Essential Tremors

Kristin Hersh has built a devoted following with her one-of-a-kind singing and songwriting, as a solo artist and as leader of the bands Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave. On this episode of Essential Tremors, she discusses how traditional ballads, Nick Drake, and Vic Chesnutt impacted her own work.

Brandon Soderberg has worked as a music critic, an altweekly editor, and a reporter on the frontlines of protest. He’s now the co-author of I Got a Monster, a book about the Baltimore Police Department’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force. On this episode, he discusses how music from OutKast, Fabio Frizzi, and Jason Isbell shaped his work.

Amanda Shires has made her mark on American music as a singer, songwriter, and fiddle player, both solo and a member of Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit. On this episode, she discusses how songs by Dolly Parton, Leonard Cohen, and Richard Buckner shaped her work.

Thurston Moore's name and work have been ever-present in the last 40 years of underground culture, from his years in Sonic Youth and his solo career, his many musical collaborations, his record-label and book-publishing activities, and his unofficial boosterism. In this episode, he talks about how the Kingsmen, Patti Smith, and Public Image Ltd. shaped him.

Bob Mould has turned out decades worth of impassioned singing and songwriting as leader of Husker Du and Sugar and a longstanding solo artist. In this episode, he talks about how songs from the Beatles, the Ramones, and My Bloody Valentine shaped his work.

Music critic Marcus Moore became an author with his new book The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America. On this episode, he discusses what songs by Roberta Flack, Common, and Stevie Wonder have meant to him.

Drummer Chris Frantz provided the rhythms for two seminal groups, Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, a career he discusses in his memoir, Remain in Love. In this episode, he discusses how Jimmy Dean, the Beatles, and James Brown shaped his life.

MC Schmidt and Drew Daniel of the electronic duo Matmos have built their body of work from manipulating unusual sounds. On this episode, recorded live at Fadensonnen in Baltimore, they talk the music that influenced their own.

Flying Lotus's music has consistently overflowed the barriers that separate electronic music, hip-hop, jazz, and other genres over the course of five albums and many side projects and collaborations. In this episode, he discusses how his work was shaped by Stravinsky, Slum Village, and Queen.

UK guitarist Gwenifer Raymond has adapted the sounds of the American South for her own intricate, and sometimes riotous, acoustic compositions. In this episode, she discusses how tunes from the Pixies, Roscoe Holcomb, and John Fahey guided her work.

Composer/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker is a prolific solo artist and a member of esteemed post-rock quintet Tortoise. Here he explains how songs by a jazz drummer, a master sampler, and a legendary jazz trumpeter shaped his musical vision.

Baltimore-based musician Dan Deacon has evolved substantially in both the scope and ambition of his artistic endeavors since his breakout 2007 album Spiderman of the Rings. In this episode, he talks about how Pee-Wee Herman helped indirectly cultivate his interest in being a performer, Lightning Bolt changing how he thought about music, and the technical influence Daft Punk had on his vocal style.

Bass player and vocalist Clint Conley of seminal post-punk band Mission of Burma has influenced a generation of musicians with his work over the course of the band's multiple decade existence. In this episode, he talks about how songs by Music Machine, Television, and Captain Beefheart formed his point-of-view as an artist.

Andy Shauf's understated, gentle, and expertly composed pop songs are miniature gems that grow in appeal with each listen. In this episode, Shauf talks about how Elliott Smith, Wilco, and The Beatles guided and inspired his understanding of how to write intimate but deeply accessible pop songs.

Thalia Zedek's distinctive voice and soul-baring songwriting have powered a series of bands, including Live Skull and Come, as well as her own solo career. On this episode, she discusses a seminal moment with Patti Smith, obscure Kentucky band Circle X, and her love of Nick Cave.

Since his breakthrough 2009 Warp Records release Ambivalence Avenue, Stephen James Wilkinson, better known as Bibio, has released six albums of delicate, moody folk imbued with deft electronic touches. Fragile, wistful, and often brief, his reverie-inducing songs serve as distillations of pure nostalgia.

Drummer John Stanier has turned heads throughout his career, first with '90s alt-metal act Helmet and in recent years as part of omindirectional electronic rock band Battles.In this episode, he talks to us about his prog-rock past, making every note count, and hating goth but loving Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams has blazed a unique path through underground music,with Don Caballero, Storm & Stress, and now with Battles. On this episode, the first of two that interview both Battles members, he talks about getting rid of emotion, free jazz, and machine music.

MC and producer JPEGMAFIA came out of Baltimore and exploded on the national rap landscape, not part of any particular music scene but drawing from many. In this episode, he talks about how songs by Janelle Monáe, Björk, and Cam'ron shaped his art.

Writer Hanif Abdurraqib has risen to prominence in recent years thanks to They Can't Kill Us Til They Kill Us, a collection of essays, and Go Ahead in the Rain, his recent book about hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest. In this episode, he talks about songs by Bruce Springsteen, Boosie, and Whitney Houston.

Robert Forster spent decades, off and on, as one of the singer/songwriters behind beloved Australian indie-pop band the Go-Betweens, along with his late creative partner Grant McLennan. 

Marin Alsop has spent her life surrounded by music—as the child of professional musicians, as a violinist, and as the acclaimed music director for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In this episode, she discusses the beauty of Brahms, playing music with her parents, and the world of Mahler.

Juana Molina won an audience far beyond the borders of her native Argentina by crossing the streams of singer/songwriter reflection, pop tunefulness, and electronic burble and drone. In this episode, she muses on her childhood impressions of music, enduring the artistic scrutiny of her parents, and having her mind blown by Raymond Scott.

Guy Picciotto was a founding member of numerous DC bands of the 80's that made an impact on the direction of American rock music, but none more so than Fugazi, the band led by him and fellow DC punk legend Ian MacKaye. After the band went on hiatus in 2003, Picciotto took a very different path, playing extensively with singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt until Chesnutt's death in 2009. In this episode, Picciotto talks about the three songs that changed him: a Baroque pop tune from an iconic British group, a brutal proto-punk single, and an extremely under-the-radar song from an unclassifiable Irish band.

Experimental composer Sarah Davachi has constructed her own soundworld out of sustained tones and drones, using instruments both electronic and medieval. In this episode, she discusses music by Todd Rundgren, Soft Machine, and Ennio Morricone.

Baltimore duo Wume draws on the motorik pulse and cosmic synths of vintage Krautrock, but update them with mesmerizing patterns of complex rhythm and a wide-eyed sense of exploration. In this episode, Al Schatz and April Camlin discuss three tunes that pointed the way to their sound.

Steve Reich long ago transcended the "minimalist" tag to stand as one of America's greatest and most influential living composers. In this episode, he details the effects that the music of Stravinsky, Perotin, and John Coltrane had on some of his seminal pieces.

For 25 years, Mimi Parker’s minimalist drumming and angelic voice have helped provide the spine, and the soul, of Low, the brooding trio from Duluth, Minn. Just before the release of their mold-breaking new album, Double Negative, Parker discussed her tough upbringing, discovering music beyond classic rock, and the indie band that launched a thousand other indie bands.

Colin Newman rewrote the rules of punk with London-based band Wire, and went on to push back the boundaries on creativity and relevance for decades-long rock careers. But Newman has also thrived as a solo artist and producer — and the latter role is what he wanted to talk about in this episode, with three tracks that have shaped his work in the studio.

Though he emerged from Washington, D.C.’s post punk scene with the band Smart Went Crazy, Chad Clark has expanded his musical palette with Beauty Pill, an omnivorous band that makes the most of his vivid melodies and wry lyrics. In this episode, he discusses Paul Simon, a jazz tragedy, and "The Story of O.J."