Tracing Spaces
26 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 years ago -Tracing Spaces is a meditative music interview podcast featuring ambient, electronic, and experimental luminaries. It is hosted by Toronto-based writer/musician Jesse Locke and produced by Telephone Explosion Records.
Homepage Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Jeff Tobias (Sunwatchers, Modern Nature)
January 20, 2022 23:24 - 55 minutes - 88.5 MBThis episode features Jeff Tobias, the saxophonist from bands such as Sunwatchers and Modern Nature, among many other projects. His recent releases include the solo album Recurring Dream and a duo sax collaboration with Patrick Shiroishi. As a quick housekeeping note, Chandra's upcoming European tour that I mention in this episode has been put on ice, but we hope to hop back across the pond as soon as it's safe enough to do so. Follow Jeff's work at the links below! https://www.jefftobias...
Haley Fohr (Circuit Des Yeux, Jackie Lynn)
December 07, 2021 18:40 - 22 minutes - 42.3 MBThis episode features Chicago-based musician Haley Fohr, who performs as Circuit Des Yeux and Jackie Lynn. We discuss the making of her latest albums, the colour orange, and the ongoing influences of Laraaji, Scott Walker, and Sparks. Circuit Des Yeux's -io is now available from Matador, and Jackie Lynn's Jacqueline is now available from Drag City. https://circuitdesyeux.bandcamp.com/album/io https://jackielynn.bandcamp.com/album/jacqueline
Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band
July 15, 2021 00:01 - 43 minutes - 81.6 MBThis episode features Yves Jarvis and Romy Lightman of the Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band. The musicians and romantic partners discuss how they met at one of the final shows from her band Tasseomancy, family connections to the Tree Museum, and how opposites attract. Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band's debut album, Banned, is out now from ANTI- and Flemish Eye. https://www.instagram.com/bandecstatic/ https://lightmanjarvisecstaticband.bandcamp.com/album/banned
Chad VanGaalen
April 08, 2021 04:51 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBThis episode features Chad VanGaalen, celebrated Calgarian song-maker, producer, and animator. In his third conversation with Jesse Locke over a storied musical career, Chad gives listeners an audio tour of his creative playground, shares some of his philosophies on recording, and explains why the sound of Women's cult famous album Public Strain can never be recreated. Chad's new album, World's Most Stressed Out Gardener, is out now from Sub Pop and Flemish Eye. If you enjoy this interview...
Nina Ryser
March 23, 2021 14:12 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MBThis episode features Nina Ryser, one third of art-punk trio Palberta and a prolific solo artist. Our short but sweet conversation includes Nina's earliest memories of recording diary-like cassettes at age 8, the making of Palberta's new album at Paul Reubens' family home, and finally gets to the bottom of their band name. Spoiler alert: It has nothing to do with Alberta. If you enjoy this interview, please leave us a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts, share it with a friend...
Jordan Reyes
February 22, 2021 15:31 - 1 hour - 60 MBThis week’s episode features Jordan Reyes, an acclaimed experimental musician and the founder of American Dreams Records. Our rousing conversation spans a wide range of topics including ambient country, Christian first person shooters, and how he joined the legendary avant-gospel group ONO. Jordan even provides a few hints at the poppy new directions of his upcoming solo album. If you enjoy this interview, please leave us a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts, share it with a ...
Barry Cleveland
February 08, 2021 05:22 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MBThis episode features guitarist Barry Cleveland, who has the rare honour of collaborating with Emerald Web and having his music featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Barry's beautiful 1986 cassette Stones of Precious Water was recently reissued by Morning Trip Records. We discuss his memories of its recording sessions, experiences in the San Francisco punk scene, and second life as a music journalist and author. If you enjoy this interview, please leave us a rating or review wherever you l...
Vanessa Briscoe Hay
January 24, 2021 22:24 - 1 hour - 62.1 MBThis week's episode features Vanessa Briscoe Hay, the singer of legendary post-punk band Pylon! She shares stories of the B-52s, R.E.M., Ru Paul, and other oddball artists who helped put the band's hometown of Athens, Georgia on the subcultural map. Pylon recently released a massive 4LP box set on New West Records, collecting their original run of albums with a healthy selection of rarities never heard before. If you enjoy this interview, please leave us a rating or review wherever you lis...
Kate NV
January 10, 2021 23:00 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBRussian musician Kate NV (a.k.a. Ekaterina Shilonosova) is a multi-faceted artist who slips between genres like the costumed characters she inhabits in her photos and videos. Her latest solo album Room for the Moon (RVNG Intl.) is a one-woman show with a cast of characters singing in five different languages set against neon-hued backdrops of electronic hooks. NV wears influences on her sleeves that include Japanese City Pop and cartoons that shaped her as a child such as the uncensored vers...
Craig Kupka
November 30, 2020 01:53 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBIn the early 1980s, Californian trombonist and composer Craig Kupka recorded a pair of gorgeously flowing instrumental albums for Folkways Records. Clouds and Crystals were created with the express purpose of accompanying the cool down period of modern dance classes taught by his romantic partner, and have become celebrated releases in the cosmos of new age. Our conversation jumps from Craig’s early inspirations to his use of cannabis to inspire creativity, and concludes with some stories of...
Lora Logic
November 16, 2020 02:16 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MBThis week’s episode features Lora Logic in her first ever podcast appearance! The British post-punk legend recounts the stories of how she joined X-Ray Spex on saxophone at age 15, was subsequently ejected from the group, and formed her new band Essential Logic. Lora also shares some anecdotes on her collaborations throughout the years, the harrowing experience that led her to join the Hare Krishnas, and ends with a sneak preview of the new music she's planning to release in the near future!...
John Mills-Cockell
November 01, 2020 18:30 - 1 hour - 63.8 MBThis week’s episode tumbles from the vault to feature an interview with Canadian synth hero John Mills-Cockell, best known for his work with Syrinx and Intersystems. Recorded in spring 2020 when a Syrinx reunion show at the festival Le Guess Who? still seemed possible, our conversation covers decades of ground. Beginning with stories of how John tried out to play keyboards for Yes, it travels through his experiences with the Vancouver group Hydro Electric Streetcar, the unpredictable nature ...
Sarah Davachi
October 19, 2020 01:59 - 48 minutes - 44.5 MB"I make the kind of music that I do because it helps me," says Sarah Davachi. Throughout her prolific discography, the experimental composer has used extended tones and sounds associated with sacred spaces to slow down the frenzied pace of everyday life. Davachi's latest album Cantus, Descant augments recordings made on pipe organs with the haunting sound of her own vocals. In this conversation, we talk about our shared hometown of Calgary, overlooked elements of classic rock, the tour date...
Memory Pearl
October 05, 2020 21:36 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBWay back in April, we sat down with Toronto's Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg to chat about the debut album from his ambient alias, Memory Pearl. Music For Seven Paintings (Idée Fixe Records) may sound strikingly different from the motorik pulse he provides to avant-rock group Absolutely Free, but as he explains in this friendly, freewheeling conversation, it sounds much more like the records on his own shelf at home. Memory Pearl's lulling electronic sound can be partly credited to Fisher-Rozenberg’...
Rupa
September 21, 2020 13:29 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBIn 1981, singer Rupa Biswas traveled from her home in Kolkata, India to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where she recorded the album Disco Jazz. It was not a commercial success, but found a second life many years later, with copies of the joyful, genre-blurring LP selling for more than 500 pounds before it was eventually reissued by Numero Group. We connected with Rupa and her son Debayan for a conversation about the album's creation and how it continues to spread happiness so many years later.
Jessy Lanza
August 31, 2020 00:01 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBTracing Spaces returns with a conversation with Jessy Lanza! The electronic pop artist shares fantastic stories about her childhood connections to the rave scene in her hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, what it was like to road trip across the U.S. at the start of the pandemic, filming music videos in her van, and the lyrical implications of the word “daddy” on her new album, All The Time, now available from Hyperdub. This interview originally appeared as a written article in the experimental m...
Irmin Schmidt
June 01, 2020 02:09 - 34 minutes - 31.4 MBFor the 10th episode of Tracing Spaces, we're thrilled to share our conversation with Can keyboardist and composer Irmin Schmidt! This discussion details his formative musical experiences studying with Stockhausen, agitated experiences in the studio and on live German television, and concludes with the influence of church bells on his upcoming live album, Nocturne. It was a true honour to speak with one of krautrock's last living legends.
Mary Currie
May 18, 2020 15:47 - 49 minutes - 45.5 MBMary Currie is one half of Flaming Tunes, the UK DIY duo she formed with Gareth Williams following the dissolution of his band This Heat. Their fragile, ramshackle pop songs stand in stark opposition to the apocalyptic post-punk of Williams’ better known group, and have remained a cult favourite since their original release as a cassette in 1985. While Flaming Tunes' music has been made available officially and unofficially several times, its most recent reissue from Blackest Ever Black went...
William Eaton
May 11, 2020 13:56 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBWilliam Eaton sees his music as a conversation and communion with nature. He began his creative journey in the early 1970s while living in the deserts of Arizona, sleeping outside, walking for hours in bare feet, and primarily subsisting on food from the earth. In these years, he would perform improvised guitar music outside for hours on end until friends convinced him to record and release an album. This resulted in Music By William Eaton with 18 spontaneous, untitled songs. It falls somewh...
Marie Davidson
April 27, 2020 11:42 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBMarie Davidson’s electronic music showcases elements of self confidence, detached humour, and open-hearted empathy. She developed the latter quality in the mid 2000s as a co-founder of the Montreal collectively run art space La Brique, which provided an early playground for artists such as Grimes, Dirty Beaches, and Tonstartssbandht. Davidson joined Xarah Dion in the experimental duo Les Momies de Palerme (Constellation Records) before founding Essaie Pas (DFA) with her husband Pierre Guerin...
Beverly Glenn-Copeland
March 16, 2020 13:16 - 36 minutes - 33 MBBeverly Glenn-Copeland couldn’t afford to hire musicians, never mind the orchestra he had in his head. He was living in the small community of Huntsville, Ontario surrounded by the Muskokan wilderness. Though his roots were based in folk and jazz, new sounds seemed to beam into his mind like the holodeck of the Starship enterprise. Using a Yahama DX7 synthesizer, he created the gorgeously fragile electronic soundscapes of what became his celebrated New Age album, Keyboard Fantasies. Its song...
Michele Mercure
March 02, 2020 15:04 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBMichele Mercure's musical activities began in the 1980s with her experimental theatre scores and 10-second animated bumpers for the burgeoning MTV. Drawn into the community of tape trading, she became pen pals with Conrad Schnitzler, The Nightcrawlers, and a pre fame Yanni. Michele’s self released cassettes have recently been reissued by labels such as RVNG and Pete Swanson’s Freedom to Spend, who made her album Eye Chant their inaugural release. She has now returned with a recharged motiva...
Craig Leon
February 18, 2020 13:55 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBOn this episode, we're excited to share our interview with Craig Leon! While possibly best known for producing Suicide, Blondie, and The Ramones, he is also an accomplished experimental musician with his album Nommos released by John Fahey's label Takoma in 1981. We discuss Craig's experiences in the NYC punk scene, his ongoing extraterrestrial inspirations, and other lesser known releases such as his collaboration with Arthur Brown.
Suzanne Ciani
February 03, 2020 14:00 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBFor this episode, we're overjoyed to share our interview with Suzanne Ciani. From her sensual solo albums to her work as a commercial sound designer and session musician, she has infiltrated pop culture with her electronic fantasias for the past 50 years. To hear the exclusive extended version of this interview and support future episodes, subscribe to our Patreon for $5 per month. https://www.patreon.com/tracingspaces
Steve Roach
January 20, 2020 02:16 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBSteve Roach is a prolific electronic artist who has been active since the early 1980s. Though he shuns the term New Age, he has received two Grammy nominations for the album of the year in this category. Steve joins us to share the stories of his transition from motorcycle racer to musician, the making of his three-part Quiet Music series (soon to be reissued by Telephone Explosion Records), how to survive eight-hour concerts, and much more.
Don Slepian
January 20, 2020 01:47 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBFor our debut episode, we were excited to welcome Don Slepian. You may recognize his name from Light in the Attic's I Am The Centre compilation, where he appeared alongside other early practitioners of cosmic devotional music. Two of Don's early '80s albums have recently been reissued - Sea of Bliss by Number Group and New Dawn by Morning Trip - and he shares stories of those formative days. This interview originally appeared on Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions podcast.