Lisa Bella Donna

Peter Legat is the creative force behind Count Basic, a band that you know if you are an acid jazz or smooth jazz fan. If you look at the band’s most streamed songs, number two is the big smooth jazz hit M.L. In The Sunshine, which spent 11 weeks at number 1 of the American New Adult Contemporary charts, and number one on that list is Speechless Drum & Bass. Drum & Bass was, and still is, as far from smooth jazz as it can get. And that, in a nutshell, is Count Basic.On this episode, we talk about the Vienna scene in the mid-90s, where downtempo and house had their big moment in the city; how his amazing Kruder & Dorfmeister remix album came about; how he ended up on a Kylie Minogue track; and then we dive into the records that inspired him. 

Jahi Sundance is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and DJ best known as a core member of Robert Glasper's band. He has toured with artists ranging from Mos Def to Talib Kweli, performed at iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and earned production and songwriting credits with artists including Chris Brown, Miguel, and Common. During this delightful conversation, we talk about how his innovative style came about, how much growing up with a famous avant-garde saxophonist father shaped his musical taste, how Meshell Ndegeocello was not afraid to have Jahi on stage improvising and learning the chops, but we also chat about the Jersey bootleg scene back in the day, buying 45s at bodegas in NY, and the triangles, squares, and circles within a band. 

Nate Albert helped form the beloved ska punk band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at only 13 years old. He ended up spending 17 years playing lead guitar for the Bosstones. His journey then took him to roles as a music executive at Republic, Capitol, and Warner signing acts such as The Weeknd, Phantogram, Maggie Rogers and many others. Today he is the President of Giant Music. We sat down with Nate to talk about the early years of The Bosstones, why he quit the band at age 15 for a hot minute, his backstage moments at the many festivals the band played, and then we take a deep dive into his sizeable record collection to look at his top 5, his most valued, and the underrated and upcoming records Nate feels you may want to check out.

Marc Collin co-founded Nouvelle Vague based on the philosophy that 80s bands actually wrote great songs. He stripped them down to the basics and dressed them up in a bossa nova style, and by doing so, Nouvelle Vague became a phenomenon over the past 22 years. During our conversation, we talk about the beginnings of the band, the new album that is fully dedicated to Depeche Mode, his musical influences and top 5 records, but we also learn that he was in a band with Nicolas Godin of Air and that Soft Cell’s Tainted Love was actually a cover all along.

Philippe Cohen Solal co-founded the Gotan Project, the group that reshaped downtempo and brought electrotango first to clubs and then later to cool hotel lobbies everywhere. Their 2001 breakthrough album 'La revancha del tango' has sold well over 1.5 million copies, and Gotan Project was impossible to escape during that time, with their music appearing in films like The Bourne Identity and Ocean’s Twelve, as well as countless TV ads.  On this episode, we dive into the influential group’s founding story, Philippe's musical influences, and we comb through some of his favorite records from his 20,000-piece vinyl collection, which he houses in the music room of his Paris apartment. 

For over 25 years now, Niklas Worgt has influenced techno under the aliases Dapayk and Marek Bois, through his renowned work with Eva Padberg (under the Dapayk & Padberg moniker) and through his music labels Sonderling and Mo's Ferry Productions. Today, he is doing something quite magical: pressing and releasing his own vinyl, one record at a time, handcrafted from idea to packaging.

Cut Chemist is one of the ablest solo turntablists on the globe. Whenever one mentions Cut Chemist, ‘legend’ is usually the first word that comes to mind.  If we look at Discogs today, Cut shows up with 705 credits, and his record collection is in the 30,000 range.  We sat down and chatted about the James Bond soundtracks he picked up as a kid, the first pressed record of his, which he sold out of the trunk of his Honda, the epic show with DJ Shadow headlining the Hollywood Bowl, and, of course, about his favorite and most cherished records. Make sure to listen to some of the tracks Cut mentions through the accompanying playlist on the Toneoptic Spotify channel. 

Lisa Bella Donna is a synthesist, composer, and performer whose long-form modular performances have made her one of the most respected figures in the analog synth world. Having Lisa take us through her musical selections is very much like her art itself. It is a journey of discovery and wonder, one I am excited to take myself, and I invite you to do the same by listening to the accompanying playlist on Toneoptic's Spotify channel, where I have captured most tracks Lisa mentions throughout the interview.

Fred Schneider, frontman and co-founder of the legendary B-52s, joins us for a casual chat about the music that inspired him.On this episode I talk with Fred about his massive vinyl collection, the records he grew up with, his guilty pleasure music - which with Fred is pretty much most of it, his top 5 albums of all time, but we also talk about when Julee Cruise sat in for Cindy on tour, why the B-52s inspired John Lennon to record his final album and so much more.

For many Skeme Richards is considered to be one of the best break DJs out there. Skeme has collaborated with some of the big names in Hip Hop and was part of the most recognized name in the B-Boy and breakdance movement, The Rock Steady Crew.We take a personal tour through his 15,000+ record collection, learn what makes record digging exciting to him, plus he shares his favorite international vinyl stores and top albums of all time. Skeme further lets us in on the releases and artists he is most excited about right now and leads us back to his roots in block parties and growing up in a household that listened to the Godfather of Soul, Mr James Brown.