mattswriting.com » Podcasts

DJ Matt Werner’s exclusive interview with spoken-word artist George Watsky, originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on November 11, 2008.

In this interview, rising hip hop sensation, writer, and performer George Watsky addresses his beef with Michael Cera, and his experiences performing on the Def Poetry Jam, and working with Robert Redford in sustainability. This podcast also features 6 of Watsky's tracks and poems: Lonely Hearts Club, Half Jewish, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Fight! Fight! Fight! (with Dahlak Brathwaite), Run My Mouth, and his Michael Cera diss track.

Also, check out his website http://georgewatsky.com/ for some funny blog entries, like this one: The Whitest, Least Famous person performing at the NAACP Image Awards...

DJ Matt Werner interviews the University of Edinburgh composer about the world premiere of his orchestra piece Love and War on May 25, 2009. Topics discussed in this interview include music theory, Zurawski's battle with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the role of illness in art, hill walking in the Scottish Highlands, film music, and his compositions, including Love and War, My Home is in the Mountains, What Life Could Be, and The Journey Towards the Open Sea.

DJ Matt Werner’s interview and feature with post-punk laptop rapper MC Lars was recorded live at The Cathouse in Glasgow on April 15, 2009, and first aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on May 5, 2009.

In the interview, MC Lars and DJ Matt Werner discuss the songs Guitar Hero Hero, Download This Song, Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock, Hipster Girl, Twenty-Three, Hey There Ophelia, Signing Emo (feat. the Matches), and White Kids Aren't Hyphy (DJ Khaled Remix). Topics also discussed include MC Lars's latest album This Gigantic Robot Kills, Jean Baudrillard's notion of "hyperreality," the rich traditions of punk and hip hop in the Northern California music scene, the suicide of MC Lars's former Stanford roommate, which inspired the song Twenty-Three, and how MC Lars navigates the racial politics of being a white MC. This show features the voice-over talents of Ben Felsing, and also a surprise, but brief, visit from Queen Elizabeth II.

For more on MC Lars, please visit http://www.mclars.com/

You can download this podcast from iTunes by clicking here, or by visiting http://mattswriting.com

DJ Matt Werner’s interview with the hip hop artist and CEO of the Blacksmith Label Talib Kweli was recorded on March 3, 2009, and originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on March 10, 2009.

In the interview, Talib Kweli answers rumors about a future Black Star reunion with Mos Def, and he talks about balancing his role as both an MC and the CEO of the Blacksmith Label, his upcoming second Reflection Eternal album with DJ Hi-Tek, Jean Grae, Strong Arm Steady, his Party Robot album, how he defines himself as an artist, Nina Simone's Four Women, President Barack Obama, the evolution of hip hop, Auto-Tune, and many other exciting topics. The show also features an introduction by Joe Sciarrillo.

A PDF of the transcript of this interview can be downloaded here.

For more on Talib Kweli, please visit http://www.talibkweli.com/and http://www.yearoftheblacksmith.com/

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DJ Matt Werner’s award-winning interview with the ground-breaking poet, musician, and actor Saul Williams was recorded on November 21, 2008 and originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on December 9, 2008.

Topics and ideas discussed in the interview include Saul Williams' third album, the Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, collaborating with Trent Reznor, esoteric religions, William Butler Yeats, poetry as an intuitive artform, what is beyond words, Walt Whitman, how we are so much more than how we are perceived, and Barack Obama. This hour-long phone interview and feature on Saul Williams also features much of his poetry and music, including: Sha Clack Clack, Black Stacey, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Wine, Twice the First Time, Release, Amethyst Rocks, 1987, and Children of the Night.

A PDF transcript by Korin McGinty of this interview can be downloaded here.

For more on Saul Williams, please visit http://saulwilliams.com.

DJ Matt Werner’s interview with hip hop artist Ise Lyfe originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on March 3, 2009.

Ise Lyfe wrote and performed in the best play I saw in 2008, a one-man play entitled "Who's Krazy." Having followed Ise's early work in Youth Speaks since he was a teenager, I was excited to interview this author, educator, hip hop artist, actor, and community organizer from East Oakland, California.

In the hour-long radio broadcast, Ise Lyfe talks about the commodification of poverty related to the exploitation of black culture in the U.S., the BART police shooting of Oscar Grant, his latest album Prince Cometh, his forthcoming book Pistols and Prayers and forthcoming mixtape Take Them to School, the fears of Obama's assassination held by people in East Oakland during the 2008 presidential campaign, and how Obama's election is not the end of racial struggle in the U.S.

The show also features a dispatch from Joe Sciarrillo on the New Year's shooting of Oscar Grant by a BART police officer in Oakland, California, and the subsequent protests. Amanda Mohammed speaks at the end of the show about her March 13, 2009 event in Berkeley, California raising awareness on the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

For more on Ise Lyfe, please visit his websites: http://iselyfenation.com and http://www.myspace.com/iselyfe

In this 40-minute interview and feature on Dahlak Brathwaite, Dahlak discusses his Kanye West tribute album Commencement, touring with Ill-Literacy (his group with Adriel Luis, Nico Cary and Ruby Veridiano-Ching), his views on race in the United States, life after graduating from UC Davis, and Barack Obama. The interview also features 6 of Dahlak's tracks and poems, including A Peculiar Evolution, Take It Away, Black Genius, Fight! Fight! Fight! (with George Watsky), Do It, and Never Know.

For more on this dynamic MC and spoken-word performer, musician, writer, and theater actor Dahlak Brathwaite, please see his websites: http://www.thisisdahlak.com/ and http://www.ill-literacy.com/

DJ Matt Werner’s exclusive interview with beatboxer, singer, live-looper, and voice actor extraordinaire Kid Beyond originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on November 25, 2008.

In addition to playing his live cover of Wandering Star by Portishead and I Shall Be Free off of his album Amplivate, the interview also features his voice-overs for video games like Call of Duty, Sims (and how he improvised speaking Simlish), Guitar Hero and American Idol video games, and Nokia commercials. Kid Beyond also showcases his impersonations of Barack Obama, Don LaFontaine, Thurl Ravenscroft, and many more.

This in-depth interview covers many topics, ranging from Kid Beyond's beginnings as a performer in an a cappella group at Brown University, to joining The House Jacks, being signed to Warner Brothers and almost being made into a boy band, to his solo touring, live looping gigs, to his exploration of Buddhism and the inspiration for his song I Shall Be Free, as well as his work fundraising for Barack Obama in 2008.

DJ Matt Werner's exclusive interview with Dave Smallen, originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on March 17, 2009.

Many topics are covered, including Dave's time touring the U.S. with Street to Nowhere while signed with Capitol Records, and his latest singles America and Every Time I Leave (I Leave for Good). In addition to these new tracks, also played off of his Charmingly Awkward album are Georgia, Can You Hear Me?, You Can't Go to Sleep, and Tipsy. Check out more on Dave Smallen at: http://www.davesmallen.com/