In Conversation

Brandon Coleman sat down with Mark de Clive-Lowe and Los Guapos at the Freehand Hotel to discuss his new record, Resistance, out September 14 on Brainfeeder. They were joined by Kamasi Washington, Techdizzle, Allakoi Pete, Samir Moulay, and Dale Black for a conversation about collaborating, their influences, and much more. Tune in for a glimpse behind the scenes and into the world of an incredible group of musicians!

In his book Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture, Jace Clayton aka DJ /rupture takes us with him as he traverses the globe. He shares some of these stories and his observations about the nature of music making and sharing in the our times with dublab co-founder, Mark McNeill. We hope you can tune in for this wide ranging and inspiring conversation.

This week Mark McNeill welcomes Jess Sah Bi & Peter One onto the dublab airwaves to share some insights into their album, Our Garden Needs Its Flowers, reissued by Awesome Tapes from Africa. The duo’s 1985 debut album is a soulful country-folk treasure. Created in Côte d’Ivoire, it caused huge ripples throughout Africa upon its release.

Linda Perhacs sat down with DJ Nobody to discuss the reissue of her 1970 album Parallelograms. Over the course of their conversation, we get a feeling for the unique creative process that made this album such a timeless classic. Perhacs explains how Parallelograms was created not from a desire to be a professional artist or musician, but rather as an expression of her experiences with the natural world. She also shares some thoughts on using a combination of synthesizers and acoustic instruments now and where she sees her work going from here.

Our guest this week is composer, arranger, and musician, Van Dyke Parks. His contributions to popular music help to define the sound of an era. Over his 50 year plus career, he has worked with Harry Nilsson, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins, Haruomi Hosono, just to name a few. He is perhaps best known for his work on the Beach Boys' album, Smile, and his 1967 solo album, Song Cycle. In this interview with Carlos Niño, Parks speaks about creating the first "concept" record, learning clarinet the hard way, his love for arranging, and much, much more.

This week on In Conversation we travel back to 1999 to hear an interview with trip-hop pioneers, Smith & Mighty. During their interview with Mark McNeill, they share stories from Bristol (not the one in Texas), and the 90s music scene that saw the rise of bands like Portishead and Massive Attack. We hope you can tune in for this raw, funny, and energizing episode.

Our guest this week is Ewa Wojciak, co-creator, publisher and art director of the legendary publication, NO MAG. Melding the music, fashion, art, and politics that were coalescing around the burgeoning LA punk scene of the early 80s, NO MAG offers a unique view into that era. In her conversation with Jenny NONO, Wojciak takes us back to a time charged with rebellion, humor, and innovation, and encourages us to carry that spirit forward as we face the challenges of today.

Love Injections hosts, Paule Raffaele and Barbie Bertisch, welcome author, Tim Lawrence, to Red Bull Studios to talk about his latest book Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor: 1980-1983. The book charts the renewal of the post-disco party scene in the early 1980s and in the process reveals one of the most creative and dynamic periods in the history of the New York City. During the interview, Lawrence shares some of his own experiences from that time and how finding a home within that community profoundly changed the course of his own life.

This week on In Conversation we are joined by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of Tom Tom Club. They sat down with Daiana Feuer to discuss their sonic roots, their other band, Talking Heads, and the creative currents flowing around all of us. This wide ranging interview kicked off with a vivid description of their initial recording sessions in the Bahamas and the dynamic group of artists and producers they met there. We were left with a tangible feeling for that time and for the creative paths blazed by our guests.

This week on In Conversation we take a trip back through dublab’s archives to the year 2000 and an interview with techno originator, Juan Atkins. During his talk with Dan “Dex” Caballero, Atkins paints us a compellingly down to earth portrait of his life on the cutting edge of music, at one point likening it to turning the lights of a car off on a country road and traveling in darkness. We hope you can tune in for this notion bending and insightful conversation with a pioneer of electronic music.