In Loving Recollection

After several years of non-stop touring, Los Angeles based musician Cyrus Gengras would find himself stuck at home in the spring of 2020. Making the most of the situation, Gengras would order a digital 8 track recorder, break out the wah-wah pedal, and make a record. In Episode 46, Gengras tells the story of his 2022 album Good God, detailing the DIY nature of the album’s production and touching on the various characters he has known throughout his life that inspired much of its lyrical content.

In the spring of 2021, singer-songwriter Joan Shelley would visit Earthwave Studio, a recording facility situated in the pastoral landscapes of Shelbyville, Kentucky. In this ideal environment, Shelley and her collaborators would record the collection of songs that would make up her next record. In Episode 45, the native Kentuckian tells the story of her 2022 album The Spur, discussing the lyrical themes and inspirations within the tracks as well as her experience recording them while 7 months pregnant.

Following the release of Teenage Head in 1971, San Francisco’s Flamin’ Groovies would experience a significant amount of setbacks and change. Eventually, they would persevere and create a classic. In Episode 44, the Flamin’ Groovies’ Cyril Jordan tells the story of the band’s arduous journey in bringing their seminal 1976 record Shake Some Action to fruition.  

In the summer of 1967, the Youngstown, Ohio band known as the Human Beingz would enter a Cleveland recording studio and make a hit record. A few months later, they would return to record a full length album. In Episode 43 of In Loving Recollection, guitarist Ting Markulin tells the story of The Human Beinz and their 1968 debut full-length Nobody But Me. Detailing the events that led to the album’s creation, Markulin touches on how the recording of the “Nobody But Me” single first came to be and how its eventual success would cause the band to permanently lose the “g” in their name.

Having relocated as a teenager from the suburbs of Philadelphia to a small town in Georgia, singer-songwriter Clay Harper would eventually draw inspiration from the experience, and in the end, make a record. In Episode 42, the former Coolies frontman and restaurateur tells the story of his 2020 album Dirt Yard Street. Recorded at his home studio in Atlanta with help from the city’s music community, Harper recounts the events that led to the album’s creation and details the methods used during the writing and recording process.

After meeting through the sale of an obscure keyboard, musicians Brian Kehew and Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. would bond over their shared love of vintage synthesizers. Eventually, the two friends would start a band, make a record, and buy some space helmets. In Episode 41 of In Loving Recollection, Kehew and Manning tell the story of The Moog Cookbook’s 1996 self-titled debut album, touching on the salad days of affordable synth acquisitions and how their love of Moog centric albums, such as Switched on Bach, helped to inspire the project’s conception.

In the spring of 1996, the Georgia based indie rock band Joe Christmas would travel to Chicago to record with engineer and musician Bob Weston. The end result would be a collection of mostly subdued and sparsely arranged material that differed from previous efforts. In Episode 40, Joe Christmas’s Zachary Gresham and Russell Holbrook tell the story of the band’s sophomore album North To The Future, discussing the inspirations behind the record’s lyrics and sounds as well as their experience recording at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio.

Armed with a four track and a vision of a post apocalyptic future, Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Earley would spend much of the mid aughts tolling away inside a leaky practice space in downtown Portland. Eventually, a record would emerge. In Episode 39 of In Loving Recollection, Earley tells the story of the band’s 2007 album Wild Mountain Nation, detailing the processes and equipment used during its creation and the unexpected outcomes that the end result would produce.

Having recorded their first album as a duo, the San Francisco based band Beulah would make their next record with an expanded lineup and an increase in fidelity. In Episode 38, founding member and multi instrumentalist Bill Swan tells the story of the band’s 1999 sophomore effort When You’re Heartstrings Break, touching on the various locations and stresses involved in bringing the album to fruition. 

Following the relative success of their sophomore effort Bows + Arrows, New York City’s The Walkmen decide to finish out 2004 with the release of a holiday themed 7”. In Episode 37, The Walkmen’s Walter Martin makes his triumphant return to In Loving Recollection to tell the story of the band’s Christmas Party single.