On this mini-episode, Five passes along a holistic view to music, what believing in yourself really means as an artist, and one of the core reasons he continues to push himself to create.

At the end of the episode, you'll hear a posse track Five did entitled "Summer Freestyle" that was produced by 8th Wundah and features Raise, the late Hammer Beanz, and Milez Grimez.

// Interview recorded May 16th, 2022 via Zoom

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On this episode, I speak with hip hop artist, Five, where he shares what goes into his complex writing process, the experiences he's had winning several bars challenges, working with many other great artists from Rhode Island, and what he's looking to achieve with the release of his latest project, "Long Time Coming Volume 1"

Interlude song order:

• "I'm Back"

// Interview recorded May 16th, 2022 via Zoom

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Christian Caldarone shares his experience record shopping on Thayer St., tells the story of a chance encounter with Buddy Cianci, and passes along creative ways to catch a show. 

The end of the episode features one of my favorite Steadystate songs "Two Moons So Low In The Sky"

// Interview recorded March 17th, 2022 at Christian's home in Lincoln, RI

// Intro music by Cedros

// Hosted by James Toomey //

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In this mini-episode, Christian Caldarone shares his perspective of success, the level of love he has for the Rhode Island music community, and the ways he gets through writer's block.

// Interview recorded March 17th, 2022 at Christian's home in Lincoln, RI

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I recently sat down with my friend and bandmate, Christian Caldarone, to talk about his 30+ years as an active musician, his experience working as a soundperson at The Met and The Century Lounge back in the day, what it was like starting LibertyFest, and how a young kid on Smith Hill may have helped influence a line of Eastman Guitars.

We also take a deeper look at our band High Planes new album - Ghost Town - which is available on latch cut vinyl, cd and streaming everywhere on April 15th! Stick around to the end of this episode to hear the premiere of a brand new song from Ghost Town!!!

Interlude song order:

• "Losing You (and My Hair)" by The Noodles (from their EP Al Dente)

// Interview recorded March 17th, 2022 at Christian's home in Lincoln, RI

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On this episode, Mopes shares the spots he's gone digging for records over the years, the beauty of Rhode Island party pizza, and I introduce to him the rivalry between Del's Lemonade and Mr. Lemon! 

At the end of the episode I've included his song "One Vs. Many" from one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time, DNGRFLD

// Interview recorded February 28th, 2022 via Zoom // Intro music by Cedros // Hosted by James Toomey //

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On this episode you'll hear Mopes pass along some advice on how to be a better performer, why he thinks there's a need for experimentation with your own sound, and what his creative process is with writing lyrics and beat making!

One of the songs Mopes references with regard to this is "A Parting Gift" from his latest album "Unwound"... and you'll hear this at the end of the episode.

strangefamousrecords.com

// Interview recorded February 28th, 2022 via Zoom // Intro music by Cedros // Hosted by James Toomey //

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In this episode, I sit down with one of my favorite rappers, Mopes... who some of you may know from his previous name Prolyphic. Through our conversation we get into the reason why he started making beats, the concepts behind his albums, and how growing up in a working middle-class family influenced his lyrics. We also get a little deeper into the breaks he's taken from music and his recent reintroduction. 

Speaking of that, Mopes fantastic new album "Unwound" came out in February on Strange Famous Records. You can pick this up on limited edition cassette, lathe cut 7", as a special t-shirt bundle, and digital download or stream wherever you get music.

Interlude song order:

• "Iron Maiden" by Prolyphic (from his album An Alarm Clock Set to 9:01)

// Interview recorded February 28th, 2022 via Zoom

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My wife and I (James) recently had our 3rd child and while we were in the hospital we played UNO to help pass some time.

From that, it made me think about a previously unreleased piece from the conversation I had with Lewis Morris back in Oct of 2020 and how we took a bit of a tangent talking about this card game. In this mini-episode, you'll learn more about why we did that and why UNO means so much to us as well as the steps we take to try to harness our impulses for constant creation.

Since Lewis and I had our chat about 16 months ago he has put out 4 beat tapes, half a dozen singles - some of which are part of a very cool project idea called The Warpath, and a brand new mixtape that dropped last month entitled "Valedictorian" which you'll hear the track "Pipebomb" from this release at the end of the episode. I highly recommend you check out his incredible catalog of music and you can do that by visiting LewisMorris.me

// Interview recorded October 12th, 2020 via Zoom

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Ben Shaw and I talk about his favorite things in Rhode Island... and we get even more hyper-local on this episode as Ben shares what all 37.8 square miles of Aquidneck Island has to offer from his view. We cover past record stores, where he hung out to eat pizza, and the music festivals that mean so much to him! And, tune in to hear Mr. Shaw break the code on RI's best drink!!! 

I ended the episode with one of my favorite songs by Ben Shaw. The song is "Modal Interchange" from Ben's self-titled jazz album released in 2020. As you may have heard, this album was recently re-released as a limited edition song book that you can pick up at benjaminshawmusic.com or my site livingroomutb.com

// Interview recorded January 15th, 2022 via Zoom

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