Podcasts on the topic of “Jessi D” 56 results

Artist Interviews C3zr Interview

This week, Features contributor Daniel Edelstein speaks with Chicago-based pianist, producer, and teacher, Cesar Pino aka C3zr. They discuss his most recent full-length release, Round Voyage, the joy of connecting and collaborating with fellow artists, the jazz lounge, Opus, that he runs with his father and mentor, and his beloved keytar.

"That's the beauty of it... music is music, and so I just try to challenge myself and reach into different corners of musical spectrum." - Cesar Pino, aka C3zr

Produced by: Jessi D

Photo Credit: Vanessa Valadez

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Artist Interviews Wolfman Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Carrie Shemanski and Crispin Torres of Chicago-based surf rock band Wolfman. They discuss how they met through performing in various cover bands across Chicago, taking a risk and shredding with new friends, recording their debut five-song EP The Wolfman Agenda at Electrical Audio, and the upcoming Shemanskifest, a celebration of Carrie's birthday in which she tries to perform in as many bands as possible.

"So here we are with my band - I couldn't believe it. I was like, people who know how to play instruments also want to play my songs? What a dream!" - Carrie Shemanski

Wolfman will be debuting their new EP at Shemanskifest on Friday, March 29, 2024 at the Burlington Bar.

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Fotio

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Artist Interviews Joey Nebulous Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Joseph Farago of the Chicago-based pop project, Joey Nebulous. They discuss his signature falsetto, the move from heavy piano-based singer-songwriter composition to celebratory and silly pop music, the creation of his pandemic album Joey Spumoni Creamy Dreamy Party All The Time​​​​​​​, and his queer songwriting influnces. 

"I wanted to go headfirst into the goofiness." - Joseph Farago of Joey Nebulous on the songwriting process for his latest album.

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Ash Dye

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Artist Interviews Jess Godwin Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with formerly Chicago-based and now New York-based multidisciplinary artist, Jess Godwin. They discuss the unbreaking of her heart in the creation of her latest visual and music release, dreamer., the genesis of her highly customized body instrument, the Muze, and her varied and vast artistic background.

"It feels so great to make something, and give it to myself." - Jess Godwin.

Dreamer. is is now available to stream and watch on all platforms, and on Jess's website.

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Ryan Bourque 

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Artist Interviews Jovan Landry Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist and "One-Third Emcee," Jovan Landry. They discuss the thirds that make up her multidisciplinary artistry, her new EP, Intellectual Frequencies, and winning a grant and leading the charge to create Synergy, the first all-woman produced, performed, and engineered hip-hop album.

"I am doing many other things outside of the music, and so it takes a while for me to get to sitting down - sitting down is not always my forte. So having to sit down and actually focus on the music, and also, you gotta experience life [...] the process of experiencing life and coming back to it, and then you get more inspired than when you first started writing" - Jovan Landry on her slow and steady approach to releasing music

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Alex Hazel Studios

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Artist Interviews Eel Romance Interview

This week, Features Director Jessi D speaks with Cameron Lee, who performs as Eel Romance, about his debut album, Funny Blue, his struggle with and commitment to creating his perfect first album, being inspired to finish his album by recording and distributing his own cassette tapes using a recorder from a 90s cereal promotion, and how his own audio diaries formed his sampling process.

"I was just going to share it with some friends, and mainly it was just a personal milestone where I wanted to finish something. [...] I've always had trouble saying that something is finished and committing it and saying this is what I wanted to do, I am proud of this. This represents a piece of me. But this one happened to work, and that took a lot of work to do. [...] This is great surprise, and it's very exciting for me. Because I've always wanted to talk about this, I've always wanted to do this." - Cameron Lee

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Nat Werth

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Artist Interviews Caroline Lucius Interview

This week, Features contributor Matty G speaks with Chicago-based artist Caroline Lucius and her brother and producer Schaeffer Lucius. They discuss the creation process for her newest EP, Running Without Me, producing the entire album alone in the home the siblings share, using samples from family VHS tapes in the production of the album, and making sure to take time for rest.

"I feel like part of me is very anti-nostalgia and against sentimentality because it can hold you back in some ways, and it can make you stay in the past. And I feel like I sound harsh when I say that, because so many people will say, it's ironic - your music has a nostalgic vibe." - Caroline Lucius on sampling her family's VHS tapes in her music

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Lori Allen

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Artist Interviews Ariel Zetina Interview

This week, Features director Jessi D met up with Ariel Zetina at Pitchfork Music Festival between weather delays in a park field house in Union Park. Ariel is a Chicago-based producer and DJ and made her official Pitchfork debut at this year's festival. They discuss the ensemble nature of her 2022 album, Cyclorama, what inspired her to become a DJ and her ascension to resident DJ at Smartbar, and planning her Pitchfork live show, complete with dancers and costume design.

"I think my favorite thing is being able to get things to flow and move in the chaos of it all. The music doesn't stop for a number of hours, you have to be on your toes and live in the moment." - Ariel Zetina on why she loves DJing.

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius

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Artist Interviews SuperKnova Interview

This week, Jessi D speaks with formerly Chicago and now New York-based queer pop artist, Ellie Kim aka SuperKnova. They discuss her newest release, superuniverse, and the intentionallity behind the art design for the album, her new production skills, the importance of working with an all female, LGBTQ, and/or person of color creative team, and her journey of studying music to medicine and back to music.

"Of course I'm going to assert myself here, of course I'm going to take up this space, of course I'm going to create a better world where I envision myself for who I am, and I'm worthy as anyone else to take up this space." - Ellie Kim

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Lili Fang

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Artist Interviews Warm Human Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Chicago-based sludge pop trash princess, Meredith Johnston aka warm human. They discuss how the purchase of a new instrument usually inspires the creation of an album, navigating loss by letting the creative process loose on her newest album, Hometown Hero, and how dealing with a uterine fibroid removal in the days of the Roe v. Wade overturn inspired the single "PUSSY IS A GUN."

"And so, honestly, I don't remember a lot of it, but I do remember that I just kind of said 'yes' to every single thing that I came up with. I was like, 'yep, great, yep, great.' And that was just so liberating, and maybe that's because I didn't have the capacity to be nervous or comparative. As an artist, I can get so bogged down with, 'well, this doesn't sound like what other artists are making,' or 'this doesn't sound like this artist that I've been listening to on repeat lately.' I just didn't have any of that. I was like, we're going for it. We're wailing." - Meredith Johnston, on the creative process of her newest album Hometown Hero

Warm human will be playing at the Empty Bottle on Saturday, June 24th with Jimmy Whispers and Sports Boyfriend.

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Gavin McDonald

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Artist Interviews Djunah Interview

This week, Features contributor Marjorie Alford speaks with Chicago-based noise rock artist with "a leg for a bassist," Donna Diane of Djunah. They discuss her Frankenstein-style Moog bass synthesizer pedal board she uses in place of a bassist, the creation of her handmade chainmail bikini for the cover of her recent album, Femina Furens, the exploration of her C-PTSD in the creation of this album, and her end-of-show tradition of destroying her guitar onstage with various sharp objects.

"On this tour, I've really been thinking about my younger self on stage. And I'm like, I'm gonna make her proud of me. She's who I'm singing to, she's who I'm really emoting for, and hoping that other people connect with it, too." - Donna Diane

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Courtney Brooke Hall

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Artist Interviews Aya Ito Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Chicago-based singer-songwriter, Aya Ito. They discuss her newly released EP, Just Might, and how each purchase on Bandcamp comes with Aya's favorite homecooked recipes, her Black and Japanese heritage, re-releasing some of her already J-Pop perfect songs in Japanese, and how a Japanese video rental store shaped her upbringing in Indianapolis.

On her nickname, the Blazian Sensation:

"I really, really love both sides of my culture. I love my Black side, I love my Japanese side. I really consider myself fully Black and fully Japanese. I'm proud of my heritage, and proud of being Black and Asian. And Blazian Sensation obviously rhymes, so I was like, it flows! Let me be Blazian Sensation." - Aya Ito

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Abboye Lawrence

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Artist Interviews Moritat Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Venus Laurel and Konstantin Jace of Chicago art rock band Moritat. They discuss how cohabiting with drummer Corey McCafferty in a two-flat during the majority of their time as a band allowed them to experiment creatively, how their sound has become more refined in the decade-plus they've spent together, and the five year writing process for their most recent album, Vermilion. 

"It's just there's so much change at once in the world, through a pandemic and nervous politics that it's just - writing music and doing art in the middle of it, you absorb whatever's happening. I mean, you're dealing with the world, [...] it's a fight against death, really. [...] All the changes that you're dealing with it as an artist and a musician, it's all gonna bleed in because you're really synthesizing the world." - Konstantin Jace

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Moritat

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Artist Interviews Quin Kirchner Interview

This week, Features co-director Mick R. catches up with Chicago-based percussionist Quin Kirchner while on tour with Ryley Walker in Europe. They discuss adapting to a variety of styles of music in the bands he plays with, the conversational art of improvisation, and the creative processes of making accessible excerpts for his release Concentric Orbits, a duo with France-based pianist Rob Clearfield.

"It's so important to listen and to be aware of what the other musicians you're playing with are saying and where they're coming from because it is a conversation." - Quin Kirchner

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Lizzie Kirchner

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Artist Interviews Brittney Chantele Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with formerly Pittsburgh-based pop/hip-hop and visual artist Brittney Chantele, who now calls Chicago home. Brittney discusses their drive to always speak out for what's right, working through their traumatic experiences during their military career on their album The Golden Opportunity, and DJing Taylor Swift Night at Subterranean as their entry into the Chicago DJ world.

"I was just sharing my story, I was just sharing what happened to me. And for me that is a part of saying something instead of doing nothing." - Brittney Chantele

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Riley J. Benson 

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Artist Interviews Axons Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Adele Nicholas of Axons about their most recent release, I Object to Everything. They discuss her career within Axons and the bands current three-piece format, her day job as a civil rights attorney, and her inspiration from and deep research into a prison breakout - I Object to Everything is a concept album inspired by the true and almost mythological story of Kenneth Conley and Joseph "Jose" Banks, two inmates who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago in 2012.

"There were certain parts of this story that just were so emotionally compelling that I just knew they had a song in them." - Adele Nicholas

Axons will be hosting a release show at the Hideout on Thursday, April 7, 2022.

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo credit: Jazmyne Fountain

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Artist Interviews Lakshmi Ramgopal Interview

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Chicago- and New York-based artist Lakshmi Ramgopal. They discuss how her experience as a professor of history at Columbia University shapes her collaborative and storytelling skills as an artist, her shift to longer-term sound installations and site-specific ensemble performances, her previous work in Love and Radiation, how the death of her grandmother caused her to move towards working through her personal life in her art, and her familial and cultural legacy.

"This has been a really important way for me to understand my changing relationship with my family and also my cultural heritage over the course of my life and all the tensions that come from being a second-generation Indian woman and growing up in a bicultural household; I think it has helped me think on what kind of legacy I want to have." - Lakshmi Ramgopal 

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Jense

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Artist Interviews Gosh Diggity Interview

This week, Features Department Co-Director Mick R speaks with Joe Marshall, Cheryl Höglind, and Conor O’Donovan of Chicago-based "Midwest kitchen techno" group Gosh Diggity. They discuss the exclusion of a drummer in their band, their tough-to-self-describe music genre categorization, their chiptune, punk, bedroom pop, and indie influences, keeping things upbeat, and their genuine friendship. Their most recent release, Runaway Rocketboy, is available on Bandcamp.

"Being in a band, I think it's all about the vibes that you give each other, and it's hard to describe when you find something that really fits well. I think it's kind of like a really good friendship when you find people that bring something to the table that you really enjoy working with, [...] making music, but also just being pals." - Joe Marshall

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Joslyn Vosta

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Artist Interviews Hard Femme Interview

This week, Features contributor Matty G speaks with local artist Jean Cochrane, who performs as Hard Femme. Jean discusses their latest release, A Layer of Topsoil, and how the album was initially conceived as a group effort became a solo project during the pandemic, the effect Chicago has had on their music, and their safer and more relaxed bike route mapping project, Mellow Bike Map.

"I think that can-do ethic with very little investment in local social standing but then also the BMF of the music industry writ large is something that I really respect; that kind of raised me in a sense and it's an ethic I try to pursue." - Jean Cochrane

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: M Slater

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Artist Interviews CHIRP Docs: Sober 21

Sober 21 is a compendium of essays by and interviews with 21 sober musicians. Elia Einhorn, formerly of The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, curated the collection as a tool specifically for musicians who are seeking sober voices and perspectives in an often challenging and addiction-enabling industry. The zine is free for download through The Creative Independent.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, Elia recommends the following resources:

• Alcoholics Anonymous 
• Narcotics Anonymous
• MusiCares

Interview and production by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Elia Einhorn

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