048 Rhythmic Idler: Josh Block

I’m really into systems. So I like setting up the system and like watching it expand and become something really cool and new watch other people, like, contribute to the system and make it something better than I invented, or ever imagined it to be. You know what I mean? And I think that’s what led me to studio-owning–is essentially you’re building a giant instrument.

That’s Josh Block. Phenomenal drummer. Music producer slash arranger slash audio engineer. Owner of recording studio––and now label––Niles City Sound in Fort Worth, Texas. He played and toured with rock and roll band White Denim for many years, and later helped launch the career of R&B singer-songwriter Leon Bridges, which he casually mentions but is a pretty big deal; so is the grammy. Josh’s ear for capturing timeless vocalists, proclivity for warm sounds from vintage equipment, and innate understanding of rhythm make for a lovely recording, if you’re in the market for a hit. But the only thing better than hearing my friend on the radio is catching up with him in real life.

Chatty Crafties Podcast · Rhythmic Idler: Josh Block

Early on he recorded in a 1940’s Spartan trailer / makeshift recording studio, which is referenced in this Austin Chronicle article.

Josh co-founded and played with White Denim (originally Parque Touch) for 10 years, and left the band to move to Fort Worth, where he founded his recording studio Niles City Sound in 2014 (@nilescitysound on Instagram). Josh showed us his copy of the book Temples of Sound: inside the great recording studios during the podcast interview when we were talking about how the space is designed.

He met and started playing music with Leon Bridges, who’s successful album kick-started his recording studio concept. Here’s a Grammy Museum video about how they met and started recording Bridge’s grammy-nominated album, Coming Home, together at Niles City Sound. Leon’s second album, Good Thing, won him and his team (read: Josh!) a grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand.”

The three songs that appear in the episode are:

Do your homework and watch True Stories by David Byrne of the Talking Heads!

Josh’s three albums he keeps coming back to are:

Roberto Cacciapaglia – Sei Note
Tuca – Drácula I Love You
John Coltrane ‎– Coltrane Jazz

According to Josh, Pickathon is one of his favorite venues to play live; SNL was fun of course, Conan was rad, and Jimmy Kimmel was super cool to his staff, playing at the Apollo was huge. Just don’t slap the log!

Josh sent me these photos taken by the talented Rambo Eliott, who’s @Rambo on Instagram.

Videos below:

1/ Josh Block playing drums backing Leon Bridges on Saturday Night Live

2/ Josh Block playing drums backing Leon Bridges on Austin City Limits

3/ White Denim on Austin City Limits (August 2014 – Matt and I were there! My photos from the crowd is in the upper slideshow)

4/ White Denim interview after their Austin City Limits show (August 2014)

Josh Block playing drums backing Leon Bridges on Saturday Night Live

Josh Block playing drums backing Leon Bridges on Austin City Limits

White Denim on Austin City Limits (August 2014)

White Denim interview after their Austin City Limits show

044 Inner City Dreamer: Kendall Angelle

It can be both. Most artists do it for selfish reasons. But when you’re putting it out there for people to, you know, experience – some judge – but mostly just a general experience. It adds an aspect that’s not selfish anymore. It’s just the nature of art. You can’t help it. I don’t care how money-driven a creative is, at the end of the day, it still lends itself to the people because you’re putting it out there for people to interpret to appreciate.

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That’s Kendall Angelle. As a Black creative with his finger on the pulse of art, music, fashion, and culture, he curates and shares incredible artists and ideas on his website, Fresh Aesthetic. We were good friends in high school back in Houston and the early years of when we both moved to Austin after graduation. In support of Black Lives Matter and protests against police violence, I wanted to use my platform to elevate voices of color, so I reached out to my old pal. And it seems especially appropriate to support someone who is going out of his way to support other creatives.

Links from our convo:

The Neil deGrasse Tyson essay Kendall mentioned: Reflections on the Color of My Skin

The Business of Hype is the podcast by clothing designer, Jeff Staple

Refashionista is the website on thrift store finds I mentioned that are tailored, dyed, and reworked to reduce clothing waste

Shameless Plugs:

Kendall’s website: ¡Fresh Aesthetic!™: freshaesthetic23.com. Find him on Twitter @freshaesthetic, Facebook @freshaesthetic23, and Instagram @freshaesthetic23. I’ll update when his Culture Fresh podcast is back up.

Fresh Aesthetic

Kendall Angelle

Kendall’s cool socks

Kendall Angelle

042: The Collager in Quarantine: Matt Norton

So it’s not just total freedom on the machine’s part. You’re kind of giving it stipulations to work with it. And that like gets my brain buzzing.

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That’s Matt Norton. My sweet husband sat down with me again for a quarantine special to explain modular synthesizers to me. We want to de-mystify modular synths to inspire our friends out there to use this time at home to get creative. We also want to look at the positive sides of being in quarantine, because it’s incredibly overwhelming otherwise. We hope you guys are staying healthy and safe, or are resting if you need to recover from being sick. We love you.

We talked about synthesizers like Minimoog, Mellotron, Arp Odyessy, and Op-1 by Teenage Engineering. We also mentioned the loving and supportive Sobriety and Synthesizers Facebook Group.

We also brought up Wonderful, which is a podcast by Griffin and Rachel McElroy (also in Austin, TX), one of my favorites, found on Max Fun.

The song used in the intro and outro of this episode is by Matt Norton as Berm and Swale. He’s on Facebook and Instagram. The song he was working on at the time of the episode, “Packing West,” can be found here:

Matt Norton recording a live set for Sobriety and Synthesizers Facebook Group

Matt Norton playing in our office + our cat

Sean Henry and Matt Norton playing for E.A.S.T

One version of Matt’s modules

Matt Norton playing at Me Mer Mo Mondays at the Volsted

Sean Henry and Matt Norton playing at a Winter Solstice get together

036 Schizophrenic Straddler: Chad Raines

I think arranging in pop music is like so underrated. I think that’s the whole reason why people like pop music; there’s not like lots interesting chord changes or melodies happening–-it’s all about production, which, production is arranging. and it’s just all about the choices of tones and instruments you make and creating an atmosphere that gives you a feeling.

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That’s Chad Raines, sometimes known as Rad Chains, but it depends if you find him on the divine stage or in real life. His artistic lens is aimed at the juxtaposition between giving a rough edge to the prestigious and elevating the overlooked. He swings between between musical theatre to performing in spandex with his band The Simple Pleasure. He arranged and played the music to my wedding, and even more importantly to Matt and me, he made the “Egyptian Lover” music video of our friend Basil Malaty. Having something so precious to look at when my friend was no longer around eventually lead to me to creating this podcast, so I can give stage to the essence of people I hold dear for posterity.

You can find more on Chad at www.chadraines.com, at www.thesimplepleasure.com, the Rad Chains Soundcloud page, and The Simple Pleasure Bandcamp page.

The intro of the episode is “Another Active Shooter,” we sample “Girls and Guys Sometimes, and the outro is “Labor of Love ” by The Simple Pleasure.

Here’s Tom Cherry’s “Boogieman of My Dreams” and Donzi’s World, which have big Tim and Eric Awesome Show vibes way before that was a thing.

Shameless Plug: Chad’s new (Untitled) record with The Simple Pleasure, which should be out by Oct. 14th.

Here’s a couple of The Simple Pleasure’s music videos, “Young Professionals” and “A Need to Know Basis.”

Here’s the “Egyptian Lover” video featuring our friend Basil Malaty (1981 – 2004), shot and produced by Chad Raines in collaboration with Matt Norton around 2001/2002 in Austin, TX.

Chad Raines on Melodica(Chris Perley Photography)

Chad Raines (Photo from ishotamandapalmer.wordpress.com)

Chad and Lily (Photo from The Simple Pleasure)

Chad Raines (Photo from claireandherpipsqueaks.tumblr)

Chad and Lily (Photo from The Simple Pleasure)

030 Musical Collaborator: Floyd Willis

It’s a release, it’s a distraction, you know…it’s not day-to-day life. If there’s actually people there, then the immediate gratification of, ‘oh people like me, or like what we’re doing.’ Yeah, it’s the performer’s high, you know, which you always keep chasing, but also learning how to balance that with real life.

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That’s Floyd. Bassist in a punk band, park event coordinator, dutiful dad and husband–and my older brother. We had a chat over the Christmas break at our Mom’s house about our shared creative influences growing up and explored the overlay of being a performer that also produces various events at Discovery Green in Houston. We also took a moment to put his 10-year-old daughter on for a quick dip into her artistic interests.

A new Album from Dead to the World called Fire can be found on Spotify and iTunes.
follow them on Facebook @deadtotheworldtx. Some DTTW press:

Dead to the World takes Its War to Warehouse Live – Aug 2015

The first song on the episode was “For You,” the middle song was “Decay,” and the closing song was “Taxman.”

We talked about rotoscoping; here’s an example.

Dead to the World rehearsal (image from their Facebook)

Dead to the World show (image from their Facebook)

Fire cover art for Dead to the World

Dead to the World show (image from their Facebook)

Floyd, Blake, Steve, Brandon, Mikey (left to right)

Floyd, Steve, Mikey, Brandon, Blake (left to right)

028 Generative Farmer: Sean Henry

I’d been cooking for a long time and then I started the farm so I think both recognizing and engaging in that ends up in some aspect of life being healthier and happier and…kind of heading in the same direction: the ultimate destination is learning how to cook and prepare your food is very closely related to growing and taking care of the land around you. And that’s kind of a fundamental part of life that in the modern day we’re kind of detached from.

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That’s Sean. Musician, culinary scientist, and cook of much the food he lovingly produces. He officiated my wedding, is a godparent to my girls, and teaches us all the connectivity between food production, cooking, and renewable systems all while prototyping generative communities of the future. Stay tuned for our chat – with special guest, Matt Norton.

His mushroom farm Hi-Fi Mycology (with business partner Cory Nellisson) has a delightful Instagram page with all sorts of delicious and photogenic fungi that can be purchased at farmers markets and local Austin restaurants. His other business, a hydroponic lettuce farm called Francis and Thatcher can be found a grocery stores like HEB and Whole Foods in Austin.

Mushrooms from Hi Fi Mycology

Sean sorting mushrooms for dinner

Sean holding greens from Francis and Thatcher

Sean and business partner Wes Kenner at their hydroponic farm

Sean on a banner at Whole Foods for Leaf Safari

We mentioned his wife Yasmin Youssef again this week, who’s art is produced in a studio in Cement Loop, which is where Sean is taking piano lessons. Follow her on Instagram @thegoldcurrent as well.

Yasmin Youssef at EAST 2018

Yasmin Youssef at EAST 2017

Some of Yasmin’s work

My weekly inspo is my mother, Sharon Loy Anderson‘s art show at A Propos Pop Up Gallery by Zeina and Bob Cook.

Sharon Loy Anderson at an art show

Her portrait of Ansley

Blackfoot Daisy on a Summer’s Day by Sharon Loy Anderson

026 Heartfelt Hackster: Amanda Davidson

It’s important what we do, and it’s important how we do things, it’s important that we are creative when we do things–it matters, you know? It matters that we do things well and we do things with intention and love. It matters to our families, and our friends, and whatever random person we interact with in commerce, too.

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That’s Amanda. Mother of 3 and family caregiver, soulful singer, and appreciator of imperfect art–when she can steal a couple of hours to herself, that is. Amanda sat down with us to explore melding old and new and what it means to be dipping her toes back in the creative world though interior design with her business, Curate Homes.

Amanda and Graham named their residential construction company Curate (‘kyur-ət) because that’s the person in the church who’s the caretaker of souls. Find more online at www.curatehomes.com or on Instagram. The songs played in the episode were, in order of appearance: “Going Somewhere,” “Teaching me My Name,” “Minnie Catherine,” and “Under the Earth.” One of her albums, Home, is available on iTunes HERE under her maiden name, Amanda Leggett.

Amanda’s laundry room/workspace

Interior design project by Amanda Davidson through Curate Homes

Amanda’s baby book for Edie

Amanda’s baby book pages for Lyle

Amanda’s baby book for Edie

Amanda’s baby book page for Ames

023 Dexxcellent Creator: Ms. Dexxi

I think i like more improvising and just kind of going with what feels right, sometimes the kids will come to class and they may have had a day of testing; they really don’t want one more structured thing to do. They need more freedom, and so we have to be spontaneous in that way.

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That’s Ms. Dexxi. Dance instructor, aspiring motivational speaker, and mom. She stopped by after class to chat about the mental relief of dance, the art of self-development, and encouraging the bloom of kids’ creative self-expression–in-and out of the studio. You can find her on Facebook on her Yoga Sign page and find her dance and yoga classes offered at the East Communities YMCA in Austin, TX.

Girls, you got that Buffy reboot on your mind?

Parents, do you let your kids curse? Have you thought about it? Michael Adams has.

Find some inspiration to try on some costumes with Amber’s tried and true Halloweemix on Spotify. ………..Or if you’re into the 80’s, and dark, synthy horror-prog try these by Ryan M. Todd. We’re still collecting images of homemade Halloween costumes for our Costume Parade. Send them to us at our email or tag us on social media with #chattycraftiescostume

Genevieve’s office blessing sacred objects

Amber burning sage around our office after we reorganized

If your work or creative space feels stagnant or heavy, find some sacred objects around the home and think about a ritual to set your intention for the space. You can find meaning in anything, and sometimes we just need to be reminded that we’re on the right path. Our old plan Genevieve at Passageway Arts reminded me that all is well (that was our closing affirmation) and she talked more about how she picked the sacred items on her Instagram page. Gen was one of the original 5 producers of the monthly storytelling show Testify, which we talked about at length on Kate’s episode and we brought up to Dexxi that she might enjoy.

Intro is a sweet sample from one of Ms. Dexxi’s classes; our outro music is by Berm and Swale, who has more HERE.

018 Metaphorical Magician: Billy Moreno

Everything we do with language and communication is all metaphors. It’s all somewhat ambiguous and it’s all alive in the moment, after that it’s a different thing; before that it’s a different thing.

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That’s Billy, a.k.a. _Bill_Nice_. Rapper, Game Designer, imperfectionist, incorrigible wordsmith, and long time husband of our producer. Billy chatted about the wondrous opportunity of personal vocabularies, meditation, his methods for world class deck building and stage fright.

Billy’s music is open for interpretation at https://soundcloud.com/billy-moreno.

Find an open mic night near you and go stretch your legs.

Billy’s workspace

Billy Moreno

Billy and Noble

Billy and Amber

017 Hacksaw Poet: Mitchell Crooks

I totally believe that I have, and everybody who’s creative has, the right to write songs from a totally different perspective. So I have songs that come from nothing that I’ve personally experienced, and that’s kind of a cool exercise to try and write something from somebody else’s perspective.

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That’s Mitchell, singer, song writer, Applications Engineer, and handy dad. Mitchell stopped by and shared some of his signature Americana with us and waxed a little poetic about collaborating.

Mitchell’s first album, Forces of Nature, Follies of Man, comes out in late 2018. Find out more on his Instagram and his Facebook, and soon, at http://www.mitchellcrooksmusic.com. He recorded his album in Austin at King Electric Recording with Justin Douglas, the sound engineer. His upcoming show is at Brentwood Social House on Friday, August 31st at 7pm. Bring your kids!

His wife, Sarah, and their kids, Lily and Oliver, have had their own Chatty Crafties episodes as well. We love hearing about families that inspire each other to make art, perform, and explore their creative instincts.