Community Matters + For the Record

New York City native and longtime contributor to its music and nightlife scene, W. Andrew Raposo is best known as a crazy dog dad and for his work with DFA records--most notably with Hercules and Love Affair, Still Going, and Jayson Green & The Jerk--and as a founding member of cosmic dance floor stalwarts Midnight Magic. His studio, La Piscina Recordings, has hosted such clubland luminaries as Justin Strauss, Eli Escobar, and Nomi Ruiz as well as rocketing torchbearers The Illustrious Blacks, Muscle Cars and Cesar Toribio. Raposo continues to tour both on stage and in the DJ booth with Hess Is More, Midnight Magic and 79.5 (Razor N Tape) bringing his three layer dip of post-punk, psychedelic disco, and haunted-house to sweaty basements and debaucherous mountain chalets all over the world.

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Formed in 2009 by Tiffany Roth, W. Andrew Raposo, Morgan Wiley, and Carter Yasutake, Midnight Magic is responsible for some of the most beloved 'new classics' from the disco-revival era of the early oughts including club mainstays "Beam Me Up" and "Drop Me A Line." Through their collaboration with Brooklyn jazz legend Nick Roseboro, former Charles Bradley & The Extraordinaires drummer Caito Sanchez, saxophone and synthesizer wizard Julio Monterrey and past members Max Goldman, Andrew Frawley, and Jason Disu, Midnight Magic casts a genre defying spell on sweaty discotheques and festival stages across the universe.

MUSIC MENTIONS

Early days of Midnight Magic (16:20):

Q&A

Discovering music today (34:19):

First album ever purchased (43:10):

Most recent album purchased (46:05):

Artists discovered in the past year (49:58):

Desert island discs (59:28):

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Jack Spallone started his music career talent-buying for live performances and artist management while still an undergrad. In 2016, he became an early contributor of Ujo Music, the ConsenSys project that introduced the first music cases on Ethereum. While at ConsenSys, Jack also worked with Harry Fox Agency and SESAC to secure the winning bid to be the technology partner of the MLC, among other enterprise client work.

Jack has built a reputation as a web3 music pioneer. He has helped artists enter into the web3 ecosystem to explore new format releases, artist DAOs, and crypto-based community building tools. Apart from continuing to help artists, Jack is an investor and advisor to several music web3 startups and an active participant in the dialogue shaping web3 music.

Today, along with long time collaborator and grammy-winning Andre Anjos (aka RAC), Jack leads a team of people building a data sharing protocol for music applications; Oscillator, and a music review and sharing app, Factory.

MUSIC MENTIONS

Ujo Music and RAC (22:08):

Q&A

Discovering music today (46:53):

First album ever purchased (51:57):

Most recent album purchased (52:30):

Artists discovered in the past year (53:43):

Desert island discs (54:23):

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Latashá is a defiant visionary music artist, founder and world builder. She creates music and experiences that evokes feelings of aliveness and lightness, crossing genres to express the full spectrum of her human ingenious. Known for her transcendent performances, Latashá utilizes her voice, curation, theatrical talent, and dream-like storytelling to convey her perspectives on identity. She is also a leading pioneer in Web3 and innovative creative integrating cutting-edge technology into her artistic practice and independent innovation. Latashá is actively building TASH55 and her company TOPIA, a unique multi faceted world of music, art and next level experiences that ties tech, culture and music to human emotion. She continues to tour the world to reach and impact the present and future of both the music, experience and tech industries.

MUSIC MENTIONS

Opening for Kanye early on (16:13):

Q&A

Discovering music today (35:56):

First album ever purchased (38:39):

Most recent album purchased (39:21):

Artists discovered in the past year (41:22):

Desert island discs (43:25):

Guest recs for future episodes (47:48):

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

JKriv is a Brooklyn-based producer, DJ, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and label owner. Widely known as a co-founder of the stalwart label Razor-N-Tape, J is also a highly respected producer, prolific remixer, and incendiary DJ.

As co-founder of Brooklyn label Razor-N-Tape, JKriv has had a sizable impact on both the local NY and global dance music scenes. The label’s prolific and consistent quality output across 150+ releases over 12 years of operation has earned them eminent respect and support from club DJs, radio selectors and listeners around the world.

MUSIC MENTIONS

Jazz as a career alternative (12:20):

Defining Razor-N-Tape (15:46):

Q&A

Discovering music today (26:15):

First album ever purchased (32:18):

Most recent album purchased (33:01):

Artists discovered in the past year (34:13):

Desert island discs (37:15):

Guest recs for future episodes (51:59):

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

VISUALS is the music of Andrew Fox.

A veteran musician, Fox has released his brand of psychedelic songcraft on Nicolas Jaar‘s imprint Other People, Bruno Pronsato‘s Berlin-based label The Song Says, and now New York’s House of Feelings.  Collaborating with Dave Harrington of DARKSIDE, Michael Lovett of NZCA LINES / Metronomy, The Range & others, VISUALS filters folk, psych, and soul through a pulsing, electronic prism.  Kinetic and lyrical, this is music you can see.

MUSIC MENTIONS

Influences for upcoming projects (24:47):

Q&A

Discovering music today (36:07):

First album ever purchased (41:34):

Most recent album purchased (44:05):

Artists discovered in the past year (47:04):

Desert island discs (49:08):

Guest recs for future episodes (51:59):

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Brandon Stosuy is the co-founder and editor in chief of The Creative Independent. He previously worked as director of Editorial Operations at the online music publication, Pitchfork. Brandon curates the annual Basilica SoundScape festival in Hudson, New York, and has been a music curator at MoMA PS1 in New York City and the Broad museum in Los Angeles. For over a decade, he and the visual artist Matthew Barney have collaborated on a series of live art and music events in Long Island City. Up Is Up, But So Is Down, his anthology of downtown New York literature, was a 2006 Village Voice book of the year. Brandon is also the author of three books on creativity, Make Time for Creativity, Stay Inspired, How to Fail Successfully (all published by Abrams) and two children’s books, Music Is... and We Are Music (both published by Simon & Schuster). In November of 2024 he published the anthology, Sad Happens: A Celebration Of Tears, also on Simon & Schuster. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons.

MUSIC MENTIONS

From small town perspective shifts (9:15):

Curatorial evolution over the years (20:00):

Q&A

Discovering music today (31:00):

First album ever purchased (41:00):

Most recent album purchased (42:28):

Artists discovered in the past year (45:17):

Desert island discs (50:09):

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Suzan Peeters (°1999) is a Belgian accordionist, composer, and experimentalist. She is constantly looking for new timbres and sound textures within the accordion, pushing its acoustic spectrum to its limits by manipulating the interplay between her body and the body of her instrument. Suzan studied classical accordion at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. She is currently studying Live Electronics at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

MUSIC MENTIONS

Q&A

Discovering music today (26:00):

Artists discovered in the past year (28:55):

First album ever purchased (33:35):

Most recent album purchased (00):

Desert island discs (37:01):

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Natalie Crüe is a cultural producer, consultant, and activist leveraging arts, culture and emergent technologies for social change. She co-founded #CultureFix, a global network fostering civic engagement through creative initiatives. Natalie's work spans blockchain technology, including co-developing the Metaverse Music Festival (MVMF) and stewarding numerous grants and communities across the blockchain landscape. As founder of Web3Uncut, she leads a consultancy exploring and interrogating decentralized technologies, and recently founded a creative crowdfunding platform.

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Sébastien Devaud aka Agoria, born in Lyon on January 16, 1976 is a French electronic music producer, DJ and digital artist. Agoria started his music career in the mid-1990s and gained popularity in the early 2000s with his debut album "Blossom" released in 2003. He is known for his unique blend of techno, house, and ambient music, which has earned him a reputation as one of the most innovative and influential electronic music producers of his generation. Agoria has released several albums, EPs, and singles throughout his career, including "The Green Armchair" (2006), "Impermanence" (2011), and "Drift" (2019). He has released 5 albums with both major Universal Music, Virgin and indie labels Pias.

Agoria has been an early contributor to the French electronic music scene with the creation of his own label Sapiens, and Lyon electronic music festival Les Nuits Sonores. He has also collaborated with various artists, including Tricky, Ela Minus, Carl Craig, Neneh Cherry, Noemie, Rami Khalifé and Blasé. Agoria has performed at major music festivals and clubs around the world, including Coachella, Sonar, Melt, We Love Green, 3points east,…

He has also been very active and creative in the art scene, he collaborated with Philippe Parreno and Nicolas Becker on art exhibitions and performances at the Armory Park in NYC (2018), at the turbine hall of Tate Modern in London (2018), and started his own solo show in Miami Art Basel (2019).

Combining art, music and science in his work, he collaborates with biologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers. He is considered the trailblazer of Biological Generative Art.

Agoria’s work has been exhibited all around the world lately at major NFT events: in NYC on Times Square during NFT.NYC, in Barcelona at Sonar (co-curated by Antonia Folguera and Diane Drubay), at Refraction festival in NYC, at Proof of People show in London (curated by VerticalCrypto), and during Berlin Art Week (curated by Anika Meier) in September.

Last but not least, he has been invited last March to exhibit Phytocene and share his vision about web3 in front of United Nations.

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

Join the Crate Coalition: https://discord.gg/sAaG6a7bv4

Rising UK-based electronic artist and producer Jamie Reddington (aka Sound of Fractures) announces his groundbreaking project, "Scenes.” The interactive album invites fans to contribute their favourite memories and photographs in response to each of the record’s songs, encouraging a lean-in, emotional connection that’s been lost in our passive streaming environment.

“Music isn't just about sound; it's about the memories and emotions they evoke. ‘Scenes’ is an effort to give a tangible form to this abstract connection and capture it in something we can recognise,” shares Reddington. “Each song and its accompanying ‘Scenes’ will populate a digital gallery – an archive that's a living testament to how music interacts with life moments in today's social media-dominated era."

Hundreds of listeners have contributed Scenes, embarking upon what fans are calling a “journey through the rich tapestry of our inner worlds.” The BBC Radio-featured artist and web3 pioneer chooses one Scene to be each track’s primary artwork, encapsulating it as a digital collectable that forever links artist and listener.

“Scenes” is Reddington’s most salient experiment to date. It builds upon a reputation based as much on championing music communities as his unique sonic signature, which blends elements of Jamie XX and Burial with found sounds like his daughter’s heartbeat.

Be sure to check out Scenes here: