Listen Now

Hey Guys, Riley here Firstly, I would like to apologize for the lack of an episode last week. I’ve been putting a lot of things into place to gear up for the launch of the Stonehall Sessions website and it required me to refresh the feed which took it down for a day. Anyways! That shouldn’t affect us going forward. Episode 32 brings with it Nerve Leak, an artist who I’ve admired for sometime, and whose music I discovered randomly through soundcloud. For a little over a year I have been enthralled with the textures of his EP Disconnected, which mixes very cold electronics with acoustic guitar and vocal processing in a way similar to FKA Twigs or James Blake. The result is a collection of songs that are much more than the sum of their parts and wholly unique. Talking to Sam was fun in that it quickly became apparent that we were both just two music nerds who also happened to use ableton. While I’ve trimmed it down to just over an hour, the interview itself lasted 3, as we meandered into topics such as the legacy of the House of Balloons to how Yeezus is an almost perfect album to how cheap rent is in Montreal. Maybe someday I’ll release the full interview. But until then, please enjoy listening to one of my favourite producers talk about his craft. Episode 32, Nerve Leak. I think you’re going to enjoy it.

Hey Guys Riley here Episode 31 is upon us and with it brings Jonathan Schenke, a musician, producer and a mixing and mastering engineer who uncoincidentally worked on Telecomo, last week’s guests, debut LP. But his talents extend beyond micing up hungover ottawa boys. His band, Eaters, is an experimental group whose love of texture … Continue reading Jonathan Schenke – Work On It Until You Don’t Want To Work On It Anymore →

Hey Guys, Riley here. Episode 30 is upon us and with it brings Telecomo, a new garage rock band from members of SILKKEN, The Acorn, Bondar and just about every other band in Ottawa Full disclosure, Adam, the frontman, was the person who booked my first ever show, back when I did ambient nonsense and we’ve been friends ever since. He and Pat came to the studio and the three of us talked about what its like being a new band with vast amounts of experience, and how to come to a decision to start a completely new project when you’re already part of other projects that have broken through. And this, I think, led us down some interesting rabbit holes, because this is a band who is bringing their considerable talent to bear on a well-worn genre and deliberately putting their own twist on it. It’s intriguing to me because this is not the romanticized story of a few plunky upstarts writing songs in their parents garage. Its a story of, for all intents and purposes, the formation of an Ottawa supergroup. But unlike, say Emerson Lake and Palmer of Squakket who often got bogged down in stylistic pretension , the goal here is to be as accessible as possible to a wide range of listeners. And so we talk about this and discuss how to balance the critical and commercial exception of a project like this, what its like to be known unknowns, and how whether in music or social media all audiences are looking for is authenticity. So! Episode 30, Telecomo. I think you’re going to like it.

Hey Guys, Riley here Episode 29 is upon us and with it brings Celestial Trax. And for many of you who came here today thinking I was going to bring on another Bosveld type artist, you might be disappointed. Celestial Trax is a producer whose music I discovered over soundcloud and I’ve been completely enamoured with ever since. his music prioritizes texture over melody, mixing weaving treated samples and club beats together in a very alien way. His latest EP, From the Womb, really plays with song structure, abandoning grime almost completely to create songs that ebb and flow in really beautiful ways, especially the song Bodily, which you’re about to hear in a second. Anyways! In this interview we talk about his surprising start in music, his process for creating textures and how to imbue a specific feeling into abstract music. If you have any interest in where music will be heading in the next 5 years, you owe it to yourself to check this out So! episode 29. Celestial Trax! You’re gonna enjoy it.

Hey Guys, Riley here. Episode 27 is upon us and it marks many firsts for the podcast. Most noticeably is the absence of my cohost Adam. He is stepping away from the podcast for some time to concentrate on other projects. So! For at least the next month or so it is just going to be you and me, friend. But it is also the first time on the podcast that I’ve brought on a friend of mine to interview. This is not to say that each and every person we’ve had on the podcast before are not now friends of the show, but this is the first time I’ve brought on someone I knew outside of the show. Up until now I’ve very deliberately tried to book people I wasn’t familiar with for two reasons. 1) I knew that only bringing on friends would be detrimental to developing my interviewing skills. I think I can say with some certainty that had I only interviewed people I was familiar with, I wouldn’t have had the skills to talk to Steve Hackett, and that is saying something considering how wide eyed i sound during that interview regardless. and 2), and perhaps more importantly, if I had relied on just bringing on friends when we started this up, I think the podcast would’ve stopped when I ran out friends to talk to. The booking and organizing podcast interviews with bands, managers, PR people and the like is an acquired skill that I had absolutely zero talent in before the podcast started. But this also brings us to a few other firsts, one being that this is the first time I’ve had over a months worth of interviews stockpiled, but more importantly the podcast is starting to have enough clout to start bringing people whose albums I adore. Since Stonehall Sessions started, I’ve made a real effort to make sure that each interview we’ve done is with someone a little outside the norm. You can be the judge as to how successful I’ve been, and there are certainly a few weeks where we scrambled to book just anyone, but by and large I stand by these interviews. But, I’m getting sidetracked here. This interview with Bosveld,and many of the upcoming episodes, are with people whose albums or EPs I’ve loved sincerely and have pored over for hours, listening to in headphones trying to pick out textures and production techniques. As you’re about to hear, Bosveld’s Veldbrand is the sound of heartbreak sustained over 8 tracks. The album itself takes so much out of me emotionally to listen to that it’s become somewhat of a rare treat that I put on if I’m in the mood to listen to the audio equivalent of the opening of the Pixar film Up for 50 minutes. To be able to illicit and maintain that sort of reaction over the course of 45 minutes is a testament to Bosveld’s abilities not only of a songwriter but also a producer and arranger. There are so many moving parts in this album that all coalesce into a disarmingly beautiful album. However! The mic cable that plagued the live sessions with the autumn stones last week was stupidly used by me again this week when recording, and thus this interview is shorter than normal, simply because you cannot hear many of my meandering questions. My apologies, but now the cable has been trashed so we shouldn’t have this problem again And! As always, if you can throw us a like on Facebook, a follow on twitter or review on iTunes, I would be eternally grateful. Anyways! Episode 27. Bosveld. You’re going to enjoy it.

The Autumn Stones (https://theautumnstones.bandcamp.com/) talk to Riley about how their album Escapists took shape, late Pink Floyd, responsibilities as a songwriter and all things saxophone!

Kalle Mattson talks Born to Run, forgotten albums, fake strings and pop perfectionism!

Rae Spoon (http://www.raespoon.com/) sat down with Riley and Adam at Pressed Cafe in Ottawa, and talked about their new album Amour, running Coax Records and Christian Rap!

Rational Youth (http://www.rationalyouth.org/) talk to Riley and Adam about their new EP Future Past Tense, Mullets, VSTs vs Analog and Sussudio

Phèdre (http://phedreamour.com/) came by to talk to Riley and Adam about being in two bands, balancing their work with that of Hooded Fang, and what, if any, Peter Gabriel songs they know.

Dreamboy (https://dreamboyforever.bandcamp.com/) talks Swiss Chalet, country music, Kanye West, oh and her new EP Endings.

Tigerwing (https://tigerwing.bandcamp.com/) stops by and tells Riley about demonic pitch shifting, Skrillex

Adam and Riley sit down and talk about how SHS started up, where it’s going, and play their favourite songs that were played live from the last 20 episodes.

Old Girl (https://oldgirl.bandcamp.com/album/objet-a) overwhelms Riley with psychoanalysis and sadness.

LAL (https://lalforest.bandcamp.com/) joined us to talk about their latest album Find Safety, recording an album twice and their BIPOC artist space Unit 2 in Toronto.

The day is here! Steve Hackett, of being Steve Hackett fame, sat down with Riley for a full hour talking about the making of Wolflight, his 24th solo album. If that doesn’t boggle your mind, the fact that we are only 4 months into this podcast should. Find Steve’s tour dates here: http://www.hackettsongs.com/tour.html

Scary Bear Soundtrack (https://scarybearsoundtrack.bandcamp.com/) sits down and talks all things making music in Nunavut! Lots of good tangents in this episode as we cover everything from Rupaul’s Drag Race to water shortages to Tarzan!

Future States (https://futurestates.bandcamp.com/) stopped by to talk about all things Cassiopeia. The EP, the star system, the things mentioned in Joanna Newsom songs. It was pretty chill, just listen to the gosh darn thing already.

Holy smokes! We sat down with SUUNS just before their album release show on April 21st, and talked their ears off about the digital/analog divide, making an album in 3 weeks, and why Steve Hackett sits down while playing guitar.

We sit down with legends The Veldt (https://theveldtmusic.bandcamp.com) to talk about their new EP ‘The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur’!