Kinetic Shapes was a six-episode series by Lykanthea on Radio One Chicago (WLUW 88.7 FM/wluw.org). It created a space in which members of Chicago's music community interviewed each other live on the radio and illuminated the experiences that make its local scene so rich. Check out the press it recently received.
Vivian Garcia trained in Spain but has firm roots in Chicago, where she's writing and performing music that brings together Latin influences, blues and jazz. Christina Dennaoui, who produces under the moniker Volutes, creates complex opuses that reveal just how perfectly Middle Eastern beats, house and jazz complement each other. Hear their conversation with each other about upcoming projects and the challenges that face musicians whose music doesn't conform to western pop norms.
Episode tracklist:
1. Dans La Nuit - Volutes
2. Your Line - Brash Flair
3. Loc@s - Vivian Garcia and Armando Perez
4. I Wanna Be With You - Vivian Garcia with ¡Esso Afrojam Funkbeat
Jeff Milam is solo sound artist MT Coast and the drummer for M!NES. Billie Howard sings and plays violin or synth for a variety of projects, including baroque-metal quartet The Paver, NbN Trio and Wrekmeister Harmonies, and also blogs about Chicago musicians at By Measure. Hear their compelling discussion with each other about silence in song, the difference between noise and sound, and the advantage of going solo.
Episode tracklist:
1. Confidence - The Paver
2. arrangement for percussion, cello and computer - MT Coast
3. improvisational clip at ESS - NbN
4. Luau - Brett Naucke
5. Addict - M!NES
6. Memory - The Paver
Kirstiecat is concert photographer Kirstie Shanley. Cinchel is drone/noise musician Jason Shanley. Hear this fun husband and wife duo interview each other about ideal venues (and time periods) to perform music and take concert photos, favorite Chicago bands and more!
Episode tracklist:
1. summer solstice picnic in the field out back - Cinchel
2. Charged Hair - Flesh Panthers
3. Longdon Spritzen - Josh Davison
4. (He Wore A) Lion's Hide - Soft Speaker
5. Out of the Flowers - Mike Weis
6. The Well - Treasure Fleet
Elaine Davis is half of Spaces of Disappearance and Rani Woolpert is half of Girl Detective. In this smart, fascinating conversation with each other, they discuss the importance of audible lyrics, keeping shows fresh and their very different experiences as lead vocalists.
Episode tracklist:
1. Sleeping with Shadows - Girl Detective
2. Manic - Spaces of Disappearance
3. Caving In - Finley Knight
4. Girl Detective - Remember Me
5. Strangers on a Train - Spaces of Disappearance
6. Give Me Some Time - Girl Detective
Melissa Geils is a founding member of BLVD Records, a Chicago-based microlabel that features Savage Sister, New Canyons and more. Selena Fragassi is an accomplished music journalist, editor and co-founder of Boxx Magazine and author of an essay in That Devil Music: Best Rock Writing 2014. Hear what they have to say to each other about starting music businesses, making it to shows in Chicago from the suburbs and encountering sexism in the music industry.
Episode tracklist:
1. Ghost and Water - New Canyons
2. Red Crescent Moons - Unur
3. Mourning Dawn - Population
4. Volcano Girls - Veruca Salt
5. Too Young ft. Nikki Lynette - Xoe Wise
6. Parasite - Staring Problem
7. Dealing with the Devil - Killer Moon
8. Trouble - Idyll
Rasplyn is Carolyn O'Neill, who composes otherworldly masterpieces with orchestral elements and dark invocations. Laughing Eye Weeping Eye (LEYE WEYE) is duo Rebecca Schoenecker and Patrick Holbrook, channelers of ancient sounds and landscapes. Hear what they have to say to each other about psychic inspiration, the creative process and using non-traditional instruments!
Episode tracklist:
1. Wild Night - LEYE WEYE
2. Priestess of the Goddess - Rasplyn
3. Erdgeist - Bowl of Dust & Co.
4. The Need of the Greatest Wealth - Matchess
5. Knight - LEYE WEYE
6. Circle Round - Rasplyn