Had the opportunity to hear Lafayette Gilchrist talk about Andrew Hill last night at @essentialpod.bsky.social’s Selector Series. It was the type of event that proves that Baltimore is still the center of the universe.

Matt talked to Ira Kaplan of @actualylt.bsky.social about the Dead, Half Japanese, and the Tremeloes for the latest episode. Check it out! Yo La Tengo will be at the Big Ears Festival and touring the US this spring.

Our own @leegee.bsky.social will be manning the decks at our next Selector Series event, discussing and spinning Public Image Ltd.’s Metal Box. A portion of the proceeds go to benefit @transequality.bsky.social.

NEW EPISODE: Laraaji spoke to us about how songs by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Frank Sinatra, and Pharrell influenced him. Via WUOT-FM. Listen at the link in the bio or wherever you get your podcasts. Laraaji will perform at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville March 27-30.

NEW EPISODE: Guitarist/composer Jules Reidy spoke to us about how music by Catherine Lamb, Talk Talk, and Dean Roberts shaped their own course. Via WUOT-FM. Reidy performs at the Big Ears Festival March 27-30, 2025.

NEW: We spoke to @susannamagical.bsky.social about how Nina Simone, Björk, and Ethiopian composer Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébro shaped her work.

We spoke to the legendary guitarist and composer Fred Frith at last spring’s Big Ears Festival, and he was a delight! Smart man, Fred. Click below or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Via WUOT-FM.

One of the best podcasts out there gets a great interview.

We spoke to Jim O’Rourke about being a teenager, public libraries, prog, song structure, and writing horn charts of Rush songs for high-school basketball games.

If you missed Water Damage’s set at Seventh Stanine Festival at Rhizome last weekend, this is what it sounded like.

We had a great night with Bill Nace at Design Distillery. Big thanks to everyone who made it out!

Bill Nace, Attorneys General with special guest Susan Alcorn, Friday, June 21 at Design Distillery in South Baltimore. Get excited!

Hey, Baltimore, Tim Kinsella and Jenny Pulse are coming to Design Distillery at our behest on 4/12 at 7 pm with Attorneys General featuring Geologist of Animal Collective and other ringers. It will be fun, swear. essentialtremorsshow.tumblr.com/etpresents

Composer Arnold Dreyblatt spoke to special guest host Tim Kinsella (Joan of Arc, Cap'n Jazz, past ET guest) about how Mexican folk music, Tony Conrad, and Robert Ashley shaped his work. Via WYPR-FM.

Was recording a new episode this afternoon and the guest and I agreed: Loveless is a perfect album but Isn’t Anything is our favorite.

We spoke to Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein from Sleater-Kinney. It was awesome. Via WYPR-FM.

The show is five years old today! Thanks for listening.

We spoke to the delightful Marc Ribot about learning guitar, the musical logic of Ornette Coleman, and the musical genius of Chocolate Genius. Via WYPR-FM. Ribot plays the Big Ears Festival March 21-24.

This should be fun. Join me and Essential Tremors on February 21st at Idle Hour in Baltimore. As part of the Selector Series, we’ll listen to and discuss Q-Tip’s 2008 masterpiece “The Renaissance.” (This album is very important to me.) Come say hello. I am nice.

Join us and guest Selector Geologist of @anmlcollective on 12/13 here in Baltimore for our next Selector Series event. Tix and more info: link.dice.fm/GaxHwY0s8Eb

We spoke to the estimable John Darnielle of @themountaingoats.bsky.social about creating a world within a track, balancing fiction and autobiography, the power of a voice, and how to avoid getting stuck in your twenties, musically.

Welp, here we are.