Episode 33: Songs for John Venn by Lou Turner

While researching the life of English mathematician John Venn, Nashville based singer-songwriter Lou Turner became inspired after discovering parallels between her life and his. In Episode 33, Turner tells the story of her 2020 album Songs For John Venn. Recounting the events that led up to the record’s creation, the native Texan touches on how her work at a library influenced much of the album’s lyrical direction as well as her experience recording with her Styrofoam Winos bandmates.

For more info on Lou Turner, visit louturner.com or spinstersounds.com

Episode 32: All Around by The Oranges Band

After meeting at American University in the late 90s, Roman Kuebler and Dan Black would collaborate on a recording project that would eventually morph into the Baltimore, Maryland based quintet The Oranges Band. In Episode 32, Kuebler and Black tell the story of their band’s 2003 debut full length All Around, touching on their signing with noted independent punk label Lookout Records and their experience of making the album at Key Club Recording Company in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

For more info on The Oranges Band, visit theorangesband.bandcamp.com

Episode 31: The Nerves EP by The Nerves

During their brief time together, the legendary power pop trio The Nerves struggled to gain any sort of recognition. In an effort to remedy the situation, the San Francisco based band would enter a Chinese recording studio and make a record. In Episode 31, The Nerves’ Paul Collins and Jack Lee tell the story of their classic 4 song EP, detailing the band’s formation as well as their various schemes and attempts at achieving rock and roll glory.

For more info on The Nerves, visit alive-records.com and thepaulcollinsbeat.com

Episode 30: Cypress by Let’s Active

Having made a name for himself as an engineer and producer during the burgeoning college rock scene of the early 80s, Mitch Easter would form the band Let’s Active with bassist Faye Hunter and drummer Sara Romweber as a vehicle for his own songwriting. In Episode 30, Easter tells the story of the band’s 1984 debut full length Cypress. Recounting the events surrounding the album’s creation, the native North Carolinian touches on the band’s experience working in the studio he built inside his parents’ garage and how a bandmate’s really great hair would lead to their signing with I.R.S Records.

Episode 29: Ready, Steady, Go by Holiday

With their matching suits and unabashed love of the classic pop song, the band Holiday would become one of the country’s finest practitioners of indie pop during the alternative rock heyday of the 1990s. In Episode 29, Holiday’s Josh Gennet and Matt Snow tell the story of the band’s sophomore record Ready, Steady, Go. Detailing the events that led to the album’s creation, the two former bandmates discuss their beginnings in the hallowed halls of Yale University as well as their experience working in the studio with producer Dave Trumfio.

Episode 28: Starlite Walker by Silver Jews

In the summer of 1994, David Berman along with bandmates Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, and Steve West entered Easley McCain Recording in Memphis, Tennessee. The end result would be Starlite Walker. In Episode 28, Silver Jews founding member Bob Nastanovich tells the story of the band’s debut full length recounting Berman’s excursion into the woods of Oxford, Mississippi to write the album’s lyrics as well as the impetus for and the experience of working in a professional recording studio.

For more info on Silver Jews, visit dragcity.com

Episode 27: Once We Were Trees by Beachwood Sparks

In the winter of 2001, the Los Angeles based psychedelic country band Beachwood Sparks traveled to a snowy New England to make a record at J Mascis’s house. In Episode 27, bassist Brent Rademaker tells the story of the band’s sophomore album Once We Were Trees. Recounting the events that led to the album’s creation, Rademaker touches on the influences that shaped the record’s lyrics and sounds as well as the band’s experience working with producer Thom Monahan.

For more info, visit curationrecords.com and subpop.com

Episode 26: No Medium by Rosali

When her plans to tour in January of 2019 get delayed, Michigan born songwriter Rosali Middleman decides to travel to South Carolina to spend some time alone and focus on new material. In Episode 26, Middleman tells the story of how her 2021 record No Medium came to be. Recorded in a Nebraska basement with David Nance Group as her backing band, the sometimes Philadelphian touches on the events that inspired the album’s lyrics and her experience of releasing music during a pandemic.

For more info on Rosali, visit rosalimusic.com or spinstersounds.com

Episode 25: Spotlight on Optiganally Yours by Optiganally Yours

After a chance encounter with a mysterious instrument called an optigan at a thrift store in Oakland, musician Pea Hicks brings it to his home in San Diego and quickly begins making music with his roommate Rob Crow (Pinback, Heavy Vegetable, Thingy). In Episode 25 of In Loving Recollection, the members of Optiganally Yours tell the story of their 1997 debut album Spotlight on Optiganally Yours touching on how the concept for the band was developed and the steps that were taken to avoid being viewed as a novelty act.

For more info on Optiganally Yours, visit optiganallyyours.bandcamp.com and optigan.com

Episode 24: Light Heat by Light Heat

Following the release of his band’s 2005 record We’re Already There, Quentin Stoltzfus would lose the right to perform and record under the name Mazarin. Eight years later, he would finally release new music under the name Light Heat. In Episode 24, Stoltzfus tells the story of Light Heat’s long journey to completion, touching on the events that inspired the record’s themes of loss and hope as well as the experience of bringing the songs to fruition with the help of his friends in The Walkmen.

For more info on Light Heat, visit lightheat.bandcamp.com