I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee

Since I started this podcast malarkey (maybe before actually, maybe the podcast just encouraged me to be more open about it - gawd, this sounds like a confessional!), I’ve developed a fascination with how music can whisk you off into a distant world, a kind of musical Narnia, not just through the lyrics, but the song structures, the atmosphere, the relationship of current music with past decades (cos we interpret and measure music by decades, right? - although it will be interesting as to what characterises the current decade and the one we just escaped).

 As always, I’m at risk of becoming tediously rooted in the theoretical, but I’m really interested in what makes musicians go to these places: what’s influenced their core mindset and how this plays into what’s influencing them at the time they sit down and write and how, in this fast-paced & volatile world, the music they write keeps pace with their influences and how they themselves keep pace with what seems like an exponential growth in “stuff” that influences us.

Alan Palomo has so many strings to his bow – he’s a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, musician, filmmaker, DJ, and producer – and always, at least it appears to me, produced music on his own terms and in keeping with that, his latest, wonderful LP called World of Hassle – it’s the first under his own name – is a glorious collage that takes you to a world that’s got one foot in a past decade, one in the here and now and one in an augmented reality game. 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

I first met Alaura when we did an online workshop for the South London Arts Lab in October 2020. It was a practical exploration of Stream of Consciousness writing. It was called “Telling The Stories We Were Always Told To Keep Secret”, where we were encouraged to delve into our memory to write about things that have a hold over us, maybe things we are ashamed of, afraid of, whatever that hold may be. This had a very profound effect on me and I have to say took my interest in the importance of mindset to a bit of a higher ground.

This is one string to her wide reaching bow. She’s a multidisciplinary artist, teacher, writer, speaker, visual and sound artist. 

She was also a pivotal member of Psychic TV for 10 years, being married to Genese P-Orridge from 1981 to around 1992, before they separated. 

This is a fabulous conversation about her formative years, getting into 23 Skidoo, then Psychic TV, how she’s navigated her way through the good and bad times, how she herself has evolved and the next decisive chapter in her life.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

Our mindset is super important to how we handle life and what the future might hold for us.  The importance of maintaining and regenerating our friendships and relationships shouldn't be overlooked but they often are. Of course, how we view them can be wrapped up in things that happened to us going way back. I’m also interested in how friendships evolve over our life – do they come and go, is it as commonplace to maintain lifelong friendships as much these days and in fact how do we ourselves evolve and stay friends with ourselves? Nerd alert!

Anyway, Becca Mancari has created the most beautiful album called Left Hand – their third solo album actually – and, alongside the exquisite songwriting and arrangements, the notable themes running through it are, you guessed it…friendships and relationships, both in terms of themes and awesome collaborators – and with more than a sprinkling of self evolution and acceptance. 

This is a fabulous conversation with someone who is transforming their life from the darkness of self-reckoning to illuminating self-acceptance. 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

Tony Njoku is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, musician, producer and visual artist whose music is impossible to categorise. It has so many influences that its identity is unique – just like it should be. 

He's assembling his art in ways that tell a story that helps him and helps others by bringing us  together over shared experiences. Asking those big questions about our own identity and evolution, exploring what matters in life, gets me really interested in the personal intent and commitment that this involves whether through necessity or choice and in the courage, resilience and emotional intelligence. 

The visual work that he produces to accompany his music is as beautiful and captivating as the music itself - the sonics and the visuals get your attention and make you think about what’s inspiring this. You can't help but apply that to yourself. Check out Rhododendron, a song about metamorphosis, healing and new beginnings. The stripped down piano and vocals version is just beautiful.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

Curiosity is one of the most endearing things that we have as children – the never ending barrage of “why?”. 

It’s also one of the things, along with playfulness and adaptability, that can get kicked out of us as we get older. 

Stephen Mallinder is one of the most prolific, influential and pioneering DIY sound, art and writing radicals, from opening up new sound terrains with Cabaret Voltaire to making soundtracks, experimental filmography, forming DIY record labels, radio shows, festivals, solo stuff, remixes, collaborations such as the brilliant Wrangler, Ku-Ling Bros, getting himself a PhD, writing academic journals and now lecturing in Digital Music and Sound Arts at the Uni of Brighton. 

In a nutshell, he has constantly explored those unknown spaces where intense curiosity is not only possible but essential for constant development.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

We're signing off Season 9 with a pioneering legend. 

Here's what the incomparable Vivien Goldman wrote about Lora Logic back in the nascent days of punk:

 “The remarkable Lora Logic, several phases ahead as usual, proves yet again that she’s the best thing that ever played in the Roxy…The woman defines herself, un-pompously fills a cultural vacuum. If there is a modern dance, she’s our Ginger Rogers.”

I was listening to Lora’s back catalogue and I started to think that those cultural vacuums that Vivien wrote about could be those that appear when one movement fades, but the next movement hasn’t yet formed and doesn’t have a genre…that exciting, experimental phase – bands like X-Ray-Spex, ESG, Bush Tetras and Lora’s own post-X-Ray-Spex band, Essential Logic, were the ones that were always pushing boundaries, doing things a bit differently, never standing still.

Her latest album, Land of Kali, released towards the end of last year, is a wonderful odyssey that takes us through the mirror of our own lives into the dangerous and dystopian age of Kali Yuga, ultimately emerging with positivity and hope. 

There are some people who, through their art, their music or just their whole being, make you feel that, whatever happens to us, things are going to be ok. 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

Alianna Kalaba is a multi-instrumentalist, most renowned, I guess, for playing drums for the past 10/11 years with Cat Power and this beautifully distorted, snake-like bass with FACS, signing off from them with their latest album Still Life In Decay which is just a masterpiece - I’m totally in love with that record. 

Alianna is also the first person that I’ve ever heard talk about a euphonium since I was playing the cello as a restless teenager which is a bloody long time ago.

There is some serendipity about meeting Alianna which we talk about in the podcast (if you can get past my ridiculous ramblings in the intro).

I continue to be blown away by these conversations, by these meetings of minds, by the similarities and differences in issues we face, our environments, our formative influences and how we navigate everything. 

Alianna is a wonderful conversationalist and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

When I started thinking about experimental mindsets, I started looking for examples of that mindset at use in real life.

I wrote something about Detroit. Detroit has always fascinated me, just like Moscow (weird how we get drawn to certain places or scenes isn’t it?).

It went something like this - Detroit is THE example of how a city was blindsided by technology transforming an industry to which it had sold its soul. It's population declined by almost two-thirds in just 60 years and the city declined in many, many ways.

But an experiment emerged that changed things. Mark Covington started the Georgia Street Collective after getting fed up with rubbish being tipped near where he lived. So he formed a collective of like minded people. And it worked. People came together. And it turned into a collective that re-purposed an abandoned building into a community centre, bought land parcels and converted them into a farm, fruit orchards etc. The human impact from these shared values, self belief and connection is immense.

These stories from Detroit show that it has developed the desire to experiment, the ability to be resilience and creative, grow new skills and re-ignite human connections.

The full piece is here if you're interested:

https://www.heysunday.co/post/we-almost-lost-detroit

I use this example as musicians have this power to bring people together. Today's guest, Gordon Sterling, has an incredible, empathetic voice and, with his fabulous band, The People, is playing music which makes me think of community, the human experience and unification. 

This is a wonderful conversation with a wonderful human who is the embodiment of his music.

 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

One of the wonderful things about an experimental mindset is that it gives you the willingness and desire to be not just open to other ways of living and approaching your life – whether that be your work, your hobbies, your relationships - but to actively going to find those other ways. In terms of music, this could be being bringing in different musical styles, influences, instrumentation and collaborations with people that you might not ordinarily gravitate towards – basically getting out of your comfort zone. It could also be finding different ways to feed your creativity.

Marcus Machado is a hugely talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter with drums, keyboards and guitar for which he is most well known, drawing on inspiration from people like Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and D’Angelo. He ticks many of these positive mindset boxes and musically, someone who crosses and fuses the traditional “genres” to create an exciting and diverse catalogue of solo, soundtrack and collaborative music. 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste

Elisabeth Elektra has lived with and through change, uncertainty, improvisation and transformation – the sort of things that today’s world throws at us. She gained her degree in experimental music and visual art, so she has got used to throwing herself into strange creative situations. She’s always pushed herself outside of her comfort zones and this gives her creativity this constant flux and fluidity. I love the experimental and esoteric ethos that underpins her creativity and gives her music a magic, spirituality and vibrancy that’s part futuristic, part retro in its vibe.  

This conversation is full of magic and is a real education in courageous living and empathy.

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

- brought to you from the mothership of the experimental mindset™
- cover art by Giles Sibbald 
- doodle logo and art by Tide Adesanya, Coppie and Paste