Can’t Cry Enough" in '92, appeared as an Everly Brothers duo in Alison Anders' Grace Of My Heart and after that…..well, after that, they stepped away and lived their lives. 28 years later we have Memories To Burn. This album gets done in 30 minutes what most bands try to do their entire careers. The harmonies are lustrous and elegant and the phrasing is delivered with finesse and grace. The two brothers’ vocal interplay is effortless, organic and soul-affirming. Featuring covers by Robbie Fulks and Iris DeMent and with a band that features the marvelous Marvin Etzioni and Greg Liesz, Memories To Burn is one of 2022’s very best. Good to have these guys back. Keep up with The Williams Brothers: www.sixdegreesrecords.com/regional-records-label www.regionalrecords.com www.facebook.com/regionalrecords Bombshell Radio: www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers: IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com